Why would you say NV Virizion is better than the EP one?
Lets compare the two really quickly starting with the bottom stats:
They are both basic Grass Pokemon. Both have the same bottom stats with a horrible weakness to Fire and a decent (thanks to Kyurem) resistance to Water. Both retreat for 1, which isn't horrible, though it'd be nice if they retreated for free. The only major difference between the two is that the NVI one has 10 more HP, sitting at 110 as opposed to it's EPO brother at 100. While this seems like a minor difference, it is actually relevant to the metagame since it means a Magnezone Lost Burning to knock out Virizion takes three energy (or a PlusPower) if the Magnezone is facing the NVI one. So I think we can conclude that, at least on basic stats, the NVI Virizion squeaks past the EPO on.
Second are its atttacks. The EPO Virizion has Giga Drain and Sacred Sword. Unfortunately it has no attacks that cost a single energy both needed 2 energy to get going. It can't even use DCE since both attacks require Grass Energy. As far as attack effects on the EPO Virizion, Giga Drain does 30 for :grass::colorless: and removes the same amount of damage from Virizion as was done to the defending Pokemon. While the healing is nice, it's a bit overcosted for the current game. Well, actually it's perfectly costed, but there are a lot of other meta Pokemon out there with better attacks for less. Also you have to keep in mind that no matter which Serperior you're using, you'll already have healing going on, so having it on this Virizion is not as essential. Virizion's second attack looks better at first because you're doing a damage output of 100 for :grass::grass::colorless:. Again there are other Pokemon that have atacks that can outclass this, but it ends up being solid. Then you have to deal with the problem that you can't use Sacred Sword the next turn. That mean's you're effectively being limited to 50 each turn for :grass::grass::colorless: (plus 30 on off turns thanks to its first attack). So if you look at it that way considering you start with Virizion EPO you'll be doing 0, 30, 50, 80 (plus 30 healing), 50, 80 (plus 30 healing), etc... until Virizion gets knocked out, which will happen sooner rather than later in this format.
On the other hand, Virizion NVI also has two attacks: Double Draw and Leaf Wallop. Double Draw is nicely costed at :colorless: meaning as long as you have an energy in hand you can use it. While it doesn't do any damage, it does let you draw 2 cards which can be incredibly helpful at the beginning of the game. Leaf Wallop, then, will be you main damaging attack with the NVI Virizion. At first it looks horrible doing only 40 damage for :grass::colorless:, but then you read the attack text and find out that if you used Leaf Wallop last turn the attack doubles in strength meaning it now does 80 for :grass::colorless:. So if you start with the NVI Virizion your damage output should look like this: 0 (draw two), 40, 80, 80, 80, etc... until Virizion gets knocked out or you choose not to wallop the opponent's Pokemon. While 80 is less than 100, looking at consistent attacks for each the NVI Virizion does more consistent damage with 80 each turn after you use the first Leaf Wallop. The only argument I could see you making is that if you plan on Virizion being knocked out the next turn than the EPO one would do 100 compared to 40, but that means you're wasting three energy as opposed to 1-2 in a deck that doesn't have energy acceleration.
So hopefully that answers the question. :smile:
I understand one of them can constantly heal, but it's kinda of a shame that that's all it can do...