Power Tablet – Fusion Strike
Date Reviewed: November 21, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 4.00
Expanded: 3.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
7th-Place in our countdown of the top 15 cards from SW – Fusion Strike is Power Tablet (SW – Fusion Strike 236/264, 281/264). This is a new Trainer-Item that provides +30 to the damage done by Fusion Strike Pokémon to your opponent’s Active (before Weakness/Resistance). Based on similar cards (like Electropower), this should stack, meaning two copies provides a total of +60, three a total of +90, and four a total of +120 to the damage done by your Fusion Strike Pokémon’s attack. Speaking of Electropower, while it wasn’t the only reason [L] types were often among the top decks while it was legal, it was a contributing factor. Even if you have to burn multiple copies at once, taking a strategic KO can be worth it. The most obvious being one-shotting an opponent’s Pokémon VMAX, preferably one your opponent has invested a lot of resources in setting up but before they could actually cash in on it.
I’ll throw in my usual reminder; increasing damage only really matters if it is to trigger/avoid triggering a particular card effect or when it reduces the number of turns it takes you to score a KO. I count only 20 different Fusion Strike Pokémon at present, and that includes members of the same Evolution line, and some that can’t attack and do damage. Excluding the stuff that cannot make use of Power Tablet (attacks have to do at least 10 damage before Weakness, Resistance, and other effects) and ignoring lower Stages, and we’re down to 13. Ignoring those who, even with Power Tablet, probably ought not try attacking for damage, and I think we’re down to:
- Accelgor (SW – Fusion Strike 014/264)
- Deoxys (SW – Fusion Strike 120/264; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH170)
- Dragapult (SW – Fusion Strike 130/264)
- Genesect V
- Hoopa V (SW – Black Star Promos SWSH176; SW – Fusion Strike 253/264)
- Latias (SW – Fusion Strike 193/264; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH171)
- Latios (SW – Fusion Strike 195/264)
- Meloetta (SW – Fusion Strike 124/264)
- Mew VMAX
For these nine Pokémon, a +30 to +120 boost can lead to some amazing results. Even the above list can be further trimmed, because there are some attackers I just don’t think are good enough, but others are pretty obviously great to use with Power Tablet. The way Power Tablet is worded, you can play it at any time before you attack (or do anything else that ends your turn). This means you can drop one to lower your hand size before (for example) using Genesect V’s “Fusion Strike System” Ability to draw until you have as many cards in hand as you have Fusion Strike Pokémon in play. If Fusion Strike Pokémon are good enough to hang in Expanded, even in the face of Item-lock, Power Tablet will still be a good (maybe great) trick for those decks.
Power Tablet was my 11th-place pick and… I’m not sure why I didn’t put this higher. Even if the only “real” Fusion Strike decks end up being the Mew VMAX/Genesect V, that’s still enough it should have at least cracked my top 10. Fortunately, Vince thought more highly of Power Tablet so it ended up clocking in closer to where it belongs. I’d almost five Power Tablet a perfect five-out-of-five but even if we get many Fusion Strike decks, even if we get more Fusion Strike Pokémon, I can’t bring myself to round up. Four-out-of-five is still great, and I’ll go with a three-out-of-five for Expanded.
Ratings
- Standard: 4/5
- Expanded: 3/5
Vince
Editor’s Note: Vince had this as his 6th-Place pick.
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