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Ruins of Alph
A Johto-themed Stadium is up for review today. The
Ruins of Alph is either the place where you go to fill
your Pokedex with every Unown, or the minor
inconvenience you have to walk through after Violet
City. If you stay and search around you can find some
good stuff there though (including a Rare Candy!).
Ruins of Alph has quite possibly the shortest
text of any Stadium and one of the most straightforward
effects. When it is in play, each Pokémon has no
Resistance.
Is this useful? Well, there are certainly times
where it can be. Donphans with Expert Belts positively
hate not being able to OHKO annoying Crobat Gs that are
trying to Toxic them to death, and Dialga G is often
pretty miffed at its inability to do much damage to
Luxray GL. In general though, Resistance is rarely a big
part of the TCG (the vast majority of Pokémon don’t even
have it), which makes the use of this Stadium very
situational.
Then there is the competition it faces for deck
space from other Stadiums. Even in the examples given
above, Donphan decks will get far greater utility out of
Broken Time-Space or Stark Mountain, while Dialga G (if
it runs a Stadium) usually prefers to put the hurt on
Stage 2s with Galactic HQ, or recover Special Metal with
Conductive Quarry.
Ruins of Alph is a very specific answer to a pretty
rare problem that decks might face. If you have a deck
where Resistance is a constant or serious issue, then
this could be the answer you have been waiting for. For
everything else, there are many better options.
Rating
Modified: 1.75 (too niche for a big score)
Limited: 2 (there are a few cards with Resistance in
the set, but it’s rarely an issue)
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