Time to heat things up with this card!
This week on TCG Jump we will be looking at a card that many thought wasn’t too hot. There wasn’t too much talk about this card leading up to Burning Shadows. A lot of people focused their attention on other cards and even dismissed this one. Though, as we started to play with some of the cards from Burning Shadows, this one got some steam. It has even found a good partner in a deck. You will need to watch out because this card can really steal the show. It is a quick and can really sneak up on you. So get ready as we feature Salazzle GX!
Salazzle GX is a Fire type Stage One Pokemon from Burning Shadows. It has 200 HP and three attacks. The first attack is called Diabolical Claws and cost two Fire energy. This attack does 50 damage for each prize card you have taken. The second attack is called Heat Blast and cost two Fire damage to do 110 damage. The GX attack is called Queen’s Haze GX. This GX attack cost two Fire energy and allows you to discard all energy from your opponent’s Active Pokemon. Salazzle GX is weak to Water and cost two energy to retreat.
The Pros
Salazzle GX is a card that can attack quickly. You can start attacking for 110 damage for two Fire energy. That is incredible! With that kind of attack power you are able to knockout most of your opponent’s set up Pokemon in the early game. It is also enough to two hit KO any Pokemon in the late game.
That leads us to our second point about Salazzle GX. This card is good at almost any phase of the game. If you happen to start with a Salandit in your Active spot then you will want to attach a Fire energy and plan to evolve next turn. Once you have evolve into Salazzle GX then you can attach a second Fire energy and start hitting for 110 damage. That is a lot of damage for your second turn.
You can later use Salazzle GX in the late game to dish out some heavy hits thanks to Diabolical Claws. This attack does more damage for each Prize Card you take. If you are in the late game and ahead on prizes then this could result in a 200 damage attack that will allow you to take your last two prizes. Do I need to mention that doing 200 damage is a lot for two Fire energy?
The attack on Salazzle GX are easy to pay for, have little draw back and cost all the same. Salazzle GX has perfect synergy when it comes it’s attacks.
The Cons
One of Salazzle GX’s weak points would be in the HP department. A Stage One GX Pokemon with 200 HP doesn’t sound too appealing. Most GX Pokemon like Salazzle GX tend to have 210 to 230 HP. This puts Salazzle GX on the low end and easy to knockout. If a Pokemon tries hard enough then they can knockout Salazzle GX.
If you look at Tapu Bulu GX then you can see that it can hit 200 easily thanks to Choice Band. It can easily power up a Nature’s Judgement thanks to Vikavolt to hit 180 damage. A Choice Band attached to Tapu Bulu GX is all they need to hit 210 which is enough to knockout Salazzle GX.
Another example of this is Rainbow Force Xerneas. They are playing a lot of the dual type Pokemon to hit big damage. This deck can easily fill up their bench with five different Pokemon. If they can get at least one dual type Pokemon such as Volcanion EX on their bench then that is 190 being done. All they need to do is use Professor Kukui or Choice Band to knockout Salazzle GX.
Lastly, the retreat cost doesn’t help keep Salazzle GX for the long run. It cost two energy to retreat. That means you will need to get two Fire energy back on Salazzle GX if you wish for it to attack later in the game. This could be a set back if you plan to use Diabolical Claws in the late game.
How Would You Play It
You will want to play Salazzle GX in a “Fire Tool Box” deck. This deck features Pokemon like Ho-oh GX, Turtonator GX, Volcanion EX and Volcanion.
This deck has a variety of attackers that can hit big numbers on various of Pokemon. Salazzle GX’s role will be a quick and easy attacker for either the early game or late game. Granted, this deck wants to hit a turn one Kaiwe to power up an active Ho-oh GX. That way they can hit 190 damage to knockout most active Pokemon. Though, if you can’t get that and have to use Salazzle GX then that isn’t a bad option.
Though, this card does great in the end game. You are guarantee to knockout a few Pokemon with your Ho-oh GX and Turtonator GX. This will lead you to having a nice prize lead. While you are going all out with Ho-oh GX and Turtonator GX, you can start setting up a Salazzle GX. That way if you need a quick back up attacker, you have Salazzle GX on your bench that is ready to attack. Simply attach a single energy and you can decide to hit hard with Diabolical Claws or Heat Haze.
Lastly, do not use Queen’s Haze GX. There are simply better GX attacks to use in a deck that features Ho-oh GX and Turtonator GX.
The GX attack that you want to focus on is Turtonator GX’s Nitro Tank GX. You can use this attack to retrieve Fire energy from your discard and power up any of your Benched Pokemon. This includes Salazzle GX who could be used for a late game sweep. That is perfect if you want to use Diabolical Claws to do a 200 damage attack as your last attack.
If you want to be really crafty then go ahead and use Ho-oh GX’s Eternal Light GX to put a Salazzle GX on your bench. This GX attack will let you be extra sneaky by putting an early discarded Salazzle GX on your bench in no time. You can then put two Fire Energy on Salazzle GX to get it ready to attack. It may not be the best use of a GX attack but it can be useful.
Salazzle GX may have had slow burn when it was first revealed in August but it has heated up. This card has now warmed up to some and on fire! I am sure that if you give this card a shot then it will become a hot shot in your deck!
