Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Durant #91 (Plasma Storm)
It’s déjŕ vu all over again on
Pojo’s CotD. We
already looked at a (sort of) good Durant from the
Plasma Storm set, and now we have another one up for
review.
As you would expect, this one is nothing to write home
about. A 70 HP unevolving
Basic has to work quite hard to deserve a place in
today’s tournament decks and, despite a decent Weakness
and Resistance, plus a pretty good retreat cost of one,
Durant does nowhere near enough.
The reason for this?
Yep, you guessed – it’s the attacks. The first, Gnaw,
costs two Energy of any Colour and does just 20 damage.
That might have been just about ok in Base Set days, but
those days were gone before a lot of current players
were even born. Hard Crunch is bare any better either.
One Metal and two Colourless Energy gets you just 40
damage . . . unless the Defending Pokémon already has
some damage on it, in which case it will do an extra 30.
Bear in mind that even
if you
fulfil the condition for the extra damage, 70 for three
is pretty much below par for today’s attacking Pokémon,
and 70 HP Basics cannot stay on the field long enough to
justify the Energy investment.
I feel like I’ve just written a long-ish
paragraph explaining what is obvious to everyone at a
glance: Durant isn’t very good. It’s frail,
underpowered, and uninteresting. Even the fact that it
is a Team Plasma Pokémon can’t make it worthwhile. Who
would want to waste a Colress
Machine on this?
Rating
Modified: 1.5 (nothing to recommend it)
Limited: 2 (eh, it’s a Basic that can use Colourless
Energy, but that’s all)
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virusyosh |
Hello once again, Pojo viewers! Today we're looking
at Team Plasma Pokemon from the Plasma Storm expansion.
Today's Card of the Day is Durant (#91).
Durant is a Basic Metal Team Plasma Pokemon. As a
Metal-type, Durant could see some play with Klinklang
and Cobalion-EX if it fulfills a niche. As a Team Plasma
Pokemon, Durant gets support from the likes of Plasma
Frigate, Frozen City, is searchable with Team Plasma
Ball, and can be recovered with Shadow Triad. 70 HP is a
bit on the weak side for a non-evolving Basic, and
because of this, Durant probably won't see Modified
play, even if its attacks and abilities are amazing.
Fire Weakness isn't so bad right now; Psychic Resistance
is good against Mewtwo-EX and Deoxys-EX; and a single
Retreat Cost is easily paid, even if you don't have a
Switch, Escape Rope, or Float Stone.
The Iron Ant Pokemon has two attacks. Gnaw starts off at
20 damage for two Colorless Energy, which is an attack
for Limited, nothing more. 20 damage for two Energy is
far too weak to be useful in Modified, but it is
passable in Limited. Hard Crunch is better, starting off
at 40 damage for a Metal and two Colorless, but also
deals 30 more if the Defending Pokemon has any damage
counters on it. 70 damage for three Energy is passable
by today's Modified standards, but even still, there are
much better attackers for that amount of Energy, like
the aforementioned Cobalion-EX in the Metal-type.
Overall, Durant is a very solid Basic secondary attacker
for the Limited format, but won't go very far in
Modified.
Modified: 1/5 As previously stated, low HP and
unimpressive attacks make Durant pretty bad for the
Modified format. If you want a strong attacking
Metal-type, use Cobalion-EX.
Limited: 3/5 Durant is decent in Limited, but not
spectacular. 70 HP means that Durant will probably be
able to take two hits in the late game, so don't expect
too much out of it if your opponent has a powerful
Evolution. As for the attacks, Gnaw is simply average,
but Hard Crunch is really pretty good. Once again,
Durant works nicely as a secondary attacker in a Metal
deck, but other than that, there will probably be better
options.
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