Pokemon Card of the Day: Bastiodon GL (Rising Rivals)

Today's Pokemon Card of the Day is Bastiodon GL from the Rising Rivals set. This is a basic, metal type Pokemon, with an hp of 90. It has a x2 weakness to fire type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to psychic type Pokemon, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost. Bastiodon GL doesn't have a Poke-Power or Poke-Body but it does have two moves, the first move is called Bounce Back and for three energy cards, two colorless and one metal, Bastiodon GL does 30 damage and the opponent switches the defending Pokemon with one of their benched Pokemon. Bastiodon GL's second move is called Smack Attack and for four energy cards, three colorless and one metal, it does 60 damage and you may remove one damage counter from Bastiodon GL. As far as strategy goes, it would be best to get energy on Bastiodon GL before you put it into the active Pokemon spot since both of its moves require a lot of energy, once in the active Pokemon spot, I would only use Bounce Back and make your opponent either leave Pokemon that they don't want in or retreat Pokemon that are switched in to keep the one Pokemon they want in play. I would give this card a 1 out of 5 rating, to me it doesn't make any sense to use any basic Pokemon card that's first move requires a minimum of three energy cards. And since this card is so slow and it is a basic Pokemon, you may have to put it into the active Pokemon spot before you have energy on it and it might get knocked out before you can attack. So thanks for reading today's review of Bastiodon GL from the Rising Rivals set, stay tuned for tomorrow's review of Floatzel GL from the same set.

Pokemon Card of the Day: Toxicroak G (Platinum)

Today's Pokemon Card of the Day is Toxicroak G from the Platinum set, this is a basic, psychic type Pokemon card with an hp of 90. It has a x2 weakness to psychic type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a two colorless energy card retreat cost. Its Poke-Body is called Anticipation and it prevents all effects of an attack except for damage. Toxicroak G's only move is called Deep Poison and for two energy cards, one each of psychic and colorless, it does 20 damage plus 40 more damage if the defending Pokemon is poisoned. As far as strategy goes this card would be good if you were facing an opponent who focused on special conditions. But if I were to use this card I would make sure to have another psychic Pokemon in my deck that did make Pokemon go to sleep so I could do 60 damage with Deep Poison. However I would rate this card a 1 out of 5, I don't like this card at all, it has way too high a retreat cost for a basic Pokemon, especially one that can't do much damage. And this card is only average if you can put a Pokemon to sleep before you play Toxicroak G, so not only would you have to get lucky to have the Pokemon stay asleep but you would have to have a Pokemon that retreated for free in order to not waste anything by putting Toxicroak G into the active Pokemon spot. If I were thinking about using this card I would just find a Pokemon that put Pokemon asleep and that could do at least 20 damage without having to depend on other Pokemon. So thanks for reading today's review of Toxicroak G from the Platinum set, stay tuned for tomorrow's review of Bastiodon GL from the Rising Rivals set.

Pokemon Card of the Day: Torterra (Platinum)

Today's Pokemon Card of the Day is Torterra from the Platinum set. This is a stage 2, grass type Pokemon with an hp of 140. It has a +30 weakness to fire type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a four colorless energy card retreat cost. It doesn't have a Poke-Power or Poke-Body but it does have two moves, the first move is called Green Blast which requires 3 energy cards, two colorless and one grass and does 40 damage plus 10 more damage for each grass energy card attached to all of your Pokemon. Torterra's second move is called Soothing Scent and for four energy cards, two each of grass and colorless, it does 80 damage plus it puts the defending Pokemon to sleep. As far as strategy goes, it would be best to use Torterra later in the game when your bench is set up so you can utilize all the grass energy cards attached to those Pokemon. However if you don't have very many grass energy cards in play, you'll definitely want to attach four energy cards to Torterra and use Soothing Scent and hope that the defending Pokemon stays asleep every turn. I would give this card a 3 out of 5. It does have one good move in Soothing Scent but it will take quite awhile to get the necessary energy for that move. Green Blast is also a fairly decent move but it requires you to have more grass Pokemon in your deck and in play so you can do more than 40 damage a turn. The biggest thing to look at on this card is the retreat cost which is incredibly high, so make sure if you get close to being knocked out you have the necessary energy to retreat it. So thanks for reading today's review of Torterra from the Platinum set, stay tuned for tomorrow's review of Toxicroak G from the same set.

Pokemon Card of the Day: Shaymin (Platinum 38/127)

Today's Pokemon Card of the Day is Shaymin from the Platinum set. This is the third version of Shaymin that I will be reviewing from the Platinum set. This is a basic, grass type Pokemon card with an hp of 80. It has a +20 weakness to fire type Pokemon, a -20 resistance to water type Pokemon, and a one colorless energy card retreat cost. Shaymin doesn't have a Poke-Power or Poke-Body but it does have two moves, the first move doesn't require any energy cards and does 10 damage plus 10 more damage for each energy card attached to Shaymin. Shaymin's second move is called Aromatherapy and for three energy cards, two colorless and one grass, does 40 damage and removes 20 damage from each of your Pokemon. As far as strategy goes, this would be a card you want to start your game with, it is quite quick since it doesn't require any energy and essentially does 20 damage for 1 energy card. I would actually try and keep this card on my bench as long as possible and then later in the game when my benched Pokemon all have damage on it I would move this Shaymin in a use Aromatherapy as much as I could before I was knocked out. I would give this card a 4 out of 5, once again this isn't a powerful card or anything but for a basic Pokemon it is quite good, it can always attack and it can heal your Pokemon greatly in a short amount of time. So thanks for reading today's review of Shaymin from the Platinum set, stay tuned for tomorrow's review of Torterra from the same set.