Today’s and tomorrow’s CotD are closely
related, so don’t be surprised if there
is a lot of overlap for the cards.
I honestly don’t think today’s
card will be played much without
tomorrow’s, but especially with future
card releases, who knows?
So what is today’s CotD?
Why it is
Palpitoad from Noble Victories.
For the record, looking at the
name and artwork does remind me of
Emperor Palpatine from the Star
Wars franchise, but I doubt that is
why they chose the name.
Stats
Palpitoad
is a Stage 1 Pokémon that can Evolve
into a Stage 2 Pokémon.
This usually results in the Stage
1 Pokémon being a mere placeholder, but
we shall see if
Palpitoad can avoid that fate.
It is a Water-Type, and with all
the Fire based decks running around,
you’d think that Water would be almost
as prevalent, but it isn’t.
I almost wish this was a
Fighting-Type, since it might help it
against
Zekrom and friends (Palpitoad
is a Water/Ground dual-type Pokémon in
the video games).
The 80 HP is disappointing as
well: this is a Stage 1 that is smaller
than many Basic Pokémon who don’t
Evolve, and the average damage yield
right now is such that almost every deck
that bothers attacking for damage will
OHKO it, though the weakest might need a
good set-up.
The Weakness currently seems, not good,
but far from the worst the card could
have.
Most Grass-Type Pokémon I am
familiar with from competitive decks are
not used for attacking.
I haven’t been hearing as much
about
Yanmega Prime lately, but assuming
it is still seeing play you should note
that Linear Attack still applies
Weakness/Resistance for Active Pokémon
and thus
Yanmega Prime can still OHKO an
Active
Palpitoad.
The lack of Resistance is
actually
worse than normal: in the video game
Palpitoad (as a half Ground-Type) is
immune to Electric attacks!
You’d think given
Zekrom we could have gotten at least
Lightning Resistance -20. The two Energy
Retreat cost is unfortunate: that’s
enough Energy that while you’ll probably
be able to pay it, it will set you back.
Effects
Palpitoad
has two attacks, Mudshot and Round.
Mudshot is a simple 20 for (W),
which for a Stage 1 is at best filler.
I don’t expect a return on par
with
Donphan Prime – correction; I do
expect a return of that caliber, but
without the HP, Poké-Body (Ability), or
exploitable nature.
So if
Donphan Prime gets 60 points of
damage for (F) and what was meant to be
a drawback (hitting everything on its
player’s Bench for 10 points of damage),
Palpitoad deserves to at least hit
for 30 points of damage with no
drawbacks and probably a bonus effect,
or at least a flat 40 points of damage.
So that must mean Round justifies the
card?
Correct.
Round has a hefty Energy cost of
(CCC), though Energy acceleration of a
wide variety can pay for that in two or
less turns.
Round does 20 points of damage
for each Pokémon you have in play with
the attack “Round”.
So a single
Palpitoad hits for a paltry 20, two
hit for a weak 40, three hit for a
passable 60, four hit for a solid 80,
five hit for a good 100, and six hit for
a great 120.
Provided you can find two other
Pokémon with the attack “Round”.
It is poor that you really need
three other Pokémon with Round in play
in order for this to become a “good”
attack, and five or six to justify
attacking with something this small,
barring strategic concerns.
I think they should have just had
Round cost (CC), especially since I
don’t know of a way to get more than
four Pokémon into play on your side of
the field that have the “Round” attack.
I do like that it isn’t restricted to a
specific Pokémon, Pokémon-Type,
Evolution family, etc. but simply the
attack.
According to Bulbapedia, Round is
taught by TM 48 in Pokémon Black
and Pokémon White, and is the
only move that can be learned by any
Pokémon capable of using TMs.
In short there is at least the
possibility of this showing up on a
ridiculously large amount of Pokémon in
the future.
I doubt it, but that makes it
sound like a solid Technical Machine
option for the TCG.
Usage
First, where does
Palpitoad come from?
It Evolves from the Basic Pokémon
Tympol, which sadly does
not have Round, but vanilla 10 for
(C) and 20 for (WC) attacks (though at
least it has 60 HP and a single Energy
Retreat Cost).
Other than that, it is like
Palpitoad: a Water-Type Pokémon that
is Grass Weak and lacks Resistance.
Maybe a future version could have
Round, even if the damage output was
poor (maybe 10 damage per Pokémon with
“Round” at a cost of (CC))?
So what about using
Palpitoad itself?
Well as stated, I wouldn’t rely
on it as a main attacker for a deck.
Fortunately
Palpitoad Evolves into
Seismitoad, and (unlike
Tympol) it also has Round!
Unfortunately, it Evolves into
Seismitoad, which means unless we
get a trick to play either
Palpitoad or
Seismitoad without
Tympol, we aren’t going to break 80
points of damage on Round.
At least if
Seismitoad is revealed to be worth
playing,
Palpitoad presents a reason for
running it alongside
Rare Candy: it makes it more likely
to hit that maximum four Pokémon with
“Round” attacks in play, and if you need
to it isn’t too hard to sacrifice it
(instead of a
Seismitoad) while attacking.
The same really goes for Unlimited as
well, barring that you might skip out on
Rare Candy/Pokémon
Breeder and just focus on
Broken Time-Space, at least if you
chose to run
Seismitoad at all (and again,
Palpitoad isn’t worth using for its
own sake).
In Limited play, it depends upon
how many
Palpitoad and related cards you
pull.
If you can run a solid line, it’s
great: you can even use it to run Water
Pokémon without actually running Water
Energy!
If you don’t get many, you have
an adequate filler Pokémon but nothing
more.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.75/5
Modified:
2.25/5
Limited:
2.75/5
Summary
Palpitoad
is a bit too small, even for a Stage 1
meant to Evolve, and its biggest
strength (the “Round” attack) can’t be
effectively utilized with the current
card pool.
This is yet another Pokémon to
remember and keep an eye on: if we get
any other Pokémon with the “Round”
attack, it will become the solid fall
back for a slow showing
Seismitoad.
Check out my eBay auctions
here… unless you have been the last
few days: I hit a snag and so some new
auctions have been delayed.
Also remember that Pojo.com is
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