Fusion Strike Energy – Fusion Strike
Date Reviewed: November 14, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 4.0
Expanded: 4.0
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Lucky number 13 in our countdown is Fusion Strike Energy (SW – Fusion Strike 244/264)! This Special Energy can only be manually attached to Fusion Strike Pokémon. Even if you use a combo to get around this restriction, Fusion Strike Energy’s effect also states it discards itself the instant it is attached to a non-Fusion Strike Pokémon. What could be worth this hassle? Fusion Strike Energy provides one unit of Energy that counts as all types at once and prevents all effects of your opponent’s Abilities done to the Pokémon with Fusion Strike Energy attached. If Fusion Strike Energy was only about giving Fusion Strike Pokémon an alternative to Aurora Energy that doesn’t require discarding a card from your hand, it might be an “okay” card. The protection offered makes Fusion Strike Energy great… well, for Fusion Strike Pokémon, anyway.
Think of one of the most popular offensive Abilities in the game: Inteleon’s (SW – Chilling Reign 043/198; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH113; SW – Evolving Skies 227/203) “Quick Shooting”. It does nothing to a Fusion Strike Pokémon with Fusion Strike Energy attached. There are a few others, but this alone is why Fusion Strike Energy is what Spiral Energy and Impact Energy wish they could be. Fusion Strike Energy even seems good enough to have an application in Expanded. While still only for decks with the right Fusion Strike Pokémon, I believe a Fusion Strike Pokémon with an Ability and Fusion Strike Energy attached should still be able to use its Ability even if your opponent has Garbodor (BW – Dragons Exalted 54/124; BW – Plasma Freeze 119/116; BW – Legendary Treasures 68/113) or Garbodor (XY – BREAKpoint 57/122) in play, with a Tool attached.
There is already one card that provides support to Fusion Strike Energy: Elesa’s Sparkle. This Supporter lets you select two of your Fusion Strike Pokémon in play, then search your deck for a Fusion Strike Energy to attach to each of them (meaning you search out two total Energy). The bad news, of course, is that a Supporter you’d otherwise want to max out to make sure you hit it early and often is actually something you’ll probably only want to run one or two of. At least, if you don’t have room in your deck for spare copies that you can only use to look at then shuffle your deck. Assuming you attach the full two Energy each time and that no Fusion Strike Energy are drawn on their own, stuck in your Prizes, discarded early, etc. you’d only use two actual copies of Elesa’s Sparkle. After that, you’re out of Fusion Strike Energy! Still… it is a good option to have!
Now, sometimes when a group of cards work well together, I won’t score them as high because the credit needs to be “shared” with other cards. Other times, however, the synergy created by the combos makes all cards involved better. I believe this to be an example of the latter. I am awarding Fusion Strike Energy a four-out-of-five in both Standard and Expanded. Expanded has VS Seeker, plus Supporter search; running just one Elesa’s Sparkle (two if you’re worried about one being Prizes) is just far more effective. Even with all of the added counters that exist to Special Energy. In Standard, you lack as many combos but you have far less competition.
Fusion Strike Energy was actually my 12th-Place pick and… I am beginning to think I low-balled it. While it only fits into a narrow swath of decks, it does something great for them.
Ratings
- Standard: 4/5
- Expanded: 4/5
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