Hello, welcome to the final review of the week, and we
end it on a low note with Yanmega 4 from Rising Rivals.
This card received no hype, but does it have any hope of
being played? No, really, as I'll explain in this
review. First, the basics of the card, and for an SP
Pokémon, it has a pretty average 90 HP. It may be
slightly above average, but not by much. x2 Lightning
Weakness is annoying due to the large amount of Luxray
GL and it's Lv.X (RR) running about, but really, aside
from that line, not much Lightning it being played. -20
Fighting Resistance is only really useful when you are
up against Machamp (SF), and even then, only if they
don't try and use Take Out on your Yanmega 4. For a
flying bug, 1 Retreat Cost seems a little high to me. 1
Retreat Cost isn't high in general, it's about average
really, it's just high for a such a light flying bug.
Finally, this Pokémon is an SP Pokémon, as you may have
already guessed, so has all the usual benefits of being
one.
Abilities now, and first of all, Skill Dive. For C (or
Energy Gain), you get to do 10 damage to one of your
opponents Pokémon. What is the point of this attack?
Raichu GL (RR) has a C attack that does 10 damage to 2
of your opponents benched Pokémon, so this attack has
very little use. A single weak snipe like this is barely
worth the ink used for the text.
It's second attack is your standard Whirlwind attack.
GCC (or GC and an Energy Gain) for 50 isn't really that
great since many SP's and Pokémon in general can do more
for less. Forcing your opponent to switch generally
isn't very useful either, since if they have something
free Retreat Cost on the bench, then they will instantly
be able to bring up the Pokémon you sent to the bench.
It's a pointless attack really.
Combos? Do you really expect there to be any combos with
this card apart from the binder? No. If anyone can think
of 1 use for this card that can't be done better but
other cards (like it's sniping done better by Raichu GL,
or the switching by any Pokémon where you get to choose
what to bring up), then I'd like to hear from you.
Counters? Well, it's main counter if the fact that many
Pokémon do this card's jobs alot better than this card.
Also, Machamp (SF) is a problem for this card, like it
is for every SP Pokémon, where it forces the moronic
Yanmega 4 player to choose between Energy Gain and Unown
G (GE), if you'd actually want to waste either of those
cards on such a useless Pokémon. In case anyone is
stupid enough to play this card on the bench, then don't
expect it to stay there for long since Luxray GL Lv.X
will happily use it's Poké-Power to bring it active,
then use any attack to KO it and grab a free prize.
Ratings:
Modified: Yeah, what is the point of this card? Skill
Dive is done better by the countless other snipers we
have in the format, and Whirlwind has always been a
rather useless attack. However, the absolute worst thing
about this card is the rarity. It's Rare, and for the
life of me, I can't see any reason why. To be honest,
apart from as a filler card, I can't see any real reason
why this card was printed in the first place. Binder
fodder, or better yet, recycle them, otherwise you won't
get much use out of Yanmega 4. 1/5
Limited: Here, I'm still not sure if there's much point
to this card. Skill Dive is too weak to really be of
much use, but if you are trying to make a
sniping/spreading deck (because you luckily got a
Gallade 4 and Lv.X version), then I suppose this may be
used as a sniper, but otherwise, not great. Whirlwind
can be used to spread damage around as well, but it's
really not worth it. Just try to leave this card alone.
1.5/5
Meganium45
Wow, let’s see.
A bug weak to lightning that has 2 relatively pointless
attacks, and a retreat cost?
The attack for 1 energy is horrid. 1 Damage anywhere?
Just use Crobat and drop your energy.
50 for 3? Is that the definition of UNDERPOWERED in this
envio, and yay, you get to switch their Pokemon!
Wait, they choose the new active…pointless just became
more pointless.
There are a LOT better options out there.
Ratings. Modified 1.5/5 Celebrate if your opponent turns
over this card.
Limited. 2.5/5 OK, big bug and not much lightning here.
Luxray is hard to get out, and not as powerful without
energy gain. Still others, but a better option.
There you go. Happy weekend!
Vince
Baby Mario Top 4 UK Nats
Yanmega 4
Well, it looks like we have run out of LV Xs, so we will
finish the week with Bugsy’s Yanmega. It looks a pretty
nasty beast in the video game, but will it intimidate
anyone in the TCG?
90 HP is decent for an SP Basic. A retreat cost of one
seems a bit harsh for a flying insect and Weakness to
Lightning is becoming more and more of a liability.
Resistance to fighting is always a nice bonus though, as
is the fact that it benefits from all the lovely SP
support out there.
Yanmega 4’s first attack, Skill Dive, is a simple snipe
anything for 10 attack for the cost of [C]. Not too
shabby, but remember that Raichu GL will do 10 to TWO
benched Pokémon for the same cost. The second attack,
Whirlwind, does 50 damage and forces a switch for [G][C][C].
Could be useful, I suppose, but nothing
earth-shattering.
Yanmega 4 is one of those many cards that are not
terrible in themselves, but they just don’t do enough to
elevate them to the status of tournament playable cards.
Without a useful Power, Body, or LV X, Yanmega just
doesn’t do anything to make anyone want to play it in a
modified deck. On the other hand, it was probably
designed more for Limited play, where its attacks are a
little more effective.
Rating
Modified: 1.5 (just . . . meh, really)
Limited: 2.75 (fairly decent here, but still nothing
special)
