Thread: TCG Card of the Day. Day 2, Base set Wartortle

Day 2: Wartortle (Base Set #42), (Base Set 2 #63)See main Bulbapedia article Here



Wartortle is nothing special in competitive play. It is used to bring out Blastoise (Base set #2) in the Rain Dance deck which features Blastoise. Although this could be considered a necessary card, it is often skipped over by use of Pokemon Breeder (Base Set #76) Wartortle is a stage 1 pokemon with 70HP and only one energy reqiured for retreating.

Wartortle's first attack, Withdraw, can be used when it has one water energy and one colorless energy attached to it. It says to flip a coin. If heads, all damage done to Wartortle during your opponents next turn is prevented. Unfortunately, it does not prevent other effects of attacks, so Wartortle can still be affected by special conditions, have damage counters placed on him, and other effects of attacks. This attack could be used to stall while the player attempts to find a Blastoise to evolve it.

It's second attack, Bite does 40 damage for one water energy and two double colorless. It isn't a bad attack for its cost, and it gets even better if a double colorless energy is used to power the attack. It is similar to Himonchan's Special Punch (Base Set #7), except that a double colorless energy can be used, making it a tad more useful.

Wartortle (Base Set) has been rotated of competitive play for quite some time.

While Wartortle is not a particularly useful card it the TCG, some copies of it were printed with a picture of Wartortle in the evolution box instead of Squirtle. This error card is one of the few base set errors that significantly increases in value. The Wartortle error card is worth somewhere in the $25-$45 range. They are not easy to come by. If an error exists in the shadowless or 1st edition cards (which i dont believe it does), the shadowless error would probably run at $45+, and the 1st edition running at $65+

Base Set Wartortle has been released twice, #42 Base set U (1st edition shadowless, shadowless, unlimited, unlimited error print), and #63 Base Set 2

Information and picture from bulbagarden: Wartortle (Base Set #42)

EDIT: I wouldn't bother with this, except i've seen other people looking to this as a price guide, and my numbers are completely incorrect. Shadowless and 1st editions of the error don't exist. The error card is actually worth around $100 dollars. They just turn up so infruequently that it is hard to get a feel on the price.

Withdraw is a fairly useless move, which tends to only be made when there is no other option. 50% chance to prevent damage, but not effects? I cannot think of a motive that would make this move very viable.
I notice the comparison with Hitmonchan's Special Punch. Of course, the fact you may only require two energy to use Bite is an advantage. However, we have to consider that Hitmonchan is a basic Pokemon, whereas Wartortle will require you to have played Squirtle the turn before, significantly reducing the chance of being able to play him in the early game.
His typing could also be considered disadvantageous early game, as it is possible that on turn 2 the opposing Haymaker will already have a fully-powered Electabuzz, ready for a OHKO!
All in all, Wartortle certainly couldn't survive as a card on its own, as stated in the article. I suspect the most common occurrence was to have either a 4-2-4 or a 4-3-4 Blastoise line (of course with Pokemon Breeder). The Rain Dance deck ensured that Wartortle had a presence in many decks of the time... but only as a key to greater power.

Interesting note about the error version... I was wondering if you'd remember/know about that! Another good job.

Originally Posted by Politoed666

Interesting note about the error version... I was wondering if you'd remember/know about that! Another good job.

Thank you... actually the error version was the main reason I chose Wartortle. I still treasure the copy that I have. I wish it was in better condition though...