Card of the Week #2 Ho-Oh GX

Sacred Fire

To start us off on Ho-Oh GX we have the Sacred Fire attack which is an okay attack, you get to do 50 damage anywhere on your opponent's side of the field. The 50 damage isn't great because most evolving basic Pokemon have 60 but it is enough to finish off things on the bench that you might have missed the knockout on. The other problem with this attack is that because of Buzzwole GX Mr. Mime is rising in popularity.

Phoenix Burn

Ho-Oh GX's second attack on the other hand is much better. For four energy (which is perfect for something like a Kiawe) you can do a base damage of 180, when you take into account Choice Band or Fighting Fury Belt and Volcanion EX's Steam Up ability you can do a lot of damage. Now this attack says you can't use it if you used it on your last turn. However, there are a few ways around this effect. The first is to play a switching card, if you use a switching card then can get Ho-Oh GX back into the active spot then the effect of the attack resets and you can use the attack again. The next way around this is to play Ninja Boy, if you play Ninja Boy on Ho-Oh to switch it for another Ho-Oh then you can attack again because it's technically a different Pokemon. The last way around this effect is if you didn't take a knock out the last time you used the attack then you can use Sacred Fire instead to finish off the Pokemon you attacked.

Eternal Flame-GX

This is one of the worst GX attacks in the game unfortunately, if you run out of Volcanion EX or something in that realm of possibilities then I suppose you could use the attack but personally I have never seen this attack used.

Weakness, Resistance, and Type

Ho-Oh GX's weakness is irrelevant against most decks. The only times you have to worry about lightning type Pokemon in the standard format is against Tapu Koko which can do a lot of damage to you while spreading damage on your bench for just a Double Colorless Energy and Vikavolt which for four energy will knock you out easily, although in the Vikavolt Tapu Bulu GX deck you will probably be knocked out by Tapu Bulu GX anyways. In expanded the weakness to lightning is a bit more problematic as the very popular Joltik from phantom forces will easily knock you out for just a Double Colorless energy.

Ho-Oh's resistance on the other hand is very strong as you can reduce damage done to Ho-Oh by things like Buzzwole GX, Lycanroc GX, and Gallade.

Ho-Oh being a fire type is actually very good. It allows it to hit for weakness against some common metal type attackers like Genesect EX and Metagross GX but more importantly it allows its damage to be boosted by Volcanion EX's Steam Up ability which allows it to easily be taking one hit knockouts on almost everything.

Decks that could utilize Ho-Oh-GX

Standard

Volcanion-EX

Competition

The only real competition for Ho-Oh GX is Volcanion EX and Turtonator GX which both do a bit less damage than Ho-Oh but do it for only three energy instead of four.

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