Trainers aren’t reviewed often in Card of the Day because there usually isn’t a whole lot of analysis to do on them – most people understand the pros and cons of cards like Switch, Potion, and Poke Ball. But VS Seeker is a less known card that has a very interesting effect.

“Search your discard pile for a Supporter Card, show it to your opponent, and put it into your hand.”

Well, simple enough. Very useful for getting that card that you had earlier and need another copy of. This, combined with cards like Sableye SF can guarantee the use of the same supporter twice in two turns, and combined with Jirachi RR, can utilize the same supporter four times in two turns.

I could search out almost every basic in my deck with that many Collectors. I don’t even know what I’d do with all of those.

There’s a few things in my mind that hold VS Seeker back from being a really good card. First off, it doesn’t help during Trainer Lock, which is very popular. Even though it gets you Supporters, if you can’t use it, you can’t use the Supporters.

Also, it’s not a Team Galactic’s Invention, which would be absurdly overpowered and be used to infinitely link Cyrus’s Conspiracy, instead of getting Cyrus’s with your Cyrus’s, you could get a Supporter and a VS Seeker. Now I’m rambling.

I thought for a moment that the new ruling to put Supporters in the discard pile before your turn is over may have helped this card, but after a while it didn’t really make sense anymore. I was thinking that you could get a Supporter before they Judged you, but you still get Judged regardless.

I think this may have potential as a tech for Yanmega, so you can recover Copycats and Judges, along with any other Supporters you need to get a hand like your opponents’. You can also retrieve it with Junk Arm. Another possible combo is Marley’s Request, although I doubt that would work very well.

In the end, I’ll give VS Seeker a 1.5/5, simply because it’s a Trainer and will do nothing to alleviate Trainer Lock. It’s a good tech for Yanmega, especially coupled with Junk Arm, but in most decks it doesn’t warrant a spot.

VS Seeker (Supreme Victors SV 140) – Card of the Day is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

If you’ve seen a list of what decks were played at Worlds last year, you’ll notice that quite a few lists included Drifblim FB from Supreme Victors. Why did some of the top players in the world play Drifblim FB? Let’s find out!

For starters, Drifblim FB is a Psychic Pokemon with an average HP of 80. The x2 Darkness Weakness makes it especially vulnerable to Honckrow, Tyranitar Prime, Umbreon and a few other Pokemon, but for the most part, it isn’t a terrible Weakness to have. The -20 Colorless Weakness provides some much needed protection against Garchomp C Lv.X. The CC Retreat Cost is certainly unfortunate, but Poke-Turn helps quite a bit.

Its Poke-Body, “Pump Up” is a pretty good one (since its an SP Pokemon, it isn’t shut off by Dialga G Lv.X), if your opponent has 3 or less Prize cards left, Drifblim’s HP is raised to 120, which is quite impressive for a Basic Pokemon.

Drifblim FB’s single attack, “Shadow Ball”, is pretty good as well. For the high cost of PCC (Fortunately, we can use Double Colorless Energy or TGI Energy Gain to help power it up), it allows you to do 40 damage to one of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon. In addition, apply Weakness and Resistance.

In case you haven’t noticed, both Uxie and Azelf, staples in almost every deck, have a +20 Psychic Weakness. What this means is, with the aid of Lucario GL or a Crobat G drop, you can OHKO these Pokemon while they’re on your opponent’s bench.

Note: With a Crobat G drop, you can also OHKO a Uxie Lv.X on your opponent’s bench as well.

While Luxray GL and Garchomp C can do this as well, by playing Drifblim FB, you’re given another Powerful attacker that isn’t hindered by any counter your opponent is playing (Garchomp C/Ambipom G/Dragonite FB for Garchomp and Toxicroak G for Luxray GL). In addition, if you’re running a Psychic Energy, which most SP decks are, you don’t need to add in any other Energy to the deck, which makes it easier to fit into your deck.

I always try to fit it into my LuxChomp lists, whenever possible, but often times, I find there isn’t enough room. However, I make an effort to run it in any DialgaChomp decks I create because, in my opinion, it works better here as it sort of gives you the ”best of both worlds” between LuxChomp and DialgaChomp. You’re given the power and tanking ability with Dialga G and Garchomp C, and Drifblim helps to provide a higher level of sniping that isn’t really known in many decks apart from LuxChomp.

My Recommendation: If you’re playing LuxChomp, DialgaChomp or any other SP variant running Garchomp C (Sablelock/Chenlock may be an exception, I haven’t tested it a whole lot in either of these two decks), I strongly suggest you give it a shot in your build. It can take a bit of time to get used to it, but once you do, it’s well worth it.

My Rating: 3.75-4/5

Drifblim FB (Supreme Victors SV 3) – Card of the Day is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

When you play Cyrus’s Initiative, the first thing it tells you to is flip 2 coins. This right away tells you that its effect will be based on the result of those flips (da!), so how much this card helps you during the game will rely on luck.

More experienced players aren’t usually a fan of having their cards at the sole digression of lady luck. However, if the card is good enough, it can still see play. For example, Uxie’s “Set Up” leaves a lot to luck, but since you could be drawing 5+ cards, the potential for getting something you need is quite high.

In this case, when you play Cyrus’s Initiative, you flip 2 coins. If either of them is heads, you get to look at your opponent’s hand.  OMG that is such an amazing effect, its gotta be an instant four of in every deck, right? No. Thankfully, we’re not done. For each heads you flipped, you get to choose a card from your opponent’s hand (while looking at it!) and put it to the bottom of your opponent’s deck.

Now, this is obviously a Supporter that disrupts your opponent, and boy does it! Being able to snipe (using the term rather loosely) up to 2 cards from your opponent hand put them on the bottom of their deck is pretty powerful. Getting rid of a Pokemon Collector, Cyrus’s Conspiracy, Call Energy or Uxie gives you a massive edge over your opponent. It’s also great mid- and late-game as well, allowing you to get rid of a key Double Colorless Energy, Uxie or Professor Oak’s New Theory is just too good.

There is one thing that I don’t like about this card, however. Often times, you’ll need the Supporter slot to play a consistency card such as Bebe’s Search or your own Cyrus’s Conspiracy. While this doesn’t work well late-game (although, it isn’t impossible to pull off), early-game you can use Sableye’s “Impersonate” to use it from your deck.

Also, if you do the Smeargle thing (where you use a Collector in your hand or “Portrait” one from your opponent), you could be using three Supporters in a single turn (granted you go second), which is why many Sablelock and Gyarados players have switched over to this.

My Recommendation: If you’re using Sablelock, it’s an obvious 1-2 copies in your deck (I prefer two, but some builds can get away with 1), but other disruption decks can benefit from playing a copy of it as well.

My Rating: 3.75/5

Cyrus’s Initiative (Supreme Victors SV 137) – Card of the Day is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Being a Fire type is pretty good, being able to hit Dialga G Lv.X for twice the damage. Unfortunately, it has a x2 Water Weakness, meaning Gyarados, Kingdra Prime & LA as well as Palkia G Lv.X, which could see a big rise in popularity if Lost Zone is released. Charizard G comes with a nice Fighting Resistance and a disappointing but expected three retreat cost. Fortunately, since it’s a Pokemon SP, you can just use Poke Turn to remove it from the active position instead of having to manually retreat it or use Warp Energy. Finally, it has 120 HP, which is slightly higher than many SP Level Ups.

Charizard G Lv.X’s Poke-Power is called “Call for Power.” It allows you to move as many Energy cards as you like during your turn to Charizard. Unfortunately, those Energy must be in play. While this isn’t a terrible Poke-Power, it isn’t going to get a deck based around it for the power alone. Thankfully, it also comes with an attack.

“Malevolent Fire,” for the MASSIVE cost of RRCCC (Even with a TGI Energy Gain AND a Double Colorless Energy, it’s MASSIVE), does a staggering 150 damage, which is enough to OHKO almost any Pokemon in the format. If this was all there was to the card, I could easily see it in a deck with Typhlosion Prime to accelerate Energy attachment. However, “Malevolent Fire” has a catch. You must flip a coin. If Tails, you must discard all Energy attached to Charizard.

The fine print pretty much kills Charizard’s shot at seeing play. Sure, you could use a combination of Heatran Lv.X and Typhlosion Prime. However, this would require a Stage 2, a Bulky Level Up and an SP Level Up with five Energy (not counting DCE or E-Gain). If I’m being perfectly honest, Charizard G Lv.X pales in comparison to Charizard AR.

Perhaps if Charizard G had some powerful attacks to help avenge its Level Up, but alas, it does not.

My Recommendation: Leave it in the binder or sell it to a Charizard fanboy for $2.

My Rating 1.75/5 (The reward is great. The cost is great, too great)

Card of the Day – Charizard G Lv.X (Supreme Victors SV 143) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

In honor of the many turkeys being gnawed on today, the Card of the Day is our own turkey-looking Pokemon, Dodrio. Entirely overshadowed by its Undaunted counterpart, this flightless bird sees little to no play in the current format.

Gobble, gobble.

This card has one attack, “Drill Peck”, which does a vanilla 50 for 3 energy. In our format, that is awful, though not the worst. Nonetheless, its real beauty is “Echo Draw”, and that Poke-Power allows you to draw one extra card during the turn.

Noctowl HS has an identical Poke-Power, but a better attack, more HP, and one more retreat cost than Dodrio. If you never plan on attacking with the birds, keep in mind that Luxray GL Lv.X one-shots both regardless of HP, so stick with the free-retreater! Similar Pokemon that draw extra cards include Uxie Lv.X and Slowking Prime. However, letting you choose which of two cards you want is entirely different from letting your opponent choose, and the latter is possibly worse than just drawing one more card without looking.

Uxie Lv.X > Dodrio SV > Noctowl HS > Slowking Prime

Whoever said that Slowking Prime is a cheaper Uxie Lv.X is a silly, silly, silly person. If you really want cheap draw-power and you have the room, tech in Dodrio. *Gobble*

Rating: 2.5/5 (Not the best, but certainly not the worst card in the game!!)

Card of the Day – Dodrio (Supreme Victors SV 25) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Now that we have the obvious out of the way, let’s take a look at this musically malevolent bird: it has a Poke-Power (so it must be good) and an attack that requires no energy.

Its Poke-Power, “Disrupting Spy”, allows to you look at and rearrange the top four cards of your opponent’s deck when you play Chatot G down. This alone is the reason why the card sees play. In lock decks, such as Sablelock, being able to control the opponent’s draw is crucial to maintaining the lock. Deliberately causing dead draw can be considered cruel, but that’s exactly the point!

Also, working in the same vein as Slowking HS, rearranging the top cards allow other, less popular stars, such as Primeape SV and Absol G Lv.X, to be more effective. One can now “Top Drop” that Tyranitar or “Darkness Send” your opponent’s Cyrus’s Conspiracy and Uxie, thereby crippling set up.

But wait! What about its attack? Well, “Search and Escape” allows you to get any Trainer card from your deck for the painless price of shuffling Chatot G back in. It is a Pokemon-to-Trainer card, if you will, with an effect akin to Pokemon Communication and Energy Exchanger. Need that Luxury Ball? No problem! Poke Turn to reuse Absol G Lv.X’s Poke-Power? Not an issue! Power Spray for next turn’s predicted “Set Up”? You got this game in the bag, brah!

And upon Triumphant’s release, Chatot G can too benefit from cards such as Seeker or that fifth Poke Turn via Junk Arm. Its Power can be used over and over again until the opponent starts crying or just scoops altogether. What a wonderful way to end the match, right?

Note: Do try to be kind with this evil bird. Its power is in your hands… leaving your opponent with none in theirs.

Rating: 3.5/5 (It’s great in specific decks, but not meant for all.)

Card of the Day – Chatot G (Supreme Victors SV 54) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

The most common decks to use it were Gengar SF and CurseGar. Though Spiritomb was their starting Pokemon, Gastly could also lock your opponent’s Trainers. The other types of decks that commonly used Spiritomb were slower decks, such as Tyranitar Prime. Some Gardevior/Gallade variants also experimented with Spiritomb as well.

However, with the release of Undaunted brought Vileplume, which brought forth the birth of VileGar, Trainer Lock, VileTomb, or whatever you want to call it. Spiritomb is the ideal starter in the deck. Well, now that we’ve finished with the history of Spiritomb and where it fits in the Pokemon TCG world, let’s start with the basics.

Spiritomb is a 60 HP basic Pokemon, which should make it harder to be donked by the likes of Sableye. Spiritomb’s first attack, “Darkness Grace” lets you search your deck for a Pokemon that evolves from one on your bench and put it onto that Pokemon. However, you must put one damage counter on Spiritomb. Even though that damage could add up eventually, it is well worth the boost of speed it provides for your deck. “Will-o’-the-wisp” is nearly useless doing 10 for D.

Spiritomb’s Poke-Body, “Keystone Seal”, prevents each player from playing Trainer cards, which, in combination with “Darkness Grace”, is the reason why it sees play.

To finish off this review, Spiritomb has a no weakness and a -20 colorless resistance, meaning that Garchomp C Lv.X will have to use “Dragon Rush” to OHKO you. This is actually very good as it will waste two of their energy or a Double Colorless Energy, which is even better for you. The retreat cost of one hurts, especially since you can’t use Switch/Warp Point to get it out of the active position, but it’s manageable.

However, Spiritomb doesn’t come without its counters and liabilities. First of all, its Poke-Body will be shut off by Dialga G Lv.X, which is pretty much its only counter. However, it does prove to be a liability in the game because it will end up being one of two things: a card that wastes a bench spot or a card that will be a prize for your opponent.

Recommendation You want to definitely try this card out in Tyranitar Prime, Tyranitar SF, Torterra and any other decks you’re playing that take time to get going.

Rating 4.5/5

Card of the Day – Spiritomb (Arceus AR 32) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Staraptor is has a low 100 HP, a terrible Lightning weakness, a nice -20 Fighting resistance and a great retreat cost of 0.

First off, is its Poke-Power “Fast Call” which lets you search your deck for one Supporter card each turn and add it to your hand. I’m sure you all can see how it could be useful in an SP deck. Staraptor can start your Cyrus’s Chain or get an Aaron’s from your deck mid-game without forcing you to fish it out with Cyrus’s, thus breaking the chain. It also allows you to play certain supporters in lower counts because you are able to fish the one you need out of the deck.

Which is better, Cynthia’s Feelings, Professor Oak’s New Theory or Copycat? I’m sure I’ll get a lot of different answers (I personally prefer PONT). With “Fast Call”, you could play one of each so you always can have the one you need. Pokemon KOed last turn, get Cynthia’s, opponent have a 10 card hand, get Copycat, opponent have a 3 card hand, pick PONT. The possibilities are endless. Note: You could remove one of the above cards in favor of Judge if you like.

It even boasts a nice attack, Defog with for CCC (DCE + E-Gain) will do 40 damage. However, if there is a stadium in play, it does 70 damage instead. This will allow it to OHKO Garchomp C Lv.X, which is excellent, making it an effective Garchomp counter.

The biggest drawback of this card is the x2 Lightning weakness. In one way, Staraptor FB is great for the mirror, but the weakness makes it much worse. Overall, it’s a nice engine that’s great for nearly all match ups apart from LuxChomp, where it could be liability.

Staraptor has replaced Uxie Lv.X in a lot of decks, which most say is a good thing. However, doing this helps a lot of matches, it hurts your Machamp match.

Rating: 3.25/5 (Good card, but with Luxray GL so popular, I’m doubtful to its use in the LuxChomp match.)

Card of the Day – Staraptor FB Lv.X (Supreme Victors SV 147) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Solrock is a basic Pokemon with a decent HP for 70. It has 1 retreat cost, which isn’t bad. His weakness of x2 to Grass isn’t bad either as there is no Grass tier 1 deck out right now. His attack “Sun Flash” does 20 damage and when your opponent tries to attack Solrock next turn, they flip a coin and if it is tails, their attack does nothing. So from where it stands, it is pretty much useless.

However, his Poke-Body “Heal Block” is what makes the card shine, at least to me. “Heal Block” states that either player can’t remove damage counters from their Pokemon if Lunatone is in play (but movable). This is great as now you can stop the ever annoying “Healing Breath” from Garchomp C Lv.X or Nidoqueen from Rising Rivals.

You might think now that since it has a HP of 70, it can easily get sniped by Garchomp C Lv.X or vulnerable to Luxray GL Lv.X “Bright Look” than getting KOed by “Trash Bolt” or “Flash-Impact” with 1 Crobat G drop. However, pair it up with Lunatone from Supreme Victor’s and your problems solved. Lunatone is psychic, 70 HP, +20 weakness to psychic, and a basic Pokemon. His attack “Gravity Wave” does 30 damage to each of your opponent’s Pokemon with free retreat, which is okay.

Free retreat is always great, and his Poke-Body “Marvel Eyes” makes a great pair with Solrock. Lunatone’s Poke-Body prevents your Solrock and Lunatone from all effects of attacks, including damage from any Lv.X Pokemon. With this, your problem of getting KOed by any Luxray GL Lv.X or Garchomp C Lv.X is solved. So I guess this really isn’t “Card of the Day” but “Cards of the Day”.

This combo may sound good on paper but it has a few drawbacks. First of all, your taking up 2 of your valuable bench space. Secondly, you may think it is a great counter to DialgaChomp but Dialga G Lv.X will immediately shut off both of their bodies, making it completely worthless. Lastly, it is a counter to mainly SP decks using Garchomp C Lv.X. It is mostly useless against any other decks unless they run Nidoqueen. However, I found this card very interesting and found it worthy of being “Card” of the day or I could say “Cards” of the day.

I give this card 2/5 in the current format.

Card of the Day – Solrock (Triumphant TM 9) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

This card is pretty useful late game, as it can be another copy of Professor Oak’s New Theory, Copycat, Cyrus’s Conspiracy, Aaron’s Collection, etc., so it’s pretty versatile in that sense. There are two problems with the card that are hindering this card from seeing play in every deck.

The first is that, while it’s pretty good late game, it’s not very useful early game. Sure, you can play collector, then reuse it, but typically that won’t be the case. The second issue, which isn’t really a huge issue, but it can be a nuisance, is it’s a trainer, meaning that Viletomb and Spiritomb will lock it out of play.

The most common use for this card was in SP decks, typically to copy Cyrus’s Conspiracy or perhaps an Aarons’s Collection, but with Trainer Lock so popular, VS Seeker is often times the 61st card in a deck. Another factor that doesn’t particularly help is the fact that, if a deck has room to add some non-essential trainers to the deck, they’ll typically go for Energy Exchanger, Pokemon Communication or perhaps the upcoming Junk Arm trainer card.

I know this was a pretty short card review, but in my opinion there’s not that much to say.

Overall, it’s a nice card that can be pretty nice late game, but may be past its prime.

Rating: 3/5

The Card of the Day thread is still taking requests to know what cards you want reviewed. I assure you that, unless there’s some big reason, I’ll eventually get to all of the requests in a somewhat reasonable time.

http://www.sixprizes.com/forums/showthread.php?1460-Card-of-the-Day-Request-Thread&p=13671#post13671

Card of the Day – VS Seeker (Supreme Victors SV 140) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.