Back to Pojo's Pokemon Site

 

Pokedex

Price Guide
Set List

Message Board

Polls & Trivia 

Featured Articles
&
News

Trading Card Game
-
Price Guide/Set List 
- Killer Deck Reports
- Deck Garage
- Card of the Day
- TCG Strategies
- Apprentice & Patch
- Apprentice League
- Spoilers & Translations
- Official Rules
- Featured Event Reports
- Top of the World
- Ness's Nest
- The Phil File
- CHRISBO's Chat Corner
- Greg's CCG Promo News
- Printable Checklist

Nintendo Tips
- Gold & Silver
- Crystal 
- Ruby & Sapphire
-
SNAP
- Pinball
- TCG cart
- Yellow
- Red/Blue
- Stadium
- Pu
zzle League 
- Pokemon Team Garage
--Pinball: Ruby/Sapphire
- Pokemon Coliseum
- Pokemon Box
- Pokemon Channel

E-Card Reader FAQ's
-
Expedition
- Aquapolis
- Skyridge
- Construction Action Function
- EON Ticket Manual

Deck Garage
- Pokemaster's Pit Stop
- RaNd0m's Rest Stop
- Bondi's Bunker 
- Meganium's Matrix
- SoSlow's Safeway
- Perfect 0ne's Rehab

Cartoon/Anime
- Episode Listing
- Character Bios
- Movies & Videos
- What's a Pokemon?
- Video List

Featured Articles

Pojo's Toy Box

Books & Videos

Downloads

Advertise With Us
- Sponsors
- Links

Chat

About Us
Contact Us

 

cover
This is a cool Book!

Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day


 

Jumpluff
- EX: Team Rocket Returns


Date Reviewed: 12.20.04

Ratings & Reviews below

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating.


Pokepop  
Jumpluff from TRR is a decent card. Like all the Jumpluffs, it has a free Retreat cost and an energy efficient attack. Jumpluff does 10 damage for each energy that your opponent has in play. Not just on their Active, but on their Bench too!
Not bad. They have to decide if they want to power up their Pokemon and take lots of damage, or play energy lean, but then not have back up for when their Active get's KO'd. As a capper, Jumpluff has the PokeBody Buffer that acts like a permanent Focus Band. All of Jumpluff's pre- evolutions also have this Body.

Unlimited: Combo this with Focus Band and your Opponent will find it impossible to Knock you Out. Also, since you only need one energy and have no retreat cost, you can swarm easily. Watch out for Special Conditions, though! 4/5

Modified: Also good here, but Fire can take it out easily. Special Conditions are used more here. 3.5/5

Limited: The Buffer Body and Free retreat are priceless here. It's a stage 2 card and a holo. So, if you draw the Stage 1s, go for it. 3/5
 

Otaku

New Feature: If you think this review is too long to read, just skip straight to the scores and then read the summary for a concise overview! 

 

Name: Jumpluff

Set: EX: Team Rocket Returns

Card#: 11/109

Rarity: Holographic-Rare

Type: Grass

Stage: 2 (Evolves from Skiploom)

HP: 90

Weakness: Fire

Resistance: Water

Retreat: 0

Poké-Body: Buffer

If Jumpluff would be Knocked Out by an opponent’s attack, flip a coin.  If heads. Jumpluff is not Knocked Out and its remaining HP becomes 10 instead.

Attack: (C) Energy Crush [10+]

Does 10 damage plus 10 more damage for each Energy attached to all of your opponent’s Pokémon.

Name: Skiploom

Set: EX: Team Rocket Returns

Card#: 49/109

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Grass

Stage: 1 (Evolves from Hoppip)

HP: 60

Weakness: Fire

Resistance: Water

Retreat: 0

Poké-Body: Buffer

If Skiploom would be Knocked Out by an opponent’s attack, flip a coin.  If heads. Skiploom is not Knocked Out and its remaining HP becomes 10 instead.

Attack: (C) Miracle Powder [10]

Flip a coin.  If heads, choose 1 Special Condition.  The Defending Pokémon is now affected by that Special Condition.

Name: Hoppip

Set: EX: Team Rocket Returns

Card#: 57/109

Rarity: Common

Type: Grass

Stage: Basic

HP: 30

Weakness: Fire

Resistance: Water

Retreat: (C)

Poké-Body: Buffer

If Hoppip would be Knocked Out by an opponent’s attack, flip a coin.  If heads. Hoppip is not Knocked Out and its remaining HP becomes 10 instead.

Attack: (C) Miracle Powder [10]

Flip a coin.  If heads, choose 1 Special Condition.  The Defending Pokémon is now affected by that Special Condition.

 

Attributes: Jumpluff is a Stage 2 Grass Pokémon.  I’ll address its lower Stages after I address the other attributes since the entire Jumpluff Evolutionary line from Team Rocket Returns shares a lot of attributes.  As a Stage 2 Pokémon, Jumpluff will need some nice benefits to offset the relative difficulty of getting it into play. It has 90 HP, which is on the low end for a Stage 2 Pokémon, but it is a full 20 HP more than any previous Jumpluff.  Still, in the long run, there needs to be something good to compensate for this.  Jumpluff is a Grass Pokémon.  This means it is only Resisted by a few Pokémon (relative to most other types): the majority of Metal Pokémon, and a few “Dragon”-type Colorless Pokémon.  In the end, this somewhat balances out: you don’t see its Resistance a lot, but when you do, it’s a problem.  Fortunately, the decent amount of Grass Weak Pokémon just barely makes the good outweigh the bad.  Not surprising for a Grass Pokémon, Jumpluff has a Weakness to Fire Pokémon.  This is bad, as most Fire Pokémon that see play can hit hard enough to either OHKO you.  Water Weakness is good: Water sees a lot of play, and since it tends to counter Fire Pokémon, it forms a nice “”circular” relationship between the types.  The last bottom stat is Jumpluff’s Retreat Cost: which is free.  This is the “perfect” Retreat cost, and it is great.

 

Jumpluff’s lower Stages share the same Poké-Body, which completely wrecks my order of coverage. ;) I’ll just say that this is a great thing.  Both lower Stages share the same attack, Miracle Powder.  Miracle Powder is a fantastic attack: one of any energy to do 10 damage is the norm.  On top of that, you get to name one of the five Special Conditions (Burned, Poison, Paralysis, Confusion, or Sleep) if you get heads on a coin flip.  Both lower stages have the same Weakness and Resistance as Jumpluff, and Skiploom has the same retreat (Hoppip’s is one more, which is acceptable).  The only real downsides to these two are their HP scores: Skiploom, a State 1, has slightly sub par 60 HP, and Hoppip has the minimal 30 HP!  So the reason this whole line works is simple: Buffer.

 

 

Abilities: Buffer is what makes this entire line viable, in my estimation.  Simply put, Buffer is a built in Focus Band.  Not since Fluff has a Pokémon been this hard to KO: if an attack would KO any member of this line, the Poké-Body can save the Pokémon; instead of being KO’d, you’ll have 10 HP left.  This is the same effect as Focus Band, one of the best, if not the best, Pokémon Tools in the game.  This why, despite a lot HP score, this can stand up to OHKO decks.

 

Oh, there’s an attack too. ;)  This card also has a fantastic offensive attack: Energy Crush, for the minimal cost of (C), lets you hit for 10 damage plus 10 more damage for all the Energy your opponent has in play.  This will work against most decks quite well.  The exception being minimalist Metal Energy oriented decks (Dark Steelix once it figures out what you are doing), Firestarter decks (the Energy tends to be in the discard between turns), and Suicune ex/Team Auqa’s Walrein based Water decks (Energy tends to be in the hand between turns).  Everything else tends to keep its Energy in play.

 

Uses/Combinations: This is the big question: what kind of deck should use this card?  I honestly don’t like the idea of running it unless it’s either the main focus of the deck, or sharing the focus of the deck with only another line.  One thought is to use it with Hidden Legends Bellossom or Sandstorm Xatu: with their healing capabilities, you could easily recover after surviving a big hit.  This also brings me to covering two exploitable Weaknesses of Buffer: it only works against attacks that a) do damage or b) expressly stat they KO out.  What does that mean?  If you get nailed by an Ancient Technical Machine [Rock], or are afflicted by a Special Condition that ends up finishing you off, Buffer won’t save you.  This is why I also recommend something as simple as Lum Berry: while there are many ways to Heal Special Conditions, I believe this is the only way to do so between turns.

 

Other than those conditions, I strongly encourage you try this card in a variety of decks that can make room for a Stage 2 line, especially one that wants to avoid excessive Rare Candy reliance: dropping from 90 to 30 HP is steep.

 

Ratings

 

Unlimited: 3.75/5-The attack won’t due huge amounts of damage, but there are so many Trainers that can combo with a Pokémon that can be fueled with a single Recycle Energy: like Pokémon Nurse and Pokémon Center.  Add in real Focus Bands and the lack of Special Conditions and devolving attacks, and Jumpluff’s only draw back will be its comparatively low damage since most decks won’t have a lot of Energy in play.  Oh, and the Hoppip’s are really vulnerable here too.

 

Modified: 4/5-I believe this is a strong card full of potential that is just looking for the right partner(s).

 

Limited: 5/5-Assuming you can pull a working line, this is probably the best Limited Pokémon in the set.  No specific Energy required, and hard to KO.

 

Summary

The TRR Jumpluff has a built in Focus Band and a discounted version of SS Espeon’s devastating Energy Crush.  This card seems to be a safe bet: at worst, in most environments, it will be second tier.  At best, it could be able to dominate the big boys.  Just watch out for “alternative” means of KOing Pokémon.

 

 


Pojo.com is here to provide guidance to all Pokemon trainers out there.  Whether it's the Gameboy Game, N64 or the Trading Card Game, PoJo.com provides all the wisdom you desire. 

If you have cool game tips, a killer deck, or breaking news ... send them to us.  We'll post it on the site ... and give you all the credit.  

 

| Home |
| Nintendo Tips || Trading Card Game |

| Pokedex || Pokemon News || Cartoon Info |

All material copyright of Pojo.com.  
 c-1998-200This site is not associated with Nintendo, Wizards of the Coast, Creatures, or GAMEFREAK. Pokemon, Gameboy, and Gotta catch 'em all! are registered trademarks of Nintendo.

1998-2005