Pokemon reviews/ratings

Greninja (X and Y expansion)

9.7 out of 10
This has to be one of my favorite stage 2 pokemon cards ever. Let's begin with pros:
1: its ability:
Yeah sure, discarding a water energy once a turn and doing 30 damage is ok. But what about having 4 greninjas out on your bench, repeatedly doing 120 damage a turn anywhere on your opponents side BEFORE you even attack. That's crazy powerful! But it gets better- this ability says damage counters, which doesent count as damage, allowing it to break through Mr. Mimes aggravating bench barrier ability or sqirtles shell sheild ability. That means that your active pokemon can still attack. And there's a perfect pokemon to take advantage of that negative effect of discarding the water energy: the plasma freeze kingdra. Its water cyclone attack shuffles water energy into your deck and does damage for each one. Isint that convenient?
2: mist slash: if greninja is caught out in the active slot for some reason, it definitely Isint defenseless. The most slash attack can do 50 damage for only ONE water energy, and it also cuts through effects from hard charm and water resistance.

And now the minor complaints:
1: the hp:
It would be nice if it only had 10 more hp, so it could take a megaton slam from M aggron EX.
2: the retreat cost:
If greninja had 1 less retreat cost, it could escape from being pulled into the active with out wasting an energy. Yes, you could attack, but would you really want to risk losing one of greninjas that took 3+ turns to get out in play?
3: the difficulty of getting it in play:
As is the case with all stage 2 pokemon, its tough to get 1 of these out in play, much less 4! Even with rare candy, its tough to use.