COTD – 19th September 2011 – Black Belt

Hey everybody, apologies for not having a Card of the Day yesterday, I have been busy planning some new movements for this site which are going to be very exciting, but for now let’s get onto today’s card. I’ve chosen Black Belt from the HS: Triumphant expansion.

At first glance we have ourselves a Supporter card which allows us to add 40 damage to our attack on the defending Pokemon if we are behind in prizes. Now this is a very situational card and can actually be very useful in some situations, however the warrant for the use of your Supporter for the turn makes players debate the use of this in competitive play.

In many cases when you are behind, this card can spring a surprise KO on an opponent that first thought they were in a pretty nice position, thinking that their Pokemon was safe from an attack from one of your own. Where this card does become interesting is in the case of the new threat, Gothitelle.

Gothitelle’s strength is that it can withstand an attack of up to 120 damage and then casually move it off, heal it away and make the opponent start again on the offensive. This kind of card in a deck such as Reshiram/Typhlosion, which can’t top 120 damage when not being allowed to use trainers, can really tip that certain matchup in favour again since the additional 40 damage can catch the Gothitelle player off guard as they suffer an unexpected KO. It makes sure that Reshiram (or anything else that hits for 120) can topple those tricky Pokemon like Gothitelle and make for quite the comeback.

However, this is pretty much the only way that Black Belt can work effectively in the competitive world. In any other situation, you would probably want to play another card such as Twins if you want to make a strong comeback. The extra 40 damage is definitely nice if you are desperate for the KO and want to catch your opponent off guard, but in any other situation you are going to want another Supporter other than this.

Overall, there really isn’t a lot to say about this card, there are a few situations where you will definitely need this card, but in any other situation where you are behind in prizes, Twins is going to be the better option. I’m going to give it a fairly harsh 4/10. Has potential, but not enough to see regular play in the competitive environment.

Artwork: Considering the low score for playability, this card actually has pretty nice artwork. Pokemon really could have just put a stock image of a belt coloured black on a coloured background and be done with it, but this time they actually got very creative. The picture resembles a scene in one of the games where there is a Black Belt underneath a waterfall, channelling energy and waiting for a challenge which I think is a nice link. The Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee in the background really do set the scene that they are all trying to hone their skills and become more powerful.

I’m going to give this card a pretty strong 8/10 for artwork since it has a lot of creativity within the picture and the small details really make this image quite humorous, yet serious at the same time.

Thanks for reading today’s COTD and please rate how you think this card fits into competitive play with the star rating system below