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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Whimsicott #11

Emerging Powers

Date Reviewed: Sept. 13, 2011

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 1.50
Limited: 3.50

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

Baby Mario
2010 UK National
Seniors
Champion

Whimsicott 11/98 (Emerging Powers)

It might be a weird sheep/cotton hybrid thing, but Whimsicott is still pretty adorable. In the video games (especially when it comes to double battles), it is an incredibly annoying support Pokémon with an armoury of disruptive move like Taunt and Encore at its disposal. This kind of thing doesn’t usually translate very well to the TCG, but let’s see what they’ve managed to come up with anyway.

At first glance, things don’t look good. Grass is just about the worst Type right now, thanks to the popularity of fire and its failure to hit anything of significance for Weakness. 80 HP isn’t going to help the survivability of this card either, and is very poor for a final Stage Pokémon these days. Water Resistance? Ok, I suppose, but Water Pokémon aren’t seeing much play. Free Retreat? Brilliant – though probably wasted on this card.

Whimsicott’s first attack, Helping Hand, costs a single Energy and lets you search your deck for an Energy and attach it to a Benched Pokémon. Yes, Energy acceleration is nice, but worth evolving a Stage 1 and using an attack to do it? Not so much, especially when you consider that you would need to use Helping Hand twice to get a net gain (bearing in mind the attack’s cost). Whimsicott’s chances of surviving long enough to pull that off? Negligible.

That second attack probably looks familiar . . . that’s right, it’s Cotton Guard, as seen on Jumpluff HGSS. The attack itself is excellent value, doing 30 damage for only a single Grass Energy and reducing any damage Whimsicott takes next turn by 30. Cotton Guard is undeniably a good attack, and Jumpluff would use it on anything within range of a KO to give it some measure of protection next turn. On Whimsicott however, when not backed up with anything more damaging, it’s nothing to write home about.

It’s kind of ironic that Whimsicott has two decent attacks, and yet is still pretty useless due to its low HP and the fact that it is a Stage 1. Oh well, tomorrow is another day . . .

Rating

Modified: 1.5 (too vulnerable to see any competitive play)

Limited: 3 (I quite like Whimsicott here. Helping Hand is more practical, and Cotton Guard more effective in a relatively slow/low damage format)

virusyosh

Greetings, Pojo readers! I hope that all of your preparations for Battle Roads are going nicely, and that you're having good weeks on top of that! Over the next few days we'll be reviewing each of the Whimsicotts in Emerging Powers. Today's Card of the Day is Whimsicott #11.

Whimsicott is a Stage 1 Grass Pokemon. Aside from Yanmega Prime, Grass Pokemon are relatively uncommon aside from the random Jumpluff you'll see every now and then. Thus, many Grass-types you'll see around will be judged against Yanmega. 80 HP is average for a finally-evolved Stage 1, but it's a sadly low number for today's Modified environment, where attackers often do more than that in a single attack. Fire Weakness is also a problem given the popularity of Reshiram, Typhlosion Prime, and Emboar, as all of those Pokemon easily OHKO Whimsicott. Water Resistance can be good against Beartic and random Rain Dance decks, and a free Retreat Cost is amazing.

Whimsicott has two cheap attacks, Helping Hand for a single Colorless and Cotton Guard for a single Grass. Helping Hand allows you to search your deck for a basic Energy card and attach it to one of your Pokemon. This attack is too slow to be useful in Modified, but can be a huge help in Limited, as it thins your deck and provides Energy acceleration. Cotton Guard is identical to Jumpluff's HGSS attack of the same name, It deals 30 damage and reduces any damage that Whimsicott takes by 30 during your opponent's next turn. While 30 damage is good for the cost, it's not enough to be competitive in Modified. In Limited, this attack is actually quite good, and can easily keep Whimsicott alive through smaller assaults while dealing a decent amount of damage for the cost.

Modified: 1.5/5 Free retreat is nice, but Yanmega does it better. Whimsicott just doesn't have the HP or the attacking power to survive in the format.

Limited: 4/5 While Whimsicott has a disappointingly low HP value, its free Retreat and well-costed attacks make it great for Limited. Helping Hand can provide some nice Energy acceleration, and Cotton Guard provides both protection and decent damage for a low cost. Whimsicott is further aided by the relative lack of Fire in Emerging Powers Limited, meaning that it doesn't need to worry that much about Weakness, either.


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