Hello, and welcome to another day of our promo week, and
today, it's the turn of the promo Probopass G! Basics of
the card first, and it has 90 HP, which of an SP
Pokémon, is about average or maybe slightly above, so
it's in good stead there. It has a x2 Water Weakess,
which in the current metagame where Water isn't seeing
that much play (Kingdra (LA), Palkia G and it's Lv.X
(PL) and not much else), isn't too bad, but will be
costly against either of those two decks. No Resistance
is there to be glossed over, and it has a massive 3
Retreat Cost, which is way too much, so make sure you
pack enough Switching/Retreat Cost reducing cards in
your deck to help out there. Finally, it's an SP
Pokémon, so has access to all that lovely SP support.
Abilities now, and the names of the two will make you
smirk at least. First is Nose Unit. Yes, you read that
right, Nose Unit. Once you stop laughing I'll continue.
For MC (or M and an Energy Gain), it does 20 damage to
each of your opponent's Pokémon that has a Poké-Body. It
can be nice spread, but it's a little situational.
Against a deck like LuxApe, it's pretty much pointless
since only the odd tech will be hit, but against a deck
like Flygon (RR), it can be quite deadly.
Now, the second attack, Loud Snort. When you pick
yourself up off the floor, I'll continue. It costs a
massive MCCC (or MCC and an Energy Gain) and does a
measly 70 damage. It's effect really doesn't make up for
it. All that does is give Probopass G free Retreat Cost
until the end of your next turn. It sounds nice for if
you want to Retreat it next turn, but that's the thing,
it forces you to make predictions as to what your
opponent will do during their turn (which you probably
should be doing anyway) to make sure a) Probopass G
survives during your opponents turn and b) make sure
your opponent doesn't bring anything into play that will
punish you for your free Retreat Cost (Dugtrio (PL) or
Breloom (SW), of which, neither are actually that
popular, I realise, but they are possible). It can be a
useful effect, but it does depend a lot on what the
opponent does, and the damage is too low as well.
Combos, well, I suppose I can only really suggest combos
to go with the less funny sounding Nose Unit, since the
hilarious Loud Snort just isn't worth it as an attack
goes. Nose Unit could be used with other SP Spreaders,
like Gallade 4 Lv.X (RR) to create a SPread deck, and
one that can be quite harsh either against everything in
general, or targeting annoying Pokémon, likes those with
PokéBodies. The only thing lacking is something to take
out Poké-Powers, but I think Power Spray is enough for
that really. Nidoquen (RR) can be a problem to Probopass
G (and spreaders in general), so Dialga G Lv.X (PL)
could be used to shut it off. It's really nice with
Probopass G since not only are they punished for having
any Poké-Bodies, they can't use any either.
Counters now, and they are the obvious ones for a
SPreader. First, Machamp (SF), whose Take Out attack
with OHKO this card without an Unown G (GE) attached,
but that can be said for any Basic Pokémon, so there's
nothing new there. Like I said earlier, Nidoqueen (RR)
is this cards' bane for it will negate every single bit
of damage Nose Unit does, though, like I said, Dialga G
Lv.X does stop that. Really, any deck that doesn't rely
on Poké-Bodies is perfect to take on Nosepass G, and to
be honest, that is most decks in this format really.
Ratings:
Modified: It's got not too bad stats and hilarious
attack names, but that's where the plus points end. Nose
Unit doesn't effect alot of decks in this format (Flygon
decks is about it really), and Loud Snort is really
over-priced to even be considered useful. Because of
this, I should give it 1/5, but I'm not. The reason is
that is can be useful, if only against Flygon, and it
does have a pair of the best attack names ever created
for Pokémon. Because of this... 1.25/5
Limited: Just for the attack names, I wish you could use
this in any Limited Format. You can't though, which I
think is a shame. N/A
Baby Mario Top 4 UK Nats
Probopass G LV 53
Probopass is a serious contender for the title of
weirdest looking Pokémon ever. That’s quite an
achievement, I mean . . . just look at Drifblim.
If his goofy looks don’t make you smile, then take a
look at Probopass G’s attack names. Nose Unit??? Loud
Snort??? Someone in the translation department at TPCI
has a sense of humour!
Is Probopass G good for anything more than a laugh
though? Nose Unit is an interesting attack, doing 20
damage to each opponent’s Pokémon with a PokeBody. The
cost of [M][C] seems on the high side, but, being an SP
Pokémon, Probopass G benefits from Energy Gain, as well
as all of the other great SP Support. Although this
attack seems to provide a decent spread of damage, the
fact is that most Pokémon which are used for their Body
have a high enough HP not to be worried about a mere 20
damage. Nidoqueen will just heal it off it two turns,
while Dialga G LV X, especially with Special Metal
attached, will just laugh at it. Other playable Pokémon
with PokeBodies (Heatran LV X, Blaziken FB LV X,
Manctric PL, Metagross SV, for example) would simply
take too long to KO with a 20 spread.
Loud Snort does a reasonable 70 damage for the rather
high cost of four Energy, but it does give the minor
benefit of free Retreat to Probopass should it survive
until your next turn. Survival might be a problem though
if you come up against a Kingdra or a Palkia G as
Probopass G has an X2 Water weakness.
In the end, Probopass G is one of those cards that,
while not completely horrible, doesn’t really do enough
to force its way into competitive decks. If you want a
Fighting SP tech, there is the much better Lucario GL
and Toxicroak G promo. If you want a non-SP Fighting
tech, then SV delivers better in the form of Mankey and
Relicanth. Finally, I’d just like to say that it is a
little annoying to have a Pokémon which requires Metal
Energy for its attacks, but can’t benefit from the
protection that Metal Energy gives. If it could, it
would have been just a touch more playable.
Rating
Modified: 1.5 (falls short of playability and is
outclassed by other techs)
