Why is this Card "Good"?

don()shinobi

PokeBeach's Yu-Gi-Oh enthusiast. I guess.
Member
Now, before I say anything, I apologize if this is in the wrong section. I haven't made a thread in forever. It's also probably gonna be sort of jumbled, and if you don't see the purpose of this thread or need clarification, feel free to let me know or something.



Though many would say that this format isn't very diverse, I'd say that it's at least more diverse than last year's format, where Luxchomp reigned as king. It was very obvious as to why Luxchomp was a good deck; it could deal massive damage very fast, disrupt, snipe, completely heal, and lock simultaneously.

But decks today seem to be sort of...lacking. Almost every decklist you see will have a common tech: one of the dragons, Tornadus, baby Pokemon, etc. Here's my question.
Why?
Why use these cards? Some of them are self-explanatory, but others...not so much. Like Tornadus.
And Reuniclus.
And Tyrogue.
And several others.

What makes cards like these considered "good"? Because at first glance, cards like Tornadus and Reuniclus don't seem that spectacular until you really delve into them.

Considering that we're trying to get more of a competitive community, I created this thread to try to figure out why cards are played in our metagame today and what makes them good, what makes them desirable, what makes them playable compared to other things, how they are survivable with the big hitters in this format, and so on.

I'll start with a name that I've mentioned several times in this post, Tornadus.
Why do people play Tornadus?
Is it simply a Donphan counter until we get Kyurem and Cryogonal in Noble Victories? Or is it something else that I don't really understand?
 

Glace

Top 8, Worlds 2013
Advanced Member
Member
It sets up Zekroms on your bench while attacking as a bonus. Often, if it weren't for moving energy to my bench, I would have lost.
 

The Yoshi

Wumbo
Member
I'll support Tornadus's cause with my post.

Tornadus is that card that everyone underestimated until it actually started to see use. It's biggest function is serving as a Donphan counter, because without Tornadus, Zekrom almost always loses to it. Tornadus handles almost everything Zekrom cannot, and 80 damage is always nice for early game.

Though I'm not too sure how else Tornadus helps a deck other than countering Donphan. 110 HP is nothing to scoff at IMO, but I'm with you when I say that I don't see any other purpose for it (Machamp Prime counter for lol).

Edit: Yeah, glaceon also made a good point with a Hurricane combo. Hurricane, then move to a Benched Zekky.
 

don()shinobi

PokeBeach's Yu-Gi-Oh enthusiast. I guess.
Member
But wouldn't people usually use Shaymin and Pachirisu to charge up (no pun intended) a Zekrom?
 

Glace

Top 8, Worlds 2013
Advanced Member
Member
After a turn 1 or 2 Zekrom, you won't have the bench space to use another PS combo, and you probably won't have the resources to do it either.
 

Riskbreakers

The Brilliant Star☆
Member
Yoshidude10 said:
I'll support Tornadus's cause with my post.

Tornadus is that card that everyone underestimated until it actually started to see use. It's biggest function is serving as a Donphan counter, because without Tornadus, Zekrom almost always loses to it. Tornadus handles almost everything Zekrom cannot, and 80 damage is always nice for early game.

Though I'm not too sure how else Tornadus helps a deck other than countering Donphan. 110 HP is nothing to scoff at IMO, but I'm with you when I say that I don't see any other purpose for it (Machamp Prime counter for lol).

Edit: Yeah, glaceon also made a good point with a Hurricane combo. Hurricane, then move to a Benched Zekky.

Another purpose of Tornadus is it adds another attacker to open up an early assault. 80 damage T1 is nothing to scoff at especially since tornadus can abuse DCE and can benefit from only one electric from a pachi drop. It makes early assault so much easier to do.
 

don()shinobi

PokeBeach's Yu-Gi-Oh enthusiast. I guess.
Member
Riskbreakers said:
Another purpose of Tornadus is it adds another attacker to open up an early assault. 80 damage T1 is nothing to scoff at especially since tornadus can abuse DCE and can benefit from only one electric from a pachi drop. It makes early assault so much easier to do.
Couldn't you just as easily do the same with Zekrom and do more damage, though?
 

Glace

Top 8, Worlds 2013
Advanced Member
Member
Riskbreakers said:
Another purpose of Tornadus is it adds another attacker to open up an early assault. 80 damage T1 is nothing to scoff at especially since tornadus can abuse DCE and can benefit from only one electric from a pachi drop. It makes early assault so much easier to do.

It also gives another Pokemon to donk with.
 

don()shinobi

PokeBeach's Yu-Gi-Oh enthusiast. I guess.
Member
Ah, now THAT makes more sense.

Now, what about Reuniclus? It's easily killed off by Catcher, but it's still widely-used (...sorta) as a tech.
 

Glace

Top 8, Worlds 2013
Advanced Member
Member
Reuniclus is used mainly in trainer lock, where Catcher cannot harm it. In decks without Trainerlock, I think it's bad.
 

Dork Void

#OCCUPYALLTHINGS
Member
Yeah, you'll notice the only decks you see Reuniclus in are with Vileplume or Gothitelle because otherwise it gets killed way too fast by catcher. Now, I'm assuming you can tell why its ability is good, it can turn something with just 130 hp (which usually means a 2HKO in this format) into unkillable using seeker, blissey prime, and some high hp basics like zekrom. Anyway, something about Tornadus that nobody brought up is it doesn't get revenge KOed by Zoroark+Sp. Dark/PlusPower, so it helps there too. It also doesn't hurt itself with its attack so against something like Cincinno that hits for 90 or 100 it works better than Zekrom because it can live a hit. It can also use DCE to charge itself up faster. amd its first attack allows you to attack t2 even if you only get a Pachi and no Shaymin.
 

Nigel

Extra Spicy
Member
Pokefan4000 said:
Ah, now THAT makes more sense.

Now, what about Reuniclus? It's easily killed off by Catcher, but it's still widely-used (...sorta) as a tech.

It's only good in decks with trainerlock. For example, I play it in my Bearplume build, because then it cannot get Catchered. I do think, though, that Reuniclus is going to die when Kyogre ex comes out, because of it's double 50-damage snipe.
 

Glace

Top 8, Worlds 2013
Advanced Member
Member
If it does 50 to 2 different Pokemon, it isn't a problem. Reuniclus will remain strong until a good dragger comes out.
 

Dork Void

#OCCUPYALLTHINGS
Member
We already have Muk and Bellsprout, that is the best we are going to get in terms of draggers, so if Reuniclus can survive them it can survive any draggers. Also, Kyogre (aside from the fact that its a terrible card) can't OHKO Reuniclus anyway so Reuniclus will just move the damage away. The only things that work against Reuniclus other than draggers are SEL and Blastoise, neither of which are splashable in decks lacking water types, so Reuniclus sin't going to die until Vileplume gets rotated.
 

Slowbro

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Reuniclus: Great in trainer locking decks. Basically if they can't ohko you, they can't ko you.
Tyrogue: Many fast decks tech this card in because of donking. Combined with seeker, pluspower, and junk arm to an extent, you can donk a good amount of decks fairly easily.
Tornadus: A solid card that has the power to consistently deal 80 damage every turn with no bad effects.

Because at first glance, cards like Tornadus and Reuniclus don't seem that spectacular until you really delve into them.
That's the point. You really need to delve deep into those cards. Then you can tell why they are so good.
 

Izan

May Be More Crazy Than He Appears
Member
Tornadus: Donphan counter, Hurricane, DCE abuse.

Reuniclus: As stated above, only real use is in trainer lock decks to keep the main attacker safe while sitting safe on bench. I expect this will change in the near future however.
 
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