Team Y2K

PokeChamp · Site Admin Joined: 03 Mar 2010 Posts: 946 Location: Gengar

This is a review of the entire Triumphant set. I will start from the first card and review my all the way along to the last. The reviews will be brief but satisfactory. Better cards my get longer reviews. Let the review begin.

#1. Aggron
Aggron is the first Pokemon in the set. It appears we'll start off with a bit of a tank; 140 HP is nothing to sneeze at and the typing means Special metals reduce even more damage. We're talking probably Steelix-level tanking right here. "Second Strike" requires three Energy, but can do 80 damage against damaged Pokemon. For just one more, you can use "Guard Claw". 60 for four is dead-average, but it does come with a 20 damage-reduction effect, adding to the tank that Aggron is. Overall, I don't think this card will see much play, but it can tank effectively albeit it is probably very slow. All in all, probably nothing much.

#2. Altaria
Altaria is a change of pace from the first Pokemon. With only 90 HP, it won't last long even with an Expert Belt attached to it. But 90-110 for a stage 1 isn't so bad. "Midnight Eyes" is sub-par, though it does inflict the Sleep condition, which is a bonus. "Stadium Power", which does 40 plus 30 more if there is a Stadium card in play, can be pulled off on turn two with a DCE. While 70 for two (with a DCE) is pretty good damage, Altaria's low HP and horrible Colorless weakness guarantee it won't do much at all... before it gets knocked out.

#3. Celebi
Celebi's got a great typing this time around. A 70 HP Psychic-type, it's only a basic Pokemon and just a Great Ball, Dual Ball, or Pokemon Collector can fetch it. "Future Sight" can be helpful or harmful, depending on which player you use it on. Editing the contents of your opponent's top five, however, isn't too effective because they'll have a shuffle card in their hand unless they got really unlucky. For a set up attack, rigging the top card of your deck is never a bad thing, nor is rigging the next five cards. "Leaf Bind" is absolutely horrible, leaving Celebi with no more than "Future Sight" to build a deck around. It could make a sub-par starter, but there are so much better cards out there, anyway.

#4. Drapion
We haven't seen a Drapion since Platinum, so it's nice to get one of those. With 100 HP and the dark type, it can take a few hits and dish out good damage, too. Plus it hits Ghosts for super effective damage, so stuff like Gengar SF is easy pickings... if only the attacks were good. "Toxic Fang" on a flip badly poisons the defending, but it's not worth your time. Neither, for that matter, is "Land Crush". Unfortunately, a cool Pokemon got a horrible card. Not to mention the retreat cost is absolutely horrible. Not even an Unown Q can fix that.

#5. Mamoswine
An 140 HP stage 2 Pokemon again. Must be popular. Weak to DGX and with a retreat cost so ghastly It makes Claydol GE look like it's got free retreat, Mamoswine enters the battlefield with a few terrible dispositions and we haven't even gotten done to the attacks, yet. "Icy Wind" is decent, certainly much better than Altaria's "Midnight Eyes", but it remains to be an atrocious attack. "Snowstorm" is interesting, it has potential if you play DCEs and Spiritombs. As a spreading attack, it's got good potential. Even though the new Solrock is great for spread decks, I just don't see too much coming from this big heap of failure. "Snowstorm" is very intriguing, but with all of those bad factors on the bottom of the card and with no other good attacks or Poke-Powers or Bodies, Mamoswine will be that large rare in your binder that no one wants to trade for.

#6. Nidoking
Not only does Nidoking have 140 HP, it also gets 20 more for each Nidoqueen you've got on the field. With four Nidoqueens, you've got 220 HP. With an Expert Belt, you've got 240. That's a lot of HP. But with such a useless, pricey attack, Wailord SV is more appealing than it is. And although that's a fun card, it probably won't amount to much either. Bad waste of a cool Poke-Body.

#7. Porygon-Z
Porygon-Z is a little frail with just 110 HP, but an Expert Belt fixes that up. The Colorless typing is excellent for owning some Garchomp C. The Fighting weakness, while making you vulnerable to Donphan, leaves you off the radar against many other decks.The Poke-Power, "Dimension Transfer", is flippy but useful. If you flip heads, you could grab back a lot of cool Trainers. Rare Candy, Reversal, Rescue, Poke Drawers, Pokedexs, Pluspowers, Expert Belts, a bunch of stuff in general. The attack is also interesting. As long as you take the 10 from Rainbow (putting you down to 120), you can blast off for 80 for just a DCE and another Energy. Admittedly decent, but Porygon-Z has no other attacks and is a little bit frail with that Rainbow slapped on it. It's pretty much worth two prizes and not even worth one for you. The Poke-Power is great, but it's just wasted potential on a sub-par attacker.

#8. Rapidash
90 HP and a Fire-typing are good things, and the Poke-Body is generic but slightly helpful. (Confusion isn't too common, however.)
The attack is nice but too little I'm afraid to be of much use.

#9. Solrock
A 70 HP basic is nice, "Heal Block" is great if used in a spread deck with Pokemon like Gallade 4 Lv.X and Abomasnow SF. "Sun Flash" is bad but at least chips away for something and if you had to attack it only costs a Fighting. The effects also helps to stall, but only until your opponent gets lucky. Topped off with a nice retreat cost, it makes spread decks viable again. The first good card in the set, I'd wager.

#10. Spiritomb
I like this card. Only 60 HP is admittedly on the lower side, but with no weakness it at least gets one-hit KO'd with dignity. The Poke-Power is one of those funny sort of things that just might work. "Spooky Whirlpool" is sort-of like a one-sided Judge, except your opponent gets two more cards. Six cards is a decent hand-size, so it won't work for disruption. But what about Gengar SF's "Poltergeist"? Or maybe Lumineon SF's "Fin Luster" Poke-Power? Or perhaps a nice way to pick off targets with the new Gengar Prime? For its Poke-Power alone, Spiritomb is usable.
"Color Tag" also isn't half-bad. It's worth 20 or 30 damage, possibly 40 against some decks, and it has a funny sort of synergy with Spiritomb LA. If it has to attack, it spreads damage counters around. But my attention is fully on its Poke-Power, not the attack. The retreat cost is so nice it makes it even more viable. Don't be surprised if someone out there uses this. It's definitely got potential.

#11. Venomoth
Horrible, absolutely horrible. The Poke-Power is flippy, has a drawback, and it has the exact same attack as the basic Pokemon Celebi, with a different name. Outside of a funny combo like using this with Muk PL, Venomoth may just be the biggest piece of garbage I've ever laid eyes on. It's insulting that this card was ever printed. The only good thing about this card is that it is a Rare, so you're a lot less likely to pull any lol.

#12. Victreebel
A grass-type with below-average HP. "Tangling Tendrils" makes it more difficult for your opponent to retreat his/her Pokemon. Much more difficult. Imagine the hilarity of getting one of these set up versus a Spiritomb. If they don't play Warp Energy, I think it's implied they just forfeited to you. There's also a ton of obvious combos that pretty much all have to do with special conditions. Including just using "Acidic Drain". 30 for two is Poison and Burn is pretty cool, combined with a 30-damage heal Victreebel is obviously designed to slowly kill whatever stands in its way. Decent Pokemon, but the fact that it has to be active for the Poke-Body to trigger basically makes this a slightly more annoying version of Butterfree GE. Not a bad card, but I wouldn't waste my time on it.

#13. Ambipom
80 HP Colorless Pokemon that hits Garchomp weakness with low HP is decent. The attacks are cool, though. 60 for two with a discard is sort of like a mini-Kingdra LA, but the first attack is awesome. It's incredibly disrupting, it's like flipping two heads on Cyrus except you don't get to look. For just a DCE, it's a great attack. Might possibly be used in a Sablelock-like disruption-style deck along with Judge and Team Rocket's Handiwork. Not bad, but definitely on the frail side.

#14. Banette
80 HP is frail but Psychic typing is cool. "Breakdown" is outclassed by Gengar SF and Lost Crush can be annoying but is very luckbased. Poor card with limited disruption capabilities.

#15. Bronzong
Cool card. 90 HP is good enough on a Metal-type, being able to reduce its own damage and all. "Legend Ceremony" is begging to be used in a LEGEND deck. "Reflect Energy" is poor but at least it doesn't demand any type of Energy, thus being splashable in any deck that wants to get out its LEGENDs. The question still remains... will someone finally put a LEGEND to good use as a main attacker? With Bronzong, the answer to that question may be revealed in good time.

Part 2 coming soon.
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