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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Baby Mario Top 4 UK Nats	Smoochum (HGSS)   We end Baby Week with the pre-evolved form of Jynx. With a name like Smoochum, maybe we should have reviewed it on Valentine’s Day?   By this time, you should know what to expect from these new Baby Pokémon: 30 HP, no Weakness, Retreat, or Resistance, Sweet Sleeping Face, and a no-cost attack. Smoochum is no different. So, what is Smoochum’s attack, and will it be of any use? Well, just like the Neo Revelation version, this Smoochum’s attack involves Energy manipulation. Energy Antics has a very simple effect: move an Energy from one of your opponent’s Pokémon to another.   A simple effect, yes, but one that has been made more complicated (and much better) by a recent ruling on Ambipom G’s Tail Code attack. According to that ruling, if you move an Energy from a Pokémon to a Pokémon with Unown G attached, the Unown G prevents that Pokémon from being affected. This means that the Energy has nowhere to go and is sent to the Discard Pile instead. Because of this, if your opponent has Unown G attached to any Pokémon (and they most likely will if they don’t see Smoochum coming), Energy Antics works exactly like Energy Removal. Setting your opponent back a turn with their Energy attachments is a great ability, especially if they are relying on Special Energy like Special Metal or Double Colourless Energy. Even if your opponent doesn’t have Unown G out, moving Energy from an attacker to something like an Azelf or even a Claydol, can be almost as good as removing it altogether.   So, will Smoochum see any play as a result of this ruling? It does have one advantage over Ambipom G in that it can move Energy from any Pokémon, while Ambipom G can only do it to the Defending Pokémon. Ambipom G, however, has much higher HP and is mainly included in decks as a tech which can score OHKOs against Garchomp C LV X. This greater versatility means that it will usually be preferred to Smoochum, especially in SP decks. Elsewhere, it is likely that most players will prefer cards which help them set up, rather than set back the opponent (although Spiritomb AR does both!), but Smoochum might find a home somewhere as a tech against decks which rely heavily on Double Colourless.   Rating   Modified: 2 (interesting and potentially useful, but not worth inclusion in most decks) Limited: 1.5 (no Unown G tricks, format is slow anyway)
virusyosh	Happy end of the week, Pojoers! We end Baby Week by reviewing yet another baby from the HeartGold and SoulSilver expansion: the Kiss Pokemon, Smoochum. Smoochum's top and bottom stats are the same as the other HGSS babies: 30 HP, no Weakness, no Resistance, no Retreat Cost. 30 HP is very low, but expected for a baby. no Weakness is nice, no Resistance is meh, and no Retreat Cost is great. Also like the other babies, Smoochum has the Sweet Sleeping Face Poke-Body, which prevents damage to Smoochum from attacks while it is Asleep. Smoochum's only attack, Energy Antics, can move an Energy card from one of your opponent's Pokemon to another for free, putting Smoochum to sleep afterward. While not spectacular, the attack isn't so bad: it can really mess with your opponent's Special Energy cards, and can possibly deny them an attack if they can't move the Energy back or attach a new one. For example, stalling and moving Special Energy cards off of Dialga G could be quite effective (albeit very risky on your part). Modified: 2/5 Not the best, but could have some potential. There are quite a few decks that run with very few energy in Modified, and moving your opponent's energy somewhere else could be potentially devastating for these decks. Then again, Energy Antics is completely useless against decks that have the ability to move Energy, so it all depends on your opponent. Limited: 3/5 I actually really like Smoochum here. Most of the time, many people play 3 or more types in Limited, so moving an Energy to a Benched Pokemon where it won't be useful could be a great way of slowing down your opponent and messing up their strategy. Then again, it still has 30 HP and as such, can be taken out easily.
BoDragon Pokémon Organized Play Tournament Organizer, League Owner, Pokémon Professor and Judge	Pokémon Card of the Day for Friday, 2010-02-19:   Smoochum (HeartGold & SoulSilver, #30)   The HeartGold & SoulSilver expansion brings back notable Basic Pokémon that are prevolved forms of other Pokémon.  These Pokémon are Cleffa, Igglybuff, Pichu, Smoochum and Tyrogue.  Unlike past appearances, these Pokémon lack  the ability to evolve using any Baby Evolution Poké-Power into Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Pikachu, Jynx, Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee or Hitmontop.   Cleffa, Igglypuff, Pichu, Smoochum and Tyrogue share the same Poké-Body, Sweet Sleeping Face.  Its effect is as long as the Pokémon is Asleep, all damage to it is prevented.  These Pokémon stand good chances to be Asleep as their attacks initiate the effect.   The statistics for each of these Pokémon are consistent.  They all share 30 HP, have no Weakness, have no Resistance, and have zero Energy Retreat Cost.   Smoochum's Energy Antics attacks, for no Energy, moves an Energy card attached to one of your opponent's Pokémon to another of your opponent's Pokémon before falling Asleep.  This is useful to transfer Energy off your opponent's Pokémon with high attack costs.  I fear is is more effective late game when your opponent has burned through most of his or her Energy cards when he or she needs to go on that knock out spree.   Ratings: Modified:  3/5 Limited:  3/5
Otaku	Name: Smoochum Set/#: HeartGold & SoulSilver 30/123 Rarity: Rare Type: Psychic Stage: Basic HP: 30 Weakness: None Resistance: None Retreat Cost: None Poké-Body: Sweet Sleeping Face As long as Igglybuff is Asleep, prevent all damage done to Igglybuff by attacks. Attack#1: (0) Energy Antics Move an Energy card attached to 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon to another of your opponent’s Pokémon.  Smoochum is now Asleep.   Attributes: Smoochum is a Basic Psychic Pokémon.  As of right now, there are no Stage 1 versions of Jynx so it’s all on Igglybuff to earn its spot in decks.  You have to know your own metagame to know if being Psychic will matter: for the more mundane aspects of Weakness and Resistance, it won’t matter as Igglybuff does no damage.  Miasma Valley is still legal and Smoochum enjoys immunity from the effect.  As for Smoochum’s own Weakness, Resistance, and Retreat Cost… all three are nothing.  So the 30 HP and lack of Resistance are the worst possible stats for a Pokémon but the lack of Weakness and free Retreat Cost are the best.  Bear in mind that at just 30 HP, most levels of Weakness wouldn’t especially matter: past the first turn or two Smoochum is a OHKO anyway.   Abilities: The Poké-Body and Attack are intertwined, like all the “Homage” Baby Pokémon.  While Smoochum is Asleep, Sweet Sleeping Face protects it from attack damage.  Quite a few ways to bypass that, and of course you have to be Asleep: barring other effects, there is a 50% chance you’ll wake up between turns.  Energy Antics, Smoochum’s only attack, puts it to Sleep (again, like the attacks of all the “Homage” Baby Pokémon), and due to the Poké-Body, that’s a bonus instead of a drawback.  Energy Antics can really wreck an opponent’s plan by controlling their Energy Attachment.  It suffers though, since it is an attack and is obviously occurring after your opponent has had at least a turn of use from it if it is on the Active.   Uses and Combinations: Smoochum ideally will force Energy onto Pokémon that don’t need it, slowing down your opponent while hiding behind Sweet Sleeping Face.  I don’t know how well it will work, though, since most opening Pokémon need few Energy.  Your opponent attaches an Energy card to their Active, and attacks… you move it around but they still had that attack.  Move it to something on their Bench and if it can be built up, you’ve helped them!  They have to have something (this is sounding familiar) like an Homage Baby (as I keep calling this newest batch inspired by the Baby Pokémon of the Neo sets) you can strand the Energy on, where it won’t do them any good.   I could see running one and basically “giving up a Prize” with it later in the game if it means wrecking an opponent’s mid or late game set up: Smoochum throwing away a much needed Special Energy that isn’t as easy to replace.  If it allows you to then take a Prize (or several) safely, it would be worth it.   Peeking at other reviews, I see something I almost missed: if the opponent has Unown G attached to a Pokémon, its effect will kick in to “protect” the Pokémon from the effect of Smoochum’s attack… having an Energy attached to it.  Granted, if it is on the Defending Pokémon, it would be protected anyway.   Ratings   Modified: 2/5 – It really depends on being damage proof to have a lasting impact on the game.   Limited: 4/5 – Multiple Energy type decks plus with less resources to deal with anything equal Smoochum being a rare.   Summary I may seem down on Smoochum, but I am just barely getting back into the game.  If there is some genius combo I am missing (I did merely miss Unown G, after all) I’ll happily eat crow.  I mean the more good cards in the game, the better.  Right now though Smoochum seems to be an expensive way to manipulate the opponent’s Energy: you’re giving up a slot in your deck, your Active spot, and an attack… possibly even a Prize!  The opponent doesn’t lose the Energy anyway, so it might be useless in the end as your opponent just plays around it.