Excadrill 97/160 -- Primal Clash Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Excadrill from the Primal Clash Pokemon Card Set.  This is the second of two Excadrill cards I've reviewed from this set.  Excadrill is a stage 1, metal type Pokemon card, with an hp of 110.  It has a x2 weakness to fire type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to psychic type Pokemon, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost.  This Excadrill card has an Ancient Trait called Barrage that says Excadrill may attack twice in a row if the first move Excadrill uses knocks out the defending Pokemon.  Besides the Ancient Trait, Excadrill has two moves, the first move is called Dredge, this move requires one colorless energy card to use and allows you to search your deck for 2 energy cards to put onto Excadrill.  Excadrill's second move is called Mach Claw, this move requires three energy cards to use, two colorless and one metal, and does 50 damage.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Excadrill is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Drilbur into play (I reviewed Drilbur from this set a week ago since it is a fighting type card) and then evolve Drilbur into Excadrill, there are actually two Excadrill cards from this set, and I'll be comparing both at the end of this section.  If you read my review of Drilbur, you'll know that I thought that card was a below average Basic Pokemon card, mainly due to the fact that the only move it had required coin flips to do any damage, so the card may do zero damage every turn.  Other than that, the card had a decent HP and could do up to 30 damage per turn.  So knowing this about Drilbur and looking at this Excadrill card, I would not recommend using either Pokemon in this family in a deck.  I wasn't a big fan of Drilbur because it may not do any damage every turn, I am not a fan of this Excadrill card because it only does below average damage every turn and is very slow on the attack, until you utilize its Ancient Trait, making this card able to do 100 damage a turn, which is well above average damage.  So if you're building a metal type deck and need some power, and the ability to attack twice per turn, possibly against two Pokemon, this is the card and line for you, I wouldn't hesitate to use a 2-2 line of Drilbur and Excadrill in a deck.  So after reviewing both Excadrill cards from this set, if both cards attacked only once per turn, yesterday's card was much better, but since that isn't the case, I would recommend this one.

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 Primal Clash set.  Other than being a little slower on the attack, this card is pretty great being able to do 100 damage a turn for only 3 energy cards plus having a high HP.  So again, if you're building a metal type deck, definitely utilize this card and its Ancient Trait.  Pairing with Drilbur from this set, I would give the two combined a 4 out of 5 rating, Excadrill carries most of the weight of the combined rating.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Excadrill from the Primal Clash set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Honedge, 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 --
How many metal type Pokemon cards are in the Primal Clash set?
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.

Excadrill 96/160 -- Primal Clash Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Excadrill from the Primal Clash Pokemon Card Set.  This is the first of two Excadrill cards I'll be reviewing consecutively.  Excadrill is a stage 1, metal type Pokemon card, with an hp of 100.  It has a x2 weakness to fire type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to psychic type Pokemon, and a two colorless energy card retreat cost.  This Excadrill card does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Drill Run, for one metal energy card this move does 20 damage, plus if you get a heads when you flip a coin, you may discard an energy card attached to the defending Pokemon.  Excadrill's second move is called Straight Claw, this move requires three energy cards to use, one metal and one colorless, and does 60 damage plus 30 more damage if you discard an energy card attached to Excadrill.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Excadrill is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Drilbur into play (I reviewed Drilbur from this set a week ago since it is a fighting type card) and then evolve Drilbur into Excadrill, there are actually two Excadrill cards from this set, and I'll be reviewing the second one tomorrow and then comparing the two.  If you read my review of Drilbur, you'll know that I thought that card was a below average Basic Pokemon card, mainly due to the fact that the only move it had required coin flips to do any damage, so the card may do zero damage every turn.  Other than that, the card had a decent HP and could do up to 30 damage per turn.  So knowing this about Drilbur and looking at this Excadrill card, I am not a big fan of either Pokemon in this line from the Primal Clash set.  Excadrill is definitely the better of the two cards, having two moves that both do at least average damage, but this card is not overpowering by any means and there are better ones out there to use.  If you do want to use this card in a deck, use a 1-1 line of Drilbur and Excadrill, and evolve Excadrill on the bench, then put it into the active Pokemon spot when you have three energy cards on it.  If you have a surplus of energy cards in your deck, you could always attach 4 or 5 energy cards to Excadrill then be able to do 90 damage a turn with Straight Claw multiple turns.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is an average Stage 1 Pokemon card from the Primal Clash set.  It has a good HP, and two average moves that can be more than average with doing a little more than just using the move straightforward.  Pairing this together with Drilbur, I would give them a 2 out of 5 rating, I am not a fan of this line, but it wouldn't be the worst line to use in a metal type deck either.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Excadrill from the Primal Clash set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of the second Excadrill 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 --
What is the highest rarity of any Excadrill card in the English sets?
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.

Excadrill EX -- Legendary Treasures Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:

Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Excadrill EX from the Legendary Treasures Pokemon Card Set.  Excadrill EX is a basic, EX, fighting type Pokemon card with an hp of 180. It has a x2 weakness to water type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to lightning type Pokemon, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost.  Excadrill EX does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Dig Out, for two colorless energy cards this move does 40 damage to your opponent's active Pokemon and makes you discard the top card from your deck, if it is an energy card you may put that card onto one of your Pokemon.  Excadrill's second move is called Break Ground, for four energy cards, two each of fighting and colorless, this move does 120 damage plus 10 damage to each of your opponent's benched Pokemon.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, because Excadrill EX is a basic Pokemon card you won't need to use any other cards with this card.  But remember, because this card is an EX card, if this card is knocked out, two prize cards are taken instead of one.  So knowing this, and seeing that the main move you'll want to use with this card is Break Ground which requires four energy cards to use, if you use this card in your deck, you'll only want to use one since it requires such a long time to set up.  You should keep this card on your bench until you get four energy cards on it, then move it to the active Pokemon spot and use Break Ground every turn.  This card will do well in a spread damage type deck since Break Ground also spreads damage around.  You shouldn't want to use this card for Dig Out because not only is it just an average move especially for an EX card, but you will be forced to take a card from your deck and discard it if it isn't an energy card.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion, this is an average to slightly above average EX card from the Legendary Treasures set.  If you're building a spread damage type deck, this card could be a nice addition to that deck, but this card only gets an average rating from me because it is slow on the attack, costs quite a bit to retreat, and even though this card has two moves, only one of them is worthwhile.  So this is a middle of the road EX card from the Legendary Treasures set and one that should really only be used in certain situations that I've outlined in this blog post.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Excadrill EX from the Legendary Treasures set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Meloetta EX, 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 --
How many total EX cards are in the Radiant Collection subset of the Legendary Treasures set?
Please respond by including the correct answer and a link to your YouTube channel.  Only one entry per person please.

Excadrill #57/108 -- Dark Explorers Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Excadrill from the Dark Explorers Pokemon Card Set.  This is the second of two consecutive Excadrill card reviews I'll be doing.  Excadrill is a stage 1, fighting type Pokemon, with an hp of 120.  It has a x2 weakness to water type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to electric type Pokemon, and a four colorless energy card retreat cost.  Excadrill doesn't have an Ability but it does have two moves, the first move is called Reinforced Drill and for three energy cards, two colorless and one fighting, it does 50 damage plus 30 more damage if you have a Pokemon Tool attached to this Pokemon.  Excadrill's second move is called Mach Claw and for four energy cards, three colorless and one fighting, it does 70 damage, plus this move can't be affected by resistance.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since this Excadrill card is much slower than yesterday's card you'll definitely want to set this card up on your bench.  Unlike yesterday's card, this card will fit better into a dual type deck since it requires mostly colorless energy cards.  If you can get a Pokemon Tool card on Excadrill I would use Reinforced Drill every turn and keep three energy cards on Excadrill, otherwise you'll have to put four energy cards on Excadrill and use Mach Claw every turn.  Since this card is fairly slow I wouldn't use more than 1 of these in a deck.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 2 out of 5 rating.  Compared to yesterday's Excadrill card this one is a major disappointment.  Even though both Excadrill cards have the same hp, weakness, and resistance, this card has a higher retreat cost, both moves cost more energy, and in my opinion neither move is as good as the moves on yesterday's card.  I would definitely recommend the other Excadrill over this one, and unless you really like Excadrill for some reason, I would stay away from this card, it is too slow for my tastes.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Excadrill from the Dark Explorers set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Scrafty from the Dark Explorers set.

Excadrill #56/108 -- Dark Explorers Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Excadrill from the Dark Explorers Pokemon Card Set.  This is the first of two consecutive Excadrill card reviews I'll be doing.  Excadrill is a stage 1, fighting type Pokemon, with an hp of 120.  It has a x2 weakness to water type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to electric type Pokemon, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost.  Excadrill doesn't have an Ability but it does have two moves, the first move is called Tunnel Strike and for one fighting energy card it does 30 damage to one of your opponent's benched Pokemon.  Excadrill's second move is called Dig Uppercut and for two fighting energy cards it does 50 damage and allows you to move a card from your discard pile into your hand.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, this is a great card to have in any fighting type deck.  It is a great card because it helps out spread damage type Pokemon, so you can use Tunnel Strike on some of your opponent's Pokemon then when you put a Pokemon in that does let's say 20 damage to all of your opponent's Pokemon you can knock out many Pokemon in 2 turns instead of 3.  What also makes this card very good is that Dig Uppercut does a good amount of damage for a low energy cost but it also allows you to move a card from your discard pile to your hand, this move then reduces the amount of cards you have to put into a deck of 1 Pokemon, so if you have a powerful Pokemon you want to use, instead of having to put 2 or 3 stage 2 cards in the deck you can put 1 or 2 and if that stage 2 card gets knocked out you can just retrieve that card from the discard pile and use that Pokemon again.  Also Dig Uppercut will help retrieve some energy cards one of your Pokemon possibly discarded every turn due to a stipulation on one of their moves.  So I would include this card in any fighting type deck I would have, I would have a 2-2 line of Excadrill and Drillbur, and preferably set this card up on the bench and move it into play when it has 2 fighting energy cards on it, but no matter when you move it into the active Pokemon spot you should be able to attack because surprisingly Excadrill is fairly quick.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 5 out of 5 rating.  We'll have to see how tomorrow's Excadrill card compares with this one, but I think this card is great!  It can really boost your overall deck.  Excadrill has a high hp, two great moves, and is really quick, the only downside is the retreat cost which is higher than the highest attack cost on this card but I still think this card is a great card.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Excadrill from the Dark Explorers set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of the second Excadrill card from the Dark Explorers set.