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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

 Hypno

- XY BREAKpoint

Date Reviewed:
March 9, 2016

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Standard: 2.63
Expanded: 2.25
Limited: 2.67

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

Back to the main COTD Page


aroramage

*yawwwwwn* Well, I dunno about you guys, but I had the craziest dream last night about some kind of murder mystery on a cruise where I ended up finding out who the culprit was because of a randomly appearing steak dinner and the fact that they were missing from their bedroom in the morning. Looks like I caught you red-handed, Neil the Chef. 

...I have no idea what that was about. 

But hey, better than it getting eaten by Hypno! Never has he really been graced with anything other than that, "that one Pokemon that eats people's dreams." Either that or being called an inferior Psychic Pokemon in the graces of others like Alakazam, Mewtwo, or even Mr. Mime!...okay, maybe not Mr. Mime, but you get the idea. Hypno has been vastly overshadowed as time goes on by more and more powerful Psychic-types showing up. 

Heck, just look at this guy! He's only got a 2-for-50 Zen Headbutt that does nothing, only 90 HP, and he STILL has to deal with being weak to Psychic-types! So what's the catch to him? What's his gimmick? Well, it's Goodnight, Babies! It's a strange Ability for a strange Pokemon, and it allows Hypno to put both Active Pokemon to Sleep. 

Now this may seem like an odd thing to do - why would you want to go to Sleep? You won't even get the chance to get out of it until you end your turn, and even then you might not get out! Meanwhile, your opponent has the same 50/50 chance of escaping without your help, and he could destroy your guy while you snooze! Thanks a lot, Hypno... 

...well, there is one reason to potentially work around this, and it involves the cards we're reviewing over the next couple of days. I'm gonna go ahead and spill the beans on the next one: All-Night Party. It's a Stadium card that basically lets you remove the Sleep Condition and heal 30 damage off of your Active Pokemon once a turn. It's not a particularly great Ability, but if you can combine it with Hypno and Friday's card, well you're in for a big treat. 

Another idea would be to utilize this in a Machamp-EX build. I know it sounds a bit crazy, but hear me out: normally, you'd be running Machamp-EX with Ariados, right? Well adding Hypno into the mix means you can put both Pokemon to Sleep, wake up Machamp-EX with All-Night Party, Poison them both with Ariados, and then use Machamp-EX's Crazy Hammer to get rid of the Poison for 160 damage! BOOM!! Just figure a way to get rid of All-Night Party before your opponent's turn, or make sure the attack does enough to KO them with Poison, and you're all set! 

Too complicated for ya? Well then you're not gonna run Hypno much outside of that. I mean, what else can you do with a guy who puts everyone to sleep? 

Rating 

Standard: 2/5 (he makes for a couple niche combos, but at the end of the day, he's still not that useful) 

Expanded: 1.5/5 (maybe if some Pokemon was able to attack in their Sleep, then he could really prove to be a powerhouse deck) 

Limited: 2.5/5 (like, really, he's not that great) 

Arora Notealus: On the flip side of everything, this Hypno has some of the coolest artwork ever!! I mean look at that!! Half dreamland, half nightmare valley, all Hypno! Swagger crazy sonuvagun. 

Next Time: TIME TO STAY UP ALL NIGHT LONG!!


Otaku

The next three CotDs are closely related and frankly, I need to write them all at once so let us dive right in!  Hypno (XY: BREAKpoint 51/122) is a Psychic-Type, hitting most Psychic-Types and the majority of Fighting-Types for double damage due to Weakness but slamming into Resistance against nearly all Metal-Types and Darkness-Types; net result is still favorable because exploiting Weakness is both easier and more effective than enjoying Resistance.  The direct benefits of being a Psychic-Type are 

·         access to Dimension Valley to shave [C] off of attack costs

·         employing “Mirage” via Gardevoir (BW: Next Destinies 57/99; BW: Dark Explorers 109/108) to treat basic Psychic Energy attached to Psychic-Types as providing [PP] (not recommended)

·         Mystery Energy being an option to drop your Retreat Cost by [CC] per copy attached

·         Abilities are not shut down by Wobbuffet (XY: Phantom Forces 36/119) 

with two of those four being unlikely to matter; Hypno has no [C] in its attack costs and again, Psychic Mirage is not recommended.  There are also less direct benefits, namely the synergy of being the same Type as a card that doesn’t demand being in a Psychic-Type deck (but benefits from the Type support or Energy), like Mew-EX and Mewtwo-EX (BW: Next Destinies 54/99, BW: Next Destinies 98/99, BW: Black Star Promos BW45, BW: Legendary Treasures 54/113).  Unless I missed it, there are no cards that punish a Pokémon specifically because it is a Psychic-Type.  This may not be the best Type in the format, but it is still a good starting point. 

Hypno is a Stage 1; Basics are still the best Stage right now but the Stage 1 is still a solid second.  You’ll need an extra card and turn so that you can Bench Drowzee then Evolve, or yet another card but doing it all at once with Wally, and this is something multiple successful decks have managed.  It does mean the 90 HP is extra disappointing, as anymore that is low for a Basic; should it matter though Hypno is a legal Level Ball target and even a little more HP leaves it almost as vulnerable to OHKOs, so there is not much point dwelling upon it.  Psychic Weakness is dangerous; you might get lucky and face one that Poisons or places damage counters or another trick instead of doing actual damage, but when facing the aforementioned Mewtwo-EX or Mew-EX or Pumpkaboo (XY: Phantom Forces 44/119) all but the worst possible set-up means Hypno goes down in a single hit.  Silver lining is that all this means is an almost certain thing is even more certain.  Lack of Resistance is typical and even if present wouldn’t make much different with 90 HP on a Stage 1, so we’ll wrap up the card’s attributes with the Retreat Cost of [CC].  This is the functional average; while not the mathematical mean of all the Retreat Costs (or all that see regular play), this is the point where it stops being easy to pay and to recover from paying and starts to really sting.  Still it is low enough that a single Double Colorless Energy or Mystery Energy can cover the cost, the latter without being discarded. 

The Ability is why we are looking at Hypno: “Goodnight, Babies” is a great name but its effect is simply adequate as it leaves both Active Pokémon (yours and your opponent’s) Asleep.  Sleep requires you flip a coin between turns, with “heads” meaning the Pokémon stays Asleep while “tails” means it wakes up.  You will need to use another effect to shake it if you want your own Active to be able to Attack, retreat, etc. while your opponent has a 50% chance of it being gone before his or her turn begins.  Oddly enough the fact that shaking Special Conditions is simple actually benefits this card, as the net result is an irritant that can distract (and occasionally disable) your opponent while setting up certain combos (more on that later).  Hypno also has a single attack, named “Zen Headbutt”, which costs [PP] and does 50; this is too expensive and weak to be much good, but at the same time is far better than some other filler attacks.  Just focus on the Ability. 

There are two options for Drowzee in the forms of XY: Furious Fists 35/111 and XY: BREAKpoint 50/122. Both are Basic Psychic-Types with 70 HP, Psychic Weakness, no Resistance, Retreat Cost [CC], no Ancient Trait, no Ability but two attacks.  XY: Furious Fists 35/111 may use “Sinister Suggestion” for [P], which causes all coin flips during your opponent’s next turn to count as if they came up “tails”, which is actually really impressive.  For [PP] it also allows you to use “Psyshot” to hit for 20 damage.  XY: BREAKpoint 50/122 can use “Mumble” to hit for 10 damage at a cost of [P] or for [CC] instead can use “Focused Wish” to do 10 damage with a coin flip; if “tails” it still does 10 damage while if “heads” it does 10+20.  As you can gather, XY: Furious Fists 35/111 impresses me far more, so unless you are running a deck without a source of [P] you can risk on Drowzee, go with it; coin flips are found in all decks, but enough it could buy you valuable time.  Just remember Sleep Checks occur between turns, so those aren’t affected.  There is also one other Hypno, XY: Furious Fists 36/111.  It has the same attributes as today’s card, but with two attacks and no Ability.  Its “Hand Control” attack requires [P] and allows you to look at your opponent’s hand; you select a Supporter you find there (if there is one) and Hand Control forces your opponent to use it (though any decisions required are made by you and not the Supporter’s owner).  For [PPP] it can use “Hypno Blast” to do 60 damage and leave the opponent's Active Asleep, which is actually worse than Zen Headbutt.  XY: Furious Fists 35/111 doesn’t help today’s version much, but today’s Hypno could help if you are trying to build a deck around XY: Furious Fists 35/111.  If you are curious, we reviewed it here (and probably overrated it a bit). 

So, about using Hypno (XY: BREAKpoint 51/122), the key is looking for two things: 

·         Effects that reward you for the opponent’s Active being Asleep on your turn.

·         Helps you deal with your own Active being Asleep. 

Darkrai-EX (XY: BREAKpoint 74/122, 118/122), Giratina (XY: Plasma Storm 62/135; BW: Black Star Promos BW74), Honchkrow (XY: Phantom Forces 52/119), Munna (Black & White 44/114), Musharna (Black & White 45/114), Ninetales (BW: Dragons Exalted 19/124; BW: Black Star Promos BW66), Sceptile-EX (XY: Ancient Origins 7/98, 84/98), Team Aqua’s Muk (XY: Double Crisis 8/34), Team Aqua’s Seviper (XY: Double Crisis 9/34) and Volbeat (XY: Primal Clash 17/160) all have attacks that benefit from your opponent being Asleep (including ones that care about any or all Special Conditions).  Probably are a few I missed as these were culled via searched based on specific card text.  The ones that really matters is Darkrai-EX (XY: BREAKpoint 74/122, 118/122), but for a sense of scale we’ll also highlight Honchkrow (XY: Phantom Forces 52/119).  Darkrai-EX is the real star and we’ll be checking it out this Friday.  Both cards hit harder if the opponent’s Active is Asleep and for the same Energy cost of [DCC]; Darkrai-EX does a massive 80+80 with its “Dark Head” attack while Honchkrow a much more subdued 60+60 with its “Nightmare Mambo”.  Honchkrow doesn’t really stand much of a chance given that its main benefit (Fighting Resistant instead of Fighting Weak) is covered by Yveltal-EX.  There are also options for Basic, Darkness-Type attacks that are not Pokémon-EX, so Honchkrow has sadly been left behind unless you want to build a super-budget (or non-Pokémon-EX) version of the attack. 

So what about the fact that your Active is also left Asleep by Goodnight, Babies?  There are the various card effects that expressly remove Special Conditions but mostly I would expect either Keldeo-EX or Zoroark (XY: BREAKthrough 91/162) aided by either the Dark Cloak Ability found on the original Darkrai (BW: Dark Explorers 63/108, 107/108; BW: Black Star Promos BW46; BW: Legendary Treasures 88/113) or a simple Float Stone.  There is also tomorrow’s card, a Stadium called All-Night Party (XY: BREAKpoint 96/122); short version is that it is a Stadium that allows a player to remove Sleep from his or her Active Pokémon, then heal it of 30 damage, during his or her turn.  So for Standard, you have a decent idea of the kind of deck that will use Hypno from all of this, but I don’t think it is as useful for Expanded; while not easily reused, Hypnotoxic Laser plus Virbank City Gym give a 50% chance of making use of Dark Head while effectively boosting the damage done thanks to those three extra Poison counters.  No worries about getting the condition off of your own Active, and with Double Colorless Energy and Dark Patch, plus Keldeo-EX you should be able to power up an alternate attacker for when Sleep doesn’t take.  That is how it was used in one deck the Top 8 at more a 2016 Winter Regional Championship.

For Standard though Hypno seems like a good substitute.  This is where All-Night Party and Zoroark are likely to join the party as well.  I am uncertain about using Hypno in Limited; if you get All-Night Party as well, or enough Evolutions that you can put your opponent’s Active to Sleep and then Evolve to get rid of your own Active’s Sleep, go for it!  If not, then pass. 

Ratings 

Standard: 3.25/5 

Expanded: 3/5 

Limited: 3/5 

Summary: Hypno is in some ways similar to Ariados (XY: Ancient Origins 6/98), but without an effect triggered by the Special Condition, inflicting Sleep to both Actives is less impressive than inflicting Sleep to any non-Grass-Type Active Pokémon.  Plus Hypno doesn’t have access to Forest of Giant Plants.  Still it may have a serious shot thanks to another combo spoonfed to us by the-powers-that-be. 

Hypno did not make either my personal nor the site’s Top 10 or 15 or even 20 list.


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