If you find the review is too long, skip straight to the
Ratings and Summary!
Name :
Buffer Piece
Set :
EX Dragon Frontiers
Card# :
72/101
Rarity :
Uncommon
Type :
Trainer
Sub-type:
Pokémon Tool
Effect Text:
Attach Buffer Piece to 1 of your Pokémon that doesn’t
already have a Pokémon Tool attached to it. If that Pokémon
is Knocked Out, discard this card.
Damage done to the Pokémon Buffer Piece is attached to by an
opponent’s attack is reduced by 20 (after applying Weakness
and Resistance). At the end of your opponent’s turn after
you played Buffer Piece, discard Buffer Piece.
Buffer Piece
is Pokémon Tool. Trainer blocking cards are getting a bit more
common: Manectric ex and Dragonite ex, for
example, both have attacks that can block them. Windstorm
now gives decks an easy way to get rid of Pokémon Tools. Things
like these can really diminish the usefulness of a Pokémon Tool
like Buffer Piece. Simply put, Buffer Piece is
the Modified version of Defender, but toned down, just as
Strength Charm is the toned-down Modified version of
Plus Power. Defender was never as useful as Plus
Power, because simply put Pokémon is an aggressive game and
it’s generally better to KO a threat than endure it. The main
use Defender had came from it blocking damage from your
own cards, something that Buffer Piece cannot do.
If you
attach Buffer Piece to a Pokémon, the opponent may get
rid of it via Windstorm or by simply attacking around it:
hitting the bench or using an attack with a useful effect
instead of damage, since Buffer Piece goes away after the
opponent’s next turn. This and the tendency towards big damage
combos are further reason yet to use the card.
However, there is a reason to use the card: Pokémon is all about
math. Well, I won’t get into the probability/statistical side
of it (cause I don’t remember enough of that from college) but I
mean the basics: I am noticing more and more often, when I face
off against players as good as me with as good of a deck as I
have, the game comes down to one attack clinching it. To my
surprise, even with the “big damage” most decks focus on, it’s
often a secondary attack, or big attack that can’t get as big as
it would like that is finishing me off.
If you
want to just stall, use
Holon
Circle.
If you want to live through an attack use… Energy Root.
20 more HP will serve you better than blocking an attack that
might not happen at the right time. Oh, there is a use for
Buffer Piece: Energy Root has drawbacks and more
restrictions. If you’re using a lot of Basics or Pokémon-ex (or
Basic Pokémon-ex), if your deck has a lot of room, then yes this
card finally becomes handy; just not enough that you probably
won’t find something even better to replace it.
Unless its Limited, in which case it’s
great.
Ratings
Unlimited :
1/5
Modified :
2/5
Limited :
4.5/5
-Otaku
