Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Leafeon
(Dark Explorers)
We finish our week of Grass Pokémon
with a real fan card. It doesn’t matter how terrible
Leafeon is, for some reason
there will always be people out there who want to play
him. (Actually, I will admit the old
Leafeon LV X was
extremely
cool and generally awesome). So, just how much
competitiveness will players be
sacrificing if they put this in their deck?
Leafeon
is a Stage 1 with just 90 HP, so we have an uphill
struggle to begin with. The card will need some amazing
attack or Ability from this point in. The rest of the
stats are pretty average and unsurprising: Fire
Weakness, Water Resistance, and a Retreat cost of one.
Nothing there to make or break the
card.
Quick Attack has always been around
in the TCG and it’s always been a bit of a staple/filler
attack. That is also the case here, but at least this
version isn’t too bad. It’s cheap for a start
at just one Energy of any
Colour and it’s also capable of doing 40 damage . . . if
you flip heads. If not, then you are stuck with a very
ordinary 10 for one attack. It’s ok for what it is, I
guess, but it’s not an attack you would ever want to use
exactly. Energy Assist, on the other hand, is at least a
little more interesting. For the reasonable cost of [G][C],
Leafeon will do 40 damage
and it will also attach a basic Energy card from your
discard pile to one of your Benched Pokémon. Any Energy
acceleration is nice, obviously, and I like the fact
that Leafeon’s effect isn’t
limited by Type (it isn’t just for Grass). However,
using an attack
and setting up a Stage 1 to do it, just doesn’t
really seem worth it: not when we have cards like
Eelektrik NVI, Dark Patch, and even
Typhlosion Prime in the format.
You know, after I started writing
this review, I had another look at the flavour text on
this Leafeon card and this
is what I read: ‘It
basically does not fight’. Couldn’t have put it
better myself, really: Leafeon
is not much use as an attacking Pokémon, and it doesn’t
have anything else to recommend it either. Put it in the
binder, where it can look pretty along with all the
other Leafeons.
Rating
Modified: 2 (even the most
dedicated Eeveelution fan
would find it hard to play this)
Limited: 3.5 (a very nice card
here. Cheap attacks, and
useful acceleration in a format where there are no
better alternatives)
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virusyosh |
Happy Friday, Pojo readers! Today we end our COTD
week by reviewing another Grass-type from Dark
Explorers. Today's Card of the Day is Leafeon.
Leafeon is a Stage 1 Grass Pokemon. As I've been
hammering home all week, Grass types are very rare in
Modified, so they have to do something really special in
order to see play, like Vileplume UD. 90 HP is average
for a Stage 1, and Leafeon should be able to take a weak
hit, and this Verdant Pokemon is also searchable with
Level Ball. Leafeon has the standard Grass-type Fire
Weakness and Water Resistance, meaning it will fall
quickly to Reshiram and friends, but will be able to
hold off assaults from Kyurem and other Water-types.
Finally, Leafeon's single Retreat Cost is easy to pay.
Leafeon has two attacks. Quick Attack starts off
dealing 10 damage for a single Colorless Energy, but can
deal 30 more if you flip heads. 40 damage for a single
Energy is pretty good, but keep in mind that you need a
favorable coin flip, and coin flips are almost always
unreliable unless you use something like Victory Star
Victini. Energy Assist is an interesting move, dealing
40 damage for a Grass and a Colorless while attaching a
Basic Energy from your discard pile to one of your
Benched Pokemon. Energy acceleration is always great,
however it tends to work best in the form of Abilities
or Poke-Powers (Rain Dance, Afterburner, Inferno
Fandango, Dynamotor, and so on) that don't require
taking up your attack for the turn. Additionally, Energy
Assist's 40 damage is quite weak for our high-powered
Modified format full of huge Pokemon, so Leafeon will
likely be outclassed by faster and stronger options.
Modified: 2/5 Energy acceleration is good, but there
are better options for it in this format. If you want to
run Energy acceleration, you'll be better off sticking
to something like Eelektrik, Celebi Prime, Emboar,
Typhlosion, or Dark Patch.
Limited: 3.75/5 Leafeon is very solid in Limited.
Quick Attack is fairly nondescript, but Energy Assist
can be really useful in spite of its disappointing
damage output, especially if one of your heavy hitters
was KOed or you discarded many Energy with something
like Professor Juniper. Energy acceleration wins games
in any format, and Leafeon in Limited is no exception.
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