Murkrow -- Phantom Forces Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:

Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Murkrow from the Phantom Forces Pokemon Card Set.  Murkrow is a basic, darkness type Pokemon card with an hp of 60.  It has a x2 weakness to lightning type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to fighting type Pokemon, and a one colorless energy card retreat cost. Murkrow does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Ambush, this move requires one darkness energy card and does 10 damage plus 10 more damage if you get a heads when you flip a coin.  Murkrow's second move is called Wing Attack, this move requires three energy cards, two colorless and one darkness and does 30 damage.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Murkrow is a basic Pokemon card with a stage 1 evolution in Honchkrow, which I'll be reviewing tomorrow, you'll more than likely want to use this card with that Pokemon.  However, since I haven't reviewed that card yet, I'll just act as though I plan on using this card without its evolution.  So, on its own this card could be used as a starter type Pokemon in a deck because it has a good HP and low retreat cost plus two moves, the first requiring only one energy card and doing up to 20 damage per turn.  So if you're building a darkness type deck, I would definitely recommend taking a look at this card for your deck, and I would recommend using up to two of these in a deck getting this card into the active Pokemon spot early in the game and using Ambush every turn.  Unless you're using this card with Honchkrow, I would not put 3 energy cards on this card to do only 30 damage.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  So in my opinion, on its own, without considering Honchkrow, this card is an average Basic Pokemon card from the Phantom Forces set.  The only thing I don't like about this card is the amount of energy cards and damage Murkrow's Wing Attack can do.  Other than that, this card has a good first move, low retreat cost, and a good HP.  So this card is definitely worth consideration in decks.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Murkrow from the Phantom Forces set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Murkrow's stage 1 evolution Honchkrow, 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?  Murkrow has always been darkness type in the English TCG.
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.

Gigalith -- Phantom Forces Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Gigalith from the Phantom Forces Pokemon Card Set.  Gigalith is a stage 2, fighting type Pokemon card, with an hp of 140.  It has a x2 weakness to grass type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost.  Gigalith's Ability is called High Density Armor, this ability reduces attacks done to Gigalith by 50 if Gigalith is attacked when it has a full HP and no damage on it.  Besides the Ability, Gigalith just has one move called Overdrive Smash, this move requires four energy cards, three fighting and one colorless, and does 60 damage plus 40 more damage if you use Overdrive Smash two turns in a row.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Gigalith is a stage 2 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Roggenrola into play and then evolve it into Boldore before you can evolve Boldore into Gigalith, both of those Pokemon are from this set and I've reviewed both of them the last couple of days.  If you've read my reviews of those cards you'll know that both cards weren't above average and combined I gave them a 2 out of 5 rating, both could do a fair amount of damage but both were slow on the attack and had high retreat costs.  So knowing this about the first two Pokemon in this line and looking at this Gigalith card, if you want a very powerful Pokemon in your deck, this card is definitely worth a look.  Since it is a Stage 2 card, you're going to have to be patient to be able to use this card, I would set up this entire line on the bench since it requires many energy cards to attack, and by moving Gigalith into the active Pokemon spot when it has four energy cards on it, will allow you to use Gigalith's Ability the first time that it is attacked.  Of course, since this card only has one move, you'll just need to use this move turn after turn.  I would try and include some Potion cards in the deck to keep Gigalith's Ability as close to full as possibility to utilize its Ability more.  This card like I said is powerful, but I can't see building a deck around this card, so I wouldn't use more than a 1-1-1 line of this family.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is an average Stage 2 Pokemon card from the Phantom Forces set.  I like how this card has a good Ability that makes the card good defense wise, and the one move it has can basically do 80 damage per turn.  However, when I include this card with the first two Pokemon in this family from the Phantom Forces set, I can only give the line a 3 out of 5 rating at the best.  Overall, the line is slow, can do great attacks, but also have very high retreat costs.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Gigalith from the Phantom Forces set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Murkrow, 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 Gigalith card in the English TCG?
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.

Boldore -- Phantom Forces Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Boldore from the Phantom Forces Pokemon Card set.  Boldore is a stage 1, fighting type Pokemon card, with an hp of 90.  It has a x2 weakness to grass type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost.  Boldore does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Core Heal, for one fighting energy card, you can choose to discard a fighting type energy attached to Boldore, if you do, it heals 50 damage from it.  Boldore's second move is called Power Gem, this move requires three fighting type energy cards and does 60 damage.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Boldore is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Roggenrola into play (I reviewed Roggenrola from this set yesterday) and then evolve Roggenrola into Boldore.  Boldore does have a stage 2 evolution in Gigalith that you'll probably want to use with this Pokemon line but since I haven't reviewed that card yet, the strategy below will act like Boldore is the final evolution in this line.  So if you read yesterday's review of Roggenrola, you'll know that I thought that card was a below average Basic Pokemon card, even though the card could do 30 damage a turn and had a good HP, on its own I did not recommend it because it had such a high retreat cost.  So knowing this about Roggenrola and looking at this Boldore card, this card is pretty similar in that it can do a fair amount of damage, but it is slow to attack and requires quite a few energy cards to retreat.  I could see myself potentially using a 1-1 line of Roggenrola and Boldore in a deck, but would still wait to see what Gigalith is like and try and use that Pokemon too.  If you choose to use this line, you can move Roggenrola into the active Pokemon spot immediately and get two energy cards on it and do 20 damage a turn then evolve it into Boldore and do 60 damage turn.  Unless you plan on using Boldore long term in the active Pokemon spot, I probably wouldn't use Power Gem.

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 Phantom Forces set.  This card has an average HP, two decent moves, but a high retreat cost.  Overall this card is average and could easily be used in a deck but I would probably pass on it.  Considering but Roggenrola and Boldore together, I still can't give the two a better than 2 out of 5 rating, hopefully Gigalith tomorrow changes the overall rating of this line.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Boldore from the Phantom Forces set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Boldore's stage 2 evolution in Gigalith 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?  Boldore has been a rare holo in an English set before.
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.

Roggenrola -- Phantom Forces Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:

Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Roggenrola from the Phantom Forces set. Roggenrola is a basic, fighting type Pokemon card with an hp of 70.  It has a x2 weakness to grass type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost.  Roggenrola does not have an Ability and it only has one move.  The only move that this card has is called Tackle, for two fighting energy cards, this move does 30 damage.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Roggenrola is a basic Pokemon card with a stage 1 evolution in Boldore and a stage 2 evolution in Gigalith, which I'll be reviewing the next two days, you'll more than likely want to use those cards with this Pokemon.  However, since I haven't reviewed those cards yet, I'll just act as though I plan on using this card without its evolutions.  So on its own, I would not recommend using this card in a deck because it requires three colorless energy cards to retreat and only one to attack.  However, if you are for sure going to use this card with its evolutions, this card would work perfectly to put into the active Pokemon spot immediately, since as soon as it gets two energy cards on it, it can do above average damage for a Basic Pokemon card like this one and knock out most Basic Pokemon cards with evolutions within 2 moves.  So, by itself, do not use this card in a deck, unless you can figure out a way to retreat this card for free.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 2 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion, this is a below average Basic Pokemon card from the Phantom Forces set.  I do like that this card has an above average HP, and a good move, but this card is slow on the attack and has an extremely high retreat cost, so using it on its own probably isn't the best thing to do.  But if you end up playing Boldore and Gigalith in a deck, this card will be a solid start to that line.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Roggenrola from the Phantom Forces Pokemon Card set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Roggenrola's stage 1 evolution in Boldore, which is also 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 was the 4th English set to include a Roggenrola card?
Please comment with your answer and a link to your YouTube channel.  Only one entry per person per day.  Approximately 24 hours after this review has been posted, I will use a random number generator to select a commenter who has commented with the correct answer.