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aidyjamespokemon · 6 years

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Mr. Self-Destruct: Card of the Day #3

Like many of you, I’m still on a high from this past prerelease weekend. It’s one thing to read new cards in spoilers, but it’s another thing entirely to play with them! I enjoyed playing with many cards in my prerelease kit, but no card surprised me more than this guy. Some cards generate hype straight away. Others are terribly underrated. I still remember how people disparaged Buzzwole-GX on first glance; we know how that went! This card almost certainly fits in the latter camp. When this card was spoiled, it attracted the ire of many. However, those detractors seem to be changing their tune after playing with it, singing its praises loud and proud. Personally, I thought this card would be good from the moment I first saw it. However, I didn’t expect it to be the absolute powerhouse it’s turned out to be. In fact, I’m more than willing to bet that no card from Celestial Storm will surprise people more than today’s Card of the Day: Electrode-GX. (Once again, I had to take a pic of the card myself, so I apologize for the quality of the image!)

Stats

Off the bat, things don’t look so good for Mr. Self-Destruct here - 190 HP is terribly low for a Stage 1 GX. Although, 190 and 180 are worlds apart from one another, as we have already seen in dominant Basic GX Pokémon such as Ultra Necrozma-GX, Buzzwole-GX, and Lapras-GX. Being able to tank a 2 Psychic Energy Photon Geyser is very useful indeed. Of course, a Choice Band could easily ruin its day, but it would be equally bad news for it if it had 210 HP like most benchmark Stage 1 GX Pokémon. It is, however, worth remembering that a baseline Prismatic Burst hits for 190 damage - a OHKO on Electrode-GX. I could recommend Bodybuilding Dumbbells in this situation, but Electrode-GX doesn’t exactly have any long-term plans, as you’ll see later.

While being Lighting type affords Electrode-GX a lot of support (especially in the next set, Lost Thunder), the weakness to Fighting types that usually comes with it (including in the case of Electrode-GX) is problematic. Its resistance to Metal and its single energy retreat cost are certainly no reprieve from a weakness to an extremely common type, but they’re perfectly fine. That resistance in particular prevents a Choice Banded baby Celesteela (yesterday’s Card of the Day!) from scoring a OHKO, which is nice.

Ability

Extra Energy Bomb: Once during your turn (before your attack), you may attach 5 Energy cards from your discard pile to your Pokémon, except Pokémon-GX or Pokémon-EX, in any way you like. If you do, this Pokémon is Knocked Out.

There’s nothing Electrode loves more than blowing itself up to energize its teammates since the very beginning with its Buzzap ability in Base Set! Of course, the caveat here is that Electrode-GX (just like its forebearer, Electrode ex) gives your opponent two prizes when it knocks itself out. It’s a high risk, high reward ability: you get to attach 5 energy from your discard pile onto any of your non-EX/GX Pokémon in any way you like.

Sometimes, it’s the words that aren’t there that tell you everything: note the lack of a “basic” qualifier in that ability. Indeed, with Special Charge and Puzzle of Time leaving Standard shortly, this will be the most efficient means of retrieving special energy cards from the discard pile. As Zorua isn’t a GX yet and Multi Switch is a thing, there are ways and means of getting these special energy cards onto your GX Pokémon that need them.

The main abuser of this ability that immediately comes to mind is Rayquaza-GX, as it doesn’t care where the energy cards are - it just cares about them being somewhere on your bench. It’s also a good idea to have a Vikavolt ready to attack, if you’re running that particular Rayquaza variant. Tapu Koko-GX can also make rude use of some of these energies, pilfering them with its ability.

Also, I love cards with internal synergy. The way this ability works with Electrode-GX’s Crush & Burn GX attack is as elegant as it is powerful.

Attacks

[L][C] Electro Ball: 50

It’s better to have 50 damage for 2 energies than nothing, I guess. It won’t be scoring a OHKO on anything but the smallest basics, but it’s there if you need it.

[L][C] Crush and Burn GX: 30+ damage. You may discard as many Energy as you like attached to your Pokemon in play. If you do, this attack does 50 more damage for each Energy card you discarded in this way. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)

I love cards that have internal synergy - a one card combo, if you will. Electrode-GX’s game plan is fairly straightforward to work out: you use Crush and Burn to discard energies, then you use Extra Energy Bomb or other means to redistribute them however you wish.

It’s a great attack in its own right, too. Discarding 3 energies yields 180 damage - a magic number in the current metagame that scores a OHKO on many basic GX Pokémon. 4 energies are all that’s required to OHKO almost anything. On a conventional discard-fueled attack, this sacrifice would be rather steep. Being able to discard energy from any Pokémon on your side of the field feels a lot less hefty.

Unlike Electrode-GX’s Extra Energy Bomber ability, Crush & Burn GX doesn’t discriminate; even GX Pokémon can give their energy to the cause. Even if they can’t benefit from it in the end, it’s nice to see GX Pokémon giving their part to wealth redistribution!

Synergy

As I mentioned earlier, Rayquaza-GX instantly springs to mind as a partner for Electrode-GX, even if it can’t make the most of Extra Energy Bomber itself. Post-rotation, Rayquaza-GX won’t have Max Elixir as a means of energy acceleration, so it will require a little help from Vikavolt, Magnezone FLI, or Latias Prism Star. Vikavolt and Magnezone can make use of the energies from Extra Energy Bomber, but Latias can hold it, if needs be - whatever gets the numbers up for Rayquaza-GX.

Of course, Extra Energy Bomber doesn’t care how the energy cards got into the discard pile, so any means of discarding them - Ultra Ball, Mysterious Treasure, TV Reporter, Sophocles, Acro Bike, etc - will work. In a “Magical Christmas Land” scenario (let’s be realistic here), you can fire off a 180 damage (or greater) Dragon Break on turn 2. Indeed, if you manage to knock out an opposing GX after this maneuver, you’ll be at prize parity with a great board position.

Another “high risk, high payoff” interaction is a little less obvious. Reducing your opponent’s prize total seems counter-intuitive, but energizing your Ultra Beasts and turning your Beast Rings and your Ultra Beasts’ prize total requirements on can enable some truly degenerate turns. I’m intrigued and excited to try an Electrode-GX Beast Box deck, to say the least.

Counters

Electrode-GX’s frailty and weakness to Fighting type Pokémon is quite a problem for it. Any deck looking to utilize it should have a means of dealing with key fighting types like Lycanroc-GX, Zygarde-GX, and - of course - either Buzzwole variant. For this reason, I would recommend using Electrode-GX as an enabler in a deck where the main attacker is not vulnerable to Fighting types.

Ability lock can also be an issue. While Garbotoxin will be leaving with rotation, Glaceon-GX’s Freezing Gaze can prevent Extra Energy Bomber from being used. Of course, a quick Guzma or Crush & Burn GX to the face can sort that problem out, provided that there isn’t another Glaceon-GX ready to take up the mantle. Even without its ability, Crush & Burn GX makes Electrode-GX a powerful one-off nuke.

In Conclusion

Sometimes, a card can look great on paper, then end up impotent in practice. For Electrode-GX’s, the opposite has been the case. When it was first spoiled, almost every reaction I saw was negative or indifferent. At prerelease, I heard many groans when an Electrode-GX was pulled - and I was one of those people who pulled one. When people used it, they quickly put 2 and 2 together and realized its potential for constructed formats. I’ve never seen such a near unanimous change of heart in such a short period of time. Some players will be put off by the high risk involved with running Electrode-GX. Those who dare to experiment with it will be rewarded handsomely, however they end up utilizing this versatile card. I can’t wait to build some decks with Electrode-GX. Dare I say - it’s going to be a blast! ...I’ll get my coat.

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