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010 | Caterpie | Bug | 195 |
011 | Metapod | Bug | 205 |
012 | Butterfree | Bug Flying | 395 |
025 | Pikachu Partner Pikachu | Electric | 430 |
048 | Venonat | Bug Poison | 305 |
049 | Venomoth | Bug Poison | 450 |
105 | Marowak Alolan Marowak | Fire Ghost | 425 |
127 | Pinsir Mega Pinsir | Bug Flying | 600 |
133 | Eevee Partner Eevee | Normal | 435 |
194 | Wooper | Water Ground | 210 |
195 | Quagsire | Water Ground | 430 |
223 | Remoraid | Water | 300 |
224 | Octillery | Water | 480 |
351 | Castform Sunny Form | Fire | 420 |
351 | Castform Rainy Form | Water | 420 |
351 | Castform Snowy Form | Ice | 420 |
382 | Kyogre Primal Kyogre | Water | 770 |
383 | Groudon Primal Groudon | Ground Fire | 770 |
386 | Deoxys Attack Forme | Psychic | 600 |
386 | Deoxys Defense Forme | Psychic | 600 |
386 | Deoxys Speed Forme | Psychic | 600 |
401 | Kricketot | Bug | 194 |
402 | Kricketune | Bug | 384 |
413 | Wormadam Sandy Cloak | Bug Ground | 424 |
413 | Wormadam Trash Cloak | Bug Steel | 424 |
550 | Basculin Red-Striped Form | Water | 460 |
550 | Basculin Blue-Striped Form | Water | 460 |
555 | Darmanitan Zen Mode | Fire Psychic | 540 |
557 | Dwebble | Bug Rock | 325 |
558 | Crustle | Bug Rock | 485 |
615 | Cryogonal | Ice | 515 |
731 | Pikipek | Normal Flying | 265 |
732 | Trumbeak | Normal Flying | 355 |
733 | Toucannon | Normal Flying | 485 |
734 | Yungoos | Normal | 253 |
735 | Gumshoos | Normal | 418 |
742 | Cutiefly | Bug Fairy | 304 |
743 | Ribombee | Bug Fairy | 464 |
747 | Mareanie | Poison Water | 305 |
748 | Toxapex | Poison Water | 495 |
755 | Morelull | Grass Fairy | 285 |
756 | Shiinotic | Grass Fairy | 405 |
759 | Stufful | Normal Fighting | 340 |
760 | Bewear | Normal Fighting | 500 |
764 | Comfey | Fairy | 485 |
767 | Wimpod | Bug Water | 230 |
768 | Golisopod | Bug Water | 530 |
769 | Sandygast | Ghost Ground | 320 |
770 | Palossand | Ghost Ground | 480 |
772 | Type: Null | Normal | 534 |
773 | Silvally | Normal | 570 |
774 | Minior Meteor Form | Rock Flying | 440 |
776 | Turtonator | Fire Dragon | 485 |
779 | Bruxish | Water Psychic | 475 |
780 | Drampa | Normal Dragon | 485 |
781 | Dhelmise | Ghost Grass | 517 |
782 | Jangmo-o | Dragon | 300 |
783 | Hakamo-o | Dragon Fighting | 420 |
784 | Kommo-o | Dragon Fighting | 600 |
785 | Tapu Koko | Electric Fairy | 570 |
786 | Tapu Lele | Psychic Fairy | 570 |
787 | Tapu Bulu | Grass Fairy | 570 |
788 | Tapu Fini | Water Fairy | 570 |
793 | Nihilego | Rock Poison | 570 |
794 | Buzzwole | Bug Fighting | 570 |
795 | Pheromosa | Bug Fighting | 570 |
796 | Xurkitree | Electric | 570 |
797 | Celesteela | Steel Flying | 570 |
798 | Kartana | Grass Steel | 570 |
799 | Guzzlord | Dark Dragon | 570 |
800 | Necrozma | Psychic | 600 |
802 | Marshadow | Fighting Ghost | 600 |
803 | Poipole | Poison | 420 |
804 | Naganadel | Poison Dragon | 540 |
805 | Stakataka | Rock Steel | 570 |
806 | Blacephalon | Fire Ghost | 570 |
807 | Zeraora | Electric | 600 |
808 | Meltan | Steel | 300 |
809 | Melmetal | Steel | 600 |
Basculin was one of easiest Pokemon to figure out in the game. It was there to get one hit on a really weak Pokemon and do nothing else. This made it kind of intriguing against decks that started with weak Basic Pokemon, which is probably enough to at least talk about if nothing else.80 HP was just low enough for Basculin to be Pokemon Catcher bait after the first few turns of a game, but it was okay for its early-game role. The Lightning Weakness could let the bulky Lightning-types that Basculin wanted nothing to do with KO it more easily.
Oct 18, 2010 What is the difference between red stripe basculin and blue stripe basculin? What determines the Basculin color you get via breeding in ORAS? Question about basculin? How can I maximize Final Gambit's use with my basculin? What pokemon is the most useful in benefiting from adaptability? How many Pokemon are EATEN in Pokemon?
In other words, it meant very little. Basculin’s low Retreat Cost, at just 1, meant that it was pretty easy to switch it out.Bite did 10 damage for a Colorless Energy, which was somehow worse than Base Set Rattata. I’ll let you all just think about that amazing fact before you move on.Bared Fangs was nice at 40 damage for a Water Energy, but it did nothing if the opponent didn’t have any damage counters on it before the attack! This just kind of ruined its attempt at a niche since it couldn’t just feast on Tynamo.Basculin being here is more of a cautionary tale. I’ve seen people try to use it and get its effect completely backwards, thinking it could only hit a Pokemon at full HP instead of being useless against them.
Don’t be one of those people. Next Destinies was the set that brought back Pokemon EX. This round of Pokemon EX were all Basic Pokemon with powers significantly better than normal Pokemon. While they gave up 2 Prizes when Knocked Out, they were so far ahead of their counterparts in many cases that they were the centerpiece of the majority of top decks for a significant period of time. Of course, there were some that weren’t so great, but Next Destinies started off with the incredible Mewtwo EX.
That alone was enough, and Zekrom EX, Kyurem EX, and Reshiram EX weren’t bad either.There were a few other notable cards as well. Pokemon such as Gardevoir and Chandelure had their occasional moments in the spotlight, and Shiftry had a very interesting run in the Expanded format after it had rotated out of Standard.
Amoonguss could work in one of those less expensive decks for decent effect. Heavy Ball, Level Ball, Skyarrow Bridge, and Prism Energy all found spots in several decks. There was a ton to take in in this set and it changed the game in a huge way.1561: Pinsir1562: Shaymin EX1563: Amoonguss1564: Arcanine #121565: Chandelure #201566: Reshiram EX1567: Articuno1568: Basculin1569: Vanilluxe1570: Kyurem EX1571: Zapdos1572: Luxray1573: Zebstrika1574: Zekrom EX1575: Mewtwo EX1576: Gardevoir1577: Musharna1578: Darmanitan1579: Beheeyem1580: Shiftry1581: Wigglytuff1582: Regigigas EX1583: Cinccino1584: Cilan1585: Exp. Share1586: Heavy Ball1587: Level Ball1588: Pokemon Center1589: Skyarrow Bridge1590: Prism Energy. The Next Destinies set was the first of the generation to include a large amount of Pokemon from outside of Unova, and Pinsir was the first of these. It lacked the crazy power and bulk that some other Basic Pokemon had, yet it was intriguing despite this for its Energy disruption and locking potential.
Whether it could get by the coin flips of the first and survive to use the second attack remained to be seen.80 HP wasn’t all that rare for a Basic Pokemon, but it wasn’t keeping up with the likes of Zekrom, Reshiram, or Terrakion. It was actually just low enough that most attackers could KO in one hit. This made life tough on Pinsir, who seemed to be aimed toward slower play. The Fire Weakness didn’t mean much due to the vulnerable HP number, at least. The Retreat Cost here, at 2, was just high enough that you’d probably want an alternative way to switch Pinsir out if it did survive long enough.Power Pinch needed 2 Colorless Energy to get 2 coin flips. Each heads discarded an Energy on the Defending Pokemon.
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Pinsir really needed a double heads flip to make this worthwhile since it did no damage at all. Victini could help, but even then the odds only added up to 56% for that. This, added with the popularity of decks that thrived off getting Energy out of the discard pile, made Power Pinch a poor move in most situations.Grip and Squeeze had a bit more potential. While 70 damage for 2 Grass and a Colorless Energy was below average for a competitive deck in 2012, it also prevented the Defending Pokemon from retreating for a turn. This also meant that Float Stone on that Pokemon meant nothing if playing in the BLW-On or NXD-On format.
If Keldeo EX was around, on the other hand, the effect didn’t matter at all. Still, locking something vulnerable up front to be chipped away at could certainly work, especially if you saw a lot of the likes of Dusknoir or Garbodor around.Pinsir was really odd since it could be pretty cool against some really annoying supporting Pokemon but fell flat against any deck not using them. You obviously didn’t want to use Pinsir as the base of a deck.
If you did want to use Pinsir, especially in the BLW-On format where Pokemon Catcher was at full power along with more supporting Pokemon on the Bench gave this card a small chance in a deck already running Grass-types. The type itself wasn’t that great in an attacking role when it came to Pokemon using its Energy at that point, however, so Pinsir was more of an intriguing choice for casual decks. The Next Destinies set had no shortage of Legendary Pokemon. Zapdos was yet another one of these. This one brought some Bench damage and a flippy but potentially very powerful attack. It also had high Energy costs.
Coin flips and using a ton of Energy was usually a combination that made a card useless, but this was a Lightning-type that paired with Eelektrik and had a Resistance to Fighting instead of a Weakness. Suddenly, instead of binder fodder, you had a card that fought for a slot in a really good deck.120 HP was a very good number for a Basic Pokemon. It was still low enough to fall to the bigger attacks, whether it was from the earlier Reshiram, a Mewtwo EX, or the later Kyurem or Black Kyurem EX. It was also high enough to handle one hit from Darkrai EX if it wasn’t damaged beforehand. A Weakness to Lightning was a bit odd for a Lightning-type, and did cause some issues in mirror matches and could help Thundurus EX if you were still using it at that point for some reason.
![Basculin Basculin](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/pkmnshuffle/images/8/88/Stage_594_-_Basculin_%28Red-Striped%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20171004172058)
![Basculin Basculin](https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/pkmnshuffle/images/2/24/Basculin_%28Blue-Striped%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20170409031938)
The Fighting Resistance mattered mostly against Donphan and Landorus EX. Terrakion’s fortunes didn’t change due to it compared to if it hit Zapdos neutrally, but that was still something of an advantage for Zapdos compared to almost every other Lightning-type. Most Lightning-types had the Weakness that allowed Terrakion to plow through rather easily, after all.
Zapdos also needed 2 Energy to retreat. It was nice to have switching cards for Eelektrik decks anyway, since Eelektrik was such easy Pokemon Catcher bait even for weaker decks, so Zapdos could take advantage of those if needed.Random Spark needed a Lightning and 2 Colorless Energy to deal 50 damage to 1 of the opponent’s Pokemon. Being able to hit the Bench was nice at times even if the cost was pretty high for what you were getting.
It did let you take out a weakened Pokemon or a low-HP basic like a Tynamo without using up a Pokemon Catcher, which was some nice utility.Thundering Hurricane was a wild attack that relied on coin flips but could be incredibly powerful. The base cost was a Lightning and 3 Colorless Energy. This was a lot, of course, but if any type could handle that it was Lightning and its Eelektrik support. The attack got you 4 coin flips.
Each heads did 50 damage. While relying on coin flips was still really risky, having 4 coin flips made it much more likely that Zapdos would do what it needed to do. There was, in fact, an 11 in 16 chance that this attack would reach at least 100 damage.
The 1 in 4 chance of only 50 and 1 in 16 of doing nothing really hurt, but the other side of things gave equal odds to 150 and 200. If you were going to use a flip-based attack that only did damage, this was the one you wanted to pick.Zapdos was a surprisingly nice choice in late HGSS-On and early BLW-On Eelektrik decks. It provided a Fighting Resistance instead of a Weakness and, while a bit luck-based, had enough damage potential and a high enough chance of success to be worth using. Later Eelektrik decks eventually ditched Zapdos in favor of running decks around some non-Lightning attackers such as Rayquaza EX, but Zapdos certainly had its place for a while. It certainly achieved more than most cards built the way it was. The first of the Pokemon EX in the Next Destinies set was Shaymin EX. It lacked the consistent big hit and absurd HP of the others, and yet it still gave up 2 Prizes.
Why even bother? It did provide a surprise hit late in the game if you could drop it when your opponent had taken most of their Prizes and, if you could provide just a little bit of Energy acceleration or movement, just smash something right when you needed to. Was it situational? But it was an interesting niche and getting that Legendary Treasures reprint gave it one extra format to try to find use.Shaymin EX’s 110 HP was low for a Pokemon EX.
While it was still good for Basic Pokemon standards and could take hits from some sources, it would just melt to the biggest attacks in formats it was available in. Giving up 2 Prizes was never good. This meant that you had to be very careful when using this as a late-game attacker since it was best in situations where you lost if it was Knocked Out. There was a Fire Weakness here. For earlier formats, such as HGSS-On and BLW-On, this wasn’t that bad since Fire wasn’t that great and the ones you might see were powerful enough not to care.
Later formats made it harder with Charizard EX, Pyroar, and even the occasional Flareon. The -20 Fighting Resistance was nice, at least, for various Donphan decks along with Terrakion, Landorus EX, Lucario and the like. Shaymin EX also needed only a single Energy to retreat, which could be nice in some spots where you got a KO, survived a turn, and wanted to let something else finish up for whatever reason.Synthesis needed a Grass Energy and let you search your deck for a Grass Energy to attack to 1 of your Pokemon. Interesting, but not what you wanted to use your relatively frail Pokemon EX for.Revenge Blast was what Shaymin EX was here for.
Okay, so 30 damage for 2 Energy was bad, but 30 more was added for each Prize card your opponent had taken. This could be amazingly powerful late in a game, reaching 150 or even 180 damage. If your opponent was down to a single Prize, Shaymin could Knock Out any Pokemon EX from a gen 5 set. You did need some element of surprise since putting a Shaymin EX down made it a target to get rid of quickly.
The HGSS-On format had Celebi Prime or Meganium Prime to work with, while later decks using Grass Energy might add Energy Switch to allow plays like this to work. The surprise factor was huge when using Shaymin EX.Shaymin EX wasn’t really a staple in any deck, but it was an option when building a deck already running Grass Energy and a way to move Energy around. A quick drop of a Pokemon that could KO a very important opponent late in a game was a big deal. It was also hard to find a place where it was going to either win a game or not be Knocked Out itself when it didn’t. These factors made Shaymin EX a niche option that you’d occasionally see 1 copy of in a deck like CMT or Virizion/Genesect. It had its place if the surprise factor was desired.
Articuno’s Next Destinies card looked a lot like a powered-up version of the original Articuno in the Fossil set. It still needed the same amount of Energy (though with some of it now being Colorless) and mostly just raised the damage output and HP number of the original. The original had a nice role in Blastoise decks, and there was at least a Blastoise to use in the BLW-On format. That had to mean something, right?120 HP was impressive for a Basic Pokemon, though it was just below the likes of Reshiram and Zekrom.
It was also just low enough for those, along with Kyurem, to score a KO, and could run into problems against Mewtwo EX. On the other hand, it could take a hit from Darkrai EX at full health, which was a pretty notable mark for a Basic Pokemon that wasn’t an EX. The Metal Weakness was annoying against Cobalion and Cobalion EX but could have been much worse.
A Fighting Resistance didn’t change too much when up against Terrakion, to be fair, but Landorus EX and Donphan found it much harder to actually deal enough damage to get a Prize. Articuno also needed 2 Energy to retreat. That, in the era of Pokemon Catcher, was high enough that you’d probably want some help from Switch, Float Stone, or something similar.Ice Beam was just underpowered. 50 damage with a flip for Paralysis wasn’t enough for a Water and 2 Colorless Energy in 2012.Ice Wing was stronger. 80 damage wasn’t bad, but a Water and 3 Colorless was a bit expensive for it since most attackers getting by with that number did it for 3 Energy at most.Articuno was based on a rather successful Pokemon, but it wasn’t powered up enough for the format it found itself in. You weren’t getting by with 50 for 3 and 80 for 4 anymore.
Blastoise decks had far better partners, such as Keldeo EX and Black Kyurem EX, and that left Articuno as a marginal casual deck choice at best. There would be no reliving the old Blastoise/Articuno decks this time around. Vanilluxe got its second card in the Next Destinies set, following on the heels of the first card that found itself as a star of a pretty good deck.
This Vanilluxe, instead of locking things down with Paralysis, aimed to get its teammates out of said lock. It was a niche, but a niche on a Stage 2, which always begged the question of whether it could actually be worth using in a deck.130 HP was normal on a Stage 2 and just high enough to take those hits from Zekrom and Reshiram if needed. The number was good enough for the HGSS-On you’d want to use it in, anyway. The Metal Weakness wasn’t the worst, though it made the Klinklang/Cobalion match-up a lot worse. Vanilluxe needed 2 Energy to retreat, but there was Slippery Soles to work withThat Ability, Slippery Soles, let you switch your Active Pokemon with 1 of your Benched Pokemon once per turn. If you did so, your opponent had to switch as well, though they got to pick what they switched to.
This was usually a net positive for the Vanilluxe player since getting an important Pokemon in front for free was good as long as the opponent didn’t have the right Pokemon to react to the switch-in. Now, using a Stage 2 for just this wasn’t quite enough, but Vanilluxe could slot into an existing VVV deck alongside the other Vanilluxe since it worked really nicely in the mirror match.
It wasn’t great outside of that but had its moments.Crushing Ice started at 60 damage for a Water and 2 Colorless Energy, which was rather low. 10 more was added for each Energy in the Defending Pokemon’s Retreat Cost. You’d probably average around 80 with this, which was workable, but it was really only useful if you needed to guarantee more damage for a KO than the other Vanilluxe could provide. If something would survive an attack from this, another attacker would almost always be better.This Vanilluxe had a tiny place as a possible tech in a deck with the other Vanilluxe.
Slippery Soles gave it a leg up in a match between Vanilluxe decks. It wasn’t required by any means since it wasn’t going to contribute nearly as much against almost anything else, but if you were expecting to see a lot of VVV then this might have been worth a try. There was already a Reshiram EX and Kyurem EX in the Next Destinies set, so it was only fitting that there was a Zekrom EX as well.
Of course, Lightning didn’t need any more good attackers to play alongside Eelektrik, but that wasn’t going to stop more from showing up. This Zekrom had higher HP and a stronger attack than the lower form but required more Energy and couldn’t use Outrage when low on HP. These trade-offs meant that it might not have been a straight replacement for Zekrom. Even being equal to something that could would be enough to be a top-tier threat, at least.180 HP was spectacular. Sure, it was balanced somewhat by giving up 2 Prizes when Knocked Out, but only Pokemon picking on the Fighting Weakness or Black Kyurem EX were likely to do that. Other Pokemon took 2 or sometimes even 3 attacks to chip away at that.
One annoying trait here was that Zekrom EX needed a lot of Energy to retreat. You didn’t want to pay 3 Energy even in a deck running Eelektrik. Bring along your Switch and Float Stone.Glinting Claw technically existed, I guess.
50 damage with a flip for 30 more for 3 Energy? Not enough in 2012, especially for a Lightning-type.You were really here for Strong Volt. Sure, it required 4 Energy and discarding of 2, 150 damage was just below what was needed to KO a Pokemon EX, but it was enough to take out a lot of those Stage 2 Pokemon that the main Zekrom couldn’t. That, along with the bulk and lack of recoil, was Zekrom EX’s niche in a Lightning deck. Not huge, but very nice in some games.Zekrom EX was another really nice attacker that Eelektrik could work with. The need to discard worked very nicely with Eelektrik’s ability to recycle them, making it a natural fit.
It was amazing that this card wasn’t a must-run. There were simply so many incredible choices to work with that you sometimes just ended up cutting a couple of attackers like this. Zekrom Ex was still a reasonably common sight late in the HGSS-On and for a while in the BLW-On formats even with the likes of Zekrom, Tornadus EX, Raikou EX, Zapdos, Mewtwo EX, and Rayquaza EX being competition. It was that good. Every once in a while, a card would be released with the same name as an older card but with a completely different effect.
The original Pokemon Center removed all damage counters from your Pokemon then discarded all Energy on any Pokemon that had damage counters removed. This card, obviously, did not do that.This Pokemon Center was a Stadium card that let each player heal 20 damage from a Benched Pokemon once per turn. It was a really neutral Stadium that both sides could take advantage of. It was also of limited use due to the high power of attacks and availability of Pokemon Catcher to just snipe something weakened off the Bench before Pokemon Center could heal it much.
As a result, the card was rare in decks. Share was a Pokemon Tool that you could attach to 1 of your Pokemon, preferably one on the Bench. When your Active Pokemon was Knocked Out by damage from an opponent’s attack, you could move a basic Energy card from that Pokemon to the Pokemon that had Exp. The card wasn’t a very common sight in most decks due to careful Energy management being able to mitigate the need for this card, but there were exceptions. Decks relying on Pokemon that needed a few Energy to get going and didn’t have good acceleration, such as those relying heavily on Terrakion, could make good use of this.
Spirit halloween store. It could help those decks keep a swarm of attackers going. While not required even there, it had a role to play for somewhat slower decks.
Heracross-EX, as a Pokemon that also had a Mega, had two chances to get use. The first chance was, of course, to be good enough on its own. Heracross-EX’s attempt at realizing this was with rather good power. Said power came with a major drawback, but this was a game where you needed to either hit hard or disrupt and the card was capable of strength.170 HP was the typical number for a Pokemon-EX, being what a lot of stronger attackers aimed for with the help of things like Muscle Band, Hypnotoxic Laser, and the Crobat line. A Fire Weakness was one of the easier ones to deal with since the biggest threat there was Flareon in BCR-On and the type was quite rare in XY-On. One nasty spot was the Retreat Cost, as 3 Energy was a lot to ask.
Switch and Float Stone were still available as usual and were helpful here as always.Guard Press was pretty bad. 40 damage was not enough for a Grass and a Colorless Energy without a really good side effect. The side effect here was that any damage done to Heracross-EX by attacks during the opponent’s next turn was reduced by 20. That wasn’t enough to justify making that little progress in a turn.Giga Power was closer to being good. It started at 80 damage for 2 Grass and a Colorless Energy, which was just a bit short of ideal.
Luckily, you could choose to do 40 more damage. That was 120, which was a rather impressive number that could just poke at some Pokemon-EX with a bunch of boosts and did take out Megas in 2 hits. The problem was that Heracross-EX did 20 damage to itself if it did so, making it slightly more vulnerable to attacks at around the same power level.
It wasn’t quite enough to make 120 with just a Muscle Band a KO, at least, so it wasn’t devastating. Caution was still required.Heracross-EX was capable of punching some holes in a team.
It also set itself up for being taken town while it did so. This resulted in a card that was somewhat workable but not outstanding by any means. There was also that Mega to deal with, which will be looked into next time.
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