Pokemon Card of the Day: Flying Pikachu Reprint (Rising Rivals)

Today's Pokemon Card of the Day is the Flying Pikachu reprint from the Rising Rivals set. This is one of the 3 reprints of Pikachu you can get out of the Rising Rivals set, the other two are the Surfing Pikachu and the base set reprint of Pikachu. This Pikachu card has 40 hp which is a little weak for basic Pokemon, one of the other Pikachu cards does have 50 hp. However Pikachu does have no weakness so as long as it is going against another basic Pokemon it should be able to get knocked out in one move, and besides this card has a -30 resistance to fighting type Pokemon. I would have liked to see this card have a free retreat cost as well but it doesn't it has a one colorless energy retreat cost. This Pikachu card doesn't have a Poke-Power or Poke-Pody but most basic Pokemon don't. It does have two moves however, its first move is called Thundershock and for 1 electric energy card it does 10 hp damage and when you use this move you flip a coin, if it is heads the defending Pokemon is now Paralyzed and won't be able to attack the next turn. Pikachu's second move is called Fly and it is pretty expensive for a weak Pokemon like Pikachu, it takes 3 colorless energy cards and only does 30 damage, and you have to flip a coin besides when you use this move, if it is tails the move does nothing but if it is heads all effects of an attack are diminished the next turn against Pikachu and that includes damage. So overall I'm not even really going to go into strategy for this card because like Articuno from yesterday, this is more of a collector's card since it is a reprint, if I wanted to use Pikachu in my deck I would use a regular Pikachu card so I could evolve it into Raichu and eventually into Raichu Lv. X, but nevertheless this card is worth reviewing because of the beautiful artwork on the card and the nostalgia of reviewing it. So thanks for reading my latest card review and stay tuned for tomorrow's review of Rampardos from Platinum.

Pokemon Card of the Day: Altaria ex (EX Emerald)

Today's Pokemon Card of the Day is Altaria ex from EX Emerald. This is a stage 1 ex card and it only has 100 hp. But even though the hp is pretty low for an ex Pokemon card, it doesn't have a weakness so it will last a lot longer. At the same time Altaria doesn't have a resistance cost and it has a low retreat cost of 1 colorless energy card. Altaria's Poke-Body is called Mist and it says that any damage done to Altaria by stage 2 evolved Pokemon is reduced by 30, so even though Altaria has a low hp it will be able to last quite long if it goes against highly evolved Pokemon. Altaria ex has two moves, the first is called Dive and for one colorless energy card it does 20 hp damage, this is just a quick move in case you don't have much energy cards on Altaria. Altaria ex's second move is called Dragon Mist and for 3 energy cards, one water, one electric and one colorless it does 70 hp damage which is above average for amount of damage done by a 3 energy cost attack. As far as strategy goes I would definitely wait until I have 3 energy cards on Altaria ex before I move it into my active Pokemon spot. I would use Dragon Mist everytime and if I could I would wait and not use Altaria until my opponent has a stage 2 Pokemon card out there so I could utilize Altaria's Poke-Body. Also you'll probably either have to use some special energy cards in the deck you use this card with or use it in a water and electric type deck which usually works pretty well. I can think of a few other Pokemon who are both water and electric type, like Lanturn and Chinchou. So thanks for reading my review today and stay tuned for tomorrow's review.

Pokemon Card of the Day: Gengar ex (EX FireRed LeafGreen)

Today's Pokemon Card of the Day is Gengar ex from the FireRed LeafGreen set. This card has 150 hp which is pretty good for an ex card. It does have two types of Pokemon that it has a x2 weakness to though, Psychic and Darkness, which could make Gengar's hp seem a little lower. But to make up for this it does have a resistance of -30 hp to fighting and normal type Pokemon. It has a two colorless energy retreat cost which probably is around average for these types of cards. Gengar ex doesn't have a Poke-Body or Poke-Power but it does have two moves that are pretty good. The first move is called Poltergeist and takes two energy cards, one colorless and one Psychic, this move does 40 damage plus 10 more for each trainer card in your opponent's hand. So not only does this move do 40 damage for only two energy cards but you can look and see what your opponent has in their hand. Gengar's other move is called Prize Count and this move takes 3 energy cards, 2 Psychic and 1 colorless. This move does 60+ damage, it does 100 damage if you have more prize cards left than your opponent or 60 otherwise. So as far as strategy goes, if I could get out Gengar ex early in the game I would use Poltergeist as the first move so I could see what my opponent is planning to do. But otherwise I would use Prize Count since you should be able to knock out most Pokemon in two moves or less. So thanks for reading my review and stay tuned the Pokemon Card of the Day tomorrow.

Pokemon Card of the Day: Ampharos ex (EX Dragon)

Today's Pokemon Card of the Day is Ampharos ex from the EX Dragon set. This is an ex card so if it gets knocked out your opponent gets two prize cards. With that being said, Ampharos ex has 150 hp which is pretty good. It has a x2 weakness to fighting type Pokemon which is standard on ex Pokemon, but to my surprise it does have a resistance type, all be it to Metal type Pokemon and it is -30 hp resistance. It does have a fairly high retreat cost of 3 colorless energy cards. Ampharos ex's Poke-Body called Conductivity is a really powerful Poke-Body. When you have Ampharos ex in play everytime your opponent attaches an energy card to a Pokemon in play they have to add 10 damage to that Pokemon, you can only add 10 damage every turn using this move, so if your opponent adds more than 1 energy card that turn you can only add damage to one of their Pokemon that got an energy card. Ampharos ex's only move is called Gigavolt and does 40+ hp damage for only 3 energy cards, 1 electric, 2 colorless. When you do this move you flip a coin and if you get heads you add 30 damage to this attack if it is tails the defending Pokemon is paralyzed and therefore cannot attack the next turn. So as far as strategy goes it is really straightforward just use the Poke-Body as much as possible and you don't have any other choice what move to use You'll have to use Gigavolt. But this is a really good card and if you are able to use this card in your league I would definitely recommend it. So thanks for reading this review and stay tuned for tomorrow's review.

Pokemon Card of the Day: Empoleon Lv. X (Diamond and Pearl)

Today's Pokemon Card of the Day is Empoleon Lv. X from the Diamond and Pearl set. This card is right in the middle with an hp of 140, 1 Lv. X card in the set is higher the other Pokemon is lower. Surprisingly Empoleon Lv. X only has a +30 weakness to electric type Pokemon instead of a x2 weakness to a type of Pokemon most Lv. X cards have. Empoleon Lv. X has no resistance type and has an average retreat cost of two colorless energy cards. Empoleon Lv. X has one move and a Poke-Power, its Poke-Power is called Supreme Command and lets you every turn take two cards from the defending player's hand and put them face down next to the active Pokemon card, your opponent cannot use those cards during that turn. This is probably an early sign of the Lost Zone idea. Empoleon Lv. X's only move is called Hydro Impact and takes 3 water energy cards to execute. For 3 energy cards you can do 80 hp damage to any of your opponent's benched Pokemon, but you can't attack with Empoleon Lv. X the next turn. I would only use this move if I could one hit KO one of my opponent's benched Pokemon otherwise I would stick with the moves on the regular Empoleon card. I would use Empoleon's Poke-Power when I know my opponent needs to evolve Pokemon then I will prevent them from evolving by hopefully choosing the right cards to take from my opponent. Thanks for reading my review and stay tuned tomorrow's review of some card that I will choose in the next 24 hours.