pokemon-paradijs.comHello world, welcome to another Card of the Day. Today I’ll be reviewing Spiritomb from the Arceus expansion. When Spiritomb was released, it saw a good amount of play in a number of decks.
The most common decks to use it were Gengar SF and CurseGar. Though Spiritomb was their starting Pokémon, Gastly could also lock your opponent’s Trainers. The other types of decks that commonly used Spiritomb were slower decks, such as Tyranitar Prime. Some Gardevior/Gallade variants also experimented with Spiritomb as well.
However, with the release of Undaunted brought Vileplume, which brought forth the birth of VileGar, Trainer Lock, VileTomb, or whatever you want to call it. Spiritomb is the ideal starter in the deck. Well, now that we’ve finished with the history of Spiritomb and where it fits in the Pokémon TCG world, let’s start with the basics.
Spiritomb is a 60 HP basic Pokémon, which should make it harder to be donked by the likes of Sableye. Spiritomb’s first attack, “Darkness Grace” lets you search your deck for a Pokémon that evolves from one on your bench and put it onto that Pokémon. However, you must put one damage counter on Spiritomb. Even though that damage could add up eventually, it is well worth the boost of speed it provides for your deck. “Will-o’-the-wisp” is nearly useless doing 10 for D.
Spiritomb’s Poké-Body, “Keystone Seal”, prevents each player from playing Trainer cards, which, in combination with “Darkness Grace”, is the reason why it sees play.
To finish off this review, Spiritomb has a no weakness and a -20 colorless resistance, meaning that Garchomp C LV.X will have to use “Dragon Rush” to 1HKO you. This is actually very good as it will waste two of their energy or a Double Colorless Energy, which is even better for you. The Retreat Cost of one hurts, especially since you can’t use Switch/Warp Point to get it out of the Active Spot, but it’s manageable.
However, Spiritomb doesn’t come without its counters and liabilities. First of all, its Poké-Body will be shut off by Dialga G LV.X, which is pretty much its only counter. However, it does prove to be a liability in the game because it will end up being one of two things: a card that wastes a bench spot or a card that will be a prize for your opponent.
Recommendation You want to definitely try this card out in Tyranitar Prime, Tyranitar SF, Torterra and any other decks you’re playing that take time to get going.
Rating 4.5/5
mentioning torterra intrigues me… are there any good builds for it out there? i haven’t heard much since the flygon torterra won a big tournament in europe
torterra has long seen play since format change because torterra Lv.X is now out of format
that’s what i thought too, but i figured if it was mentioned in the article it may be making a come back somehow
torterra has long seen play since format change because torterra Lv.X is now out of format
Thanks for reviewing the card.
@Peter Bae: I know what you mean. I was so psyched when I got my league promos because I hadn’t pulled any from packs. Then this last weekend I opened a pack of Arceus and pulled a reverse foil one. Randomness at work.
I think one combo you forgot to mention is Dodrio UD. It’s a bit tough to have the retreat lowering of Dodrio relegated to a stage 1, but Spiritomb can speed it up a bit meaning you have free retreat for many of your pokemon… until Dialga G Lv.X locks that PokeBody as well. I also think Spiritomb is a great card if you run a Nidoqueen RR since the damage from Darkness Grace get removed immediately. Might be an interesting thing to work on a Nidoking tank deck like mentioned yesterday.
Also, Spiritomb is a friend of the Twins since you can basically punish your opponent for knocking out your starter Spiritomb by searching for any two cards.
Ok, enough praise.
lol, yeah.
@Torterra Discussion Pre-Rotation, I personally played a Torterra deck and it worked amazingly, however their are two problems with the deck. However, it wasn’t a usual tanking deck. Instead, it was able to get 2-3 Torterra in play at a time. Using Expert Belt, I was able to get 2-3 Torterra, which would usually overwelm my opponent. I didn’t even play Nidoqueen. I played 4-3-3-1 Torterra, 2-2 Claydol, 4 Spiritomb. If some1 wants the list, lemme know.
1. Torterra Lv.X is out
2. Blaziken FB Lv.X OHKOs it