Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG Pocket post, I cover the Lightning version of Oricorio.
I orginially left this out in my All Cards Reveal post for some odd reason. After looking at the PTCGP subreddit, people are either complaining about this Oricorio being an annoying wall or a funny game winner in their brag posts. Post 1, Post 2
I do play more of the physical Pokemon TCG than Pocket as of late. I am familiar with Pokemon with wall abilities like this Mimikyu, Cornerstone Ogerpon ex, Farigiraf ex and Milotic ex.
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For those newer to the Pokemon TCG something like Oricorio is new because of its defensive ability.
Oricorio Card From The Latest Celestial Guardians Set
Note that this is the Lightning version of Oricorio.
This is a 70 HP Basic Lightning Pokemon with 1 retreat cost, one attack and the Safeguard ability. The Zzzap attack requires one Lightning Energy and one Colourless energy to deal 50 damage. The energy cost to damage ratio on Zzzap is okay.
What makes this Oricorio highly usable is the Safeguard ability. You prevent all damage done to this Oricorio by attacks from the opponent's Pokemon ex. This Oricorio serves as a wall against Pokemon ex attackers. It can serve as a complete counter to (greedy) decks that only play Pokemon ex. A deck that only plays Pokemon ex cannot attack Oricorio and auto loses.
Counters Against It
The only Pokemon that can attack Oricorio are non Pokemon ex attackers. You can also use abilities from Pokemon ex like Darkrai ex to damage Oricorio.
One reliable counter is to modify your deck and adapt to any Oricorio walls. You would need to include non Pokemon ex attackers.
Closing Notes
I don't like Pokemon walls in general but in this case Oricorio does keep certain decks in check. Oricorio serving as a complete counter to Pokemon ex only decks is fine. This forces more players to include non Pokemon ex attackers in their deck.
It will take some time for people to adjust to wall abilities. In the early stages of this game I thought that the Pocket game would be way watered down from the physical Pokemon TCG. With this Celestial Guardians set and Oricorio the game designers are slowly giving a miniature version of mechanics from the physical TCG. Introducing wall abilities does shake things up a little.
Thank you for reading.