Kenny’s Wisdom #4: Triumphant Set Review, Pt. 2 (Just the Good Stuff)

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Doesn’t Kenny Wisdom’s article, the hottest article on 6 Prizes get published on Wednesdays? I think I would know, as it is the highlight of my week, nay, my existence?” don’t be frightened — you’re absolutely correct. Although typically this column gets published on Wednesdays, I’ve decided to do a special edition today, for a few different reasons…

– I really wasn’t happy with my last article. For those who don’t know me personally, I’ve been getting into MTG lately, and in doing so I’ve been reading as much as I can (Magic is much more advanced than Pokémon when it comes to writing, podcasting, and media in general). Some of the articles I’ve enjoyed the most were Luis Scott Vargas’ of ChannelFireball.com’s set reviews.

I decided I would try to emulate him and do an entire set review for Pokémon. It was only about halfway through the article that I realized the two games are so different that a review like that just doesn’t make sense. Still, I had spent a lot of time on it, and didn’t wanna just hang it up.

– A lot of you commented with negativity about the article. Normally I would just respond with a “haters gonna hate etc.” but I took these criticisms to heart, probably because I myself wasn’t happy with the article, and decided to publish it, which is something I’ve never done before in any facet of writing. Thank you to all of you who e-mailed, commented, or posted in the forums with constructive, if negative criticism about the column.

With all that being said, I am going to finish my Triumphant set review. However, instead of doing the incredibly boring and long-winded version I did last week, I’m just going to do short summaries of how I think cards that are interested will do in modified. No X out of 5 ratings, no limited ratings, no walls of texts about Psyducks and Kricketunes. ;)

Solrock
I’ll start with a card that’s been getting a bit of hype — Solrock. As you can see in the scan above, its Poké-Body prevents healing. This is relevant because of the best card in format, Garchomp C’s Poké-Power, which removes all damage counters from Pokémon SP on your side of the field.

I have to admit, I’m not really seeing the big deal with Solrock. Firstly, the only deck that really relies on healing is DialgaChomp, where Dialga will shut down your body anyway, rendering your Solrock completely useless. Secondly, the only card that’s relevant at the moment that heals is the aforementioned Garchomp C LV.X, and it can “Dragon Rush” either Solrock or Lunatone, killing the combo. Thirdly, I just don’t see how committing at least two spaces to something that’s so easily counterable is any good. I don’t completely hate Solrock, though, as hard as that may be to believe.

I think it’s a very interesting card that any of the thousands of players who are better and more creative than me could surely break. I’m sure some people are already working on it now, but until I see something concrete, I’m gonna have to give this guy a thumbs down.

Grumpig
PSYCHIC LOCK IS BACK BABY. Look at this beast. 90 HP, sporting the BEST ATTACK IN THE GAME? How could this guy not be getting more hype? I mean, Psychic Lock for PC is ONE ENERGY LESS than Gardevoir, and look at how that deck ruled the format. Now I know what you’re thinking…”but Kenny, it only does 20 damage?” and to that, my friends, all I can say is: Expert Belt! With an Expert Belt and Two PlusPowers, you’re swinging for the exact same amount of damage as Gardevoir, and you have 110 HP, which is just as much as Luxray GL LV.X or Garchomp C LV.X. How can this guy not be good?! START THE HYPE TRAIN PEOPLE.

Okay, in all seriousness, Grumpig is an interesting card that will never see the light of day. It might be good for a fun league deck if you still weep over the loss of Gardevoir, but it’s not going to have any relevance beyond that.

Nidoking
Nidoking is an interesting card in that the potential is there, but I don’t think it can quite get you as far as you need it to. FFCC for 80 and Poison is pretty lacking in this format, although you can make the argument that DCE makes it a little more worthy. What’s really interesting here though, is the Poké-Body, that gives Nidoking +20 HP for each Nidoqueen you have in play.

Combine this with the fact that Nidoqueen has a healing body, and that Nidoqueen is just a good card in general, and you could really have something. That is, if that combo didn’t require tabling 2 Stage 2s and at least 3 energy cards, along with some kind of damage manipulation in the form of Expert Belt to make it viable. Sadly, Nidoking is just not destined for greatness in this format.

pokegym.netAbsol Prime
A lot of people are high on this card, and it’s easy to understand why. It’s Poké-Body is pretty neat, and a lot of immediate combos come to mind. Its attack, DC for 70 (+10 with a special dark, maybe?) is very solid, even if that attack requires a Pokémon to be Lost Zone’d. It’s not without it’s drawbacks though. Firstly, that Body only triggers when Absol is active, and if Lost World is printed in the next set (SPECULATION~!), that attack just got a whole lot worse.

Double weakness to Fighting, meaning that Donphan and Machamp both 1HKO it isn’t pretty either. All in all, I’m not really certain how I feel about this card. On one hand my team didn’t think it was relevant to test, so that’s saying something. On the other hand, I know a lot of good players who have been talking it up a bit, so I’m getting mixed signals. In the end, I don’t think this card is necessarily bad, but I’m not sure it’s good either. However, as always, I’d love to be proven wrong.

Electrode Prime
This is another card where I think it’s an interesting enough card, but I’m not sure if it has everything you need. A friend of mine (sup Amelia) has been working on a Steelix list which incorporates Electrode’s Power to further the energy acceleration of Steelix, all the while giving up a prize, allowing you to use Twins or Black Belt.

I’ve tested a few games against it and it’s proven to be pretty okay, but I’m really unsure if that is good enough. I mean, if the best this card does is speed you up a turn while giving up a prize, allowing you to use conditional supporters that you have no way of tutoring in the first place, how good is it? Still, much like Absol, I’ll have to put this in the “maybe” pile.

Gengar Prime
This card epitomizes the “maybe” pile. When it was announced in Japan, the U.S. competitive community went insane. Some proclaimed that it would be absolutely broken and ruin everything and kill their mother, while others countered that by saying they’d tested it for a thousand hours and it didn’t win a single game.

Regardless of how you feel, it was never really Gengar that was hyped. Gengar is only as good as the stadium in the set, Lost World. Still, with Lost World and Gengar coming out in the same set, and Gengar being a 6-in-a-box prime, it wouldn’t be too hard to pull off, right?

Well, that would be the truth if it weren’t for the fact that Lost World was never printed! If Lost World shows up in the next set, this card could potentially be game breaking. However, if it’s not in the next set, the card is basically useless and nearly every word that’s been spoken about it is moot.

Magnezone Prime
This card is not your Claydol replacement. There, I said it.

I’ve never understood that mentality. How is a stage 2 that lets you draw until you have 6 cards anywhere as good as a stage 1 that lets you put 1-2 cards on the bottom, and then draw until you have 6 in your hand? Answer: It’s not.

For those of you that argue that it indeed is, riddle me this: In the three formats Claydol was legal in, how many times did you have less than 6 cards in your hand, and topdeck those one or two cards that win you the game? I don’t know about you, but typically I had anywhere from 5-7 cards in hand, and would get rid of stuff I didn’t need, and gain a card or two. Another question to ask yourself is: If Claydol were never printed, would you be looking at this card whatsoever? I believe the answer is no.

Looking past its power, the attack is actually kind of neat. For a fairly low energy cost it allows you to essentially determine how much damage you want to do, and how many resources you want to use up. The problem here is that it’s woefully inconsistent. If you’ve tested this and are able to get big damage on a consistent basis over a large amount of turns/games, then you are a much better player and deckbuilder than I.

Mew Prime
Even if Lost World was printed, I’m not sure I see the greatness of this card. If the Body and Attack were swapped I could see it, it could be good to pitch a guy to the Lost Zone and then be able to attack this turn, but with having to use up the attack to Lost Zone a guy, all I see happening is your 60 HP Mew getting KO’d by my Uxie + Expert Belt.

I also understand there’s a certain sect of people that are interested in it because of what you could do with multiple Mews. That is, the fact that you can continually use a Pokémon that you’ve Lost Zoned, even if your original Mew gets KO’d. I understand that, but I just don’t see why you would want to use a Mew in the first place. I’d much rather be a turn slower, or have to commit a couple more resources to be able to use Machamp’s Take Out attack with an 130 HP beast in a Machamp, then use that same attack on a super fragile, 60 HP Mew.

That’s all I’ve got today folks. I hope you all enjoy this style of article to my last one, as for future sets I’ll be defaulting to this format. Join me next week as we go over what I think are the top decks for the upcoming City Championships.

Reader Interactions

41 replies

  1. Mac Crowley

    I definitely like this format better because as you said Pokemon is greatly different than Magic and other card games, mainly for the fact Pokemon likes to print allot of “meh” card that may only have application in limited or none at all. I also must applaud your wish to bring Pokemon into a more involved in online media, I mean we don’t even have a podcast . Any way great article and I hope to see some more!

    • Kenny Wisdom  → Mac

      Yeah, for sure. In the future I’ll be following this kind of format for set reviews, it makes a lot more sense. Do you play Magic?

      And thanks! I’m working on getting a podcast started up now, actually, and I know a few guys on Heytrainer are working on it as well, so that very well may be something you see sooner rather than later!

      Glad you enjoyed the article!

      • Mac Crowley  → Kenny

        I don’t play magic but I have friends who got me into Yu-Gi-Oh after Pokemon which is also has allot more media involved (and allot ruder community as it seems). And good to hear there is are some podcast in the works (let me know if you need another person).

        • Kenny Wisdom  → Mac

          Ahh yeah. It seems like every game has way more media than Pokemon. Fan sites, podcasts, more articles, etc.

          And I definitely will, can you shoot an e-mail to kenny@sixprizes.com, just so I have your e-mail if we do indeed need another person? Thanks!

        • Kenny Wisdom  → David

          Word. I agree all around. I love GGslive and would be super happy if something like that were implemented officially by Pokemon.

          And yeah, CFB is the truth. I also read a few other sites, but CFB seems to have the best free content.

        • Kenny Wisdom  → David

          Word. I agree all around. I love GGslive and would be super happy if something like that were implemented officially by Pokemon.

          And yeah, CFB is the truth. I also read a few other sites, but CFB seems to have the best free content.

        • Kenny Wisdom  → David

          Ahh yeah. I’d rather have them balance the format a bit (which I think is happening at the moment, to be honest) than release something that completely negates SP, but I get what you’re saying. How do you feel about a possible HGSS-on format?

        • Mac Crowley  → Kenny

          HS-on would be a viable format and very balanced but I feel that RR-on would be just as balanced and leave more options while still removing the SP engine and as a result Luxchomp.

        • Kenny Wisdom  → Mac

          Ahh yeah. I feel the need to cut to HS-on is more because of the Black/White cards coming out and their new rulings interactions. I suppose that’s another article for another time, though.

        • Ron Routhier  → Kenny

          i find it hard to believe they will cut more than 3-4 sets next rotation when they had the chance to do it this last rotation. If you go HGSS on, that would eliminate 7 sets, almost 1,000 cards. pokemon is smarter than that. I predict they will only eliminate the remaing 3 sets of D&P, and thereafter drop 4 sets of their previous line (Platinum, HGSS, etc…).

        • Kenny Wisdom  → Ron

          Although I don’t think talking about rotation when we’re only a few months into our current season is productive, much of the reason people are speculating on a possible HGSS-on rotation is because of the new rules introduced in Black and White, and the fact that Japan felt the need to cut to HGSS-on after they were introduced.

        • Kenny Wisdom  → Ron

          Although I don’t think talking about rotation when we’re only a few months into our current season is productive, much of the reason people are speculating on a possible HGSS-on rotation is because of the new rules introduced in Black and White, and the fact that Japan felt the need to cut to HGSS-on after they were introduced.

        • David Reichenberger  → Kenny

          Personally, I wouldn’t mind a HS-on format. Yes, a lot of good cards would be lost from Rising Rivals, Supreme Victors, and Arceus, but it’s not like many of those cards are used now anyway, barring the SP Pokemon. HS-on would be a completely revitalized format complete with normal evolutions and an already strong Supporter engine. Too, there wouldn’t be any Lv.X cards!
          I think I would prefer it, honestly.

        • venny kid  → David

          Like if they made a RR on format? Loose the Sp Engine but not our beloved Lv. X cards.

    • Kenny Wisdom  → Anthony

      Ooh, good call. I can’t believe I overlooked the SV Lunatone, haha. I guess Solrock becomes a bit more relevant then, but I think a large portion of my point still stands, in that Dialga will shut you off, allowing you to be Dragon Rushed, etc.

      Great call though, huge oversight on my part.

  2. Eric Lari

    Fantastic article. I agree with most of what you wrote. However I’d like to point out that Gengar Prime still has its place in decks even if lost world is never released (especially if they release Mr. Mime from LL). The prime still enables you to lost zone any lv x’s (dialga g, Luxray, Garchomp) and magikarp or regice.

    Its not perfect but a decent tech if not anything else.

    • Kenny Wisdom  → Eric

      Ahh yeah, I guess I should’ve mentioned that. I don’t think Gengar in any form is the greatest deck around, but I suppose you may as well throw in one copy of the Prime, just for the disruption aspect. Good call!

      • Matthew Tidman  → Kenny

        Of course, as you said, if they release Lost World in the next set it could be a beastly deck in its own right, but until that happens it’s just a tech card. I use it in my VileGar as disruption to get with of Dialga G Lv.X and Magikarps, for those respective decks. Also I have to say, it’s some of my favorite artwork from the entire set.

      • venny kid  → Kenny

        No! No! No! You throw in the Prime to Blam! Shiny foil! and then Blam! More shiny foil with the Level X!!!

      • Eric Lari  → Tom

        The mr.mime I’m talking about is one that makes both players show their hands. It was in Lost Link but wasn’t released.

  3. Tony

    Hey great stuff! I wasn’t sure what you were smoking when I started reading the Grumpig section, and then I got a big laugh. I also liked your comments about Magnezone Prime. It is definitely NOT a Claydol replacement. In fact, even though I’m a HUGE Magnezone fan, Magnezone Prime just didn’t look playable. However, I would say that, combined with other Magnezones and a hand discard option like Junk Arm or Regice’s Regi-Move, Magnezone Prime does have some really nice draw power.

    You are right about its attack too. It can’t be used the whole game, but it can be used very effectively the last 1-3 turns of a game to KO your opponent’s active Pokemon. I’m still able to get 2-3 energy on Prime even after losing energy cards to the lost zone by attaching for my turn, discarding an energy or 2 with Regice, and then using Switch Magnezone’s Super Connectivity (twice with Seeker).

    • Pin Fit  → Tony

      I think magnezone can easily be top tier this year, people are just looking at it the wrong way (running the other magnezones) when it comes to making a deck with him in it… ive tested the deck i put together with him as the main attacker against dialgachomp luxchomp vilegar and chenlock.. chen lock put up the best fight but the advantage went to magnezone in all of them. the only deck that i tested it against that the advantage didnt go to magnezone was donphan but it was still 5050… He has a slow start up which isnt the worst thing in the world with the new supporters we got, and after usually going down 2 prizes to get set up he is up and attacking for 120-170 a turn with a belt to draw all 6 prizes without running out of energies…

  4. John Rea

    What is Lost World, and why doz it affect Gangar PRIME???

    • Matthew Tidman  → John

      Lost world is a stadium card that was released in the Japanese Lost Link set (which is where a lot of cards from Triumphant came from) that says, “If at any time your opponent has six Pokemon in the lost zone, you may declare yourself the winner of the match.” Since Gengar Prime has multiple ways of putting Pokemon in the lost zone (Poke-Power “Catastrophe” and attack “Hurl Into Darkness”) it’s become a cornerstone of a deck that has dominated the tournament scene in Japan.

  5. venny kid

    Boot-Leg Claydol:
    Magnezone Prime (TR)
    Bayanette (PL)

    Discard with Bayanette and then Draw with Magnezone
    Super clunky, but its as close as it gets…

  6. Gabriel Sellers Taylor

    I think Mew will prove to be more game breaking than people think. There are few things in the format that can’t be OHKO’ed anyway. It seems to be the most sought after prime in Triumphant.

  7. steve McGann

    So do we really belive we will get ourselves “Lost World” by Call to Legends?

    • DrMime  → steve

      My money’s on yes. I don’t know how they’re going to do it, with the prize-card difference between the Japanese and International meta; 6 cards in the Lost Zone is harder to get when your opponent’s only working on 4 prizes. (Side note…looks like http://www.fourprizes.com isn’t taken yet…) But it seems unlikely that they’d introduce a whole new victory condition in Japan and not anywhere else. It would affect Worlds play for years.
      However, I am prepared to eat my words….

  8. Travis Yeary

    I still think Gengar Prime Lv.X could be a pain in the butt, knocking out multiple pokemon a turn into the lost zone. Also, lost zoning a Luxray or Garchomp in the beginning of the game could be disastrous for Luxchomp players.Also… I got a beef with the Nidoking review lol… 2 queens and a belt is 200 hp. Then he’s doing 100, 110 with poison (magic number) and healing 10 between turns. If you can get a few knock outs, the King may heal before he gets knocked out. I’ll admit. He makes a turtle look fast, but with the new cards (rescue energy for recovery, seeker for healing, and twins/blackbelt for comeback) he may stand a chance. I’m actually going to try and put together a workable Nidoking deck. I’ll either spread the word, or eat my words lol.

    Good article though, pretty insightful

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