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- ↓ 9.89
- ꩜ 19.63
- ↑ 45.00
{W}{W}{C} → Water Gun : 30+
Does 30 damage plus 10 more damage for each {W} Energy attached to Poliwrath but not used to pay for this attack’s Energy cost. Extra {W} Energy after the 2nd doesn’t count.
{W}{W}{C}{C} → Whirlpool : 40
If the Defending Pokémon has any Energy cards attached to it, choose 1 of them and discard it.
illus. Ken Sugimori · LV.48
Formats: Other: 1999–2001
External: Bulba ↗ · #ad / Affiliate Links: TCGplayer ↗, cardmarket ↗, Amazon ↗, eBay ↗
An adept swimmer at both the front crawl and breaststroke. Easily overtakes the best human swimmers.
WilliamH.
A good friend of mine recently purchased a box of random old cards from a co-worker. For $20 he got several hundred cards, mostly from Base Set, alone with over 20 Holo Rares.
We agreed to pick a single color and build a deck using only these boxed cards. I choose Water and my 4-3-3 Poliwrath Line was a killer! His Whirlpool attack, combined with proper use of Energy Remover, Gust of Wind, and Item Finder, ensures that the defending Pkmn will never have enough energy to attack.
Not only did my deck sweep both my friend’s Fighting and Grass decks, but afterwards I was told that Poliwrath is unfair and broken. haha
Was Poliwrath really this good of a card back in its day?
Mantidactyle
The only good Pokémon in Base Set were Hitmonchan, Electabuzz and Doduo
Stages 2, except Blastoise which was crushed by Electabuzz + Lass + Energy Removal, didn’t have a chance.
Jamie
I don’t know why but I always forget that Fossil and Jungle aren’t a part of Base Set. (I blame the old TCG Gameboy game)
I found my old Haymaker deck a little while ago. Never could get the remaining Scythers I needed. It also made me realize how bad at making decks I was a a kid.
WilliamH.
Congrats! All my original Pkmn cards were sold on eBay, as they accidentally got mixed in with my brothers… T.T
Jamie
I sold almost all of my other cards as well. I only still had that because I lost it as a child.
Krisi92
What? Doduo was good? Since when? I believe you were talking about Farfetch’d. Also, Chansey and Alakazam were really great as well, Venusaur too, and some others.
Mantidactyle
Before Jungle, Doduo was the only fighting resistance with free retreat.
Alakazam wasn’t that good, becase its base form was a free KO for the opponent. Damage Swap was just too slow.
Venusaur was way too slow, too.
Krisi92
You don’t know how annoying a damage swap deck is, especially with a Mr. Mime (and Chansey, obviously). With some Scoop Ups and Pokémon Centers, it was more than incredibly annoying. And Venusaur was mainly played for its Power, which was amazing. Also, Ninetales and Arcanine were great. Magmar was decent too. Also Jynx was quite popular. Don’t forget about Machop either.
Mantidactyle
Mr Mime wasn’t out yet (I’m speaking about Base Set only format), Abra had 30 HP, Chansey was weak to fighting and needed 2 Double Colorless to attack.
Nope, I certify you that only Hitmonchan, Electabuzz and Doduo were played in top tier decks when only Base Set was available
Krisi92
There was a Magmar in base set… And I don’t know how doing 80 damage from turn 3 and up was slow. And it could practically OHKO almost anything, so… And I don’t know what’s wrong with Ninetales. It’s a better Charizard. Or a variant of Arcanine that didn’t hurt itself, but was a bit slower.
And what if Abra had 30 HP? You didn’t have to have it in play for more than one turn. And not even as an active Pokémon. And if it was active, you could paralyze the opponent, winning you a free turn.
Also, Gyarados and Dewgong were good, too. And don’t tell me that Magikarp had only 30 HP. Read above. And Seel had 60, so…
Mantidactyle
The Magmar in Base Set sucks, it has 50 HP, no 1-energy attack.
The good Magmar is in the Fossil set. 70 HP, a 1-energy attack, the ability to stall a bit after a Lass, and on top of that a 1-energy retreat cost.
Arcanine didn’t had the time to have 3 energy attached.
Any Pokémon without a real 1-energy attack not named Scyther or Mewtwo promo was bad.
Ninetales is bad because a 4-energy cost attack in this format was bad.
Same for Gyarados and Dewgong. Level 1 so you cannot Scoop Up them ? No 1-energy cost attack ? Oh, and a Lightning weakness for Dewgong ? And a 3-energy retreat cost ? A single-way to the trash.
There was 4 Scoop up in each deck so paralysis was irrelevant.
There was 4 Gust of Wind per deck so benching Abra would have no effect. Even if it evolved, Alakazam was still a dead weight in the active spot, being OHKO by Promo Mewtwo a bit later.
And as a general rule, any Pokémon losing to Energy Removal, Hitmonchan and Electabuzz was bad.
Krisi92
You know, almost nobody played THAT professionally, especially in the very first format. And it would’ve been extremely boring if everybody used the exact same deck. You know, I was just listing card that could have been used against normal people, who are playing to have fun, you know, what games are invented for. Having a great deck is one thing, but it’s just a luck-based snoozefest if everybody is with the same deck.
Mantidactyle
There was a lot of tournament at the very beginning in France, and basically everyone in the top spots played the same decks with nearly the same exact cards, obviously if you were only playing for fun you could play everything you wanted…
Krisi92
Well, when it started in Hungary, I was like 8, so… And I’m not aware of any early pro-tournaments either.
Curtis
I always heard rumors as a kid that Poliwrath went out of print before any other card in Base Set. I’m not exactly sure how true that is.
Brian Duddy
That makes no sense, TCG cards are made in sheets, all the cards from one rarity are usually on a sheet.
The Nintendo Channel
If you take a look at all Poliwrath cards in release order, they go from 90 HP to 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, and now 150. I miss the old days.
Mantidactyle
Only outside of Japan though. Vending Poliwrath has 80 HP.
Blob Takeshi
They released a buffed version of this with 140HP!