Altaria 74/108 -- Roaring Skies Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Altaria from the Roaring Skies Pokemon Card Set.  This is the second Altaria card I've reviewed from this set.  Altaria is a stage 1, colorless type Pokemon card, with an hp of 90.  It has a x2 weakness to lightning type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to fighting type Pokemon, and a one colorless energy card retreat cost.  This Altaria card has an Ancient Trait called Evolution that says you may evolve Swablu into Altaria the first turn of the game or as soon as you put Swablu into play.  Besides the Ancient Trait, Altaria has an Ability called Clear Humming that says each of your colorless type Pokemon have no weakness.  Besides those two things, this card just does have one move called Wing Attack that does 30 damage for two energy cards.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Altaria is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Swablu into play (I reviewed Swablu from this set yesterday) and then evolve Swablu into Altaria, there are actually two Altaria cards from this set and I'll be comparing the two at the end of this paragraph.  If you read my review of Swablu, you'll know that I thought it was a very poor Basic Pokemon card, it only had one move that didn't do any damage to the defending Pokemon but was able to heal 20 damage from one of your Pokemon, this move could be replaced by a trainer card, and the card had an extremely low HP of 40 so you're just asking to get knocked out.  So knowing this about Swablu and looking at this Altaria card, you could definitely use this card in a deck that includes mainly colorless type Pokemon cards because you could just leave this card on the bench and give all of your Pokemon no weakness.  What I really like about this card is that because Swablu is so weak, you can use this cards Ancient Trait to immediately evolve Swablu whenever you put it into play, assuming you have Altaria into your hand.  I could definitely see using a 1-1 of this family in a deck, mainly for Altaria's Ability but its move isn't bad either.  Compared to the dragon type Altaria I reviewed from this set, I like this card a little better, the other Altaria card required metal and water type energy cards to attack, could do the same amount of damage, and could basically refresh your deck, which would be good in the metagame, but it had a lower HP which I didn't like.

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 Roaring Skies set.  There is no complaints for me with this card, it just isn't as overpowering as I would have liked it to be.  It has an average HP, a good Ability and Retreat Cost and an average move.  Like I said above, if you're building a colorless type deck, this card is a must.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Altaria from the Roaring Skies set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Rayquaza 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 colorless type Pokemon cards are in the Ancient Origins 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.

Altaria -- Roaring Skies Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Altaria from the Roaring Skies Pokemon Card Set.  This is the first of two Altaria cards I'll be reviewing on my blog, the other Altaria card is a colorless type card.  Altaria is a stage 1, dragon type Pokemon card, with an hp of 80.  It has a x2 weakness to fairy type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a one colorless energy card retreat cost.  Altaria does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Song of Echoes, for one colorless energy card this move allows you to shuffle your hand into your deck and draw cards equal to the number of bench Pokemon in play, yours and your opponent's.  Altaria's second move is called Midnight Eyes, for two energy cards, water and metal, this move does 30 damage plus it puts the defending Pokemon to sleep.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Altaria is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Swablu into play and then evolve Swablu into Altaria.  I have not actually reviewed Swablu from this set yet since it is a colorless type Pokemon, plus there is a colorless type Altaria card in this set, and I will be reviewing both of those cards in the next couple of weeks.  So for the strategy section of this post, I will just assume Swablu is average and that you'll evolve it into Altaria as soon as you can, in the second Altaria review that I write, I can compare both Altaria cards.  So looking at this specific Altaria, this card definitely could be used just for its Song of Echoes move, but more than likely you won't want to use this card at all in a deck.  Besides having a below average HP, it isn't extremely powerful by any means and it requires two distinct energy types to attack, water and metal.  So unless you're building this specific type of dual deck, I wouldn't recommend using this card in a deck.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 2 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is a below average Stage 1 Pokemon card from the Roaring Skies set.  There really isn't anything that I dislike about this card it just doesn't impress me much.  Plus, add in a lower HP and the fact this card requires two different energy types, and there are much better cards than this one out there to use if you want to put some Dragon type Pokemon in your deck.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Altaria from the Roaring Skies set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of the first of two Bagon cards, which are 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 toes does each foot of Altaria have?
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.

Altaria -- Dragons Exalted Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Altaria from the Dragons Exalted Pokemon Card Set.  This set has not been released in the United States but it will be released on August 15, 2012.  This is the third of three consecutive reviews I'll be doing of the new Dragon Exalted cards.  When more Dragons Exalted scans are released I'll try and review those cards right away.  Altaria is a stage 1, dragon type Pokemon card, with an hp of 70.  It has a x2 weakness to dragon type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a one colorless energy card retreat cost.  Altaria's Ability is called Fight Song and this ability allows your dragon type Pokemon to do 20 more damage to your opponent's active Pokemon.  Besides the Ability, Altaria has one move called Glide which takes three energy cards, one water, one metal, and one colorless, and does 40 damage.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, if you want to attack with this card you're going to have to put this card into a deck that includes metal and water type energy cards.  However I wouldn't attack with this card, I would keep this card on the bench throughout the entire game and utilize its Ability.  So to do this, I would want to make sure to have a mostly dragon type deck, so you'll be using mostly Dragons Exalted set cards.  That way, no matter what Pokemon you put in, you can still do 20 more damage when attacking since the Pokemon will be a dragon type Pokemon.  So other than keeping this card on the bench throughout the entire game, if you do have to put it into the active Pokemon spot I would probably retreat it with one energy card before trying to attack with it, but you have no choice if you want to attack because it only has one move.  I would probably put a 1-1 line of Swablu and Altaria in any dragon type deck and then make sure to get Altaria onto your bench as soon as possible.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  This card is an average stage 1 Pokemon card, it has some good points and some bad points.  The bad things about it are the following:  It has a very low hp, and it requires a weird combination of energy cards to attack, and its attack is weak.  On the other hand, it does have a low retreat cost, and its Ability makes this card a staple in any dragon type deck.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Altaria from the Dragons Exalted set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of either another Dragons Exalted card if any scans are released, or an uncommon Black and White card.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
WU9-ALGE-36G-WL3
PJN-KH9J-7HT-DHK