Today’s COTD was requested by… Dane Carlson. Hey, that’s me!!! :O Cool.
ZOROARK (BLACK & WHITE #71)
pokebeach.comYep, today’s CoTD is on Zoroark from Black & White. Zoroark is a Stage 1 Darkness type with 100 HP. He has a x2 Fighting Weakness & a -20 Psychic Resistance, standard for a Dark type. The 100 HP is OK; it can stand a few minor hits (10, 20, 30, 40 damage), but it is still quite easily 1HKO’d, especially because of its Weakness (some examples of Pokémon that can 1HKO Zoroark are Donphan Prime, Reshiram BLW, and Zekrom BLW).
The -20 Resistance to Psychic doesn’t really help much, as not many Psychic Pokémon are being played at the moment (besides Mew Prime and Gothitelle). Zoroark also has a nice 1 Retreat Cost, which can let you easily move him around the field. OK, so his stats are meh, but what about his attacks? Let’s take a look.
Zoroark has two very interesting moves, the first being called Nasty Plot. It tells you to search your deck for any card and place it into your hand and shuffle your deck afterward. All that for a single D Energy! For you veteran players, this card may remind you of a weakened-down version of Pidgeot RG’s “Quick Search” Poké-Power (weakened because this time it’s an attack, not a Power).
But in most of the lists where Zoroark is included that you see online don’t have a single Darkness/Rainbow Energy! Why is that? It’s because Zoroark owns a second, much more dangerous attack…
“Why so sad?”
“Because your Zoroark plays foul.”
“What do you mean, sir.”
“He used Foul Play; therefore he is playing foul.”
“Yes, yes he did. And he gave me a well-needed prize on your Reshiram.” >:D
If you look at the card on your upper right, Zoroark indeed holds a second (not to mention foul) attack called Foul Play. For a single DCE, it says you can copy any attack your opponent’s active Pokémon has. So you can easily 1-shot Pokémon like Reshiram and Zekrom (with a PlusPower, of course). More Pokémon that Zoroark can counter inlude Rayquaza & Deoxys LEGEND & Bad Boar. Zoroark’s main job is to counter these Pokémon.
Now there really is no deck that Zoroark “belongs” to. He’s usually played in Stage 1s, but those decks vary a lot; the Pokémon that are often played in Stage 1s (not necessarily together) are Donphan, Yanmega, Cincinno, Simisear, and, obviously, Zoroark. Nevertheless, this is the most common deck with Zoroark. Even I play a Stage 1s with Zoroark, and I do NOT like to play metagame cards!
Zoroark is also played in Mew Box, which, according to Esa Juntunen‘s Eye on Japan article, is often used in Japan as a Mewtwo ex counter. I assume that when the ex’s are released everywhere else, this will be a common play.
Conclusion
As of now, Zoroark is not used in many metagame decks, but in the decks he is used, he plays a very important role. In my opinion, Zoroark is a very good card. What do you think? Did I miss any common decks with Zoroark? Have you ever had any success with Zoroark? Please leave a comment in the section below. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see ya next time. Bye!
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Great article, you never disappoint!
Thanks for the amazing compliment, PokemonJon!!!
Zoroark is an incredible life saver for my deck. Without him the two dragons would run me over every time. With him now though, I can take care of them pretty easily
I feel like he should be played a good amount at Regionals, the dragon decks should be in high numbers
Yeah, if it wasn’t for Zoroark, a lot of my crazy ideas would NEVER work lol.
Ive said it before, but Zoroark is an amazing card, in that, no matter what crazy cards come out, Zoroark will serve as a balancing act to reign them in.
Especially the new EX’s.
Sorry for pestering, but what are these new EX’s people keep talking about?
The set after noble victories (sorry if i’m wrong) will mark the return of Pokemon EX. Some of the new ex pokemon being printed will include Mewtwo ex, Reshiram ex, Zekrom ex and Groudon ex (you can find more info on Pokebeach’s translations of upcoming cards)
Exactly as Dakota said – In February, we’ll have all these EX’s.
simisear in stage 1’s?
……..please PLEASE explain…
They way I see it, Simisear is basically the cheap man’s Yanmega. He snipes the bench with Flame Burst, adding more OHKO options. You can also use the EP Pansear for added draw. I use Pansear as my Cleffa, and then use 2 or 3 Flame Burst to spread damage; I then proceed to OHKO the sniped Pokemon with Donphan & Zoroark. I hope I helped. :)
it seems like it wouldnt last long enough to do that, imho
Dane’s got one of the ideas, but not the main idea. The MAIN idea is that it’s your “win against goth and ross” tech. You spread and knock out both benched oddish/solosis AND the active, taking three prizes at once. This denies them twins while they set up, and once they can twins, they have no valid targets for candy, as the third copy would have to be played to the bench that turn, which in turn could be catchered up for a quick knockout. Deny them the oddish, or the solosis, and they fold.
Whoa! That’s pretty neat! Never woulda thought of that!
Another card Zoroark is weak to is actually Cleffa if you are set up and your opponent is not: your opponent stalls the game and allows themselves to set up while you either can refresh your hand or have to retreat to deal damage. Zoroark is indeed a great universal tech, but the fact he can be OHKO’d so easily in today’s format (by others such as Cinccino as well) makes it important not to rely too heavily on this card.
Yeah, it seems EVERY TIME I play Zoroark, it’s against a Baby, so I Eeeeek and I get a new hand (which I wanted), but sleeping (which I don’t), because most of the time, I don’t have a Dark Energy to Nasty Plot, always a DCE.
Just now I was worrying about a way to deal a great amount of damage to some of the EXs… then your CoTD on the side stared me in the face and said ‘use me’ xD
Zoroark is definitely going to give some cards trouble. I love this guy :3
“Reshiram BLW, and Zekrom BLW).”
You mentioned it later on, but they can’t KO you if you KO them first with Foul Play, especially with a Special Darkness attached ;)
And I’m glad you mentioned Rayquaza/Deoxys Legend – I actually got to Foul Play one! I love it XD
im very happy that i have a zoroark .im trying to put together an eletric deck(very annoying zebstrika,eletrik with its pokepower,ect)and zoroark is my nasty little suprise .my friend has TWO of the full-body cobalions,and they are absolute sweepers. zoroark only comes out when its set up and when another pokemon dies to a sweeper.his cobalions attack,iron horns(i think thats what its called) doesnt allow your card to attack,while doing 100 hp damage. Zoroark comes in,uses foul play,and that cobalion is GONE! (that is,unless he retreats)