We close the week with the number six
Promising Pick of Plasma Freeze:
Superior Energy Retrieval (BW:
Plasma Freeze 103/116)!
Given time, I could find a way to
reference G1 Soundwave in a bad pun or
similar joke, but fortunately for you, I
don’t have that time!
Stats
Miscellaneous:
Superior
Energy Retrieval
is very similar to the older card
Super Energy Retrieval, however
obviously the name is different.
Speculation is that this is
partially due to how much the text was
revised; just easier to make it a new
card than deal with the errata.
As this is an Uncommon, having
access to an old, “normal” Rare version
of the card wouldn’t be a huge advantage
anyway.
I also see many players mistaking this
for another older card, “SER”.
“SER” is
Super Energy Removal; if you never
experienced (let alone heard of) this
card, then play some old-school Pokémon
until you realize that this is not a
card that should be forgotten lest it be
repeated.
Type:
As a Trainer,
Superior Energy Retrieval can be
fetched by
Skyla and reclaimed from the discard
via
Dowsing Machine.
As an Item, it can be blocked by
Zebstrika (BW: Next Destinies
48/99) and
Dragonite (BW: Plasma Freeze
83/116) using their first respective
attack while
Gothitelle (BW: Emerging Powers
47/98) can block Items via its Ability.
Sableye
(BW: Dark Explorers 62/108) can
retrieve Items from the discard with its
Junk Hunt attack, and the rest of the
cards that affect Items probably aren’t
likely to matter.
Effects:
Superior
Energy Retrieval
requires you discard two cards from hand
to use it, and this act does not count
as the “minimum” effect on the game a
card has to have in order to be legal to
play.
The effect allows you to then get
back four basic Energy cards from your
discard pile (or as many as you can if
there are less than four in the discard
pile)
excluding any basic Energy cards
discarded to pay for the card.
I am a bit confused by wording it this
way; the only reason to word it this way
is so that the discard cost is just
that, a cost (e.g. it would be paid even
if the rest of the effect is negated)
but so that it still can’t get back
basic Energy discarded to pay for the
cost.
Would it not have been easier to
say “Select four basic Energy cards from
your discard pile, and then discard two
cards from your hand.
Add the selected Energy cards
from your discard pile to your hand.”?
This isn’t a very good effect; you trade
three cards for four cards.
Still, it does have some benefits
over the next best alternative;
Energy Retrieval.
With
Energy Retrieval you trade it for
two basic Energy cards from your discard
pile, providing the same four basic
Energy cards while only costing you two
cards from hand (the actual copies of
Energy Retrieval).
That is two
specific cards, let alone two slots
from your deck.
If you really need basic Energy
in hand,
Superior Energy Retrieval either
gets twice as much back (though at a
higher cost) with the same number of
slots in deck and gets more back in a
single shot: having two
Energy Retrieval in hand at the same
time isn’t easy, but having two cards of
discard fodder often is.
Usage
Combos:
If you have two basic Energy cards in
hand, and the discard pile contains
copies of each plus two more basic
Energy cards you want, you can fake
Superior Energy Retrieval being an
Energy Retrieval: note that involves
six Energy cards total and I didn’t
forget the ruling I mentioned earlier.
There aren’t really that many
“combos” to use the card with; if you
have an effect that allows you to play
multiple basic Energy cards from hand in
a single turn, it will combo with this
card.
You might even risk the new
Exeggutor (BW: Plasma Freeze
4/116) to help shave down the discard
cost.
Ratings
Unlimited:
Most decks don’t use a lot of Basic
Energy cards or need a lot of Basic
Energy cards, though if you do have one
it might prefer just using cards to
shuffle said Energy back into deck and
then drawing it, as draw power is so
abundant here.
There is also the supporter
Fisherman that is basically
Superior Energy Retrieval without
the discard cost.
2.5/5
Modified:
How did this card crack the top 10?
By becoming a great card for
Blastoise (BW: Boundaries Crossed
31/149; BW: Plasma Storm
137/135), that’s how!
This deck is desperate for space,
and if there are at least four
Water Energy cards in the discard
pile, you really can just discard two
more
Water Energy to be no worse off than
if you had run
Energy Retrieval.
It also would work for
Emboar (Black & White 20/114;
BW Promo BW21; BW: Next
Destinies 100/99).
3.75/5
Limited:
Most decks will need to run multiple
kinds of basic Energy cards.
Most decks will have to run extra
Energy to avoid a drought or because of
a lack of other options.
This is another option.
This can allow you to stretch
your Energy so you don’t have to run as
much.
This makes it easier to manage
multiple Energy Types in a single deck.
A deck that is Pokémon-EX+39
Energy are the only decks that should
skip it… and even then that doesn’t hold
true if the Pokémon-EX needs two
different Energy-Types.
5/5
Summary
Superior Energy Retrieval
isn’t a spectacular card, but it makes a
great deck even better, and
“spectacular” is a good word; what it
does isn’t “fancy” but in the right deck
it is very useful!
I had
Superior Energy Retrieval as my
number six pick as well.
