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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Top 13 Pokemon Cards of Dragon Exalted:

#6 - Tool Scrapper

Date Reviewed: August 17, 2012

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 4.13
Limited: 4.45

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale.
1 being the worst. 
3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating.

Back to the main COTD Page

Combos With: See Below

Jebulous Maryland Player Tool Scrapper
 
Tool Scrapper, oh how I have a love/hate relationship with you (and I haven't even played with/against it yet).
 
Tool Scrapper is an item that allows you to discard up to 2 Tools in play.  I'll save you some time:
 
Eviolite
Exp Share
Dark Claw
Rocky Helmet
Giant Cape
Rescue Scarf
 
That's what it will be destroying as of its release.  Eviolite and Exp Share were the most played tools right before the format change.
Eviolite protected the big basics and Exp Share allowed those Quad- decks to run around.  It's a great card to have when you are facing down Pokemon with Eviolites attached to them (it’s such a pain).  Plus the fact you can remove up to 2.  We will have to see if Giant Cape and Rescue Scarf will see a lot of play.  Rescue Scarf replaces Rescue Energy after the format change.  Giant Cape... is giant cape.  Not as good an Eviolite, but you can use it on non Basic Pokemon.
 
And now my hate of this card. Garbador.  That's all I have to say.  I saw Garbador and instantly wanted to make a deck with it.  But hey, he needs a tool attached to him.  Guess what people will probably have in their deck to get rid of Eviolite/Exp Share?  Guess what it also gets rid of?  So it pretty much means that if I make a Garbador deck, I'll have to up my tools and try to figure out ways to prevent too much scrapping from occurring (Sableye, I'm looking at you).  There is some good though.  If I want to have Pokemon with abilities in my Garbador deck, I could run Tool Scrapper to get the tool off of Gardador, use the abilities, and then reattach a tool.  Not sure if that is worth it or not. Play testing! That's how I'll learn (and you too).
 
I am glad that Junk Arm is gone though.  If it wasn't, that's be 8+ Tool Scrappers people could use (4 Scrappers, 4 Junk Arms, X Sableye Junk Hunts) against my non-existent (soon to exist) Garbador deck.
And a bit of foreshadowing… those tools that attach to White Kyurem EX and Black Kyurem EX.  I will be glad that Tool Scrapper will be there to help out.  300 HP…
 
Modified: 4.5/5
Limited: 4/5
Combo's With: any Dragon type
 
Questions, comments, concerns: jebulousthemighty@yahoo.com

Otaku

We end the week with the 6th most promising pick of BW: Dragons Exalted and the first non-Pokémon to make it, Tool Scrapper!

Stats

Tool Scrapper is a Trainer, specifically an Item, so unless you’re getting blocked by Madkinesis or Disconnect, as long as it can be played for effect you can use it. Interestingly, I just realized no card refers to Trainers in general, at least not yet. Lillipup (Black & White 80/114) and Sableye (BW: Dark Explorers 62/108) can retrieve one or two Items (respectively) from the discard via attacks, but I see nothing else currently legal that refers to Items.

Effects

Tool Scrapper is amazing because unlike some other Trainers, translators got the name right! Oh, it also revisits a concept not seen since Windstorm; an Item that can discard Pokémon Tools. Tool Scrapper can discard up to two Pokémon Tools; if you only want to discard one, you can discard just one and you can even target your own if for some reason you’d want to. A two-for-one is potent and valuable, especially for something we are used to being able to safely drop as soon as we get it. In a format where the draw power is often Bianca, N, or Professor Juniper, you almost have to drop such cards when you get them.

Usage

Before addressing Tool Scrapper usage, let’s run through the Pokémon Tools we currently have:

  • Dark Claw
  • Eviolite
  • Exp. Share
  • Giant Cape
  • Rescue Scarf
  • Rocky Helmet

Dark Claw hasn’t seen a lot of play, but if Tool Scrapper becomes a common sight, it actually helps it; Dark Claw can benefit you the turn you play it so even if your opponent discards it after you attack, it has acted like a double PlusPower… and if what it is attached to isn’t very big, discarding may be a waste of time anyway. An odd little niche, really. So what about Eviolite? It is just so useful that I don’t think it is going away; it will be the card that practically makes your opponent play Tool Scrapper. Most big, Basic Pokémon buy themselves an extra turn with it.

Even 180 HP doesn’t last long against a deck going full tilt in this format, so this is quite huge (pardon the pun) when Pokémon EX are slugging it out. When something that is supposed to be tanking, even if only a little bit, gets KOed early it takes a lot of skill to keep your strategy from falling apart, and even then its obviously using the next best option. You’ll notice quite a few Pokémon EX hit for at least 90 points of damage with at least one attack, or average it over the course of two turns; in fact the only ones that don’t are Kyogre EX (BW: Dark Explorers 26/108, 104/108) and Registeel EX (BW: Dragons Exalted 81/124, 122/124).

Now not all can reliably hit for or average 90 points of damage per turn, at least without some help, but you get the idea; when slugging it out Pokémon EX versus Pokémon EX, discarding an opponent’s Eviolite means big advantage. Without Eviolite, while only after your opponent has taken five Prizes, Shaymin EX (BW: Next Destinies 5/99, 94/99) can OHKO any other Pokémon EX! Rayquaza EX (BW: Dragons Exalted 85/124, 123/124) could try to overpower something relying on Eviolite or Giant Cape, but this saves an Energy card unless it was trying to slam Wailord (BW: Dragons Exalted 26/124).

Exp. Share is also odd in that I think it benefits from a format with Tool Scrapper. Exp. Share does nothing for you when it is attached to your Active (it won’t trigger, even if a Benched Pokémon with basic Energy attached is KOed). For the decks that aren’t running on re-usable forms of Energy acceleration, Exp. Share is almost a reverse Crushing Hammer. Plus, playing around it can be exactly what you want; I’ve had opponent’s take out something because of its Exp. Share fearing it when it was built up… even though that just bought me another shot with something fully powered in the Active slot. Exp. Share really needs to be taken care of as soon as possible, because it can build potentially huge levels of advantage in the right deck. Plus now you can hit an opponent’s Pokémon Tool while shedding your own Exp. Share from your Active, allowing you to attach a more useful Pokémon Tool like Eviolite or Giant Cape!

Giant Cape will likely become the “lesser” version of Eviolite, the one run because a deck needs to bulk up its Evolutions as much as protect its basic Pokémon. They are as vulnerable as any other Pokémon Tool, and it can be tempting to view it harshly since it means your opponent technically scores a KO via Tool Scrapper, but remember the Pokémon in question would simply have been KOed via the previous attack anyway, so you’re really just down one Item a piece (unless they nail two Pokémon Tools at once with Tool Scrapper) and where you’d have been anyway in terms of Prizes. Still this makes it rather passive and you don’t truly get the benefit of it (outside of some very specific exceptions) until your Pokémon has taken damage equal to its printed max HP or printed max HP+10. It can function as useful “bait” for Tool Scrapper, since if your opponent takes out other Pokémon Tools instead, Giant Cape is still quite useful once it becomes “safe”.

Rescue Scarf is mostly useful for Evolutions, especially fragile Evolutions that you just need to keep “resetting-up”. Basic Pokémon could just be brought back via Revive, and if something is big enough you are probably better off slapping Giant Cape on it instead. If that narrow window for Giant Cape to make a difference isn’t practical, then Rescue Scarf saves you having to use Super Rod to send the Pokémon back to the deck and draw or search them out before getting them back into play. This can be really, really important for key decks… but unless you toss it on a Pokémon that KOs itself, your opponent will get a shot at discarding it before it can trigger.

Rocky Helmet doesn’t strike me as being as useful as the other Pokémon Tools; it only triggers when you are attacked for damage. That is handy, but between massive HP scores, massive damage output for attacks, Tool Scrapper, non-damaging attacks (mostly as part of set-up), and Pokémon that can heal obscene amounts of damage with Max Potion without missing a beat due to combos, it becomes only a mild irritant. I gave those concerns in order as I perceive them, so Tool Scrapper isn’t even the biggest problem for the card.

So after all that, I am thinking all decks will want to at least use Tool Scrapper as TecH. Does your deck rely on Abilities? A Garbodor (BW: Dragons Exalted 54/124) only shuts them down while it has a Pokémon Tool attached, so your opponent would need three functioning Garbodor in play to be safe from a single Tool Scrapper. If they only have one, you can probably discard a valuable Pokémon Tool off an attacker at the same time. As demonstrated by going through them, discarding most Pokémon Tools in the average match can lead to a Prize and/or slow down your opponent’s set up which can save you a Prize. Tool Scrapper really is a powerful card, with only one weakness; it might be a bit too good. If it makes Pokémon Tools too risky to play, why run them at all… in which case why run Tool Scrapper at all? It creates one of those waxing/waning cycles that threaten to arbitrarily stick at a certain point, because if you don’t predict it correctly, you’re pretty much out of luck.

I like the idea of a format where almost every Pokémon has a Pokémon Tool attached, and Tool Scrapper discourages that… to a point. With decks running tight before BW-On even truly begins, a lot of decks will be doing good just to include that single TecH copy of Tool Scrapper. Unless your opponent is good at spacing out Pokémon Tool usage, more than one copy is overkill anyway; most decks I see only run about three Pokémon Tools on average. That is why I think you’ll see just that one, clutch copy in decks, if you see it at all… and yet like Sigilyph (BW: Dragons Exalted 54/124) it may shape the entire format by influencing how decks are built.

Reading my words, it may sound like I am really being hard on Tool Scrapper, especially with what seemed like “generous” reviews of some of the lower cards. I can only explain what my testing has born out; one Tool Scrapper is often all you’ll need. While you won’t be able to reliably drop it on a particular turn, and most decks are running only about three Pokémon Tools, those Tools are usually important to that respective deck. With future releases, we’ll even find snagging that lone Tool Scrapper reliably becomes easier.

Unlimited doesn’t care about Tool Scrapper; even if you aren’t dealing with a deck that wins or locks you first turn, you have Windstorm. It is an Item that not only can discard up to two Items (like Tool Scrapper) but may instead discard a Stadium or a Stadium and an Item. As for Limited play, this set has two Items, and that is just enough for me to recommend running this unless you have some truly phenomenal pulls; it is nearly an auto-run. Most matches you either won’t need it or it won’t show up at the right time, but if you think it is sweet scoring a KO by discarding a Giant Cape in constructed, try here where it your opponent probably doesn’t have any real fallback options!

Ratings

Unlimited: 1/5

Modified: 3.75/5

Limited: 4.95/5

Summary

If we get some more great Pokémon Tools, and we might be, Tool Scrapper could become more important. In fact, even with what we have, I personally find that certain of my decks don’t follow the norm but instead run more like six Pokémon Tools. I believe that is an exception and not the rule, but if that situation reverses players may simply find they are making room for both and trying to “draw out” an opponent’s copy (copies?) of Tool Scrapper early. On my own list of Initial BW: Dragons Exalted Rankings, this caused me to rate Tool Scrapper in 14th place, below almost every card we’ve already looked at. That is because, while it will be important, I just don’t think decks will have either the room or the need to run more than a single copy. Being a piece of staple “TecH” is still a great accomplishment, and just like players will need to build their decks and adjust their strategies for Sigilyph, so too will they need to anticipate Tool Scrapper. In fact, they are even more likely to run it than Sigilyph.

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