Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Leavanny
(Phantom Forces)
Let’s not beat around the bush . . .
Leavanny is a bad card. I
don’t mean bad in the sense that vanilla, mediocre cards
are bad, I mean bad in the sense that it offers
something very small and niche, but in such a way that
you could never use it.
I’m talking about the Coordinate attack here. It lets
you search for 2 Tools and attach them to two of your
Benched Pokémon. Of course, we already have card which
searches out multiple Tools without having to waste an
attack (Elesa), but an
attack effect at least gives you the opportunity to get
around the Item Lock from
Seismitoad EX’s Quaking Punch or
Trevenant XY’s Forest Curse
Ability. You could use it to get a Tool down on
Garbodor, a Muscle Band on
an attacker, or a G Booster on
Genesect EX, among other things.
Except you won’t ever use this card for any number of
reasons.
Most importantly, the effect is of such marginal use
that it isn’t worth taking up deck space for. Leaving
that aside, setting up a Stage 2 under Item Lock is
incredibly difficult, and as for having to run a
specific Energy Type or Rainbow just to use it . . .
ugh. It’s just too many cards for way too little gain,
especially when you consider the poor second attack.
If Coordinate had a Colourless cost and was printed on a
Basic then just maybe we would have had a
very specialised,
metagame-specific tech. On a
Stage 2 though? Waste of time.
Rating
Modified: 1.25 (useless)
Expanded: 1.25 (terrible)
Limited: 1.25 (rubbish)
|
aroramage |
Welcome to another exciting week of Pokemon to catch!
Today's card has been seen many a time since its
introduction in Gen V's Black and White sets (more
specifically starting out in Emerging Powers), but since
the inception of the Pokemon-EX and the strain of
evolution, it hasn't been particularly viable in
competitive play. Can this one turn it around, or will
it fall prey to the ongoing EX saga? Say hello to
Leavanny once again!
Now unlike most of the other Leavanny, this one doesn't
rely on coin flips for any of her attacks - huzzah! Too
long have they been flipping coins, so it's about time
she got something less chancy to use! Her first attack,
Coordinate, may remind you of Leavanny (EPO)'s Nurturing
attack; both cost 1 Energy to use, and both of them
search through the deck to help out a Pokemon on your
Bench. While Nurturing accelerated Evolution by allowing
you to evolve a Benched Pokemon, Coordinate picks out up
to 2 Benched Pokemon to bring out any Tools you've got
laying around in your deck and attach them to those
Pokemon. It can turn on a Garbodor's Ability and fuel
any attacker with a Muscle Band instantly while
simultaneously thinning out the deck for more useful
cards to show up!
Leavanny's Leaf Storm attack isn't half-bad either,
letting her deal 70 damage (the highest printed damage
on any Leavanny, it would seem) and heal off 20 damage
on all your Grass Pokemon. This can be useful for
removing any spread damage inflicted on them from
certain attacks and can help out a MHeracross-EX that's
retreated to the Bench to a healthy rate again, but it's
not exactly a game-breaking attack.
Yes, sadly our Leavanny here still has problems, as most
Evolution Pokemon tend to have. There are much more
efficient ways of healing damage off of Pokemon aside
from an attack, and while Coordinate is useful, Battle
Compressor thins decks out faster and doesn't require an
attack. Not to mention the existence of Team Flare Tools
means Coordinate's only going to be good as a preventive
measure, since it can't attach Tools to Benched Pokemon
who've already got Tools on them. And of course Leavanny
has to take her time in evolving, whether by
contributing resources to evolving Sewaddle with Rare
Candy or with Evosoda into Swadloon to go on to Leavanny.
Leavanny is much more trouble to get out than she's
ultimately worth, so she's going to remain a casual at
best type of card. Still, who knows? Maybe she'll get
her own EX card to show off some real talent; if Florges
can get an EX, I don't see why Leavanny can't.
Rating
Standard: 2/5 (too slow for the format and doesn't do
enough)
Expanded: 2/5 (same as above)
Limited: 2.5/5 (her healing is much more beneficial here
than her Tool-searching, not to mention she's decently
bulky with the ability to heal off 20 damage off herself
each attack)
Arora Notealus: Leavanny are like the natural tailors of
the Pokemon world, sewing clothes up for Pokemon as it
cares for them. That actually could explain how a lot of
wild Pokemon like Sawk and Throh have clothing on them
despite being wild.
Next Time: I get the feeling "Rawk Hawk" would be a very
appropriate name for one of these guys.
|
Otaku |
Leavanny
(XY: Phantom Forces 7/119) is the TCG’s latest
attempt at this Pokémon; if I’ve counted right there are
five different versions (one re-released) and yet most
of the time I barely remember that there is one. Will
this version finally make an impression?
Leavanny
is a Grass-Type Pokémon, useful for hitting Weakness on
a few key cards, never needing to worry about Resistance
and enjoying some support (both direct and indirect) but
with mostly one deck (VirGen) giving it its presence in
the format. As a Stage 2 it will have a hard time; with
Item lock being a common strategy once again, Stage 2
Pokémon get hit the worst of all: not only do you lose
access to useful Items in general, but most commonly
played search cards like Ultra Ball or Evolution
aids like Rare Candy or cards that do both like
Evosoda are all denied. Its 130 HP is on the low
end of “average” for a Stage 2, or else the high end of
“small”: as decks seem more and more prone to at least
attempting OHKOs against 170 or 180 HP Pokémon-EX, they
also seem to be hitting those lower numbers a bit more
easily. The Fire Weakness isn’t the worst but its bad;
the slight upside is that it’s often going to result in
overkill or save the opponent the need for a small
damage boost as Fire-Types tend to hit hard but with a
cost. No Resistance is common and might have helped,
depending on if it bumped Leavanny from OHKO to
2HKO status (or 2HKO to 3HKO) but it is more a missed
opportunity since most decks can alternate attackers to
bypass it anyway. The single Energy Retreat Cost is
very good and will serve the card well, making it easy
to get it out of the Active slot, assuming it can
survive a hit.
Leavanny
has two attacks. The first is Coordinate, which
requires [G] to use and allows you to select up to two
of your Benched Pokémon that lack Pokémon Tools and
search your deck for Pokémon Tools to attach to them.
The second attack is Leaf Storm, which requires [GGC]
and does 70 points of damage while healing 20 points of
damage from each of your Grass-Type Pokémon (making it a
form of direct Grass-Type support). These attacks
aren’t your standard affair, but unfortunately still
aren’t any good. Coordinate might not be bad on a Basic
or if Pokémon Tools were easier to protect, but neither
is the case. By the time you get a Stage 2 Pokémon up
and attacking, even if only for a single Energy, it
needs to do some pretty impressive things as (in this
case) with 130 HP it probably isn’t sticking around for
a second turn… plus Pokémon Tools are easy to discard en
masse. Leaf Storm will take three Energy attachments or
Energy acceleration beyond something simple (re: it
isn’t Double Colorless Energy compliant) and
still needs a Muscle Band to 2HKO Pokémon-EX.
Healing a 20 from everything is also likely to be a
waste unless you’ve got an effect to move damage
counters around on your side of the field or your
opponent is doing spread damage. In the case of the
former I can think of nothing to do it efficiently and
in the case of the latter, why not run something to
block said Bench damage instead?
Leavanny
has to go through its Basic and Stage 1 forms (or use
Rare Candy) to enter play. Sewaddle has four
Standard legal options (five if for some reason you
count a reprint separately) with two additional versions
legal in Expanded. They are BW: Emerging Powers
3/98 and BW: Emerging Powers 4/98 for Expanded
and for both BW: Noble Victories 1/101, its
reprint BW: Legendary Treasures 9/113, BW:
Plasma Storm 8/135, BW: Legendary Treasures
10/113 (not a reprint) and the most recent,
XY: Phantom Forces 5/119. All are Grass-Type Basic
Pokémon with Fire Weakness, no Resistance, a single
Energy Retreat Cost and no Ability. BW: Emerging
Powers 3/98 and BW: Plasma Storm 8/135 have
40 HP while the rest have 50. BW: Emerging Powers
3/98 has two attacks: for [C] it can hit for 10 and for
[G] you get a coin flip to try and Paralyze the
Defending Pokémon. BW: Emerging Powers 4/98 can
also do 10 for [C] but its second attack does 20 for
[GC]. BW: Noble Victories 1/101 and BW:
Legendary Treasures 9/113 just have a single attack
that costs [GC] and has you flip two coins, doing 20
points of damage per “heads”. BW: Plasma Storm
8/135 can do 20 for [G] but has no second attack. XY:
Phantom Forces 5/119 can just do 20 for [CC] as it
also has no second attack. All of these are bad, but at
least also all have slightly different strengths. The
40 HP versions have better attacks but at that
size is begging for an X-Ball OHKO (among many other
OHKO options). Against many attackers, however, the 50
HP will go just as quickly.
For Swadloon, your choices are almost as
numerous, including two that are Expanded only (BW:
Emerging Powers 5/98 and BW: Emerging Powers
6/98), two that are the same card but with different art
and ID numbers (BW: Noble Victories 2/101 and
BW: Legendary Treasures 11/113) but this time just
two more after those (BW: Plasma Storm 9/135 and
XY: Phantom Forces 5/119). All are Stage 1
Grass-Type Pokémon with Fire Weakness, no Resistance, no
Abilities but this time at least they all have two
attacks. BW: Emerging Powers 5/98 and BW:
Plasma Storm 9/135 have 80 HP while the rest have
70. BW: Emerging Powers 6/98 and BW: Plasma
Storm 9/135 get stuck with a Retreat Cost of two (note
that only one of those is an 80 HP version). BW:
Emerging Powers 5/98 (the 80 HP, single Retreat Cost
version) can do 20 for [C] or for [GCC] flip two coins
at 50 damage per “heads”. BW: Emerging Powers
6/98 (the 70 HP, Retreat Cost [CC]) Swadloon does
can heal 40 for [G] or do 20 damage for [GC]; yes, it is
the worst Swadloon. BW: Noble Victories
2/101 and BW: Legendary Treasures 11/113 both can
do 20 for [G] or for [CC] do 20 with a coin flip to
inflict Paralysis on the Defending Pokémon. BW:
Plasma Storm 9/135 can reduce the damage it takes
from attacks by the opponent’s Pokémon 40 (after
applying Weakness and Resistance) at a cost of [G] or it
can try to do 40 for [CC], but the attack is “tails
fails”. Last but not least is XY: Phantom Forces
5/119, which for [G] can flip a coin and if “heads”,
ignores all damage and effects done by attacks from your
opponent’s Pokémon during your opponent’s next turn,
while for [GGC] it can do a flat 40 points of damage.
Again, all of these are pretty bad. With 70 HP being
about as useful as 80, I’d select a version with an
effect that protects it from damage or Paralyzes the
Defending Pokémon. As it should never be attacking and
possibly should be skipped entirely via Rare Candy,
it isn’t something to really fret about.
The options for Leavanny are BW: Emerging
Powers 7/98 and BW: Emerging Powers 8/98 for
Expanded only play, BW: Noble Victories 3/101 and
BW: Legendary Treasures 12/113 for the one
version that got a reprint and then the latest one (excluding
today’s of course), BW: Plasma Storm 10/135. All
have the same attributes as today’s CotD except for
Retreat Cost and HP. BW: Emerging Powers 7/98
and BW: Emerging Powers 8/98 also have single
Energy Retreat Costs, but the rest until today’s
candidate have Retreat Costs of [CC]. BW: Plasma
Storm 10/135 enjoys 140 HP. BW: Emerging Powers
7/98 has two attacks. For [C] you select one of your
Pokémon and search your deck for a card that Evolves
from it, then put the one you searched out onto the one
you selected initially. As the attack specifies it
counts as Evolving, its just Evosoda in attack
form. For [GC] it does 30 damage, with a coin flip for
an additional 50. It isn’t all bad, but as the main
attack on a 130 HP Stage 2, too little damage for too
much Energy and also unreliable is very bad. BW:
Emerging Powers 8/98 simply does 30 for [C] or for
[GGC] flips three coins, scoring 60 damage per “heads”.
The attacks are underwhelming for a Stage 2, though the
second might not be terrible if it were easier to power
up.
BW: Noble Victories
3/101 and BW: Legendary Treasures 12/113 have an
Ability called Leaf Tailor; each of your Pokémon that
have an Energy attached have no Weakness. For [GCC] it
can also hit for 40 points of damage, plus flip two
coins for an additional 20 points of damage per “heads”.
The attack is still underpowered and/or overpriced, but
the Ability is enough to consider it in a deck… consider
it but probably never play it because even though
Weakness is a big deal, odds are your opponent will can
either still push for a more difficult OHKO anyway or
force Leavanny Active, OHKO it, and then resume
punishing the rest of your deck. BW: Plasma Storm
10/135 can do 30 for [CC] with the added effect of
discarding all Energy attached to the Defending Pokémon
if you can get double “heads” on the mandatory
double coin flip. Besides being unreliable even with a
card like Trick Coin, many decks rely on Pokémon
that have at least one worthwhile attack they can use
with a single turn of powering-up in that deck. In a
slower format this attack might be formidable, even
while still being so “flippy”. Its second attack sadly
gets back to the level we’ve seen on the other versions:
[GGC] for 70 and a coin flip to do an additional 20.
So none of these really compliment today’s card. You
might think the Leaf Tailor versions would, as running
one so that a different Leavanny could attack
without worrying about its Weakness but none are worth
competitive play (and possibly not even casual play) and
the Leaf Tailor version is the only one even close to
being worth the hassle of running. Yeah, sorry: no
kookie deck ideas to try and make today’s card work,
even in a fun deck.
Ratings
Standard:
1.25/5
Expanded:
1.25/5
Limited:
3.5/5
Summary:
The only place this should see any play is in Limited,
and even then mostly because by virtue of the format, if
you can pull a decent Evolution line and afford the
space for Grass Energy, it’ll be strong compared
to Evolving Pokémon that lack Evolutions but still end
up seeing play in this format. Plus you might have a
few other Grass-Types and/or Pokémon Tools to make some
use of the attacks’ effects. Said effects are why I
gave Leavanny a quarter point over the minimum
score in Standard and Expanded: at least it does
something, it just doesn’t do them anywhere near well
enough to justify playing it.
|
