Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Palpitoad
(Dark Explorers)
I quite like the way that a lot of
the Generation V Pokémon seem
to parallel those from other regions. The
Seismitoad line is clearly
Unova’s version of
Poliwrath/Politoed
and it makes sense that Pokémon would have evolved
slightly differently in different places. Can’t say I
like this card much though. It’s an evolving Stage 1
from a set that doesn’t contain its final Stage
evolution. That in itself is a bad sign, telling you
that this card is just a bit of filler from a Japanese
structure deck which found its way into one of our main
sets.
This bad first impression is
confirmed by a glance at the card itself. Low 80 HP, and
the awkward Retreat cost of two are not good, but the
Grass Weakness is a lot better than Lightning for a
Water Pokémon. Not that this fact would save the card
from Zekrom,
Thundurus, and friends. The
attack is nothing to be excited about either. Bubble
Beam costs one Water and one
Colourless Energy for 30 damage and a coin flip for
Paralysis. Not the worst attack ever printed, but it
isn’t something you would be eager to use in a
competitive game unless you
really needed
a turn of Paralysis to buy some time. Honestly, if you
are using this Palpitoad in
that situation you may as well scoop up your cards right
then.
So, just a generic Stage 1 that you
use to get the Stage 2 out then?
Actually no. It’s worse than that.
See, the whole point of playing
Seismitoad NVI in the first
place is to use his Round attack, which does
30 damage for each Pokémon
with Round that you have in play. Usefully, the
Palpitoad from NVI has a
Round attack itself, so it can contribute to the damage
Seismitoad can do, even
before it evolves. Today’s card lacks that function, so
if you put him in a Seismitoad
deck you would be causing significant damage to the way
the deck is supposed to function.
Palpitoad
DEX is a card which actually makes your deck worse if
you run it. Even for an evolving Stage 1, that’s
probably a new low.
Rating
Modified: 1 (Seimitoad
doesn’t just prefer the alternative – it
needs it)
Limited: 2.25 (attack is fairly
cheap and Paralysis is always good if you flip heads)
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virusyosh |
Happy midweek, Pojo readers! We're continuing our
reviews of Stage 1 Water Pokemon from Dark Explorers
today by reviewing the Vibration Pokemon, Palpitoad.
Palpitoad is a Stage 1 Water Pokemon. Water Pokemon are
not commonly seen in Modified for reasons I've expanded
upon earlier in the week, and Palpitoad will definitely
be usable in Limited if you decide to use the Water
type. Unfortunately, there is no Seismitoad in Dark
Explorers, so Palpitoad will effectively be the highest
Stage Evolution for the Limited format. 80 HP is what
we'd expect for a Stage 1 with further capacity to
evolve, and it will allow Palpitoad to take a weak or
medium-sized hit before going down. Grass Weakness is
great in the current metagame, as Grass is a practically
non-existent type (though a few people are still playing
Virizion, so watch out for them). Palpitoad also has no
Resistance, which is unfortunate, and a Retreat Cost of
2, which is payable if you're in a pinch.
This particular version of the Vibration Pokemon only
has one attack, Bubble Beam, which does 30 damage with a
chance for Paralysis on a coin flip for a Water and a
Colorless. Bubble Beam won't win any offensive awards in
Modified as there are better options, but it's a
serviceable attack in Limited, where 30 damage (solid,
though still not great) with a Paralysis chance (very
nice) is just about on par with the rest of the format.
Modified: 1.5/5 Palpitoad wouldn't be played on its own
in Modified, and would likely only see play in the
context of a deck using Seismitoad NVI, the only
Seismitoad we have in print. The only deck that makes
use of Seismitoad is Round, where Palpitoad NVI is
strictly better due to its having the Round attack.
Therefore, if you're running Round, you should use that
Palpitoad in all circumstances. However, if we get
another Seismitoad sometime soon that isn't reliant on
Round, this Palpitoad may be relevant. Until then, use
the version from Noble Victories.
Limited: 3/5 Palpitoad is fairly average for Limited, as
30 damage and a chance for Paralysis for two Energy is
just about right for that cost. If you're running Water
or even just looking to splash, Palpitoad can be great
as another supplementary line. It's really a shame that
there's no Seismitoad in Dark Explorers, as it would
make Palpitoad that much more useful in Limited.
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