This past weekend we had the Pokemon Call of Legends prerelease and let's be honest here. The set is a Promo nightmare with a few hit cards. But not enough to right home about. Well, I am so I just lost a Prize Card for this one. Anyways as I was saying the set is promo's and reprints of cards that we already had. Which was a disappointment as people where hoping for Bebe's Search, Claydol <GE> or just reprints of the HGSS Primes.
Which none came to be. Instead we got Pidgey <TM> and Mawile <UD> not exactly cards any one is proud to have and many many others. But not all where total wastes as we got Ninetails <HS> , Slowking <HS> and Smeargle <UD> The promo's that where unreleased in the states where underwhelming at best. With the best one being Deoxys and his Attack Cell Storm which cost's 3 Psychic to attack for 60 and remove 6 damage counters from him. He might see play in some decks. But let's be honest that's a 3 turn set up for 60 damage. Not a real exiting prospect in this day and age of SP's.
But enough complaining let's look at some cards that really shine and can be used in competitive decks.
Mr. Mime and his PokePower: Trick Reveal is straight up a fun power to use. In Lostgar decks being able to see for free if your opponent has any Pokemon in hand is a good way to decide to either use Spiritombs PokePower Spooky Whirlpool or even to Judge, Looker's or any other means to make your opponent shuffle their hand back and get a new hand will help. Then Seeker Mr. Mime up or Super Scoop it and drop it all over again. It is honestly a brilliant play and one that I can honestly see being used in some many Lostgar Decks and VileGar as well.
Lucario is a interesting card. Dimension Sphere does 30 damage plus 20 more for each of your Pokemon in the Lost Zone. Honestly, with LostGar more than likely becoming one of the most overplayed decks I see this hurting Lucario. Yet still if your down and have 4 Pokemon in the lost zone or even 2 this attack because beastly. It alone can take out most SP's if played right and even dent might the Mighty Gengar Prime and one shot the lovely Mew Prime. But it's second attack Sky Uppercut is this cards true shining glory. 70 and not affected by resistance! Well hello there let's lay down the smack down. The only draw back is the two fighting and one colorless. It does slow it down but not enough to completely discard it. This is one card that could become a rogue in the right hands of player with enough ingenuity.
Jirachi what is there to say that isn't obvious this card looks horrible because it doesn't do damage. Well it doesn't have to. This is a great tech card and one that can be used to annoy your opponent. So they rare candied up a Ghastly to a Gengar and are set and ready to go for a alittle Lostgar action. Wait hold on Time Hollow I have 2 Psychic energy and you have only two evolved Pokemon. Well those two now lose their top evolutions setting back a turn or more. It also can be used as a knockout tool. They retreat you have Jirachi in hand and then play it flip 3 coins and get 2 out of 3 heads. After they had whiffed on Super Scooping said prized Pokemon. You switch Jirachi to your active and see ya later as those Pokemon get swept up and into your opponents hand. Hmm, yeah this card really sucks as I heard time and time again at the prerelease. Sorry folks but this is one card that can be annoying. It also can be a game changer if played in the right situation. Do I see it taking over a game. Only in perfect conditions. Do I see it possibly slowing down certain decks. Yes I do.
Oh Snorlax how I love thee. Easily one of the most entertaining Pokemon in the Anime series and one of the largest walls in the game. With 100hp this thing is a wall unto itself. But what makes this card so great is it's first attack Layabout Remove all damage counters from Snorlax. Snorlax can't use Layabout during your next turn. All for 3 colorless energy. Well that's not great can't use it in consecutive turns. But who would want to outside of a fighting and someone coming in and laying a large blow Snorlax can help you set up. The second attack Clomp Clomp Clobber for 80 is wonderful as long as you can expend energy to The Lost Zone. Which a a lot of players will. But 4 colorless is a huge number but easily done. Do I see this card competively possibly in certain decks. But it will more than likely see more league play than anything.
Tangrowth is one card that will be fun to watch when the set's rotate. With it's first attack Grind does 20 damage times the amount of energy cards attached to it. This can be devastating in the right deck. Back during the Base, Jungle and Fossil day's Lapras had a similar effect and was ruler of all in the mighty Old School Raindance deck. Can this one do the same? Time will only tell. Now for the second attack Plow Over 30 flip a coin. If heads the defending Pokemon is now paralyzed. If tails put 1 energy card attached to the defending Pokemon in the Lost Zone. WOW!! 30 damage one grass and 1 double colorless and no real failure in either of the coin flips. Er.. What was I saying that this card might not be playable now? I think I just changed my tune here. This card is playable and can be truly destructive. If a deck is built around it can it be a top cut deck currently. Doubtful with Blakien FB still out there I can see it blaring through this. Yet this can be a fun rogue deck if you build it right.
It's Baby Time! Well yeah anyways. I think I just lost all my readers with that one. Mime Jr. Has two purposes and both revolve around hand destruction decks and stall. With the PokeBody Sweet Sleeping Face as long as Mime Jr. is asleep prevent all damage down to Mime Jr. by attacks. Well that isn't fun now is it. With his 30 HP's just sitting there he should be one shot. But 50% of the time he will be asleep and with Sleep Lost as his no energy attack he just get's more disgusting. Put the top card of your opponent's deck in The Lost Zone. Ouch! Yes that is all I can say is ouch. After playing with this in my Houndoom deck I found this card to be truly annoying to my opponent and funny to watch as they sat there wish it wasn't asleep only for me to wake up on my turn and drop him back to sleep and fail on my coin flip. He is easily donked but even then so are Unowns and those see tons of play. This is one card that can be really annoying and also a great way to set up if you keep failing your flips.
In a format with out Uxie Relicanth will see ton's of play. With his base attack Prehistoric Wisdom choose a card from your hand and put it in The Lost Zone. Then draw 3 cards. That attack alone will be used repeatedly by players as draw cards will be moved from Pokemon Powers to just supporters and attacks on Pokemon like the Promo Cleffa's Eeeeeeek which was reprinted in Call of Legends. But what about the second attack? Well folks Granite Head can be one of the most frustrating attacks in Pokemon today. Where Expert Belts are played all over the place. This little attack can buy you a turn for your personal set up. Granite heads 30 and then -30 from your opponents attacks next turn. All for a Water and 2 colorless energy really is amazing. Which works out really well in decks like BlastGatr as not only a draw card but a stall card as well.
Lost Remover or as I should call it Special Energy Only Removal. This will be a situtional tech card at best. Best used against SP decks that are running Double Colorless Energy and decks primed with any special energy. Outside of that this card is useless and just Junk Arm fodder or used for Bebe's Search. So is it useless no but would I prime a spot for it in my deck. Maybe as a tech and run at max 2. But even then I can think of other cards more worthy.
Lost World possibly the most over hyped fear inducing card to come out in years. The last time I saw fear like this was back when the first Neo set came out. When people ran for the hills because of Sneasel and Slowking had just been released. So let's be honest will this card rule the game? No it will not. Will it be competitive yes I see that. But I do not see it being a top 8 deck at worlds. I see a SP deck more than likely taking that spot. Even then I do not discard Lost World and the entire LostGar deck. The set up to make sure that your opponent always has cards to shoot to the Lost Zone does not require any set up with Looker's, Judge, Spiritombs Spooky Whirlpool any of those can be in your hand. Then team it with Mr. Mime where you can show your hands. Yikes. But where this deck's loses steam is decks that can pop prize cards like candy. So yes it is beatable but at the same time I see it being competitive in the right hands.
What can I say about this card. Other than legal deck stacking. I have heard many players say this card is complete crap and others glowing all over it. Consider me in the latter of this group. Research record is a card that I will use in a majority of my decks as a way to set up cards that I need. It is a way honestly to make sure your deck just run smoother. Right now in the time of Uxie alot of people will discard it. Yet those players will miss out on what is in my honest opinion the best card in this set. With all the Lost World Hype this card here serves more purpose in more decks than Lost World does.
I know a lot of players are saying that this is a horrible set. So I am going to be honest. This set has just as many playable cards as most set's do. But what set's this one apart from so many others and what makes it so hated is the fact that it is 80-90% reprints of cards no one wants. Which I will agree with as I am done with getting packs for this set and will instead focus on buying and trading for singles. Is it the worst set ever? No I would still give that to the first Team Rocket set as the only cards to be playable from that where Rocket's Sneak Attack and Nightly Garbage run and nothing else.
Rocket Reviewer Michelle
