Pojo's Pokemon Site - MonsterOfTheLake's Lake - Dearth of Dark and Metal in HP-On
MonsterOfTheLake's Lake
01-14-2009
Top 5
Draw Cards in DP-On (After Cities)
3.. 2.. 1.. HAPPY
NEW YEA--er, I'm a bit late, aren't I?
So, with the City Championships out of the way, I
thought it would be a good idea to revisit the
Top 5 Draw Cards in
DP-On, which, for some reason, didn't have Uxie
LA on it. Whoops.
As donks courtesy of Machamp and Kingdra become more
commonplace, Supporters are too slow to meet the
needs of the growing Kingdra player, who wants that
Rare Candy, Kingdra, Water Energy, and possibly a
PlusPower, and wants it Turn 1.
With the metagame getting faster, drawpower becomes
even more important. You need to go through your
deck and set
up, and you can't do that without draw
cards,
now can you?
Before I let you have a looksie at the Top 5,
however, there are a few topics we should address.
I knew I was missing something!
Uxie vs Claydol
You should all be aware that Uxie and Claydol are the
best draw cards in the format. And if you didn't, well,
hopefully you do now. And for Pooka's sake, take out those
Mom's Kindness from your deck.
So between Uxie and Claydol, who is the best? Here's what
Chris "Best player ever, God's
gift to women, and Defender of Modesty" Fulop (#1
Global, Masters) has to say on the subject matter:
If I had to choose between only running Claydol or
Uxie, I would choose Claydol without a doubt. At the
same time, each of them seperately is significantly
weaker than using them together. If I could allocate 4
spots between the two, I'd go 1-1 Claydol, 2 Uxie. Uxie
alone isn't enough for your midgame, and Claydol doesn't
offer the speed necessary to keep up in this format. Not
to mention, Uxie is vital in recovery in case your
opponent finds a way to kill or remove your Claydol. Yet
to answer your question, you get significantly more
milage out of a Claydol than any single Uxie.
If you're still a little confused, think of it this way:
Uxie is Jirachi ex, and Claydol is Gardevoir SW. Gardevoir
is the main player, yet Jirachi ex offers you the speed and
recovery to complement Gardevoir. Now replace "locking
Powers" with "drawing cards." Uxie offers the speed and
recovery to complement the slower but more recurrent Claydol.
Team
Galactic's Wager vs Handsome's Investigation
Handsome's Investigation is currently unreleased in
the United States, but it will be floating atop some
Lapras' backs to California soon enough, so it
wouldn't hurt to mention it here.
This card will offer an alternative to Wager as a
disruption Supporter card, allowing you to look at
your opponent's hand, and either give yourself or
him/her/it a brand new 5-card hand. Knowing your
opponent's hand is always a plus; there will
never be a time where you would be better off not
knowing what cards your opponent is holding. And if
you don't like what you see, you can get them to
shuffle that hand back in! Or just give yourself a
new hand. The possibilities are endless! OK, not
endless, but um, relatively a lot! Yeah.
Chatot: It's bad now
After Cities, it became apparent that using an attack to
draw cards is simply too slow. If only Mimic was a
Power! Which, um, would make it broken. Oh well.
And here's the updated list.
The List
(again)
Sorted by descending numerical order, starting from the
number "5." Plus bonus honorary entries 5.5 and 6.0!
6.0) Felicity's Drawing (Great
Encounters)
Yes, TV Reporter was better. But Felicity's Drawing
offers those decks that need to get certain cards
into the discard pile -- I'm looking at you,
Regigigas Lv.X -- a practical option, letting them
discard 1 to draw 3, or 2 to draw 4. In case you
couldn't read the card.
That keyboard has far too few keys
5.5) Professor Oak's
Visit (Secret Wonders)
A neutral drawing card that can be thrown into a
wide variety of decks. Pretty standard: you get 2
new cards that you pick out of the top 3 cards in
your deck. It's good if you don't want to get rid of
your hand.
Don't you have a lab to run, Professor Oak? Shame on you! You can't
just leave like, a bajillion Pokémon back at the lab
to take care of themselves while you go birdwatching!
5) Team Galactic's Wager
(Mysterious Treasures)
Previously #5 on the list, at #5, here's Team
Galactic's Wager! Ohh..
Wager still remains a very nice card, although
Handsome's Investigation will give it a run for the
title of the best disruption Supporter in the
format. When there are only 2 of them, it really
isn't that hard to usurp that title anyway. Team
Galactic's Mars doesn't count.
Back on topic, Wager is a great counter to Sableye.
They just Impersonated Bebe's, and got their Kingdra?
Wager! They have a 10 card hand? Wager! You have a
10 card hand, and you're about to deck? Wager! It's
situational -- not purely a draw card like
Professor Oak's Visit, and a potential game winner
when used properly.
Playing Rock-Paper-Scissors in Pokémon -- admit it, you love
it.
4) Cynthia's Feelings (Legends
Awakened)
Cynthia's Feelings is still a good card. It's
just that Handsome's Investigation and Uxie are
better, and offer more options.
It still wouldn't hurt you to run this card, but why
bother, when you can have your cake, eat it, and
have some Coke?
She's holding a Luxury
Ball! That means you can use Luxury Ball's
effect when you play this card!
3) Handsome's
Investigation (Galactic's Conquest)
Handsome's Investigation -- aside from having a
ludicrous name -- is a card that can do no wrong.
Look at your opponent's hand? Good!
√
Make your opponent shuffle in their hand and
draw 5 cards? Good! √
Instead of #2, shuffle in YOUR hand and draw
5 cards? Good! √
As you can tell by that highly scientific
hypothesis, this card is good.
Try to get as many of these as you can at the Prereleases. Seriously.
2) Uxie (Legends
Awakened)
Uxie is immense.
It's not a bad starter, it can shuffle itself back
into the deck, has a good Lv.X, its Power is
fantastic, helps you
set up the first few turns, recover
lategame, and draw that last Warp Point/PlusPower
for the win. It's hard to name another card that
does all that.
It does all those nice things, and it's not even
evolved! It's just a Basic!
A truly special card. Offers recovery, speed, and even attacking
options. Plus, doesn't get donked by Kingdra, unless
they have a PlusPower.
1) Claydol (Great
Encounters)
While Uxie does more things overall, you get more
draw out of Claydol. And that's what that counts in
this article.
Have you ever had your Claydol knocked out, and
still tried to use Cosmic Power the next turn
anyway? Of course you did. That's how ubiquitous the
card is. Claydol offered the players an
unprecedented level of draw from a Poké-Power, and
draws an interesting comparison with the number of
draw cards used back in the days of Wizards -- 30+
Trainers, and no draw offered by Pokémon, save for
Cleffa. Whether it was better then or now is up for
debate, but that's for another article.
Have I missed something, some Crocodiles come from eggs
joke?
Ever since the comic “Pearls Before Swine” by Steven
Pastis, I cannot ever look at Crocodiles the same way
again.
A good read for those who have the time.
MOTL…just tell me you are coming in for Nationals! Will
be a fun time in my hometown!
I am hoping to crack out my “Ness Wannabe” jersey by
then.
Vince – Meganium45
I just got a little carried away with Ex-egg-utor puns.
Besides, not only do Crocodiles come from eggs, so does
every single Pokémon! Even Jynx, which admittedly is a bit
creepy. I can not even imagine how that egg-sactly
works!
I'm coming in for Nationals, but I'm afraid of Colin M! His
Grass Pokémon will gain +30 HP at Meganium45's Gym :(
Just kidding, obviously, but I would love to hear your
thoughts! Except for the creepy thoughts. Just kidding, I
especially would like to hear the creepy thoughts! Did
you have a dream where you were Brock, and you just hit on
Nurse Joy? Do not hesitate for a minute and
e-mail me with all
the details. You weirdo.
