Team Star Grunt – Scarlet & Violet
Date Reviewed: May 23, 2023
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 2.50
Expanded: 2.00
Limited: 3.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Vince
It seems like an ongoing trend in the Pokemon TCG that those Grunts from various organizations have something to do with manipulating with Energy cards. Team Flare Grunt lets you discard an Energy card attached to your opponent’s Active Pokemon. For Team Skull Grunt, it lets you look at your opponent’s hand and discard 2 Energy cards from it. Then, Team Yell Grunt makes you put an Energy card attached to one of your opponent’s Pokemon into their hand. And now, Team Star Grunt lets you put an Energy card attached to your opponent’s Active Pokemon into the top of their deck. Though the wording says “Energy” and not “Energy Card”, if you target something like Double Turbo Energy or the upcoming Reversal Energy (Scramble Energy’s successor), multiple units of Energy (the entire card) will be placed on the top of your opponent’s deck.
Team Star Grunt is your only Standard legal option since Team Yell Grunt just left rotation. This effect can be annoying, since on the next turn, your opponent will always draw an Energy card unless you also make your opponent shuffle their deck with other cards after putting that Energy card on the top of their deck. However, by the time you do that, your opponent had already made use of the attached Energy(ies) prior to using Team Star Grunt. Also, they may use that same energy card they just drew next turn to attach it to someone else other than the Pokemon that was formally attached to. If they still have draw-based Trainer cards even after the setback, they’ll do anything to replenish their hand. Despite Team Star Grunt not supplementing draw power, this is a somewhat valuable effect. However, there are several other similar cards which affects Energy cards. Adding in several other cards that also manipulate energies:
-Xerosic discards either a Special Energy or Pokemon Tool from a Pokemon in play.
-Plumeria discards an Energy card from one of your opponent’s Pokemon but requires you to discard two cards from your hand first.
-Faba sends a Special Energy or a Pokemon Tool attached to your opponent’s Pokemon to the Lost Zone.
Of course, you don’t have to burn your Supporter on Energy removing effects and we even have two great Trainer-Items to do the deed:
-Crushing Hammer discards an Energy attached to one of your opponent’s Pokémon but requires a coin flip to work. Still Standard-legal.
-Enhanced Hammer discards a Special Energy attached to one of your opponent’s Pokémon.
Yep, Team Star Grunt faces lots of competition from at least eight other cards that manipulate your opponent’s energy cards, and we haven’t even got to Pokemon-based effects that can also remove Energy. Despite that, control/disruption-based decks would love to have more options to mess up your opponent’s setup and VS Seeker in Expanded makes it easier to make one-off Supporter cards as TecH.
Ratings:
Standard: 2.5/5
Expanded: 2/5
Limited: 3/5
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