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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Togekiss  

- Plasma Storm

Date Reviewed:
April 12, 2013

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified:
Limited:

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

Togekiss (Plasma Storm) 

Yay! It’s Friday, just a nice standard Pojo review to do before it’s the weekend! 

Except we get Togekiss. 

First off, let’s get the usual stuff out of the way. Togekiss is a Colourless Type Stage 2 Pokémon with the average Stage 2 HP of 140. Stage 2s continue to be difficult to use, so now more than ever you need a good reason to play something like Togekiss. The Lightning Weakness is ok at the moment, and the Fighting Resistance positively nice, but that’s not a reason. Neither is the attack which offers a Bianca-like effect and 30 damage for a single Energy. OK, it’s cheap, but it isn’t getting much done. 

It’s when we look at the Bright Veil Ability that things get a little bit confusing: ‘As long as this Pokémon is your Active Pokémon, whenever your opponent plays an Item card from his or her hand, prevent all effects of that card done to your Pokémon’. See where this could get complicated? What does ‘done to your Pokémon’ mean? What cards will this affect? 

Now back in the days when Wizards of the Coast ran Pokémon, they had a ‘play as printed’ principle which meant that rulings were based on an interpretation of the actual card text. This lead to some unfortunate cases like the mistranslated Slowking NG ruling the format from the Bench. Since Nintendo took over though, the principle has shifted to ‘play as intended’, or more specifically ‘play as the Japanese designers say’. When it comes to Togekiss this means that there’s no point in getting all caught up with textual analysis and different shades of meaning (remember, these cards are translations), you just have to know that the intention is for Bright Veil to protect your Pokémon from the effects of Item cards in general. So . . . it stops the effects of: Hypnotoxic Laser, Tool Scrapper, Crushing Hammer and Pokémon Catcher to name the most common examples. Even though you might say that, technically, Crushing Hammer targets the Energy, and not the Pokémon, it doesn’t matter: Bright Veil stops Item cards from doing anything which has any kind of consequences for your Pokémon. 

Right, now we have got that out of the way, the question is whether this will be a factor in tournaments, or is it just all academic? Well, for the moment, more or less the latter. Despite Bright Veil being an incredibly useful Ability, it’s not good enough to justify having Togekiss active all the time, doing next to no damage. One way around that might be to combo it with a Punch-and-Run attacker like Donphan PLS or Ferrothorn EPO, but they’re pretty mediocre (if I’m being kind), and not a whole lot better than Togekiss. I guess that Bright Veil is such a good Ability that the designers decided tha tit needed to be nerfed by putting it on an otherwise bad Stage 2. 

They did a good job. (Of the nerfing, that is). 

Rating 

Modified: 2.25 (brilliant Ability, terrible Pokémon)

Limited: 1.5 (not a lot of Trainer action happening here in the first place. Maybe you will block a Laser if you’re lucky)

virusyosh Happy Friday, Pojo readers! Today we're ending our Card of the Day week with a new card version of one of my favorite Pokemon. Today's Card of the Day is Togekiss.
 
Togekiss is a Stage 2 Colorless Pokemon. Colorless Pokemon have versatility as a strength; that is, they can easily fit into any deck due to their relaxed Energy requirements, making them good support Pokemon. 140 HP is standard for a Stage 2 these days, and should allow Togekiss to take one or maybe two unboosted hits before going down. Lightning Weakness isn't too big of a problem right now, but will be soon with the release of Thundurus-EX; Fighting Resistance is great against Landorus and Terrakion; and a Retreat Cost of one is reasonable.
 
The Jubilee Pokemon has an Ability and a single attack. Bright Veil nullifies the effects of all effects of Item cards played by your opponents that target your Pokemon while Togekiss is active. Therefore, when Togekiss is out in front, your opponent's Hypnotoxic Lasers and Pokemon Catchers won't be doing a whole lot, which is great. Of course, the downside here is that Togekiss is a Stage 2 and has to be Active, so its attack will determine how much play the card sees.
 
Unfortunately, Togekiss's attack isn't all that powerful. Return does 30 damage and allows you to draw until you have six cards in your hand. Most hand sizes these days are around six to begin with, and 30 damage off of a Stage 2's attack is really unimpressive. Therefore, Togekiss probably won't see a whole lot of play until the format slows down, or will be relegated to Limited.
 
Modified: 1.5/5 Bright Veil is a really interesting Ability, but nothing else about Togekiss is really playable in this format.
 
Limited: 3/5 Togekiss is great because it easily fits into any deck, but unlike most Stage 2s, it isn't a premier fighting force. Return deals a relatively tame 30 damage for its decent cost, and the card draw won't be all that relevant here, either, as hand sizes are often large. Of course, Togekiss is still probably worth running if you get the evolutionary line, because card draw and protective effects are always good, even if they won't necessarily swing the game in your favor!


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