Celebi Prime (Triumphant TM 92) – Card of the Day

pokemon-paradijs.comHey guys! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Anyway, I’m gonna try and get back into the groove and start writin’ articles again, so hopefully you’ll like ’em! Today I’m going to review the infamous grass sprite named Celebi.

Celebi Prime is a 60 HP Grass Pokémon with a single Retreat Cost, no Resistance, and a x2 Weakness to Fire. It’s good to have the single Retreat, as you can easily retreat with Skyarrow Bridge. The Fire Weakness isn’t the worst, but you can easily be donked with Reshiram BLW/NXD (DCE + PlusPower = Outrage KO). Thankfully, he isn’t as popular as he was pre-NXD.

Celebi Prime only has one attack, but he does have a useful Poké-Power, as well. For the cost of a Psychic, a Grass, and a Colorless, Time Circle does a whopping… (drum roll please)… 30 damage. Ugh. Oh wait! It does have an effect though! Let’s hope it helps. It says “During your opponent’s next turn, prevent all damage done to Celebi by attacks from your opponent’s Stage 1 and Stage 2 Pokémon.”

Again, ugh. In a format dominated by Basics, it may as well say “all damage done to Celebi by your opponent’s Stage 1 and Stage 2 Pokémon is doubled.” OK, well maybe that’s a bit overkill, but I think you get my point.

But obviously, since this card is talked about so much, it has to have something good about it!

pokemon-paradijs.comAnd, my good friend, there is. Remember that “useful Poké-Power” I talked about earlier? That’s what makes this card useable. Celebi’s “Forest Breath” power says “Once during your turn (before your attack), if Celebi is your Active Pokémon, you may attach a G Energy card from your hand to 1 of your Pokémon. This Power can’t be used if Celebi is affected by a Special Condition.”

An extra energy attachment, Turn 1? Yes please! While that doesn’t sound too amazing at first sight, an extra attachment T1 shows amazing donk potential, especially with cards like Skyarrow Bridge and Switch out there. And with CMT (Celebi Prime/Mewtwo EX/Tornadus EPO) running rampant, winning events one after another, the potential has been proven. But how else can Celebi be used? He isn’t just a one-trick pony, is he?

Well, while he may seem that way to some, I see more potential than just CMT this, CMT that. First off, Terrakion/Celebi; sayWUUT??? Zektrik is HUGE right now, and Terrakion/Celebi is fast, efficient, and kicks the shiznit outta it. And with PlusPowers, Catchers, and Seekers, you can donk much more than just Zektrik.

Toss in a moo2 or two and a Shaymin UL, and you’ve got yourself a pretty darn good deck! While I don’t want to give away all my little secrets, I will say that my Terra ExCel deck (Terra from Terrakion, Ex from Mewtwo EX, and Cel from Celibi) has the following Pokémon and Energy lines:

Pokémon – 10

4 Terrakion NVI

3 Celebi Prime

2 Mewtwo-EX NXD

1 Shaymin UL

Trainers – 35

2 Pokémon Collector

2 Dual Ball

and 31 other secrets…

Energy – 15

6 G

5 F

4 Double Colorless

I’m thinking of adding a second Shaymin (Revive does not do that card much justice…), but that’s what I got as of right now. Definitely give it a try. Maybe use it at Regionals this Saturday? Who knows, maybe you’ll surprise a few people!

Conclusion

Now obviously, there are other combos, such as Roserade UL/Celebi (cheap moo2 + a good power) and Absol Prime/Celebi (donk potential), but I think CMT and Terra ExCel are the best at the moment. I think that with it’s success so far and it’s new potential, Celebi Prime deserves an 8.5 out of 10 (Very Good/Extremely Good).

I mean, it’s part of a crazy good Tier 1 deck, has crazy good donk potential, and most of all, it’s a cute little grass sprite; what’s not to love? Anyway, thanks for reading, and look forward to more articles from me in the near future! Oh yeah, and make sure to comment on here if you have any other ideas/crazy creations that include Celebi.

Reader Interactions

17 replies

  1. Pokémon 31337

    I was expecting another COTD about it to see how good people consider Celebi now.
    I like Celebi/Roserade, also with Leafeon. I just need to get enough resources to build a CMT and I can have even more fun.

  2. Mark Hanson

    : 4 Terrakion means what might as well be a guaranteed Terrakion start at least a couple times in a tournament. With only 4 fighting in the deck, no matter what trainers you’re running, it’s not gonna work.

    The reason people don’t run Terrakion Celebi is because Celebi has potential to energy accel for first turn. Terrakion can’t take advantage of that outside of Tynamo donks. But if you start Terrakion your job of donking just got a lot harder cause you HAVE to fish out the switch instead of a Skyarrow or Switch.

    Considering Celebi’s potential for T1, woulda been nice to talk about other Pokemon Celebi can help T1. Tornadus, Mewtwo, Regigigas, Shaymin EX, Virizion EPO, Absol, etc…

    • Eli Norris  → Mark

      To be fair, 5/6 of those cards mentioned are an integral part/popular tech in CMT, which everyone knows about by now. He also mentioned Celebi + Absol. I think he was trying to make an interesting CoTD instead of just repeating common knowledge.

      I’m also betting that he runs at least 3 Switch and multiple SSU to get that Terrakion out of the active.

      • Dane_Carlson  → Eli

        Yes, I do use 3 Switch. I also run Exp Share because, like Crawdaunt said, I start with Terrakion often, and that way the deck can transition between Tetrakion and CMT. I know it sounds silly, but I swear, it works.

        • Mark Hanson  → Dane_Carlson

          I can believe it would work. But that’s because I think you’re just playing Tetrakion with Celebis and grass energy to make it less consistent…

        • Eli Norris  → Mark

          You also get the bonus of Mewtwo EX.

          Remember your Chandelure article, and how it was a new idea that you said you tested and it turned out to be a decent deck? Same scenario.

        • Mark Hanson  → Eli

          It’s not the concept I disagree with. It’s his list. 4 Fighting, 4 Terrakion and 3 Celebi is just a Tetrakion that plays less consistent. Mewtwo can (and is and should) already be teched into any fighting.deck to net the last KO for two prizes.

          indercarnive here sounds like he’s running a much more solid version of the deck. If you’re including Celebi, you want your deck to be fast. He’s got 4 Celebi, 3 Terrakion, 6 Fighting and only 3 DCE. Terrakion is just as good at donking babies (and even gets 40 HP Tynamos which is a point in it’s favour) as anything else that can hit for 30 T1.

          But if you’re running 4 Fighting and asking to start with a Terrakion, that means you’re relying on a Switch, Skyarrow Bridge (or 2nd Switch/Junk Arm), Grass AND Fighting Energy on your first turn, that’s 6 total cards you need to pull off the T1 donk. Good luck.

          indercarnive though, requires 5 cards, and is much more likely to get them as a result of his list.

          ergo my point.

        • Eli Norris  → Mark

          Alright, that’s fine if you don’t like the list. I would change it as well. But my point was that it is a newish deck idea that should be tested to see its potential.

        • Dane_Carlson  → Mark

          First off, it said 5 Fighting in the first place (or at least it was supposed to).
          And secondly, all I posted was an idea and half a list that was built to my play style. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. You’ve stated your point, and what you’d like to change in the list. I hope we can now end this mini argument. :)

        • Mark Hanson  → Dane_Carlson

          Well I’m not trying to be argumentative. It was just a bit of constructive criticism. But yeah, my point has been made. Agree to disagree if you feel that you like your list more, then fair enough. :)

        • indercarnive  → Mark

          i built a version of it. it works pretty. well a t1 retaliate might not be damaging unless you facer against tynamos and tyrouges. um there just used in the most popular deck at the moment. and a surprise mewtwo really makes your opponent think about starting a mewtwo war. but my list runs 4 celebi and 3 DCe and 6 fighting. though i wonder if i should take a terrakion off for a revive, or xp share.

      • Mark Hanson  → Eli

        3-4 switch is already essential in CMT without a 4 retreat basic requiring it. Just saying :|
        That and his list uses only 3 Celebi, and 4 Terrakion. He’s literally just asking to start Terrakion by making it his most common basic.

        And as a CotD, isn’t it supposed to go over all the options? A CotD is a summation of common knowledge.

  3. theo Seeds

    Nice COTD, Dane, and what really made me +1 this was the use of the word shiznit. A little on the short side though.

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