Card of the Day Review - Celebi Prime (Triumphant 92)

Hi everyone! It's LuxrayMogul here for another Card of the Day! Today we're going to discuss Celebi Prime, which is card number 92 from HS - Triumphant expansion. Alright, let's get started.

Celebi Prime is a Prime card, which are generally considered the HGSS version of Pokémon Lv. X and Pokémon ex, but without the consequences of the latter two. It is a Grass-Type basic Pokémon and has a measly 60 HP... eh. It has a double weakness to fire. Wait... so 30 damage from a Fire type can knock it out! Ouch. Not impressive... Its one colourless energy retreat cost is average. Let's see if the card text can improve my impression at this moment, haha.

Celebi's Poké-Power, Forest Breath, allows you to attach a grass energy from your hand to any Pokémon, as long as Celebi is your Active Pokémon. This can be useful, allowing you an extra energy attachment that turn. But like mentioned before, Celebi doesn't have very high survivability considering its x2 weakness and its mere 60 HP. Let's see its attack. 

Time Circle needs a Grass, Psychic and Colourless Energy to use; it does 30 damage. The text says that during your opponent's next turn, prevent all damage done to Celebi by their Stage 1 or 2 Pokémon. Well, that definitely redeems Celebi's weakness! Sort of. If your opponent was to attack during the turn, they would have to use basic Pokémon... but there are still many powerful Basic Pokémon, so Celebi's survivability is not ideal.

Interviewer's Questions (Unleashed 77) as well as Fisherman (HGSS 92) work well with Celebi Prime to get those extra grass energy to attach. Celebi makes charging up those large Stage 2 grass Pokémon fast - so they are ready for action quicker. 

The art is outstanding, as with all the Prime cards, haha!

Ideally, Celebi Prime can be put in your deck for fast charge-up of your grass Pokémon (getting them ready in half the turns required); and it does make a good wall if your opponents are running evolved Pokémon. But it is important to note that it only prevents damage; they can still hit Celebi with Special Conditions. I will rate this card 3/5 for its useful Poké-Power and its relatively good attack. It definitely loses marks for its low HP and its high weakness against fire Pokémon. Celebi Prime is ideal for charging, but probably not very good for attacking.

Card of the Day Review - Donphan Prime (HeartGold & SoulSilver 107)

Hey everyone! My name is Volcachu and I am part of the team. If anyone of you are wondering what my name means, it is a combination of my two favourite Pokémon. They are Volcarona and Pikachu! Today, I will be reviewing one of my favourite cards in the game, Donphan Prime. (HG & SS 107)

Donphan Prime is one of the best cards out there in the present rotation. It has been used in many decks at this year's National Championships in the United States. The card's success has made it one of the most wanted cards out there. Donphan Prime is a Fighting-Type, Stage 1 Pokémon. It has 120 HP and that's a hefty amount for a Stage 1 Pokémon. It has a double weakness against Water-Types so you must be careful of Blastoise (Unleashed 13) which has also been seeing a lot of play these days. Donphan also has 20 resistance to Electric-Types. With your Poké-Body, Electric-Type Pokémon will not do much damage to Donphan. Donphan needs four energy cards to retreat so it isn't ideal to move it around too much.

Donphan has a very amazing Poké-Body, Exo-Skeleton. It reduces any damage done to Donphan by 20 after Resistance and Weakness calculation. This ability is great because it makes it harder for your opponent to kill the Donphan. This makes Donphan a good wall while dishing out tons of damage.

Donphan has two attacks which work very well. The first attack is Earthquake. This attack is very easy to use as it only requires 1 Fighting energy. It does a lot of damage as 60 will most likely kill many basic Pokémons in one hit. The only draw back to this attack is that each of your Bench Pokémon will take 10 damage. If you come to think of it, 10 damage is very little compared to 60 damage. Donphan's second attack is called Heavy Impact. This attack needs 3 Fighting energy and it deals 90 damage. This is a lot of damage if you ask me. There are no drawbacks and no side effects so it makes the attack reliable. Both of Donphan's attacks are easy to use and powerful.

Donphan is a great Pokémon which deals a lot of damage and it can survive many hits. This card can be run in many different types of decks and it is easy to bring out because it is only a Stage 1 Pokémon. I give this card a 4.5/5 for its high survivability and its great damage. It's Poké-Body is very useful and there is hardly anything bad about this card. There is no surprise if you run into this card a lot because it is one of the best cards printed.

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.

Welcome to PikaCirculator!

This is no ordinary random Pokémon site. No it isn't.

Welcome to the PikaCirculator official blog! Mainly on our YouTube channel (PikaCirculator), we discuss everything Pokémon related ranging from the TCG cards to the video games! We will also discuss strategies, talk about specific cards, and welcome you all to do the same. Make yourself at home here!

So... who's going to be posting? It's going to me, LuxrayMogul, as well as my buddies Volcachu and GrassExplorer. We'll sign each of our posts so you'll know who it is! (We will also label our videos so you know who is posting what!)

Once again, welcome to PikaCirculator!

-LuxrayMogul