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Every once in a while, a card comes
out that everyone can find a use for, no matter how
large or small. Sycaper of course comes to mind, but
then you've got stuff like Muscle Band, Lysandre, Max
Potion - and then there's Float Stone.
Float Stone here is a Pokemon Tool
that made itself known due to its Ability to give a
Pokemon Free Retreat! Retreat Costs, while not a major
part of the game, are still very important; they're the
tax that it takes to get a Pokemon out of danger if need
be, making sure they don't end up KO'd by your
opponent's attack while at the same time dealing with
the ordeal of not being able to send them back out as
soon as you're able.
Float Stone allowed you to forego
that "tax" of sorts, letting you switch Pokemon out
freely. This could be useful for Bench-sitters that get
dragged out by Pokemon Catcher, Lysandre, or even
Genesect-EX's Ability; such Pokemon could include stuff
like Blastoise, who has a hefty Retreat Cost of 4
Energy, but there are two notable examples of Pokemon
that worked well with Float Stone: Keldeo-EX and
Garbodor.
With Keldeo-EX, he could Rush-In to
protect your Pokemon from Status effects, and then with
Float Stone he could swap out once again to let them go
right back into attacking again. With Garbodor, it was a
way of shutting down Abilities while also not worrying
about getting swapped out to the front lines save for if
there was a one-turn KO waiting to happen when it gets
swapped out.
That does bring up one small note
about Float Stone: since it does take up your Tool slot,
you have to be careful with what Pokemon you use it with
- attackers won't want it most of the time, since they
prefer Muscle Band for extra damage, and Megas usually
keep to their Spirit Link cards for the quick efficiency
they provide in relieving the huge drawback. And with
that in mind, Expanded should be an interesting format
with Float Stone and Megas around.
But here in Standard, we've lost a
quick and powerful Tool.
Rating
Standard: 4/5 (not for every
Pokemon, but definitely a great utility card to use)
Expanded: 4/5 (about the same here,
all things considered)
Limited: 5/5 (unless you had Rock
Guard, this was the only Tool you could use, but it's
still a nice card to have!)
Arora Notealus: Ah Float Stone, you
make my Pokemon come back fast, you lock Abilities while
equipped to Garbodor, and you make Statuses nonexistent
with Keldeo-EX. Clearly you were good at what you did.
Next Time: And now please direct
your attention to your local "totally not evil" evil
scientist.
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