Lt. Surge’s Rattata · Gym Challenge (G2) #85

3 comments

1. 

   Ambassador

   (2 years ago)

   (Posting this April 2023, around the time the other Lt. Surge’s Rattata has been revealed to be included in this fall’s Pokémon Card Game Classic.)

   Both of Surge’s Rattata are very similar cards. This Rattata’s Quick Attack is going to average out to 20 on its own, equalling the other Rattata’s Bite’s 20 on bite. If you factor in the use of Focus Energy, this Rattata is a little weaker, doing an average of 30 vs. the other Rattata’s 40. However, I don’t really see any need to bother with Focus Energy for either of them – both will do more damage across both turns if you attach a DCE and start attacking T1.

   With the caveat that I don’t really expect *either* of the Lt. Surge’s Raticate cards to be reprinted, I would feel comfortable betting a small fortune that Lt. Surge’s Raticate G2-51 will absolutely not be. The game has not done any attacks that involve any kind of rounding in a very long time – from the digging I’ve done, N3 Golbat is the last card to have that kind of mechanic in the English edition, and VS Koga’s Crobat is (probably) the last card to be able to have any kind of rounding involved in damage arithmetic for the Japanese edition[1].

   So the other Raticate is the only possible option, and that card also has this same kind of “why bother with FE when you can just DCE?” energy going for it. It’s an incidental either which way – again, I kind of doubt Raticate is going to make it in – but there’s one other hint in the cards we’ve seen so far that might suggest DCE will be included; namely, a change to the attack cost of Mewtwo’s Psychic (from {P}{C} to {C}{C}).

   [1] Not to mention, Super Fang itself has been heavily reworked, as part of a large cadre of moves that got ‘rebooted’ during the BW era of the game. As another example off the top of my head, see also Water Gun. Several other examples have been incidentally pointed out in comments across this site.

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2. 

   RotomAmiti

   (2 years ago)

   Bit of a minor point, but I’m almost certain that Mewtwo isn’t an errata. Rather, it’s a reprint of Evolutions Mewtwo, of all things. I can’t read Japanese, but the numbers line up, and I see the name of its second attack in its description, a trait exclusive to the Evolutions print.

   Weird to think about a nostalgic retread card getting a reprint rather than the original.

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   • 

     AmbassadorRotomAmiti

     (2 years ago)

     Given the 130 HP matching the 20th print, I’d agree with you, and that’s probably what motivated the choice between which version to reprint. Not to entirely rule out the possibility to change the cards – e.g. despite what some sites are reporting and what Bulbapedia has already edited the page to say, Card Game Classic Charizard is definitely *not* the same card as Base Set Charizard, as Energy Burn has been substantively changed in function in JP and EN text¹ – but yeah. In this case, it’s pretty clearly looking like an 20th reprint, rather than a tweaked First Expansion Pack reprint.

     ¹ So too was Stormfront Charizard’s! It isn’t a reprint of Base Set Charizard.

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