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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Swadloon #2

Noble Victories

Date Reviewed: Nov. 22, 2011

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 1.75
Limited: 2.67

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

Back to the main COTD Page

Combos With: See Below

Baby Mario
2010 UK National
Seniors
Champion

Swadloon 2/101 (Noble Victories)

Hello and welcome to a shorter-than-usual week of reviews here on Pojo’s CotD. Apparently this is because American readers have their Thanksgiving holiday coming up, so if that applies to you, I hope you have a great time doing whatever it is you do!

This week we kick off with Swadloon, an evolving Stage 1 from the new Noble Victories set. Yeah, I know that’s not a promising start, but don’t worry, there are still a ton of very good cards we haven’t got around to yet.

Swadloon’s Fire Weakness, which would otherwise be a very bad thing in a format where Reshiram continues to be very popular, is made pretty much irrelevant by the low 70 HP. Meanwhile the Retreat cost of one is kind of average: nothing to be excited about, but nothing to complain over either.

There are two attacks here, both of which can be dealt with fairly swiftly. Tackle is every bit as generic and dull as the name suggests: 20 damage for a single Grass Energy: not bad for the cost, but not an attack you want to use unless you have no other choice. String Shot is slightly more interesting: for [C][C], you get the same damage plus a coin flip for Paralysis (easily the best Status Condition as it prevents the Defending Pokémon from attacking or Retreating next turn). It isn’t worth running Victory Star Victini for this though: save him for better cards like Vanilluxe NV or Lilligant EP.

There’s no reason you would ever want Swadloon in the active slot, thanks to the poor stats and mediocre attacks. At least the chance of Paralysis gives it a chance of surviving if that ever happens, which is about all you can expect from an evolving Stage 1. That said, I think I would just let it get KO’d rather than waste two Energy on it, particularly as the Evolution (as we shall see tomorrow) isn’t really designed for attacking with either.

Rating

Modified: 1.5 (average evolving Stage 1: only use when you can’t use Rare Candy)

Limited: 2.25 (If you DO pull Fliptini, I guess you could try for the Paralysis lock)

Mad Mattezhion
 Professor Bathurst League Australia

Swadloon (Noble Victories)

After last week's action packed lineup, Swadloon seems anticlimatic. However, the question of which Swadloon you use could soon become important as the design team keeps making better Leavanny cards, leading me to belive that within the next few sets we should get a Leavanny so powerful that even fear of Reshriam and its friends won't keep it down!

Until that happy day, we will keep reviewing the increasingly powerful attaempts at playable cards such as the Leavanny line from Noble Victories.

Swadloon is a Grass type evolving Stage 1 with 70 HP, Fire Weakness, a retreat cost of 1 and two attacks.

Those stats are bad even for a Bench sitter, so Swadloon should not be played unless a) you are sure your opponent can't hit it before you evolve to Leavanny or b) don't have any other choice because your starting hand was terrible and Sewaddle is about to bite the dust. Although this card is no worse than any other Swadloon we've seen (except the 80 HP version which is far superior), a finer argument for Rare Candy has not been printed (with the possible exception of Seadra UL).

Since the mixture of low HP and easily-exploited Weakness make Swadloon a sitting duck, it would be great if the attacks were able to hekp Swadloon survive. Tackle doesn't fit that bull as a 20 for [g] vanilla attack, but String Shot has a coin flip for Paralysis that may buy you an extra turn to evolve. The cost of [c][c] can be paid with Double Colourless Energy in an emergency and the 20 damage is better than nothing, so I could see this Swadloon fitting into a Leavanny deck if you are short on Rare Candy and don't possess the 80 HP version.

Until we get a Leavanny worth playing the point is moot, but this isn't the best Swadloon even out of a bad bunch. Pray that the Bug/Grass dual type starts getting some respect soon, its powerful presence in the video games demands it!

Modified: 2 (never play this card if you can avoid it, even if you do want to use tomorrow's Leavanny card)

Limited: 3 (support Poke'mon are great in Limited but keeping this Swadloon alive long enough to evolve into Leavanny is a doubtful proposition at best)

Combos with: an extra 20 HP would make me feel a hell of a lot better about this card, but I can't have everything so I'll take what I can get. Sue me, I like Leavanny!


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