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Our seventh key card cut by rotation to the 2014-2015
Modified Format is Enhanced Hammer! You can read
the original review
here;
Enhanced Hammer had a somewhat humble beginning,
where it was the “lesser” version of a card known as
Lost Remover… which if you aren’t familiar with it,
has the same effect as Enhanced Hammer except the
discarded Energy was sent to the Lost Zone (more or less
the “remove from play” mechanic encountered in some
other games). There haven’t been many cards that could
get Special Energy out of the discard (and its been rare
when they to do so effectively), but outside of decks
built around (BW: Dragons Exalted 51/124) - which
hadn’t released at that point though spoilers from Japan
meant some players knew it was coming - there was little
reason to take a chance and leave Special Energy in the
discard pile.
Those reviews are entertaining but a bit embarrassing
because of what we didn’t see coming; much of what was
said was accurate if we ignored another card from the
same set: Sableye (BW: Dark Explorers
62/108). It is hard to believe now that Sableye
didn’t make that Top 10 list, though
you can see
by the time we got around to reviewing it over two
months the entire crew was singing its praises. So
while I regrettably got more than a few things wrong in
both those reviews, I was at least not so blind as to
miss that “Hammertime” decks were already a successful
thing… and that especially once Lost Remover was
gone Enhanced Hammer was going to be seeing heavy
play with Sableye (alongside several other top
Items of the time). I did fail to realize how decks
would shift to very low Energy counts now thus
mitigating my fear that removing a single Special Energy
wasn’t going to matter against energy efficient
attackers.
Enhanced Hammer
has had a great run; at the same time I loathe Items
that discard Energy (at least at such a price), there
are still many Special Energy cards that seem abusively
powerful… in fact Strong Energy seems poised to
join that list and makes me regret Enhanced Hammer
leaving the format. Hammertime is still sometimes
played (usually blended with former “rival” Lasertime),
but Skyla and raw draw power coupled with the
format being so Special Energy heavy means that TecH
copies of Enhanced Hammer do see play… which
spike this card’s general (as opposed to deck specific)
score. It is so close to being a staple, at least as a
single copy (like Lysandre); the match-ups where
its useless or subpar easily being outstripped by those
key matches where it keeps you from losing (ideally
enabling you to secure the win).
Had it remained legal, I believe it would have seen a
slight spike due to Strong Energy. In Expanded,
I suspect it will remain about where it is: while
Strong Energy will be showing up I think at least
one or two Basic Energy focused decks will be strong
(perhaps many more), preventing it from being an obvious
inclusion. On the off chance you’re fortunate enough to
play at a Limited tournament using BW: Dark Explorers
boosters… there is no Special Energy in this set.
Ratings
Modified (NXD-On):
3.25/5 - Please note that this is a general rating; if
you’ve got room in a deck you’ve got to have a good
reason for leaving this out. It is just most decks
don’t have the room and in some matches, discarding a
single Special Energy isn’t important enough. If you’re
trying for something like Hammertime, it is basically a
perfect score (though still not something for which
you’d run more than two copies).
Modified (BCR-On):
N/A - Yes, you knew that from the entire point of the
this Top 10 list, but this card isn’t legal once we
rotate; had it remained, its score probably would have
bumped up to 3.5/5 as I think discarding Strong
Energy with it would have become a semi-regular
occurrence.
Expanded:
3.25/5 - It scores no better because (and this is pure
speculation) I believe enough of the decks that either
don’t rely on or use Special Energy at all will help
balance out those using Strong Energy (and those
that currently exist that are Special Energy heavy have
already been accounted for). It remains a card you wish
you had room to run, but usually have to give up due to
lack of space.
Limited:
1/5 - There is no Special Energy in this set.
Summary:
Part of me wishes this card had never been printed, but
because several Energy cards (or else the Pokémon that
utilize them too well) exist instead I shall miss this
answer to the oft abusive power of Special Energy heavy
decks. Writing this made me realize that - as I
generally adjust scores for “general” use versus
“specific” use - this card probably should have been a
bit higher on the list.
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