Otaku |
Our Throwback Thursday picks continue the trend of
covering an (at least somewhat) older card re-released
in our latest expansion. Today, it is
Rainbow Energy
(Sun
& Moon
137/149), which released previously as
Team Rocket
17/82 and 80/82 (April 24, 2000),
Aquapolis
144/147 (January 15, 2003),
EX: Ruby & Sapphire
95/109 (June 18, 2003),
EX: Legend Maker
81/92 (February 13, 2006),
Platinum
121/127 (February 11, 2009),
HeartGold/SoulSilver
104/123 (February 10, 2010),
XY
131/146 (February 5, 2014), and
XY: BREAKthrough
152/162 (November 4, 2015). Current
versions of the card are a Special Energy card that
provides [C] Energy,
but
that is overridden by the card’s effect when it is
attached to a Pokémon. When you attach
Rainbow Energy
from hand
to one of your Pokémon, it places one damage counter on
that Pokémon. It also provides one unit of Energy
that counts as
all
Type at once (and does so even if you attach it from
someplace other than your hand). You’ll note that
in the upper right-hand corner of the four most recent
printings (which still stretches back over seven years),
there is a [C] Energy symbol, which used to help avoid
confusion over what it counted as in hand… but then this
useful
concept was abandoned with the Type-specific Special
Energy cards that began with
Herbal Energy
and
Strong Energy.
Since then, cards
can lie about what they count as in hand
Energy cards may have no Type while in hand (I think?).
Prior
to
HeartGold/SoulSilver
104/123,
Rainbow Energy
had its own rainbow colored symbol like its artwork in
the appropriate upper corner (which corner gets the
symbol has changed over the years. I don’t know if
older versions are legal to play using the current text
or if it is significant enough you cannot use them at
all. The
original
effect was that
Rainbow Energy
did 10 damage instead of placing a damage counter (in a
card pool with effects that could block that damage…)
and a lot of
really
misleading text that actually means the same as above,
but really sounds like it means something else. I
am just going to let you read that for yourself if
you’re curious. Sadly, the powers-that-be
still
don’t refer to things like “units of Energy”, as even
the modern text can be easily misunderstood. As
stated in my paraphrase of the effect,
Rainbow Energy
provides only
one
unit of Energy, it is just that instead of being any one
Type, it counts as all Types simultaneously. So
you
cannot
attach it to something that needs (for example) to meet
an attack cost of [FW] and have one
Rainbow Energy
meet both costs, but it can meet either Energy
requirement, even changing between the two should you
have (for example) a
Fighting Energy
and
Rainbow Energy
attached one turn, but after losing your
Fighting Energy
you attached a
Water Energy
the next turn.
You also have
no choice
about the Energy Types being provided; even if you would
want
Rainbow Energy
to not count as a particular Energy Type (such as to
avoid a discard cost), while its effect is working,
Rainbow Energy
always
counts as
all
Types. That isn’t all bad, though; when you find
the odd attack like “Rainbow Wave”, found on
Mew
(Southern Islands 1/18),
Rainbow Energy
can meet the [P] Energy requirement to use the attack
while also allowing you to select any Type other than
[C] (as per the
attack’s
text) for the attacks Bench damage. Whew!
So with all that being said, this is an excellent
effect. Even though it places a damage counter on
the recipient, even though you may only run up to four
copies of
Rainbow Energy
in a deck, even though basic Energy support heavily
outweighs Special Energy support while Special Energy
counters outweigh basic Energy counters, it is just a
really good Energy card. You may have noticed
there were some gaps in the release schedule for this
card; the designers seem to alternate between thinking
this card is a necessity and thinking it needs to go.
This isn’t limited to the far flung past, either, as you
can see there are
no
BW-era releases for
Rainbow Energy.
There were several similar Energy cards released during
that time, but no actual
Rainbow Energy.
It showed when we got
Rainbow Energy
back, as effects that had been calibrated for its
absence got a boost. That being said, this isn’t
as heavily used a card as it used to be. Many
attackers are more flexible than ever with their Energy
requirements
or
reward a more dedicated Energy focus. Rainbow
Energy
is
vital
to certain decks in Expanded, Standard, and Legacy
Format play, but others it is dead weight. It is
almost always a nice pull for the Limited Format, as you
tend to be at the mercy of your once-per-turn draw but
also have to run a multi-Type deck.
Ratings
Standard:
4/5
Expanded:
4/5
Limited:
4.75/5
Legacy:
4/5
Conclusion
I can say from first-hand experience,
Rainbow Energy
is a card you
miss
when it is gone, even if it isn’t a staple.
Pokémon effects requiring different Energy Types is a
fundamental balancing agent in the game… so a card that
messes with that will always have a niche usage.
It might seem like I’m overvaluing
Rainbow Energy,
but I cannot bring myself to score it lower than a
four-out-of-five in the Constructed Formats.
Standard, Expanded, and Legacy all receiving the same
score should
not
be construed as
Rainbow Energy
being used in the exact same way in each format.
As is often the case, the different factors seem to
balance out, or at least come close enough to it that
even I am willing to eyeball it and just call it even.
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21times |
Rainbow Energy
(Sun & Moon, 137/149) acts as a universal Energy
card.
Whatever Energy you need,
Rainbow Energy
acts as that type.
It’s very functional in decks that have multiple
different types of attackers.
The only downside is that it places a damage
counter on the Pokemon it’s attached to when attached.
It’s a potentially very useful special energy,
and it’s been around forever.
However, it has fallen out of favor since the new
rotation.
Only one deck with a top eight finish in the Masters
Division has run
Rainbow Energy since last September (Vileplume
(Ancient Origins, 3/98) box, runner up at
Orlando). I
see it used with
Solgaleo GX (Sun & Moon, 89/149) decks where
players primarily use
Sol Burst GX
to power up Pokemon other than
Solgaleo GX,
decks where they don’t want to run Metal Energy because
Solgaleo GX
would be the only Pokemon that could use Metal Energy.
Rainbow
Energy provides an excellent workaround, in this
case, to being saddled with limited purpose Metal Energy
cards.
Rainbow Energy
first appeared in an expansion called Team Rocket
way back in 2000.
I had never even heard of Pokemon back in 2000.
I only started playing about a year ago, and I
find it fascinating how the cards in the game have
changed.
The only card from that set that I recognize is
Rainbow Energy.
I look at some of the other cards in this set,
and I am amazed at how different the meta must have been
– it’s almost like it’s a completely different game.
Strategy is so much different, tactical decisions
would be so different, it’s like they’re playing with a
completely different rule book.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
I know it’s easy to get set in your ways, to have
your arms completely around something, to completely
understand it.
There’s a significant comfort level there.
However, and I mentioned this a little bit in my
review for Timer
Ball (Sun & Moon, 139/149), Pokemon is one of
the few places where we are free to take chances and
experiment and try new things without any real world
implications.
We should be embracing the new, constantly
seeking out the different, challenging the status quo.
In my job, new things suck.
It means tons of additional work, hours of
frustration because there’s no explanation for how to
come to terms with the new information and how to meld
it into existing processes.
In Pokemon, new things are AWESOME.
New cards to try, new strategies to explore, new
ideas to test out.
Let’s keep this in mind as we approach a new
rotation in only a few months.
Rather than lamenting and decrying the loss of
cards that have become staples in our decks, let’s take
the opportunity to greet new cards.
Granted, we miss having the stability and
familiarity that certain cards give us, but using new
cards and trying new ideas is only going to make us
better players.
Honestly, if you’re doing the same thing over and
over and over again, how do you expect yourself to get
better?
Yes, if you try something new, there’s a good chance
you’ll fail.
But if you don’t ever try anything different, you
can never expect yourself to become a better player.
Truthfully, your skills will probably deteriorate
and you’ll lose the mental flexibility you need to
compete in this game.
Don’t be afraid to step out of the box, out of
the comfort zone, try something new, and take some
chances.
Rating
Standard: 3 out of 5
Summary
I know this review hasn’t really been about
Rainbow Energy,
but I don’t think you guys need me to tell you that for
one damage counter, you get whatever type of energy you
want.
Rainbow Energy
is a good card, and it provides a good reminder that
this game always changes.
Just because a card doesn’t have any particular
use today doesn’t mean that it won’t become a four of in
a deck next month.
In a game that’s always changing, you can’t
expect to keep up if you’re not willing to constantly
change as well.
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