Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Whimsicott
12/98 (Emerging Powers)
Our second Whimsicott of the
week shares most of its stats with yesterday’s card,
including the horrible Fire Weakness, low HP, and Water
Resistance. In addition, this version has a Retreat cost
of one, but it does have a way of compensating for that
(sort of).
This Whimsicott seems to be
more of an attempt to mimic the way the Pokémon works in
the video game, and features two attacks which are
commonly seen in that environment. The first, Encore,
costs one Energy of any
Colour, does 20 damage (not bad value) and has a
semi-decent effect: choose one of the Defending
Pokémon’s attacks and lock it into using that attack on
the next turn. Obviously, if the Defending Pokémon has
an attack with a massive cost that it probably won’t be
able to pay for (such as Donphan’s
Heavy Impact), or an attack that is non-threatening
(like Zoroark’s Nasty Plot)
then the opponent would be forced to switch out (or
evolve, if applicable) their active Pokémon in order to
do damage. However, most of the time this is going to be
nothing more than a minor nuisance for an opponent.
Cards like Magnezone,
Gothitelle, and Mew Prime
only have one attack anyway, the
Unova Dragons don’t much care what they use
against Whimsicott, and both
of Yanmega’s attacks are
good (and they have free Retreat).
Whimsicott’s
second attack, U-turn is pretty expensive for the 40
damage it does, costing two Grass
Energy. It does have the effect of switching
Whimsicott to the Bench
though. Punch-and-Run attacks are always nice (remember
the Curse Gengar from AR?),
especially if you can Switch to a locking Pokémon (Gothitelle
maybe?) and then Retreat for free next turn (Dodrio
UL is handy here). However, the 40 damage that
Whimsicott deals out will be
laughed off by most decks, and
Whimsicott is certainly not safe on the Bench in
this format, thanks to Pokémon Catcher and snipers like
Yanmega Prime.
It’s an interesting and potentially irritating card for
sure . . . but irritating your opponent while dealing
pitiful amounts of damage won’t win you many games in a
format full of outrageously big hitting Pokémon. Like
the other Whimsicott in the
set, this card will only really shine in Limited.
Rating
Modified: 1.75 (I like it slightly more than the other
one, but sadly neither can cut it in competitive play)
Limited: 3.25 (the attack lock can stick better here,
and U-turn is pretty effective)
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virusyosh |
Happy midweek, Pojo viewers! Yesterday we reviewed
one of the new Whimsicott cards from Emerging Powers,
and today we're going to review the other. This one was
an Emerging Powers exclusive when it was released here,
and as of this review, I still don't believe it's been
released anywhere else yet. Today's Card of the Day is
Whimsicott (#12) from Emerging Powers.
Whimsicott is a Stage 1 Grass Pokemon. As stated
yesterday, the only Grass type that is common in
Modified is Yanmega Prime, and Weakness to Grass is
somewhat uncommon right now, making the type somewhat
underrepresented. Additionally, Fire is very abundant in
the format, meaning Grass-types need to do something
very special in order to see play on the Modified stage.
80 HP is still a bit low for a final Stage 1, as many
heavy hitters in the format will easily OHKO; Fire
Weakness only makes this number even greater. Water
Resistance will be nice to have, but it isn't such a big
deal right now. Finally, a Retreat Cost of one is
somewhat disappointing, given that Whimsicott is a fast
Pokemon in the video games.
This particular version of the Windveiled Pokemon has
two attacks, Encore and U-turn. Encore does 20 damage
for a single Colorless Energy, and, like in the video
games, allows you to choose one of the opposing
Pokemon's attacks, and that is the only attack they are
able to use during your opponent's next turn. In
Modified, many common attackers have multiple attacks,
so forcing a Reshiram or Zekrom to use Outrage instead
of Blue Flare/Bolt Strike could be fairly good (although
a Reshiram with 20 damage on it still OHKOs with Outrage
due to Whimsicott's Fire Weakness). This attack is even
better in Limited, as it can work as a nice stall tactic
by choosing an attack that your opponent doesn't have
enough Energy to pay for, as an example. It's probably
not quite Modified material, but it could be interesting
nonetheless. Maybe it would work in MewBox?
Whimsicott's second attack, U-turn, deals 40 damage
for two Grass Energy, switching Whimsicott out with one
of your Benched Pokemon. Not terrible for the cost, but
the constant switching can be problematic if your deck
isn't built to take it into account. This attack doesn't
do quite enough damage for Modified, but is fairly cheap
for Limited.
Modified: 1.75/5 Encore has the potential to be
interesting, although I can't help but thing it may work
better with Mew Prime than it would with Whimsicott.
Aside from that attack, Whimscott has low damage output,
low HP, and a terrible Weakness, meaning it probably
won't see much play.
Limited: 3.5/5 Encore is great for the cost, and
U-turn also deals good damage if you can handle the
constant switching. Whimsicott does quite well in
Emerging Powers Limited with the relative lack of Fire
Pokemon, but Encore works as a great stall move all
while doing damage. If you're running Grass and have a
Cottonee or two, Whimsicott is worth running in this
format.
Combos With: Mew Prime
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