I’ll start Charizard’s post with this: It was way better than Celebi. That doesn’t mean that it was objectively good, as it really wasn’t, but it could actually do something occasionally. The ridiculous Retreat Cost and awful Energy costs held Charizard back quite badly, but at least it had some potential to do damage.
110 HP was actually really good, and probably Charizard’s best point. This was not a card that would typically roll over and die to one attack, unless it was to its Weakness, Water. Water was still quite a good type in the E-On format, though it had probably fallen to being the 4th or 5th-best type (depending on how you view Darkness) so it wasn’t quite as awful of a Weakness to have as it had been for the previous couple of years. Sadly, the Retreat Cost really was awful: 4 was the highest that existed to that point (though that was a record soon to be surpassed), meaning that Switch and similar cards were Charizard’s only realistic way out of the Active position.
Crystal Type was a Poke-Body that every Crystal Pokemon had, and Charizard’s types were Fire, Lightning, and Fighting. Honestly, these were not a very good group of types to try to hit Weaknesses with, the best being Lightning. There were times that staying Colorless was actually better, such as against Rayquaza ex. That required careful Energy management, but was still possible.
Fireblast was an okay attack for Crystal Pokemon standards, but for most cards it wasn’t worth it. For 2 Fire and 1 Fighting Energy, the attack did 40 damage. The mixing of types really hurt the card, and requiring a discard to use the attack made it worse.
Dragon Tail was Charizard’s best attack despite not existing in the games until about 8 years later. The cost was still awful, requiring 1 Fire, 2 Lightning, and 1 Colorless Energy, and it was unreliable, with 2 flips with a potential 50 damage each. That being said, it did actually have damage potential with luck, and a Colorless Charizard could take down Rayquaza ex with one heads flip. That gave it some minor utility and was probably hilarious if it actually worked.
Honestly, Charizard was still best being in some sort of protective covering, keeping its value as a Shining Pokemon of a something very popular. It had some slight playing value, but not enough to warrant using it considering its worth. Keep it in a safe place.
I just remembered that I promised two cards in one day to make up for something I missed like two weeks ago and I never did it. Here’s one to fill in that spot (It’s also the second to last Crystal Pokemon so it’s nice to get it done)
Ho-Oh was another card that didn’t have much going for it. It was, at least, a Basic, so it required less set-up than most Crystal Pokemon, but it was plagued by the same issues: Relatively weak attacks, horrible Energy costs, and a high Retreat Cost hurt Crystal Ho-Oh just like most Crystal Pokemon and left it well behind.
Ho-Oh had a solid 80 HP, which worked nicely for a Basic. It was still higher than the average Basic, though it was by no means invincible or anything. The Water Weakness wasn’t ideal, as Suicune ex was good, but it could have been worse. The Retreat cost was the worst part of Ho-Oh’s stats, costing 3 Energy just to go back to the Bench, which made it hard to switch.
Ho-Oh’s Crystal Types were Fire, Water, and Lightning. Water was very useful here, as it hit the common Blaziken decks for Weakness. It could try to be Colorless for the Rayquaza ex in many of those decks as well. Lightning and Fire were less useful, but had some occasional uses of their own.
Holy Flame was a pretty basic attack with an awful cost. Doing 20 damage for 1 Fire and 1 Lightning Energy was extremely low. This was best avoided most of the time.
Scalding Steam was slightly better, but was still quite bad. The cost was ridiculous: 1 Fire, 2 Water, and 1 Colorless Energy was needed to do just 40 damage. It also required an Energy discard, and then a coin was flipped. If heads, the Defending Pokemon was Burned, which had the potential (but not a guarantee) to add some extra damage between turns. It was likely Ho-Oh’s best attack, but that just showed how bad this Pokemon was at attacking.
Ho-Oh was a strong Pokemon in the games, but that didn’t always translate to a good card. In this case, it was just the opposite, as this was a really bad card. Ho-Oh did have some decent cards later in the TCG, but this one clearly wasn’t it for anyone outside of collectors.
