Pokeballing: Heatmor....Durants Demise or Slight Annoyance

With Dark Explorers due for a May 9th release and pre-release tournaments beginning this weekend one card come with a potential meta breaking attack and that Pokemon is Heatmor

Heatmor – Fire – HP90
Basic Pokemon

[C] Hot Tongue: 10 damage. If the opponent’s Active Pokemon is Durant, this attack does an additional 50 damage.
[R][C][C] Firebreathing: 50 damage. Flip a coin, if heads this attack does an additional 20 damage.
Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 1

Right now the Pokemon meta is either play Mewtwo as a deck or a counter to Mewtwo, or you play Durant. Durant is a amazing deck because with the right hand you can start milling the top 4 cards of your opponents deck before they even take a turn. This is a counterable strategy but most counters require some set up, which is why Heatmor was created i assume. On the surface Heatmor looks like the answer anti Durant players have been looking for, with a cost of one Colorless Energy you can do 10 damage plus 50 more if your ugly anteater is attacking one of those damn metal ants. While this will almost guarantee the death of your opponents active Durant, I still feel Heatmor is a bit lacking as a reliable counter. For example running one Cobalion in a Durant build will negate Heatmors impact as a counter, as after 1 Iron Breaker your Heatmor will be left with 10 hp and not be able to attack next turn. Also when you think about it attaching one energy to Heatmor also wastes your one regular attachment for the turn and if you need to get some heavier attacks going and cant get to your engine (Typholosion Prime and Eelektrik) then your wasting that attachment. Durant decks run Pokemon Catcher, Revive, Junk Arm, and Crushing Hammer so removing your Energy or sending your Heatmor back to the bench to bring up a high retreat cost Pokemon is very likely.

Now this isn't to say that Heatmor shouldn't be run at all, its still a one shot to any Durants and if you can catch your opponent off guard your lone anteater should be able to destroy your opponents field quite easily but with some Durant builds running the ever powerful Mewtwo EX the chances of your anteater getting eaten are just as possible as you running over your opponents field.

All in all the face of this game is changing rapidly and as Dark Explorers draws near there will be a vast array of new cards and new decks and tech coming. Heatmor is just one of the many techs that could see lots of play at the upcoming Spring Battle Roads.