The ambiguous “they” say that clothes
make the man… do they make the Pokémon?
Today we are looking at
Rescue Scarf (BW: Dragons Exalted
115/124) and it might; Pokémon started
out as a specialized JRPG and in most
video game and pencil-and-paper
role-playing games such accessories can
be hugely important so…
Let’s get fashionable!
Stats
Rescue Scarf
is a card that made me rethink my
preferred terminology for breaking down
a card.
Trainers like this, alongside the
“elemental” Types, are why I now refer
to being a Pokémon, Trainer, or Energy
as a “category”.
That way I can refer to being an
Item (or the other major divisions of
Supporter and Stadium) as “Trainer
Types”.
So
Rescue Scarf is a Pokémon Tool, a
sub-Type of Item, a Trainer.
This means they face all the same
peril and support as Trainers in
general, Items, and whatever
specifically refers to them.
I will address that more in the
“Usage” section.
Pokémon Tools have proven so useful
that, like Supporters, their very
existence has created a pseudo-resource,
the “Tool Slot”.
Pokémon can only use one Pokémon
Tool at a time, and most stay in play
for a bit with continuing effects (or
waiting to be triggered by circumstances
within the game).
If you don’t use your Pokémon Tool
“slot”, it often feels like a waste
since even a small bonus effect is nice
for a Pokémon, but at the same time
decks don’t run a lot to begin with,
since the most you can have in play
(barring some older combos I am likely
overlooking) would be six, and since
they stick around you usually won’t want
to use more than half a dozen.
So unlike Supporters, it is much
more common to not utilize your “Tool
Slot” than your “Supporter usage”.
Effects
Rescue Scarf
triggers when the Pokémon it is equipped
to would be KOed by damage from an
attack.
Before I even get to the actual
effect, please note the restrictions
this places on when you’ll get the
effect.
If it isn’t doing damage, but is
the “effect” of an attack, it won’t
trigger
Rescue Scarf; that means attacks
that use damage counter placement,
simply KO the target Pokémon as part of
the effect, or finish off your Pokémon
by virtue of a Special Condition
will not trigger
Rescue Scarf.
Neither does KOing a Pokémon as the
result of a cost; whether it is for an
attack, an Ability, or the various
precursors of Abilities, whether
specifically the “cost” triggering the
effect or merely as a part of the
effect, KOing a Pokémon in such a manner
just won’t trigger
Rescue Scarf.
On the bright side, the wording
means your own attacks will trigger it
and whether or not the Pokémon in
question is on the Bench or Active is
irrelevant.
Rescue Scarf
the returns that Pokémon to your hand
(your opponent still takes a Prize).
All cards attached to the Pokémon
(such as Energy or Pokémon Tools) are
discarded;
however like
Rescue Energy all Stages of
Evolution will be returned.
I do not know if this would apply
to a Level Up card, but that only
matters in Unlimited right now. Should
it matter, the effect is
mandatory: you can’t “choose” to
allow a Pokémon to go to the discard
pile. Even if, for example, you
desperately needed fodder for a card
like
Super Rod to replenish your deck,
you
must send the Pokémon to hand.
As a whole, this is a good, solid
effect.
It isn’t great; again your
opponent still takes a Prize, but if you
really needed to re-use that Pokémon
this often saves several steps
(returning the target to the deck, then
either drawing for it or searching it
out).
Usage
In my usual thorough approach, I’ll
begin this section by addressing the
state of Pokémon Tools in general.
There isn’t any currently
Modified legal support or counters
directed at the broad category of
“Trainers”, but scans with translations
of pending Japanese cards indicate that
at least two such cards will be coming.
I mention it so players remember
to be on the look out for more such
cards and demonstrate this mechanic
hasn’t joined the many others that have
passed on into obsolescence.
Items are referred to by a few cards,
but the notable ones are
Sableye (BW: Dark Explorers
62/108) that uses an attack to recycle
two Items from your discard pile,
Zebstrika (BW: Next Destinies
48/99) that has an attack that does 40
points of damage while blocking Items
from being played until the end of the
opponent’s next turn, and
Gothitelle (BW: Emerging Powers
47/98) which blocks the opposing player
from playing Items while it is Active.
As discussed in a somewhat recent Card
of the Day, Pokémon Tools don’t have any
good support unless we (the general
player-base) have failed to discover it.
The two most obvious candidates
are
Cofagrigus (BW: Dark Explorers
52/108) and
Mienshao (BW: Next Destinies
68/99). The former has an attack called
“Chuck” that lets you discard Pokémon
Tools to do damage: 40 points per
Pokémon Tool discarded and it requires
CC to use, but it hasn’t seen much play
because off the difficulty of running
enough Pokémon Tools to keep up a steady
barrage.
The latter,
Mienshao, has an attack for one
Energy called “Haul In” which allows you
to search your deck for two Pokémon
Tools and add them to your hand. Both
are Stage 1 and prone to being OHKOed,
making them much less appealing to
“trade” than
Sableye; it is a trade since you are
ultimately out an attack, the Energy and
Energy attachments that went into
setting up, a Basic Pokémon, its Stage 1
form, and your opponent takes a Prize.
There is one major counter for Pokémon
Tools, and that is
Tool Scrapper, from the same set we
got
Rescue Scarf in.
This is a major hurdle, since it
takes down two Pokémon Tools in play at
once, and
Rescue Scarf is one of those Pokémon
Tools that will need to sort of just sit
there until circumstances trigger it,
making it likely you’ll have multiple
copies waiting to become a two-for-one
trade.
Getting directly to
Rescue Scarf,
it has a particular niche that again,
I’ve touched upon in other reviews.
Basic Pokémon have access to the
Item
Revive to instantly be played back
to the Bench, so unless you needed a
coming-into-play effect from them you
can use
Revive and still enjoy the Pokémon
Tool
Eviolite for protection.
Something hard to set-up is
better off with the small HP boost
Giant Cape provides.
When you have something that isn’t going
to survive a hit, especially if it is an
Evolved Bench-sitter you aren’t going to
bother energizing,
Rescue Scarf is probably the almost
certainly the best choice.
Your opponent can take it out,
but they are just ignoring your main
attacker and if your deck runs well, you
should have whatever Bench-sitter was
taken out back in play quite quickly.
As an example, if you see a
Trubbish in play (either version)
alongside a
Garbodor (BW: Dragons Exalted
54/124) with a
Rescue Scarf, it is pretty obvious
OHKOing
Garbodor will only restore Abilities
for part of your opponent’s turn.
That is why this is probably the
best Pokémon Tool to include in a
Garbodor deck specifically to
trigger its “Garbotoxin” Ability.
If it wasn’t for
Gabite (BW: Dragons Exalted
89/124) and its Ability to search your
deck for a Dragon-Type once-per-turn via
an Ability,
Rescue Scarf would also be the
obvious choice for decks built around
Altaria (BW: Dragons Exalted
84/124, BW Promo
BW48) and
Garchomp (BW: Dragons Exalted
90/124).
It still might have a place, but
Super Rod tends to crowd it out.
Still, keep it in mind,
especially if we get a similar scenario:
an Evolved attacker that is easy to
power-up, especially with a small,
somewhat fragile Bench-sitter supporting
it.
Rescue Scarf
won’t matter in your average first turn
win or lock deck, since nothing of yours
should be KOed in a manner to trigger
it.
Using the next level of decks,
you still have access to
Focus Band, likely the superior
option since it prevents a Pokémon from
being KOed even if it only works about
half the time (coin flip based effect).
Even with all that Unlimited
grants us, however, you can only run
four copies of
Focus Band.
If your deck can afford the space
while meeting the stipulations for
Modified,
Rescue Scarf can still be a good
card here.
After all, when re-playing
Evolved Pokémon you can tap
Broken Time-Space for speed.
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER
ALERT!
You should not be reading until after
the bold text indicating I am past this
part, unless like me you
want to know about upcoming cards
from
Japan.
There is a new mechanic in
Japan
called “Ace Spec” (or some similar
spelling) that is basically a
one-per-deck Trainer.
It isn’t just
one-card-of-that-name-per-deck, but
one-card-of-that-designation.
So even if they have two
different names, you can’t run two “Ace
Spec” cards.
This matters for Unlimited because
unless TPCi changes it,
Computer Search was released in
Japan
already and apparently, so has
Item Finder.
Their card names are different in
Japanese (as they were in their original
releases in the earliest days of the
game), and it is always possible a
simple mistake as been made or that this
has changed.
Still, this is huge for
Unlimited, where few decks want to run
less than three of either of these two
cards, and it becomes especially
important for the first turn win/lock
decks.
This could open the format up a
little more, which would give all other
decks (and their cards,
Rescue Scarf included) a boost.
END SPOILER ALERT! END SPOILER ALERT!
END SPOILER ALERT!
Limited play is where
Rescue Scarf shines.
First and foremost, anything that
isn’t a basic Energy card is in demand
here.
Second, since they make up less
of a set than Pokémon, Trainers and
Energy are in extra demand here.
Thirdly, barring some ridiculous,
so-improbable-as-to-be-impossible pulls,
you’ll always have room to include
Rescue Scarf and you’ll always
benefit even if you pulled lousy
everything else… though the benefits
rise exponentially if you did pull even
a single great Pokémon:
Rescue Scarf gives it another shot
at being played!
Ratings
Unlimited:
2/5 – Take an Evolution that provides
Trainer denial, slap this on its lower
form, drop
Broken Time-Space, and see your
opponent wince.
It does rely on several other
potent cards and is still outclassed by
quite a bit, though.
Modified:
3.25/5 –
Rescue Scarf is a card that
technically functions in just about any
deck.
It will not be optimal, but it
will be functional unless your opponent
takes great pains to win without KOing
your Pokémon via damage.
It usually isn’t the best choice,
but where it is it shines.
Limited:
5/5 – Run it.
Summary
I really like
Rescue Scarf.
It is similar to
Rescue Energy, but doesn’t burn an
Energy attachment.
The fast paced format, featuring
many Basic Pokémon as main attackers
that a card like
Revive can easily recycle, coupled
with other potent Pokémon Tools like
Eviolite, as well as being about as
vulnerable to
Tool Scrapper as possible will make
it only suitable to specific strategies,
but it works appropriately well in such
decks.
Please check out my eBay sales by
clicking
here.
It’s me whittling away at about
two decades worth of attempted
collecting, spanning action figures,
comic books, TCGs, and video games.
Exactly what is up is a bit
random.
Pojo.com is in no way responsible
for any transactions; Pojo is merely
doing me a favor by letting me link at
the end of my reviews.
