Houndoom G (Platinum PL 50) – Card of the Day

pokebeach.comHey guys! It’s Dane again, and I’m here with a brand-new Card of the Day!

Houndoom G is a highly overlooked card when building a deck — since it’s a Fire type, most people would automatically say that it uses Fire type Energy. WRONG! Houndoom G uses D Energy, and, since it’s SP, can abuse Energy Gain, as well as the rest of the SP engine.

This card, paired up with Blaziken FB could be awesome, as you can “Luring Flame” up a high-retreat Pokémon, then bring up Houndoom G and use “Black Cry” so they can’t retreat.

Plus, if you’re disrupting with cards such as Cyrus’s Initiative, Judge, Giratina PL, Chatot G, and possibly Slowking HS (non-prime), your opponent can’t switch it out with Warp Energy/Warp Point/Switch either! With Power Spray, you can also block Machamp Prime’s menacing “Fighting Tag” Poké-Power.

Hmmm… what deck disrupts with Initiative, Judge, Giratina, and Chatot G, already has Blaziken FB in it, has an SP engine, and has D Energy as well? Hmm…

Oh yeah! Sablelock (Ok Mr. Technical, Chenlock. Happy? Good.)! Houndoom G would be a great tech in Sablelock, as it can do 20 damage, prevent the opponent from retreating, and keep your opponent’s Active Pokémon from using any Poké-Powers for a Darkness and an Energy Gain. Unfortunately, it can not use Special D Energy, so keep that in mind. Houndoom G is a sneaky and clever tech that can automatically boost your Gyarados, VileGar, Lockchamp, Vile??? (<— a.k.a. Vileplume with anything), and DialgaChomp matchups! Ain’t that cool?

But don’t just reserve this card for Sablelock/Chenlock only… you have to spread its use, in every deck you possibly can. Add it in any Darkness deck and it will help you. I can almost guarantee it (notice I said almost… I’m not saying it’s the best card there is.).

Houndoom G does have another mediocre attack called “Dark Slash”, doing 40+ damage. Its text reads “You may discard a D Energy attached to Houndoom G. If you do, this attack does 40 damage plus 20 more damage.” Not the best, but can be used in last resort.

Also, how does it withstand in this speedy, high-damaging format? Well, it has a good 90 HP, which means no Garchomp C sniping. It has a horrible 2× weakness to Fighting, and a great -20 resistance to Psychic. Plus, it’s has a 1 Retreat Cost, so it can be Q’d for retreat. It can attack for 1 energy (plus an Energy Gain), and does well early-mid game. That sounds pretty good during this format, don’t ya think?

So if I were to rate this card, I’d give it a 3 out of 5. I mean, it does help a lot, but, along with other SP’s, it has it’s downsides, this time in the form of a Fighting weakness and being a Fire type. Thanks for reading, and I’ll talk to ya next time. Bye!

Reader Interactions

4 replies

  1. Eric

    It’s a shame that it doesn’t abuse the darkness energy since it’s a fire type instead of a dark

  2. Taylor Richmond

    Truthfully, I think a 4 out of 5 is way to high of a rating. I’d say 3 or maybe 3.5 out of 5. 4 ratings should be reserved for cards that people are able to build great decks around. Decks that win in major tournaments. Not a card that is a good tech.
    Not to mention, you left out the fact that Houndoom is a counter to Dialga G. That “not so great” second attack you mentioned can one shot Dialga G with a darkness and a double colorless because it hits it for x2 weakness. That it is one of it’s main uses in the meta today. Seems a little important to be left out.

  3. Adam Capriola

    If Houndoom G is a 4/5 and Slowking HS is a 4.5/5… what is Garchomp C Lv.X?

    I think you need to tone down your rating system a little bit. :P

    I’d agree if you made Houndoom 4/10 and Slowking 4.5/10.

  4. Anonymous

    Sorry guys! I made a horrible typo, putting a 4 instead of 3, my original though. Thanks to Adam for fixing that!

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