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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Giant Cape

Dragons Exalted

Date Reviewed:
September 3, 2012

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 3.00
Limited: 4.10

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

Giant Cape (Dragons Exalted)

Hello, and welcome to the first of a couple of short review weeks here on Pojo’s CotD. This is because Pojo himself is taking a well-earned holiday. Enjoy your break, sir!

We kick off with Giant Cape, a Trainer-Item from Dragons Exalted. It’s a Tool card with a simple, yet potentially useful effect: the Pokémon that this card is attached to gets an extra 20 HP. Now I know what you’re thinking – that’s basically an Eviolite that any Pokémon can use. Well, most of the time, that’s true, although there are some subtle differences involving multiple hit KOs: think how each would work against a spread attack like Registeel-EX’s Triple Laser or Kyurem NVI’s Glaciate, for example. It also can’t reduce self-damage from attacks like Zekrom BLW’s Bolt Strike. For these reasons, Basic decks will definitely prefer to stick with the older card. Should evolution decks be taking a serious look at Giant Cape though?

The thing to consider is: will this card buy me a turn by a preventing a KO? Unfortunately, most of the time it won’t. Slap a Giant Cape on, say, Empoleon DEX or Garchomp DRX, and it will still get two-shot by Darkrai-EX or Terrakion-EX, while Rayquaza-EX won’t care about it in the slightest. Even if it does succeed in messing up the maths for an opponent, they always have the option of playing Tool Scrapper to get rid of it. In the case of low Energy attackers like the ones I just mentioned, Max Potion is a far superior choice as it gives you a completely damage-free Pokemon. That doesn’t mean that the card is totally useless though: Gardodor DRX actually needs a Tool to work, and Giant Cape is a great choice as it just about saves him from being sniped off the bench in one hit by Raikou-EX.

In the current format, Giant Cape will probably be restricted to this kind of niche use. It seems like giving an evolved Pokémon an extra 20 HP would just be a generally good thing, but before you find space in your deck for it, do some calculations involving the attacks of popular Pokémon and work out just how often it will make a difference: you will probably be unpleasantly surprised.

Rating

Modifed: 2.75 (it’s never going to be a bad card, but it just isn’t as effective as you think)

Limited: 4.25 (tanking your big attacker is a very good idea in this relatively low damage format)

virusyosh

Happy Labor Day, Pojo readers! Today we're reviewing a new Pokémon Tool from the new Dragons Exalted expansion. Today's Card of the Day is Giant Cape.
 
Giant Cape is an Item, which means that you can play as many as you like during your turn. It's also a Pokémon Tool, meaning it can be attached to a Pokémon to have an effect. Giant Cape has the simple effect of granting the holder +20 HP, which can be very useful in many situations. Having 20 more HP won't always make a huge difference, but it can get certain Pokémon out of OHKO range from common attackers (such as protecting an early game Gabite or Altaria against an opposing Rayquaza). Additionally, Giant Cape works well when attached to Garbodor to activate Garbotoxin while aiding in its survivability, which is a great boon to decks running the Trash Heap Pokémon. Overall, adding 20 HP to a Pokémon is useful, but not quite useful enough to see wide play, as there will generally be better options in Modified to make your deck more consistent.
 
Modified: 2.75/5 Giant Cape is great at what it does, but often won't make a difference in a format that has many common attackers weak to each other. If the format becomes conducive to hitting "magic numbers" of HP, Giant Cape could play a big role. Until then, Giant Cape will best be utilized in Garbodor decks to activate Garbotoxin.
 
Limited: 5/5 It's an Item that gives your Pokémon more HP with no drawback in a slow format, of course you should run it!


Otaku

Now for a giant-sized review of Giant Cape (BW: Dragons Exalted 114/124)! That would be by general standards; my reviews are often this wordy.

Stats

Giant Cape is a Pokémon Tool, a sub-type of Item which is in and of itself a subdivision Trainer cards in general. Trainers in general are quite strong with a variety of effects. Currently no cards specifically affect Trainers, though one piece of overall Trainer support is supposed to be coming in our next set.

Items are perhaps the most powerful cards in the game, at least if you define “ease of play” as potency. Unless an Item itself has a built in “to play” restriction (such as a cost or requiring specific Pokémon be in play), the only reasons you won’t be able to play an Item are that it isn’t in your hand, it doesn’t have a legal target, or one of the few cards possessing an effect that specifically blocks Items, like Gothitelle (BW: Emerging Powers 47/98).

Items don’t have much in the way of supporting cards, and the most relevant one that specifies Items is Sableye (BW: Dark Explorers 62/108), famous for its “Junk Hunt” attack that grabs two Item cards from your discard pile. Of course, Pokémon Tools are a bit more restricted than Items, since they need a Pokémon in play that doesn’t already have a Pokémon Tool equipped in order to be used; much like with Supporters, this creates an effective “resource” to utilize, your “Tool slot”.

A few cards Pokémon Tools in some way. In terms of support you have Cofagrigus (BW: Dark Explorers 52/108) and Mienshao (BW: Next Destinies 68/99). Cofagrigus has an attack called “Chuck” that lets you discard Pokémon Tools to do damage, but it hasn’t seen much play because off the difficulty of running enough Pokémon Tools to keep up a steady barrage. Mienshao has an attack called “Haul In” that lets you search your deck for two Pokémon Tools and add them to your hand… but is a Stage 1 and prone to being OHKOed, making it a much less appealing trade than that of Sableye and Junk Hunt.

Everything else that references them aren’t worth mentioning (considering the two I just listed see next to know play, that’s saying something) and/or discard Pokémon Tools from play. A few use attacks, but the most noteworthy would be Tool Scrapper, which can discard two Pokémon Tools for the price of… playing it. Yeah, a two-for-one is a pretty good deal unless Pokémon Tool usage becomes scarce as a result of it.

Effects

I feel it important to note that Giant Cape is raising both the maximum HP and the current HP of the card to which it is attached. While more complicated to split those effects, they could indeed be separate; either having the card act as a healing Pokémon Tool or could have placed damage counters when played from hand so that only maximum HP went up, but you weren’t actually HP any ahead at the moment.

Giant Cape has a useful, but technically narrow, effect. Most of the time it will only matter if a Pokémon with it equipped has been damaged to the point that it has accrued damage equal to its maximum printed HP or maximum printed HP plus 10. Anything more and the Pokémon will still be KOed; anything less and Giant Cape isn’t actually doing anything, barring a few specific cards with Item dependent or HP dependent effects.

Still, it is a good effect since even just barely surviving an attack simultaneously delays an opponent winning (and thus you losing), and retains your access to the Pokémon that would have been KOed. Even if the best that Pokémon can do is absorb another attack, you’re ahead of where you would have been without Giant Cape.

Usage

I’ll begin by addressing a common concern with Pokémon Tools at all: Tool Scrapper. Its own usage will be based largely on the perceived “metagame”; some decks will spam it like made while others won’t even bother with the single TecH copy I believe should be a staple. Part of the reason is that unlike Supporters, Pokémon Tools can often be safely left out of a deck. Not only can skipping them not hurt a deck, but it may even improve it overall if the now vacant slots are used well. That just doesn’t really happen with something as fundamental as the draw power or search power most Supporters grasp, which is necessary for setting up all but a few decks.

The other part is the natural relationship created between Tool Scrapper usage and Pokémon Tool usage; if the best decks don’t really use Pokémon Tools, then Tool Scrapper usage will be less vital and it will go down. Some decks that really rely on Pokémon Tools may then be lucky if they aren’t quite popular enough to warrant being hard countered in this way.

Otherwise if decks overall do run best with at least a few key Pokémon Tools, you’ll likely get a cyclical relationship; Pokémon Tools become heavily run and thus Tool Scrapper usage increases, which drives Tool usage back down, which causes Tool Scrapper usage to plummet, which allows Tool usage to rise back up, which leads to more copies of Tool Scrapper being run… etc. The best players will know which is the determining factor of Tool Scrapper, and adjust accordingly (staying ahead of the curve in the cyclical relationship).

So what about Giant Cape? Is it worth using when Tool Scrapper is a threat? Provided your deck has room for it, yes it is. You can only afford to have one Pokémon Tool in play if Tool Scrapper is a real threat, but if you do that means that you and your opponent are ultimately just trading Item cards; your Pokémon aren’t KOed any faster than if you had not been running Giant Cape. The real concern is the other Items it must compete against.

Dark Claw is already a niche card, as its effect only works when it is equipped to a Darkness-Type Pokémon. Many times the best defense is a good offense, and with things like Max Potion backing decks that are either Energy efficient and/or possess Energy acceleration to the point that it’s a OHKO or no KO, the extra damage may be well worthwhile. The main time this is an exception is when surviving an extra turn will yield more damage.

Eviolite will almost always be superior when your deck is focused on Basic Pokémon, unless you have one of the odd effects that require you have more HP than the Defending Pokémon. Even attacks that do extra damage based on how many damage counters are on the attacking Pokémon are better off with Eviolite, since surviving longer means an extra attack and more damage in the long run. This is also the major exception to “The best defense is a good offense.”

Exp. Share provides a small but badly needed source of Energy acceleration for several decks, and a skilled player will use it for misdirection. It really is too good to leave in play since its effect can trigger multiple times to generate huge advantage swings. Giant Cape can be left alone and even after it has saved your Pokémon, be discarded by your opponent to trigger the KO just one turn late… and well before it mattered to the actual game. In a deck with the right Energy requirements for attacks and running enough basic Energy cards, Exp. Share wins out.

Rescue Scarf exists for extremely fragile Pokémon that HP boosting effects won’t really help. The rough cut off seems to be 100 HP; below that neither Eviolite nor Giant Cape are going to make a significant difference. Again though that is an approximation, and I will give you a major exception: Garbodor (BW: Dragons Exalted 54/124 is played for its Ability that shuts off other Abilities while it has a Pokémon Tool attached. It also has a horrible attack and large Retreat of three, so you’re really better off with Rescue Scarf so that it gets out of your own way as it is KOed. So basically, Bench-sitters prefer Rescue Scarf to Giant Cape.

Our last option is Rocky Helmet, which still has a solid effect but does poorly in a format where OHKOs are so common. Placing extra damage counters on the opponent hastens their KO, and as already stated Pokémon often obeys the adage “the best defense is a good offense”. Here I really think Giant Cape finally wins hands down; only something that is already a magnificent tank where 20 HP won’t matter (usually because of “overkill” factor) will Rocky Helmet be more useful.

So Giant Cape doesn’t seem too impressive given how many times I listed it as being inferior to another option… except those were all pretty specifically defined instances. In general, Giant Cape is the best. When building a deck it should probably be your placeholder Pokémon Tool; it doesn’t care if you’re attaching it to a particular Type, particular Stage, particular HP level, or particular strategy. At times when Pokémon Tool usage is on the heavy side, expect Giant Cape to be one of the two Pokémon Tools a deck runs unless the deck is firmly settled into the exception categories, like a mono-basic deck that runs on mostly basic Energy cards.

For Unlimited, there is Focus Band. It really is that simple when it comes to the ability to survive. For Limited, it is a must run, since any Pokémon can use it. Yes, it is a bit anticlimactic after going on so long about the other formats.

Ratings

Unlimited: 1/5

Modified: 3.5/5

Limited: 5/5

Combos with: Nothing Specific

Summary

Giant Cape is a useful Pokémon Tool that I kind of wish had debuted before Eviolite; Giant Cape would have seen a large amount of play but crowded out most other Pokémon Tools less, and Eviolite would have been less daunting if we were already used to most Pokémon having a Pokémon Tool to increase odds of survival… regardless of Stage.

Releasing now it won’t seem brilliant and with the fear of Tool Scrapper a lot of players may skip it, but I think a play set is a sound investment: +20 HP that your opponent has to expend a resource to neutralize is a sound investment unless your Pokémon call into one of those somewhat specific categories that favor something else, like Basic Pokémon and Eviolite. In my initial rankings for the set, Giant Cape clocked in at 15th place, and I think it fits there still.

Please check out my eBay sales by clicking here. It’s me whittling away at about two decades worth of attempted collecting, spanning action figures, comic books, TCGs, and video games. Exactly what is up is a bit random. Pojo.com is in no way responsible for any transactions; Pojo is merely doing me a favor by letting me link at the end of my reviews.

Jebulous Maryland Player

Giant Cape
 
Giant Cape is a Pokemon Tool that gives the Pokemon it is attached to
20 more HP.
 
This looks similare to Eviolite, but it's not the same.  This can be attached to any Pokemon and work, while Eviolite is only for Basics.
Eviolite reduces damage from attacks by 20, so it can prevent more damage in most cases.
 
Let's look at a Pokemon with 80 HP and how the two tools differ.  In the first scenario, an attack of 40 is done multiple times to it.  If it has Giant cape on, then it goes from a 2HKO to a 3HKO.  If it had Eviolite on it, it goes from a 2HKO to a 5HKO.  A second scenario is an attack of 80.  In both cases, it goes from a OHKO to a 2HKO.  A third scenario, an attack of 100.  Still a OHKO for both tools.
 
So Eviolite and Giant Cape are similar when it comes to attacks that so more damage.  As the attack damage decreases, Eviolite starts to prevent more damage.
 
I can see Giant Cape being played to make Pokemon with HP on the borderline of OHKOs, not OHKO-able.  Sometimes buying an extra turn can mean winning the game.
 
I now think of Garbodor when I see Tools.  Giant Cape is a viable option to attach to Garbodor (Eviolite isn't since it is not a Basic).
 Giant Cape increases its HP to 120.  Unfortunately that isn't that much of a helpful change.  Darkrai EX still needs 2 attacks to knock it out (and the 30 damage to the bench, it still takes 4 of them to knock out Garbodor).  Zekrom/Reshiram and still OHKO it with their second attacks.  Garchomp does 100, so there is a difference their (but odds are they will have an Altaria to practically nullify the cape).  It doesn't really help (at all) against Mewtwo EX or Rayquaza EX.
 
So it really depends on what you are going up against and what you prefer.
 
Modified: 3/5
Limited: 3.5/5
Combo's With:  ...
 
Questions, comments, concerns: jebulousthemighty@yahoo.com


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