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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

Trevenant BREAK - XY BREAKpoint
Date Reviewed: March 1, 2016

Ratings & Reviews Summary
Standard: 3.75  -  Expanded: 3.75  -  Limited: 4.00

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 being horrible.  3 ... average.  5 is awesome.

Back to the main COTD Page

 


aroramage

You see what I did there? With that whole not-so-clever pun? Eh whatever, MOVING ALONG!! 

As the Moon comes down, Trevenant awakens, but as the Sun comes up, he BREAKs out into a new form! And now with that obligatory Sun and Moon reference made, it's time to review Trevenant BREAK!! 

I think one of the neat things about Trevenant BREAK is that, unlike a few of the other BREAK Evos, he's actually got his pick of Trevenants to go from. Naturally, there's the one from yesterday with Energy Press that's oh-so-nice, but then there's even the XY version with the powerful Forest's Curse that can lock Items down for your opponent! Either way, Trevenant BREAK won't mind being Active for the Abilities he may inherit, since he's got a fair amount more bulk than the other two. 

On top of that, he's got a useful attack in Silent Fear. It only costs 2 Energy, which is already cheaper than both the Trevenants' attacks, but it also does a lot for a little, placing down 3 damage counters on each of your opponent's Pokemon. Chances are that, unless the opponent's really crafty about dealing 160+ damage, Trevenant BREAK is gonna lay down at least 60 damage on EVERY POKEMON THEY'VE GOT at the time he starts up!  

"Well that's no trouble," one might say, "I've been teching in Mr. Mime for a while, so I can keep my Bench safe!" Well, I thought I'd look into that cause yes, Mr. Mime's Bench Barrier does in fact prevent damage. While some of the pros might know about this, the rest of you might not have realized that Silent Fear gets around Bench Barrier! Yeah, I had to double check, cause Bench "prevents damage" but doesn't prevent your opponent from "placing damage counters" on your Benched Pokemon - that's why Abilities like Golbat's Sneaky Bite and Crobat's Surprise Bite can still work around Mr. Mime's Bench Barrier! 

So the long and short of it is Trevenant BREAK can deal 30 damage-I'm sorry, place down 3 damage counters on all of your opponent's Pokemon every turn he's Active! And while it might not seem like much at first, keep in mind that most Evolving Basics are out at 2 rounds, a good portion of Stage 1s and even more Basics are out in 3, only the bulkiest of non-EX Basics survive 4, and so on and so forth. Basically: Trevenant BREAK, if left unattended, will eventually cripple everything if not taken care of. 

And to think he can either make your attacks cost more or keep you from playing Items. That's scary. 

Rating 

Standard: 3.5/5 (of course, he is a BREAK Evo for a Stage 1, so he's basically like running a Stage 2 line-up without the benefits of being Stage 2) 

Expanded: 3.5/5 (though I'm sure once BREAK Evo support becomes more plentiful, then he may become an even bigger threat than before) 

Limited: 3.5/5 (and besides, they're still gonna end up competing against Megas and Night March) 

Arora Notealus: I wonder if they'll come up with a way to make BREAK Evos easier to use. Like maybe a Supporter or an Item that can search out a BREAK Evo from your deck, since the only really reliable way to find them is with Ultra Ball. Or maybe like have more BREAK-centric Abilities and attacks - not stuff that's like "when this Pokemon BREAK evolves" or that is anti-BREAK, but like stuff that can support it more so. I dunno, I feel like BREAK Evos just need something more to boost them up that extra bit to be competitive... 

Next Time: DID SOMEBODY SAY SPECIAL ENERGY FOR WATER?!


Otaku

As promised yesterday, here is Trevenant BREAK (XY: BREAKthrough 66/122)!  Being a BREAK Evolution of a Stage 1 means it functions like a Stage 2 without the usual benefits of being a Stage 2; no using Rare Candy, won’t allow “Power Friends” on Miltank (XY: Flashfire 83/106) to hit for 10+70 damage, etc.  Unless you use a compatible form of Evolution acceleration (like Wally) you’ll need three total turns for Trevenant BREAK to hit the field, and even without acceleration you’ll need two other cards (Phantump and Trevenant).  This will be a serious hurdle for the card, but it has some advantages most of the other BREAK Evolutions lack, but more on that when we get to it.  As a Psychic-Type Trevenant BREAK can use Dimension Valley to reduce the costs of its attacks by [C], Mystery Energy to reduce its Retreat Cost by [CC] per Mystery Energy attached to itself, won’t have the Ability of its underlying Trevenant shut down by Wobbuffet (XY: Phantom Forces 36/119) and its “Bide Barricade” Ability and though it shouldn’t ever matter, you could provide Psychic-Type specific Energy acceleration with Gardevoir (BW: Next Destinies 57/99; BW: Dark Explorers 109/108) as its “Psychic Mirage” Ability allows basic [P] Energy cards attached to your Psychic-Type Pokémon to provide [PP] instead of the usual [P].  In terms of damage its attacks will hit for double damage (due to Weakness) against a good selection of Psychic-Types and Fighting-Types, while you’ll have to deal with Resistance against nearly all Darkness-Types and Metal-Types. 

Trevenant BREAK has 160 HP; nothing is truly safe from OHKOs and this falls a bit short of the threshold established by typical Pokémon-EX (170 or 180), but overall it is a good, solid amount that will often survive a hit when fully healthy.  As a BREAK Evolution Trevenant BREAK has no Weakness, Resistance or Retreat of its own, and I’ll cover the possibilities when I discuss the options for Trevenant itself.  As such we’ll move onto the lone  attack of Trevenant BREAK.  It will gain the Abilities and/or attacks of any Trevenant from which it BREAK Evolves; so what Trevenant BREAK itself brings to the table is  “Silent Fear”, which costs [PC] and places three damage counters on each of your opponent’s Pokémon.  Just barely a decent return for the Energy invested, and only when your opponent has several Pokémon in play… unless you use Dimension Valley to turn it into a single Energy attack.  At that point, it is a decent deal so long as your opponent has at least three Pokémon in play. 

Before we get to Trevenant BREAK or Trevenant, we will cover Phantump.  There are two versions, XY 54/146 and XY: BREAKpoint 64/122.  Both are Basic, Psychic-Type Pokémon with 60 HP, Darkness Weakness, Fighting Resistance, a Retreat Cost of [CC], no Abilities, and no Ancient Traits.  XY 54/146 can use “Astonish” for [P] to reveal a random card from the opponent’s hand, which is then revealed before being shuffled back into your opponent’s deck.  For [PCC] it can use “Hook” for 30 damage.  Astonish can be handy but Hook is mostly filler (though better to be able to do some damage than not).  XY: BREAKpoint 64/122 has “Ascension” for [C], allowing you to search your deck for something that Evolves from it and… Evolve into it!  Yeah, that is why I didn’t gloss over this section: it makes a huge different to Trevenant decks now that they have an Ascension Pokémon to rapidly get more out.  Normally this is only a small bonus, but that brings us to Trevenant: there are two versions of Trevenant available, XY 55/146 and XY: BREAKpoint 65/122.  Both are Stage 1 Psychic-Type Pokémon with Darkness Weakness, Fighting Resistance, Retreat Cost [CCC], no Ancient Trait, one Ability that only works while Active and interferes with the opponent and one attack that requires [PCC] to use.  Yes, really that similar!

The Darkness Weakness is a serious hazard as Yveltal-EX is still a strong, widely used attacker that currently still appears to be at or at least near the top of the competitive scene, while especially in Standard you have Zoroark (XY: BREAKthrough 91/162) being used for its “Stand In” Ability with Float Stone, but most of those decks can drop a Double Colorless Energy to power up its potent “Mind Jack” attack attack for a big blow… and while these two might manage OHKOs before Weakness, it is pretty much guaranteed afterwards even against the 160 HP of Trevenant BREAK.  Their Resistance does them some good, but does more for Trevenant BREAK with its 160 HP.  The Retreat Cost of three is a pain but you should have multiple options for dealing with it.  XY 55/146 should be known to you for its Ability (Forest’s Curse) because it blocks the opponent from using Items while this Trevenant (or a Trevenant BREAK with it underneath) is Active.  Its attack is “Tree Slam” which hits for 60 damage to the opponent’s Active and two to up to two of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon.  A bit underwhelming for damage and spread (especially in light of Silent Fear), but solid.  While Active, the “Nervous Seed” Ability of XY: BREAKpoint 65/122 will force your opponent’s Active Basic Pokémon into paying an extra [C] to use its attacks.  While less of an issue for most decks than losing access to Items, it can still be quite devastating if a deck is mostly Basics and doesn’t have copious amounts of Energy handy… or you supplement the Ability properly.  The “Energy Press” attack hits for 70 plus 10 per Energy attached to the opponent’s Active; good synergy with Nervous Seed and a better for a Trevenant BREAK that needs raw damage. 

XY 55/146 is the better Trevenant to use, and as they have to be Active you can’t stack their Abilities without using some kind-of-obscure rules variants that competitive play and even League haven’t used in probably a decade.  XY: BREAKpoint 65/122 isn’t a waste though; a single copy (maybe even two if people were to cut back on Items) is a nice alternate strategy.  Just remember you can only run four Trevenant total (Trevenant BREAK does not count against that limit, though!).  So… what do you do with such a deck?  Apparently do well in the most recent Regional Championships!  Over on The Charizard Lounge you can go and read a nice summary of what is winning in the Masters Age Bracket for the most recent Regionals and Trevenant BREAK decks have had a good showing.  Unfortunately for you I can only guess how the decks were played, but with what few hints I have it looks more or less like previous Trevenant deck strategies just cranked it up to 11 thanks to Trevenant BREAK.  I can also relay what I have encountered on the PTCGO, and that is decks mostly using XY 54/146 (on its own and under Trevenant BREAK) but with disruptive cards like Head Ringer and Crushing Hammer to affect both Items and Energy… and supplement a copy or two of XY: BREAKpoint 65/122.  When you’re running something like Night March, that is pretty devastating to slam into.  Some of the decks in the tournament have also made use of Bursting Balloon; it is a Pokémon Tool that discards itself at the end of your opponent’s turn,but if your opponent damages your equipped Pokémon before then they must place six damage counters on the attacking Pokémon!  Plus as it does get rid of itself, while you can’t count on it forever, you can swap in whatever else you need (like a Float Stone) afterwards. 

The Regional Championships were held in Expanded, and I suspect that in Standard things are just as good for Trevenant BREAK.  I could be totally wrong as I’ve got very little data to base this on, but I cannot think of any major differences that wouldn’t help Trevenant BREAK.  So for Expanded and Standard, yeah this is an important new card.  For Limited, if you can pull it, Trevenant and even one Phantump, it will be magnificent. 

Ratings 

Standard: 4/5 

Expanded: 4/5 

Limited: 4.5/5 

Summary: Trevenant BREAK has impressed so much that I wanted us to look at not only it but its lower Stages.  Yes, plural; if we had the time I was going to cover Phantump (XY: BREAKpoint 64/122) separately because of how important it is!  Trevenant (XY: BREAKpoint 65/122) also warranted an individual look because while it isn’t the main version to use with Trevenant BREAK, it’s another good one.  Its solid HP, potent potential Abilities from whichever Trevenant you BREAK Evolve and even its attack are a threat that can be easily underestimated. 

I had Trevenant BREAK as my seventh place pick for XY: BREAKpoint.  On the group list, with 9 total voting points it finished in 13th place, one point above the 14th place card and one point below both 12th and 11th place (which were tied).  Just two points below our actual 9th and 10th place finishers, M Gyarados-EX and M Scizor-EX, respectively.  Neither of those two made a showing in the results from the latest Regionals; this confirms that I should have ranked Trevenant BREAK far higher on my own list so that even after averaging out, it would have made the Pojo list!


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