The game is evolving and we are seeing that with so many new cards. How the game will change all depends on the players and all the amazing plays that can happen due to so many new cards. What is old is new again as we see the game enter a new level. That is how the game goes and it is amazing how changes can happen with just the addition of blazing hot new cards. Get ready to blaze a new path as we look at a new card from Evolutions: Arcanine!
Arcanine is a Stage 1 Fire Pokemon with 130 HP from Evolutions. It has an ability call Burning Road. This ability allows you to move Fire energy from your Pokemon onto Arcanine when you put it into the active. Arcanine has an attack call Scorching Breath that cost three Fire and a colorless energy. This attack does 150 damage and Arcanine can’t attack next turn. This Pokemon has a weakness to Water type Pokemon and a two energy retreat cost.
The Pros
Arcanine may sound like a surprising card to pick from this new set to feature. It has a high energy attack cost which is bad but Burning Road can help fuel this attack. If your bench and Pokemon are filled with energy then all you need to do is put Arcanine in the active to activate Burning Road to blaze all that energy to Arcanine.
Once you have put the needed energy onto Arcanine then you can simply hit your opponent’s Pokemon for 150 damage. A surprise attack like that from a fresh Pokemon can really put your opponent into a bind.
The current meta has plenty of ways to get energy on the bench. We will mention some of those ways later in the article to get energy cards on your field to start blazing a path of victory for Arcanine.
The Cons
If you are facing ability lock using Arcanine then that will create a road blockade for him. That means you can’t use Arcanine’s Burning Road ability to get energy on Arcanine. If that happens then you may not even want to play Arcanine unless you can knock out the Garbodor. It is a shame that we are seeing more Garbodor ability lock as we get deeper into the meta. More players will be playing Garbodor due to the lack of item removal cards.
Another con for this card is Arcanine’s Scorching Breath attack which prevents Arcanine from attacking next turn. There are a few ways around it but if you are unable to get use these ways then you have an Arcanine who can’t attack next turn.
How to Use It
So lets talk about how we can get this big dog up and going. The first thing you need to do is simply flood your bench with Fire energy. Luckily you can use Max Elixir to do that. A few Max Elixir can get at least two or three Fire energy on your field to some heavy hitting Pokemon. These Pokemon can hold the Fire energy to attack and take a few hits. When these Pokemon are about to be knocked out then switch Arcanine into the active and move all the energy on to it. That way your opponent has to deal with a fresh attacker. It also helps to preserve energy in case your opponent decides to use Lysandre to pull a damaged Pokemon into the active. Thanks to Arcanine moving to the active and putting energy on it, these damaged Pokemon will not be taking energy with them as they are knocked out.
Another way to get energy on your bench is by using Volcanion. This Pokemon has seen a lot of play since the release of Steam Siege. You can simply discard energy by using Ultra Ball and Professor Sycamore with the plan to use Volcanion’s Power Heater to put them on the bench. You can spread your energy around your bench and then pull them to Arcanine when it comes into the active. This method also adds a bit of unpredictability as your opponent won’t know who will come to the active once they knock out your Volcanion.
Volcanion can also help set up knockouts by softening up your opponent’s Pokemon by attacking them with Power Heater. Arcanine’s Scorching Breath attack only does 150 damage so you need about 20 to 30 more damage to knock out your opponent’s EX Pokemon without a Fighting Fury Belt. A few Power Heater attacks from Volcanion can be used to close that gap for a knockout.
Scorching Breath prevents Arcanine from attacking next turn but there are a few ways to get around this effect. The first way to get around Scorching Breath’s effect is to use Pokemon Ranger. This card will get rid of any effects in play. That includes Scorching Breath. That means you can use Scorching Breath and hit your opponent’s Pokemon for 150 for a second turn in a row as long as you play Pokemon Ranger. If you can have your Arcanine survive for a third turn then you can use VS Seeker to pick up Pokemon Ranger from your discard to attack again for 150 damage with Scorching Breath.
You can also use a few Float Stone tactics with Arcanine to reset Scorching Breath to be used over and over again. The first way is to have two Evolutions’s Arcanine in play. Just make sure your Arcanine have Float Stones attached to them. Let say you have an Arcanine in the active who attacked with Scorching Breath and unable to attack that turn. Simply retreat your Arcanine with the one on the bench. This will activate the newly active Arcanine’s Burning Road. You can then move all the energy from your previously active Arcanine to the new one to attack with Scorching Breath.
You can also pair up Arcanine with Zoroark-Float Stone. This tactic is old but always great to have. Simply have Zoroark use Stand In to push your active Arcanine onto the bench. That will reset Scorching Breath by removing all effects on Arcanine. You can then retreat for free thanks to the Float Stone attached to Zoroark. Do remember that this tactic can be stopped by ability lock.
The last way to reset Scorching Breath is to simply BREAK Evolve Arcanine into Arcanine BREAK. When you evolve into any Pokemon then all effects on that Pokemon are removed due to that Pokemon being treated as a new Pokemon. This rule also applies to BREAK Evolving a Pokemon. So if you use Scorching Breath during your previous turn and then BREAK Evolve into Arcanine BREAK then you can use Scorching Breath. This method also allows you to attack with another attack call Turbo Flame. This attack allows you to hit for 80 damage and move two energy cards from your discard on to one of your bench Pokemon. Please note that Arcanine BREAK won’t be available until January 2017 but it is another option for Arcanine.
Things are really heating up as a new set has been release! You can blaze a road with Arcanine if you play the right cards. So get out there and evolve your game! Good luck to some great pulls when you are opening Evolutions packs!
