Skip
straight to the scores and summary for a concise overview.
Welcome to
my “Liability Week”. You may be shocked we aren’t starting
with the actual EX Deoxys Weezing that has the
attack, Liability. Well, that card isn’t actually being
reviewed. Even though the week is dedicated to Liability,
we are looking at the different Pokémon that combo with
Liability for the OHKO. Today we look at Weezing
from EX Delta Species. This is not the Weezing with
Liability, but one that compliments it very well if you can
get by running less than a full count of the other.
Name:
Weezing
Set:
EX Delta Species
Card#:
33/113
Type:
Fire
Stage:
Stage 1 (Evolves from Koffing)
HP:
70
Weakness:
Psychic
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Poké-Body:
Body Odor
As long as
Weezing is the Active Pokémon, put 1 damage counter on each of
your opponent’s Pokémon that has any Poké-Bodies between turns.
Attack#1:
(G) Mist Attack
Does 10 damage
to each of your opponent’s Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness or
Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)
Attack#2:
(GCC) Sludge Whirlpool [50]
Name:
Koffing
Set:
EX Delta Species
Card#:
72/113
Type:
Grass
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Psychic
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(G) Confusion Gas
The Defending
Pokémon is now Confused.
Attributes:
Weezing is a Stage 1 Pokémon, so it just needs to be a
little better than Basics as it isn’t too hard to get into play
or fit into a deck. Rare Candy use is optional since it
will get it into play a turn faster but isn’t as much of a
“savings” as it is for Stage 2 Pokémon. Weezing Evolves
from Koffing, which we will look at later on.
Weezing
is a Grass Pokémon, which tends to be one of those Types that
neither hits a lot of Weakness nor encounters a lot of
Resistance. Still, there are already prominent decks with both
so pay attention and expect to see it at least some (at the Iowa
State Championship, both tend appeared repeatedly).
Weezing
has 70 HP, which is a bit low for a non-Evolving Stage 1. It
also has a Psychic Weakness that, while common, doesn’t matter
so much since it is so small. It will matter most in the early
turns of the game when facing Psychic Pokémon whose attacks at
that point wouldn’t normally KO you. Don’t expect to survive
any hits from a main attacker who is energized. It’d be nice if
a Resistance balanced this out, but it doesn’t, so I’ll move
onto the actually good Retreat Cost: one
Energy is very affordable and should be easy to pay most
of the time.
The Koffing
in this set is solid, but inferior to the EX Deoxys version in
Liability builds for a simple reason: the auto-Poison which the
latter does for a single Grass Energy can set up for a Liability
attack to score a OHKO the next turn, where as the Confusion
from the former cannot. When EX Deoxys finally rotates out, it
will be solid choice.
Abilities:
This Weezing is very effective at spreading around small
amounts of damage. Body Odor lets you get “free” damage if you
can get Weezing up front and keep it there: Poké-Bodies,
at first a rare sight are now more or less just as common as
Poké-Powers in decks. Mist Attack is a bargain: its single
Grass Energy cost is usually easy to meet and allows a
Weezing to go on the offensive as soon as you get it into
play. This also minimizes the effect of Resistance since you
can probably get a good deal of damage on Resistant opposing
Pokémon while they are on the Bench. If your opponent is slow
to set up or makes the mistake of ignoring Weezing,
Sludge Whirlpool is a slightly discounted straightforward damage
attack. While the synergy between these abilities isn’t as high
as yesterday’s CotD, Typhlosion from EX Unseen Forces, it
is still there.
Uses and
Combinations:
Its most obvious use is aiding the other Weezing in
scoring OHKOs against Pokémon with Poké-Bodies. This, combined
with Cursed Stone, will let you take most Pokémon down in
one hit. Decks with a strong attacker can risk running two of
these alongside two EX Deoxys Weezing,
and most builds can risk one if they are running three of the
other version.
Its bench
damage spreading capacity also makes it suitable for other
decks. Off the top of my head, the recent Psychic Pulse attack,
found on EX Power Keepers Absol ex and EX Dragon
Frontiers Flygon ex δ would love having this
Pokémon open for them.
Ratings
Traditional:
1/5 – Bench damage is handy, but there are better options that
won’t have a wasted Poké-Body, risky Psychic Weakness, and even
a lower Stage.
Advanced:
3.25/5 – A card that does its job quite well, it probably is
overlooked due to its better known EX Deoxys counterpart and
specialized nature.
Limited:
4/5 – There are a few Poké-Bodies in the set and the Psychic
Ditto may make your Weakness dangerous, but the attacks are even
better here and still make the card worth using unless you pull
something truly spectacular and completely preclude you running
even as few as five Grass Energy.
Summary
EX Delta
Species Weezing is looking for a good home: will you give
it one? Well, if you need a quick bench hitter.
-Otaku
