Pokemon Card of the Day: Giratina Lv. X (Platinum)

Today's Pokemon Card of the Day is Giratina Lv. X from the Platinum series. It is one of the best Lv. X cards from the Platinum set, it has 130 hp which is the best of the Lv. X cards in the set. A x2 weakness to dark Pokemon isn't too bad because dark Pokemon aren't really used that much, a -20 resistance to Normal type Pokemon can come in handy because a lot of quick start Pokemon in decks are normal type and basic so a -20 resistance will make them not be able to do any damage to Giratina at all. A 3 colorless energy card retreat cost is pretty spendy so it looks like if you're going to retreat Giratina it will take almost all the energy cards it had on it to begin with. Giratina's Poke-Body Invisible Tentacles is a really good Poke-Body it says that every time your opponent tries to attack they have to discard a card from their hand before doing the move, and if they can't discard a card they can't do the move. So this basically means that after a few turns using Invisible Tentacles if your opponent uses any other cards then placing an energy card down they will be at risk of not having in cards left in their hand so then they are at risk of not being able to attack. Giratina's only attack Darkness Lost takes four energy cards, 2 psychic, 2 colorless, and does 30 hp damage to each of your opponent's Pokemon. And if you knock them out, they have to move every one of the cards attached to that Pokemon and the Pokemon card itself to the Lost Zone, so basically you can't ever use any supporters/trainers to get them back. The Lost Zone is an area considered to be a more advanced form of the discard pile. Unlike cards in the discard pile, cards moved to the Lost Zone are kept face-up and are considered to be "outside" the play area due to the fact they are not kept on the playmat if one is used. As such, cards moved to the Lost Zone are no longer considered to be in play, and cannot be retrieved at any time, or by any means, during gameplay. As far as strategy goes with Giratina I would try and get Giratina Lv. X onto your bench as soon as possible so you can use its Poke-Body and when you put Giratina into your active Pokemon spot I would use Darkness Lost every turn so you can knock out many Pokemon at once, you will probably have to last 3 to 4 turns with Giratina out there to knock out most of your opponent's Pokemon and then they'll all have to go to the Lost Zone and they won't be able to them again in play. So even though it does seem expensive for Giratina to only be able to do 30 hp to each Pokemon of your opponent's for 4 energy, just think if your opponent has 3 Pokemon in play, 1 active and 2 benched, 1 turn of Darkness Lost can do 90 hp with 4 energy cards, which isn't bad at all. I think this card has a lot of potential and I would definitely consider it if I was making a Psychic type deck. So thanks for reading my Giratina Lv. X review, stay tuned for tomorrow's review of Gengar from the Diamond and Pearl set.