Hi there. In this Pokemon card reveal I cover another pair of Hop cards. These are Hop's Silicobra and Hop's Sandaconda.
Hop's Silicobra is a 80 HP Basic Fighting Pokemon with two retreat cost and Grass weakness. The Gnaw attack is not great as it requires one Fighting Energy and one Colourless Energy to do 20 damage. If you have Hop's Choice Band, Hop's Snorlax and Postwick Stadium then the Gnaw attack can do 80 (20 plus 60) damage for the cost of one Fighting Energy.
The first attack is not too bad. It does not do damage for one Colourless Energy but you can search your deck for a Stadium card like Postwick and put it into your hand. If the opponent does not play Iono or Judge during the opponent's next turn then the Stadium in hand is not put back in the deck.
Hop's Sandaconda is the Stage 1 evolution of Hop's Silicobra. It has 140 HP, three retreat cost and Grass weakness. This has no abilities but two attacks.
The first attack of Tremor requires one Fighting Energy and one Colourless Energy. It does 30 damage plus the opponent's Active Pokemon cannot retreat the next turn. Combine this attack with Hop's Choice Band, Hop's Snorlax and Postwick Stadium then this Tremor attack does 90 damage for one Fighting Energy. Being able to retreat lock an opponent's Pokemon that cannot attack is quite powerful. You can get some extra turns for setup or to slowly do damage and knockout a non-attacking Pokemon.
Ground Break is the second attack from Hop's Sandaconda. It requires one Fighting Energy and two colourless Energy. It does 140 damage plus 20 damage recoil damage to each of your Benched Pokemon. If you have damage modifiers like Hop's Choice Band, Hop's Snorlax and Postwick Stadium then this attack can go up to 200 damage. The 20 damage recoil damage is not great but maybe you can combine this with Munkidori and Dark Energy to transfer damage to your opponent.
The Hop archetype looks to be massive. There are Fighting attackers along with Colourless attackers and Metal attackers. One could choose to do Metal Pokemon with Hop's Zacian ex and the Corviknight evolution line. Or you can do Hop's Sandaconda plus Hop's Snorlax plus Hop's Dubwool.
The Hop cards could be expensive and hard to find upon release in the Journey Together set in March 2025. That can impact people's deck choices for in-person play.
Thank you for reading.
