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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

 

Sceptile

EX Emerald

 

Date Reviewed: 06.17.05

Ratings & Reviews Summary
Unlimited: 2.37
Modified: 2.55
Limited: 3.87

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


Johnny Blaze
Sceptile - I like this card a lot but it really annoys me that Swift doesn't apply weakness, therefore that will effect my scoring this card.  There could be so many more options if it did.
 
 
Unlimited: 3.5/5 - This card is actually very playable in Unlimited.  With Rain Dance being so popular, resistance to Water is a good thing.  Also when you have more options with Breeder and the like staring down at a 100 HP Pokemon that cant be effected by status and is doing 30 for 1 Grass can be very intimidating.  It is enough to ohko babies and with 30 and then a Plus Power next turn for 40 it can ko many BBP's that are used in Unlimited.  Also you can get a surprise 70 with 1G a Boost and a Plus Power to ko any BBP's.
 
Modified: 2.5/5 - The not applying weakness for Swift is a very bad thing indeed.  I know it is Swift but for 4 energy it should apply weakness.  Imagine a ohko against Sand Damage T-Tar for only 1G and a Boost.   At best this Sceptile can be used as a tech against status.  If it weren't for that darn Swift it would be a 4/5.
 
Limited: 4/5 - Very cheap attack in Razor Leaf and the ability to not being inflicted with status and/or that ability granted to your whole team is a good pick
 
Bullados Attributes: Out of the 3 Starters in this set, this one has the lowest HP. Then again, it is also the only one with a Resistance, and 10 HP isn't all that much anyway. Weakness to Fire is expected, but be careful about playing this because RS Blaze is still very popular. Retreat of 2 is average, but still try and use a switching card when getting Sceptile out of the Active.

Poke-BODY: "Green Essence"
Always nice to be immune from Special Conditions, but those aren't all that big of a threat. Really, this Body is more of a gimmick in the current metagame than anything else.

Attack #1: [G] "Razor Leaf"
This is one of the most undercosted attacks in the history of Pokemon. 1 for 30 straight up is simply amazing. Still, it's not all that powerful, and won't really get you anywhere fast.

Attack #2: [GCCC] "Swift"
And here is one of the most overcosted Swift attacks in the game, especially when you consider that Swampert from the other day does essentially the same thing, if not better, and yet costs less energy for the same amount of damage.

Ratings:

Unlimited: Energy intensive and relatively slow and does not deal enough damage to really be a threat. Simply put, not good enough.
1/5

Modified: Right now, more of a novelty act for Sceptile decks. Once the format shifts, he will become much more powerful, as Status type decks will begin to gain popularity, especially with Dark Crobat having a huge following. For now, I will give it a...
2.5/5

Limited: Could be a beast, but is just too energy intensive to really make its mark here, especially considering that both of the other starters have energy costs of 3 to Sceptile's 4. Not good enough again.
3.75/5
 

Hinkbert
Sceptile

The last of the new cards evolved from 1 of the 3 starters. Personally I always liked the originals more, but Sceptile is my favorite out of the new ones, too bad they seem want to give him underpowered cards constantly. Let’s look at the stats: 100 Hp, a little low the last holo Scepy had 120, but it’s serviceable, bottom stats are expected, weakness to fire, water resistance, retreat cost of 2. The retreat cost is lower than the previous version which is nice and it makes it a little less painful to pay for then. Now for the Body and Attacks. His Poke-body keeps your actives free of special conditions as long as they have grass energy, and Scepy is in play obviously. Not a bad body, but more of a supporting ability. The first attack continues the trend of the evolved starters having an attack for 1 energy, Scepy’s does 30 damage. His second is the typical Swift for 4 energy and it does 60 damage.

Like Swampert, the new Sceptile combos well with his familiars. If you throw one of these in a Sceptile deck you don’t have to worry about special conditions which is always a bonus, and it can become especially annoying as you’ll probably be dealing them out using the holo R/S Scepy. His second attack is boostable, much like the old holo R/S Scepy. Rare candy is also his best friend as you could conceivably do 30 damage first turn, then boost second turn and do 60 damage. Ultimately he’s relegated to the ranks of casual/league decks. For some reason grass decks just aren’t powerful enough right now, but Muk seems to be causing a stir. His Hp is a little too low, and his attacks are a little to underpowered, and his body is too “conditional” (excuse the pun) to be exceptional.

Unlimited 2/5 As already covered rare candy first turn for 30 damage, but there are easier ways to do this, like the new Deoxys that was a previous COTD. But he does make Vileplume ex less powerful since it’s special conditions won’t be problem. He just isn’t powerful enough for long enough to be great.

Modified 2.5/5 Fewer cards here make him a little more powerful, but you can’ change the fact that his Hp is still low, and his attacks are a little too costly/weak in the long run. At least Dunsparce isn’t a problem.

Limited 4.25/5 By my calculations there are only 2 pokemon in limited that OHKO him, Blaze and Camerupt ex, so that’s good. All the other fire Poke’s would only do 80 damage (40 base, doubled) and there burn special condition would be negated, so Scepy gets to survive longer. Plus his ability to basically nullify any special condition is amazing in limited, and the rare candy first turn, 30 damage still applies. But Swift is expensive with not boost, and his 100 Hp still makes him easy 2HKO bait, so no illustrious 5 for him.
 
Scyther 21 Today we have the newest version of sceptile from the emerald series. This card while not a definite for a sceptile deck is good. I have seen this card go into sceptile decks that could not get mutiple copies of Sceptile ex. Of course it did not take the place of the Sceptile ex, but if they were both on the field green heal and green essence kept the pokemon strong and the energy trans version kept everything moving around. In short sceptile decks are beginning to pick up speed. They may even make top apperances at worlds. However, just like Blaze decks after worlds they will lose an important player.

An HP of 100 is about average for a stage three although higher can be found. With 100 HP this card either keeps all stats clear or he is dealing damage to those water types. The HP is decent.

The poke body Green Essence is always as all others. This means no activation is needed and all of your pokemon are holding green energy to go with the energy trans scep., right? This ability is good but in my current enviornment there are few status problems floating around. Like with my last review a poke body never hurts to have so it is fine with me.

The first attack, Razor Leaf deals 30 points of damage for one grass energy. Pretty simple cut-and-dry. A solid attack that is good for the finisher if needed or out of energy. Which should not be a problem since that energy trans is keeping this attack going.

The second attack, Swift deals 60 unchanging points of damage for one grass and three colorless energies. This attack should easily be used if you have the energy (using energy trans and even a boost energy). Making for a solid attack that puts the hurt down on the def. pkm.

A weakness of fire is expected from a grass type and causes a problem with all of the Blaze maniacs giving Firestarter one more go 'round before worlds is over. The resistance is nice because of the water being played and any rest. is better than none. And finally the retreat cost of two is not hardly bad. Could be lower but if running a Scep. deck your are most likely to have Scep Ex attacking.

Unlimited: 3.0 it is a solid pick for this set
Modified:2.7 if running a grass and 3.3 if running a scep. (if you have the room)
Limited:3.5 this card is great if you can pull the evos for it and can hold those grass babies healthy

Scyther 21 out
 


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