The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) continues to reveal more cards from Black Bolt and White Flare reveals. Today, we are now looking at the Joltik, Foongus, and Zorua evolutionary lines.
Joltik and Galvantula
Joltik Surprise Attack: 30 damage. Flip a coin. If tails, this attack does nothing. Galvantula Discharge: 50x damage. Discard all [Lightning] Energy from this Pokémon. This attack does 50 damage for each card you discarded in this way.
Starting off, we have the cute little Electric-type that has been making waves in the Pokémon Trading Card (TCG) meta due to its cousin from the Stellar Crown expansion.
Despite this pedigree, there's less reason to run this version of Joltik, since its 30 damage attack is dependent on the results of a coin flip.
On the other hand, the Galvantula might prove to be an interesting tech switch from its Shrouded Fable relative. By itself, this version of Galvantula probably isn’t as good.
The Galvantula from Shrouded Fable only needs two energy (one grass and one lightning) to punch for either 130 or 180 damage, depending on whether all parameters are fulfilled. Thankfully, the minimum damage is easily obtainable via the Stellar Crown Joltik.
Now, in Black Bolt and White Flare comes Eelektrik and its Lightning-energy recursion capabilities.
Setting up a small board of Eelektrik via Miraidon ex and Ultra Balls may ask for some investment, but Eelektrik can pay for itself if you choose to discard energy cards.
If set up right, Galvantula could easily start outputting 150 to 200 damage a turn by itself.
Foongus and Amoonguss
Foongus Poison Spore: Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Poisoned. Amoonguss Dangerous Reaction: 30+ damage. If your opponent’s Active Pokémon is affected by a Special Condition, this attack does 120 more damage. Seed Bomb: 60 damage.
As far as the card design for Foongus goes, it’s pretty lackluster for two reasons. Firstly, due to how fast the Pokémon TCG has become, Poison is unable to keep up with the damage output that most competitive decks tend to dish out.
Secondly, it doesn’t help that the Poison status can easily be removed by either evolving the affected Pokémon or by switching them out to the bench. Unfortunately for Foongus, being able to just poison the enemy active Pokémon is pretty mild.
As for Amoonguss, its Dangerous Reaction attack is pretty strong on paper. A single energy cost to deal 150 damage is hard to replicate even with modern decks. That said, it’s held back by needing the enemy active Pokémon to be affected by a special condition.
If someone is able to use a Pokémon ability to get a special condition onto the enemy vanguard for free, however, then Amoonguss might make for a good choice for clearing out most non-ex Basic or Stage 1 Pokémon.
Zorua and Zoroark
Zorua Take Down: 30 damage. This Pokémon also does 10 damage to itself. Zoroark Mind Jack: 30x damage. This attack does 30 damage for each of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. Foul Play: Choose 1 of your opponent’s Active Pokémon’s attacks and use it as this attack.
There’s not much to say for Zorua. Its healthpool is on the higher side of average (for a non-ex Pokémon) with a matching damage output that also hurts itself.
Where things get a little interesting is with the package that Zoroark has to offer. While not as utilitarian as N’s Zoroark, this one does punish any opponent that opts to build a wide board fast.
On top of that, Zoroark’s Foul Play can make the opponent regret their choice of active Pokémon.
The Foul Play attack is locked behind a 3 energy cost barrier to entry. By turn 3, you’d be seeing an opposing Pokémon activating or about to activate their own attacks. This poses a problem, as with Zoroark’s 120 health pool, it won’t last long against most rivals.
Thankfully, TPCi has already revealed the existence of the Hilda and the Ignition Energy cards coming with the release of Black Bolt and White Flare. Assuming everything goes to plan, Zoroark can activate as early as the second turn.
It’s not a meta shake-up by any stretch of the imagination, but TCG players are no strangers to pet decking or rogue strategies. Whether for fun or for actual competitive use, Zoroark might prove to be an interesting Pokémon to use in the game.
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