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and Summary!
Name :
Holon Lass
Set :
EX Delta Species
Card# :
92/113
Rarity :
Uncommon
Type :
Trainer
Sub-type:
Supporter
Effect Text:
You can play only one Supporter card each turn.
When you play this card, put it next to your
Active Pokémon. When your turn ends, discard
this card.
Discard a card from your hand. If you can’t
discard a card from your hand, you can’t play
this card.
Count the total number of Prize cards left (both
yours and your opponent’s). Look at that many
cards from the top of your deck, choose as many
Energy cards as you like, show them to your
opponent, and put them into your hand. Put the
other cards back on top of your deck. Shuffle
your deck afterward.
Attributes:
Alright, we have a Trainer today, specifically a
Holon
Supporter. What does that mean? Well, all the
normal Supporter rules apply: you can only use one
on your turn, can’t use any first turn, and after
you use it, you set it beside your Pokémon as a
visual reminder you played one this turn. Being a
Holon
Supporter is not an official designation, but it
shares common rules with the other
Holon
Supporters, so it seemed appropriate to lump them
all together as one. What do I mean? All
Holon
Supporters have
Holon
in their name (and thus can be searched out via
Holon Transceiver)
and require you discard a card from your hand. I
have not yet ascertained whether or not the discard
cost outweighs, balances with, or is outweighed by
the ability of a normal Trainer being able to search
for said Supporters.
Even without taking that into account, as a
Supporter this card has to be potent: any adequate
draw power in Modified is Supporter based, and its
even catching on in Unlimited (Professor Oak
is still tops, but that “discarding your hand” thing
is no longer as negligible as it was in the past).
There are also non-draw Supporters that were useful
the instant they came out in this format (like
Pokémon Nurse and Mr. Briney’s Compassion.
Abilities:
Holon
Lass is definitely a “supporter”, unlike a
predecessor with a similar name: the original
Lass hurt both yourself and your opponent by
sending all Trainers in both players’ hands to their
respective deck. Holon Lass is a good
girl who let’s you get up to 12 Energy cards (Basic
and/or Special) from your deck. As such, this is
pretty amazing second turn. Yes, it won’t help you
build up much, but it will make it hard for your
opponent to keep track of how much of your hand is
“doing nothing”. After all, they see you get, say,
six Energy cards from Holon Lass, but they
don’t know what future draws are bringing to your
hand. Ideally, this card will nab you a huge chunk
of your Energy… making it hard to use Steven’s
Advice… but thinning your deck so much that
TV Reporter and those more or less “straight”
draw cards like it will almost constantly be hitting
“gold”; that is, needed Pokémon or Trainers.
Mid-game, its okay: you’ll probably only get 2-3
Energy, but if that’s what you need, it’s what you
need.
Late game can be bad: you barely get to look, so you
naturally are less likely to get the Energy.
Of course, I am defining this in terms of prizes:
early game being after first turn, but otherwise
referring to when neither player has taken more than
a prize each, late game being when each player is
down to about two prizes, and mid game being
anything in between. Of course, that’s only half
the story: if your deck is such that you’ll draw all
your prizes in a rush mid-to-late game after setting
up, that skews things making this a much better
card.
Another factor that greatly improves this cards
return is that while getting basic Energy
from the deck is easy, Special Energy cards
tend to only be searchable via Poké-Powers. This
also greatly boosts its playability, and puts this
just over the top: it’s not just acceptable, it’s
actually fairly good.
Uses and
Combinations:
For Modified, it will probably best serve decks that
need to dig deep for Special Energy cards ASAP. Of
course, that is curbed by the fact that one could
just set up Pidgeot from EX Fire Red/Leaf
Green or EX Deoxys Magcargo with Smooth
Over. However, that’s a single Special Energy, and
while it’s guaranteed, one might better use that
search for something else. It is a careful
balance. If you just need to nab one Energy card at
an important time, you’d be better off with those
searchers. If you need to grab a lot of Special
Energy all at once, like for Dark Steelix,
then Holon Lass shouldn’t disappoint.
In Unlimited, draw power is available in
non-Supporter form. So a deck like Raindance, which
still may enjoy use of Supporters like Pokémon
Nurse or Mr. Briney’s Compassion (less
wasteful than
Pokémon Center
and Scoop-Up, respectively) shouldn’t need
them that soon in the game, so I would think this an
excellent way to get the Energy needed. Likewise,
in a deck that uses little Energy, it still can be
worthwhile since it can get the Energy “out of the
way”.
Ratings
Unlimited:
4/5-I do believe this will benefit certain decks so
greatly: particularly Raindance: repeated Holon
Lass might risk you decking out, but it will
also provide a fairly painless way to get copious
amounts of Energy in play within the first few
turns.
Modified:
3.75/5-Less impressive here, but still good. It’s
just that most decks won’t be able to get rid of all
that Energy as quickly as Raindance (or in the case
of Blastoise ex, as carefree).
Limited : 4/5-As
usual, draw/search power is precious in this
format. This makes the [often necessary] multiple
Energy type decks easier to use, makes getting those
few Special Energy cards easier, and thins your deck
so you can draw into more Pokémon and precious
Trainers.
Summary
Holon Lass
appears to be a well made card: since both players
Prize counts matter, it avoids the trap of many
other Prize counting cards. This shouldn’t unfairly
turn the game around nor be useless if you are
winning. The only time it won’t be so hot is if it
shows up late in a very, very close match.
