Volcarona 17/98 -- Ancient Origins Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Volcarona from the Ancient Origins Pokemon Card Set.  This is the first of two Volcarona  cards I'll be reviewing consecutively.  Volcarona is a stage 1, fire type Pokemon card, with an hp of 100.  It has a x2 weakness to water type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a one colorless energy card retreat cost.  Volcarona does not have an Ability or Ancient Trait but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Solar Birth, for one colorless energy card this move allows you to search your deck for a Basic Pokemon card, put it onto your bench, and then attach two energy cards from your deck to that Pokemon.  Volcarona's second move is called Flamethrower, for two energy cards, one each of fire and colorless, this move does 60 damage, however you must discard an energy attached to Volcarona after using Flamethrower.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Volcarona is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Larvesta into play (I reviewed Larvesta from this set yesterday) and then evolve Larvesta into Volcarona, there are actually two Volcarona cards from this set, and I'll be reviewing the second one tomorrow and then comparing the two.  If you read yesterday's review of Larvesta, I thought it was a slightly below average Basic Pokemon card, mainly because it only had one move and that move required two energy cards to use instead of one.  However, Larvesta did have an above average HP, and a good move, so it wasn't all bad, and would be a perfect starter in the Larvesta - Volcarona line.  So knowing this about Larvesta and looking at this Volcarona, this line is definitely in play when building a fire type deck.  What I really like about this Volcarona card is its Solar Birth move, as long as you get Volcarona into the active Pokemon spot very early in the game, you can quickly get your Basic Pokemon set up on the bench very quickly.  Plus, if you get Volcarona into the active Pokemon spot early in the game and don't want to use Solar Birth, Flamethrower does above average damage each and every turn.  Because the main reason to use this card is for Solar Birth and not an attacking move, I would only recommend using a 1-1 line of these two Pokemon in a deck.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 4 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is an above average Stage 1 Pokemon card from the Ancient Origins set.  There really isn't anything that I greatly dislike about this card, it has a high HP, low retreat cost, and two very good moves, one for attacking, the other for setting up your bench.  So combined with Larvesta from this set, I can give these two cards a 4 out of 5 rating, definitely consider them when building a deck.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Volcarona from the Ancient Origins set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of the second Volcarona card, which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
True or False?  Volcarona is the only fire type Pokemon in Ancient Origins to have two cards.
Please respond by including your YouTube username and link to your YouTube channel.  If the question is quite tough, the first correct comment will win, otherwise I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner.