by Richard Rowell, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff
While it’s Battle for Zendikar spoiler season in Magic the Gathering, I noticed today that one of my favorite Pokemon of all time has a couple new cards in the newest Pokemon TCG set, Ancient Origins. So naturally, I just had to check it out.
Ampharos has been among my favorite Pokemon since it was first released in Gold and Silver way back “in the day.” Now Ancient Origins gives us Ampharos EX and Mega Ampharos EX. They’re both really strong cards, too. Let’s take a look.
Ampharos EX is pretty good. The first attack, Thunder Rod, doesn’t do any damage, but lets you look at the top 4 cards of your deck and attach any Lightning Energy you see there onto Ampharos EX. If you happen to just find 2, that’s well worth it, as the second attack costs 2 Lightning Energy and 2 colorless. Sparkling Tail deals 100, but it ignores Weakness, Resistance, or any other effects on the Defending Pokemon. Considering that this hits so hard quickly, if I were still playing the TCG, this would be one of my main heavy-hitters.
Ampharos has been among my favorite Pokemon since it was first released in Gold and Silver way back “in the day.” Now Ancient Origins gives us Ampharos EX and Mega Ampharos EX. They’re both really strong cards, too. Let’s take a look.
Ampharos EX is pretty good. The first attack, Thunder Rod, doesn’t do any damage, but lets you look at the top 4 cards of your deck and attach any Lightning Energy you see there onto Ampharos EX. If you happen to just find 2, that’s well worth it, as the second attack costs 2 Lightning Energy and 2 colorless. Sparkling Tail deals 100, but it ignores Weakness, Resistance, or any other effects on the Defending Pokemon. Considering that this hits so hard quickly, if I were still playing the TCG, this would be one of my main heavy-hitters.
It only gets better with Mega Ampharos EX. The upgrade from 170 HP to 220 HP is nice, but it’s the attack that is really cool. Exavolt has the same cost as Sparkling Tail, but it deals 120 base damage. Exavolt also gives you the option to deal 50 more damage and Paralyze your opponent, but Ampharos deals 30 damage to itself. This seems a fair trade-off, though, as that’s going to be enough to knock out a lot of EX Pokemon. This is an absolute powerhouse.
While I don’t play the Pokemon TCG anymore, I’d consider having these cards around in my collection simply because they are so often. If you do play the game, I’d highly recommend finding some way to make these work, because they seem too powerful not to play.
While I don’t play the Pokemon TCG anymore, I’d consider having these cards around in my collection simply because they are so often. If you do play the game, I’d highly recommend finding some way to make these work, because they seem too powerful not to play.
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