Card of the Day Review - Absol Prime (Triumphant 91)

Hi everyone! LuxrayMogul here, welcome to PikaCirculator's first Card of the Day Review! Today we'll be talking about Absol Prime, card number 91 from HS - Triumphant.

So first, let's go over the basics of the card. Absol is a Dark-Type Basic Pokémon with 80 HP, which is average, or maybe a little higher, considering it is a Basic. It has a double weakness to Fighting... so that means it's automatically useless against Machamp Prime, Donphan Prime, and cards of that sort. It's 20 resistance to Psychic isn't bad. It needs one Colourless energy to retreat, which is average for a Basic. Let's look at the card text.

Its Poké-Body states that as long as Absol is your active Pokémon, every time your opponent plays a basic onto their Bench you get to put two damage counters on them. Not bad, but like stated above, this Body might not be of very much use if you're up against Machamp, Donphan, or any other Fighting type Pokémon (they only need to deal 40 damage for Absol to be knocked out). So, it might not stay as an "Active Pokémon" for very long for the effect to take effect. Well.... perhaps the attack is more promising.

For a Darkness and Colourless Energy you can use Absol's "Vicious Claw", which does a decent 70 damage. However, it states that you have to choose one Pokémon from your hand and send it into the Lost Zone (an advanced version of the discard pile; cards here cannot be 'rescued') If you can't, the attack does nothing. Wait... what?

Most people run decks where each Pokémon in the deck matter very much to the strategy and ensure the victory of the game. However, Absol Prime forces you to Lost Zone a Pokémon every turn in order for the attack to deal just 70 damage.

The only card I can maybe see that will work with this card is Mew Prime, (Triumphant 97) which is from the same expansion as Absol. Its Poké-Body allows it to use all attacks of Pokémon in the Lost Zone (sufficient energy is still required, of course). This links it well with Absol Prime, as its own attack, See Off, costs one attack to send Pokémon into the Lost Zone. Absol can deal 70 damage and send something to the Lost Zone, so it would make a great combo with Mew, only if the cards in your hand go your way.

The art? It is absolutely outstanding. 

Overall, I'll give Absol Prime a generous rating of 2/5. Its weakness impairs it when compared to a popular card right now, Donphan Prime. (Well, Fighting types are popular.) Its attack can be quite costly to a deck when discarding all those Pokémon that you may need in the future. Its Body does help damage up Benched Pokémon if you play it early in the game. This card might only work in a deck that revolves around it; it might not do very well otherwise.