2011-1-18 TM Lunatone 025

[MrMeches]

"Before posting, please review the FAQ and follow the Guidelines provided for Card of they Day. Whereas we enjoy opinions of the cards, it is necessary to include a Brief Description for all players to understand your point of view and an optional Rating (ex. x/10). In the future, posts not using the FAQ information may be deleted and reported. Thanks, Mgmt"


[gal=51066]
2011-1-18 TM Lunatone 025
[/gal]​

 

[Elite_4_Allen]

FIRST!!!

5/10.
Not terrible, but there are better lunatone than this.

 

[desufnoc]

Second. I Would probably never use it. 2/10

 

[PokemonPizzaParty]

3rd!!! wont use it. this is like the bad seed in your "seedless" cherrys so 3/10 ( ehh card and only 3 cause may be okay with solrock, its soul mate)

 

[thisguy]

Horrible card, I've got 5 of these sitting in my binder and all 5 of them were a waste of a rare I could've pulled. 60 HP is low for a basic with no evolutions, on top of that it has a retreat cost and both attacks are bad. If you need a Lunatone to combo with Solrock, use the SV one instead. 1/10 This card is the low point of a set that is otherwise the best we've had in a while.

 

[Regis_Neo]

Today's CotD is Lunatone from TM, yet another wasted Rare. Statwise 60 HP is common for a Basic, x2 Weakness to :grass: is eh, no Resistance is common, and :colorless: to Retreat is cheap. Lunar Blast deals an ok 20 for :fighting:, and Self Destruct isn't so good at :fighting::colorless: for 60 while dealing 10 to all Benched Pokemon and 60 to Lunatone itself. Definitely use the other Lunatone if you plan on using the LunaSol tech in a deck.

Modified - 1/10 (Worthless garbage really...no reason at all to use this over the other)
Limited - 5/10 (Ok if you're desperate for :fighting: Pokemon I suppose)
Unlimited - 1/10 (See Modified review)

 

[ThePokemonRhombus]

Every time I pull this from a pack i rip it to try and get rid of the bad luck it obviously brings...

1/10

 

[Argyris]

But it's so good! Why block healing and protect your LunaRock combo when you can, for 2 energy, blow yourself up and break your heal lock? Obviously 10/10!


In all seriousness, its clearly only good for one purpose, which is to combo with Solrock for Heal Block. It's quite obvious that the Supreme Victors Lunatone does it better, but if you're truly desperate, this is still an option. 3/10 because while it doesn't fill a niche very well, it at least has one it can fill.

 

[Otaku]

Our newest Lunatone isn't exactly creative, but does that mean it is bad?

It is a Basic, of course, and has all the usual benefits; minimal slots from your deck and easy to search and get into hand or play. It can't Evolve, but it does have an unusual advantage in its name. Normally "name" advantages are things like having some sign of ownership in your name for a theme (like the " FB" in Blaziken FB) but in this case it's because many Solrock have a bonus effect triggered if you have a Lunatone in play. It will need such bonuses because its HP is only 60 HP: for a little while that was the threshold for a Basic Pokémon in the Modified Format, but the last season or two that just hasn't been cutting it. This year it has been especially problematic since Donphan Prime can OHKO anything (that lacks a protective effect) with 60 HP or less for a single Fighting Energy! It is also a step down from the last version, unusual given the normal power creep we've been seeing.

Lunatone has Weakness :grass:x2, and the general impression I get is that this isn't too bad; Grass decks just aren't popular right now. Certainly most other options it has had in the game before psychic: and :water would be worse right now. Lack of Resistance is as common, useless, and annoying as usual and a single Energy Retreat Cost is pretty good and easily managed. This is a Fighting Pokémon, which doesn't open up a whole lot of useful support.

Lunar Blast is bland filler, allowing the card to bop the Defending Pokémon for 20 points of damage with a single Fighting Energy. It isn't bad for the Energy going into it, and sometimes it will be useful, but neither is it good. Selfdestruct is where this card falls apart: 60 damage for fighting::colorless with 10 to everything on the Bench isn't technically a bad return for a Basic... until we factor in the 60 points of self damage. At first I was going to argue they should have chanced allowing it to work for Double Colorless Energy, but then I remembered there is a good chance that with the Black & White expansions and rules, we are going back to being able to play Trainer cards first turn. Having access to Energy Exchanger and PlusPower would just lead to a rash of FTKO decks in such a format. Such decks are in a tenuous position: it is good that decks that don't run enough Basic Pokémon are vulnerable to losing in such a manner, but there hasn't ever been a format where FTKO decks weren't a risk for every deck, not just those trying to skimp on Basic Pokémon.

We also have some cards that reward being behind in Prizes, so there is a strange sort of sense to a card like this: if your deck wants to exploit such cards this would allow you to hit something hard and relatively fast while keeping the Prize count even. Presumably this is so that you will have access to such cards until your opponent is down to his or her last Prize and you to your last two, at which point your deck is meant to surge ahead for game. This also prevents you in any deck from pulling ahead, and if your opponent has a Fighting Weak Defending Pokémon you can pop something fairly big and keep the Prize count even while stretching their resources.

So I guess the real failing of this card is no blatant bonus from having Solrock in play. If something were to make the Solrock/Lunatone combo worth running, this might be a solid card. After all, you could use Call Energy first turn to set up or simply start thumping for 20 damage, next turn drop one more Energy right before it'd be KO'd and take a lot of opening plays down. Of course, the current format rewards adding Basic Pokémon to hand over directly to the Bench, and as an aggro strategy Donphan Prime, Gyarados from Stormfront, etc. are all better. At least just with respect to this card, it is a shame Defender doesn't work like it did in the Base Set, soaking self damage as well... I could see an interesting deck indeed built around spamming Defender and/or PlusPower if it did.

Here's hoping we get some card that makes the Solrock from this set (which blocks healing) or the spread damage done by this card worth while at a later date. Right now I'd only use it in Limited play. In a format where it can be hard to pull an Evolved Pokémon, let alone get it into play reliably and powered up, average HP scores and damage outputs are significantly lower. Retreating to shake Special Conditions and/or deny your opponent a Prize is also a vital move, so even a Bench-hitter that can backfire (due to hitting your own Bench with spread damage) is still useful. Really, the main drawback is that both attacks will require a Fighting Energy, and that is still low enough many decks will be able to handle it.

Ratings

Modified: 4/10

Limited: 7/10

 

[Barkjon]

Personally, I'd use the other Lunatone.

60 HP is easily sniped, 1 for 20/ 2 for 60 and spread but death is bad...