At last we come to the top card of 2013,
Hypnotoxic Laser, a card that took
the top spot in our Top 10 picks for
BW: Plasma Storm as well; read the
original review
here.
An Item that inflicts Poison
(guaranteed) and Sleep (requires “heads”
on a coin toss),
Hypnotoxic Laser is one of those
cards that lived up to most, if not all,
of the hype.
It might even be ironic that this
card has proven so potent, because at a
glance it almost looks like a nerfed
PlusPower.
That statement is a bit confusing (even
if you don’t struggle with the actual
definitions for irony), so let me
explain;
PlusPower has been considered
“broken” if not by a significant amount
of the player base at different times,
then at least myself until a few years
ago.
This was because you could play
down multiples and (unless it was during
a period where Items weren’t allowed
first turn) thus it could become quite
abusive first turn of the game if you
could get multiples and score a FTKO or
even a donk.
Later I came to the conclusion
the problem is just that no attacks that
hit for actual damage should be designed
with Energy costs that can be met first
turn by the card pool; that builds in a
turn for set-up/disruption attacks
“naturally” into the rules, plus allows
damage boosting cards without the
concern of FTKOs.
So how could
Hypnotoxic Laser be safer than
PlusPower?
Poison damage means no bonus for
hitting Weakness, and multiple copies
don’t stack (though they can be used to
improve the odds of hitting Sleep).
As a further precaution against
accelerating the game too much, it
inflicts Sleep; Sleep is one of two
Special Conditions that go away on their
own without any outside help (the other
is Paralysis) and even has a 50% chance
of going away before the next turn of
the game begins… but when it does stick
around, it can slow things down.
Tacking Sleep on means that not
only offensive decks would have reason
to play
Hypnotoxic Laser, but defensive
decks as well.
If the above conjecture is true (mostly
using it as a framing device)
Hypnotoxic Laser worked too well; it
only fails to be a must run because of
the constraints of deck space.
Even decks that are built around
OHKO tactics still wouldn’t mind
Hypnotoxic Laser as a back up
strategy if more vital cards for that
particular deck didn’t crowd it out.
Hypnotoxic Laser accelerated the
pace of the game a little more, but it
was already so fast that I don’t think
we lost any decks from the competitive
side of things, at least by now when a
few that had faded away returned.
It changed the builds for many
such decks, for example “Hammer Time”
shifting to “Laser Time” with at least
some players finding a way to squeeze
both tactics into the same deck.
As I said the format was already
blisteringly fast, and for the most part
only decks built around big, Basic
Pokémon had room for a significant
amount of
Hypnotoxic Laser, especially as the
designers chose to release a
complimentary card that makes my above
claim quite questionable:
Virbank
City
Gym.
Providing a Stadium that
increases the damage counters Poison
places in between turns by two creates a
two card combo that yields plus three
damage counters, almost always a better
deal than two copies of
PlusPower.
It
becomes an even better deal should your
opponent fail to discard
Virbank City Gym, and when your
opponent happens to also run
Virbank City Gym, it becomes almost
ridiculous.
If they had room, every deck
would want to include this combo, but
fortunately they don’t and by now there
is finally some protection against
Hypnotoxic Laser worth running in
some decks:
Virizion EX.
There are also a few cards that have
what would be nifty Abilities or attack
effects but are hampered by
Hypnotoxic Laser (and its Poison
effect) bypassing something important.
For example,
Crustle (BW: Boundaries Crossed
85/149) has an Ability that prevents it
from being OHKOed, leaving it with 10 HP
instead… but of course Poison from
Hypnotoxic Laser goes off and places
a final damage counter.
Perhaps more relevant is
match-ups where
Silver Mirror, Safeguard, or a
similar effect is protecting a Pokémon;
an opponent with
Hypnotoxic Laser can still do
something against such effects.
The Hypnobank combo is also the
only method we currently have of donking
someone, though it admittedly only
applies to 30 HP Pokémon.
Annoying for
Exeggcute (BW: Plasma Freeze
4/116; BW: Plasma Blast 102/101),
at least.
As you might have guessed by the tone of
the above, I have a love/hate
relationship with
Hypnotoxic Laser; in the long run it
isn’t the healthiest card to have in the
format, not due to direct power (if so
many attacks weren’t borderline
OHKO/2HKO, the Poison damage would often
not matter) but all those “little”
things that it messes up, including
Virbank City Gym helping “Poison”
decks instead of just becoming generic
source of extra damage.
Not that it affects the score,
but also would have expected a “laser”
to Burn and maybe Confuse or Paralyze.
This is actually a great card for
Unlimited… sort of.
Even a donk deck might consider
it, because it is an easy spare damage
counter.
It also is another means of
getting by one of the best Pokémon Tools
ever released,
Focus Band.
The main reasons
not to run this card are lack of
space and the expectation of Trainer
denial, which are even more pressing
problems here than in Modified.
As for Limited play, if you pull
this, you run it; you should never be
unable to make room in your deck, even
if you’re trying something like one big
Basic plus 39 Energy… you’re allowed to
replace the Energy with useful Trainers
so long as odds are against missing an
important Energy drop due to lack of
Energy; six or less non-Energy cards
means you cannot fail to get an Energy
as part of your opening hand plus
opening draw.
Ratings
Unlimited:
4/5
Modified:
4.75/5
Limited:
5/5
Summary
It may seem strange that I scored this
card higher now than when it first
released; we’ve actually got a
legitimate counter to it now, and it
also no longer can be used for the first
turn donk barring that rare 30 HP
exception.
I believe I underscored it last
time, fixated on the desire not to give
“perfect” marks.
This card is easily worth its
investment, and only the phenomenal card
pool it dwells in prevents it from being
a maxed out staple; admittedly it won’t
always be the “61st” card
when it does miss out, but for the decks
that
don’t run it, it is probably in the
Top 10 cards they wish they had room to
fit.
This was my first place choice for the
Top 10 Cards of 2013 and for BW:
Plasma Storm.
