Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
#2 Seismitoad EX
If Lucario’s stock has
fallen since we previewed these cards, then
Seismitoad’s has risen.
A lot.
Item lock is always powerful. Anyone who has played in a
format where it exists will know that.
Seismitoad comes into the
format complete with the ‘Disconnect’-style attack (now
re-named Quaking Punch) that we have seen before on the
old Manectric ex (winner of
Worlds 2006!) and the more recent
Zebstrika NXD (which was somewhat less
successful). Now however, you can have the Item-locking
effect on a big fat EX Pokémon and most important of
all, it only takes a single (Double Colourless) Energy
attachment to use.
The damage output of Quaking Punch is very underwhelming
in this environment, but when you consider that it can
be boosted by Muscle Band and
Hypnotoxic Laser/Virbank
City Gym, it starts to look a little more adequate. This
is especially the case as you are locking you opponent
out of so much that makes their deck work, including
Switch (making it difficult to retreat out of
Poison/Sleep), and their own damage-enhancing Items.
Pair Seismitoad with
Garbodor for a
tough-to-break double lock (they can’t use Startling
Megaphone); you can also support it with whatever back
up attackers you feel will work best, thanks to the
Colourless Energy requirements of Quaking Punch:
Mewtwo EX,
Yveltal EX,
Landorus EX,
Pyroar FLF . . . there are
lots of options that adjust the deck to the wider
metagame.
The goofy Toad isn’t invincible:
Virizion/Genesect
decks will destroy it unless it is backed by a heavy
Pyroar line, and
Energy-efficient big-hitters like
Mewtwo EX can go toe-to-toe with
Seismitoad pretty
effectively. That said, never underestimate the power of
a Pokémon that can Item lock from the first attacking
turn of the game: it’s not easy to get your deck rolling
when you have no access to Ultra Ball, Professor’s
Letter, ACE SPECs, Float Stone,
Bicycle etc etc . . .
If you’re playing a deck that has a bad match up with
Seismitoad, then you will
find the next few tournaments a bit of a struggle.
Rating
Modified: 4.5 (such a great attack on such a silly
Pokémon. Who says the card designers don’t have a sense
of humour?)
Expanded: 4.25 (Item lock is still very effective, but
the Toad has a few more things to worry about – like
Accelgor and
Rayquaza EX)
Limited: 4 (decks don’t run on items here, but it’s
still a big EX and the second attack is decent)
|
aroramage |
Another not so surprising candidate for our Top 3 of the
Top 10 cards shows his face, the Item-locking Seismitoad-EX!
Once again, you can find my thoughts on him here.
Now the real question is why is Seismitoad-EX higher on
our list than Lucario-EX? Well comparing the two,
Lucario-EX has a lot of damage-dealing moves and a great
draw support with Corkscrew Smash, but as far as utility
goes, Seismitoad-EX is far more splashable and works
against every kind of deck. When was the last deck you
saw without any Items in it whatsoever? Lucario-EX is
confined to Fighting decks because of his Energy costs,
but Seismitoad-EX can splash right in with his Quaking
Punch even in decks with no Water Energy! Not that many
folk would run him for Grenade Hammer anyway.
Seismitoad-EX may not have the power and support Lucario-EX
has, but he can still fend him off of Items like Muscle
Band and Hypnotoxic Laser, prevent the opponent from
setting up other attackers with Professor's Letter and
Ultra Ball, and even keep stuff like G Booster from
coming down and annihilating you immediately! He's a
powerful ally to have, and by taking away your
opponent's Items for a few turns, you gain a tremendous
advantage!
Rating
Standard: 4.5/5 (Item-lock is a critical piece, and
keeping that going for several turns can cripple an
opponent's strategy!)
Expanded: 4/5 (while Item-lock is a big bonus here
alongside other great supporters like Garbodor,
Seismitoad-EX himself is going to be a bit more
vulnerable while locking the opponent down, and stuff
that doesn't rely solely on Items like Rayquaza-EX will
just tear him apart)
Limited: 4.5/5 (Item-Lock and high damage, man; I only
keep him from perfect because of Fighting support)
Arora Notealus: I've always gotta laugh at those two
wart-sphere things above Seismitoad's eyes. They always
look like an estranged pair of eyebrows! Cracks me up~
Next Time: THE NUMBAH ONE CARD IS...
|
Otaku |
The second most
promising card of XY: Furious Fists is… another
repeat! We once again look at Seismitoad-EX (XY:
Furious Fists 20/111, 106/111), which we first
reviewed
here
just over a month ago. I’ll cover what has changed
since then; re-reading my own work so much and yet so
little has changed.
First, what
makes this card so potent is… well nearly the entire
package, really. Almost every aspect of the card is a
positive for it, and even being that harsh on it is
something of a pessimistic view. Still, the thing that
has everyone running it is Quaking Punch, an attack that
requires only [CC] but delivers an adequate 30 points of
damage while preventing your opponent from playing Items
during his or her next turn. As it has been the last
few formats, Supporters drive the deck but Items keep
you from having to run quite as many as you would
otherwise need to function. I had been experimenting
with Item-based draw going into the new format, and a
single match against Seismitoad-EX reminded me
that was a huge mistake. The attack wouldn’t be as good
without the rest of the card, but without the attack the
rest of the card could easily be another forgettable
Pokémon-EX.
The second
attack, Grenade Hammer, might have an interesting name,
but it means pretty little to the card. A lot of decks
won’t even be able to use it; they are running
Seismitoad-EX solely for Quaking Punch and run no
source of [W] Energy. Unless you already had to
power-up with at least a single [W] Energy, this attack
usually won’t be worth putting three Energy on the card
(and more importantly, breaking your Item lock). Still
it is a decent option to have: 130 for [WWC] with the
drawback of smacking two of your own Benched Pokémon for
30 points of damage, however there are a methods of
dealing with that: blocking it, healing it, or even
utilizing it as part of combos for attacks like Outrage.
Being a
Water-Type is now a serious boon; Landorus-EX
both returned to prominence while just making making it
through the set rotation, plus there are enough
Fire-Types to make even the damage bonus for Quaking
Punch handy. Without augmentation, Quaking Punch can
2HKO a Landorus (XY: Furious Fists 58/111)
or a Pyroar (XY: Flashfire 20/106), the
latter assuming you are running Garbodor (BW:
Dragons Exalted
54/124; BW: Plasma Freeze 119/116; BW:
Legendary Treasures 68/113). Garbodor has
already proven a popular partner for Seismitoad-EX.
Something as simple as a Muscle Band will jump
Quaking Punch to 2HKO range when striking Weakness,
including against Pokémon-EX (apart from Megas). You
will need to deal with the occasional bit of Water
Resistance (Virizion-EX says “hello”). You might
be able to create an interesting deck tapping the one
bit of true, worthwhile Water-Type support: Aurorus
(XY: Furious Fists 26/111). I would imagine a
tanking Seismitoad-EX is painful to face.
Being a Pokémon-EX is technically pure drawback, as what
we consider the positives are design guidelines that are
not always present in the final product. It usually
results in better-than-usual attacks, HP or an Ability
(sometimes all three), but there are plenty of
exceptions. What is guaranteed is having to give up an
extra Prize when Seismitoad-EX is KOed, being
unable to access certain pieces of otherwise useful
support, and being vulnerable to certain Pokémon-EX
counter-cards. In this case, you can easily tell the HP
thing happened: 180 is the maximum printed on a Basic
Pokémon-EX and unless a deck is already geared for
OHKOs, usually a tricky feat. Still happens often
enough you can’t relax, especially with that Grass-Type
Weakness. It makes an opponent’s Virizion-EX
even more frustrating as it not only soaks 20 points of
damage per Quaking Punch, but can shoot for a 2HKO! Seismitoad-EX
lacks its own Resistance, but that isn’t a big deal; its
own interaction with Virizion-EX is one of the
few instances where Resistance can be really
significant. Its triple Retreat Cost can also be an
issue, though most decks will have at least a few
alternatives to paying it, and in Expanded it makes it a
legal Heavy Ball target.
I don’t know if Lysandre (or an Ability that can
force out a different Pokémon) break the Item lock; I
haven’t seen a ruling and while hardly a reliable
rulings source, in the PTCGO it doesn’t. I do know that
the easy to splash nature of Quaking Punch has it
showing up as a general usage card. Double Colorless
Energy (or other compatible forms of Energy
acceleration) are somewhat common now, and those decks
can just “plug and play” Seismitoad-EX. I expect
this to matter as much, possible more in Expanded. I
forgot how Item reliant a lot of decks are likely to be
here, where some of the great older Items are legal
alongside the new. The fundamental Garbodor
deck, which loves how Items to change out Actives or
discard Energy or Pokémon Tools are blocked while at the
same time, so are Abilities. Many decks just can’t
handle that much resource denial. For Limited play,
whether added into a more proper deck or going the “plus
39 non-Basic Pokémon” route, it seems like a must run.
If you get another worthwhile Pokémon-EX, you might
consider risking a +38 deck instead; which is of course
a bit of an unusual concept.
Ratings
Standard:
4.25/5 - It isn’t quite as potent as I feared splashed
into any old deck, but many decks have natural synergy
with it, and in those decks its probably worth the old
score I gave it. The end result is a slightly lower
score, but also a more meaningful one; scored for its
“own” decks it would be a bit higher, as a true general
rating it would be a bit lower.
Expanded:
4.25/5 - It could also be better, but I expect it to
fair at least as well here.
Limited:
5/5 - A must run! Even though the Item lock won’t do
you a lot of good, with a non-existent Bench Grenade
Hammer should prove amazing and offset being unable to
attack for your first two turns.
Summary:
I already have an intense dislike for this card, because
like most players my decks became quite Item heavy last
format. I’ve actually been forced to slightly up my
Supporter counts (granted I usually was running them a
bit on the low side) because I can’t rely on things like
Random Receiver functioning!
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