New Feature:
If you think this review is too long to read, just skip
straight to the scores and then read the summary for a
concise overview!
Name:
Quagsire
Set:
EX: Team Rocket Returns
Card#:
26/109
Rarity:
Rare
Type:
Water
Stage:
Stage 1 (Evolves from Wooper)
HP:
80
Weakness:
Grass
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
CC
Poké-Body:
Saturation
When you
attach a (W) Energy card from your hand to Quagsire, remove
all Special Conditions and 2 damage counters from Quagsire.
Attack:
(W) Hyper Pump [20+]
Does
20 damage plus 20 more damage for each basic Energy card
attached to Quagsire but not used to pay for this
attack’s Energy cost. You can’t add more than 60 damage
in this way.
Name:
Wooper
Set:
EX: Team Rocket Returns
Card#:
81/109
Rarity:
Common
Type:
Water
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Grass
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
(C)
Poké-Body:
Saturation
When you
attach a (W) Energy card from your hand to Wooper, remove
all Special Conditions and 1 damage counter from Wooper.
Attack:
(W) Wave Splash [10]
Attributes:
Quagsire is a Stage 1 Pokémon. It Evolves from Wooper. The
Wooper from the same set as this Quagsire is a Basic Water
Pokémon with a reasonable 50 HP, Weakness that is less
common in modified than several others, no Resistance
(sadly), and good retreat of only (C) (which a High Pressure
System could completely eliminate). This Wooper has a
slightly over priced attack of (W) for 10, but it has a very
nice Poké-Body similar to its Evolved form: attaching Water
Energy removes a damage counter and all Special Conditions.
If you get stuck with it out early game, that Poké-Body
should extend its life by a turn or two, hopefully long
enough to Evolve.
As for
Quagsire itself, let’s start with being a Water Pokémon.
This makes it easier to combo with a lot of anti-Firestarter
decks. Water Resistance exists, but outside of certain
Dragons, it doesn’t see a lot of play. Water Weakness, as
stated, sees a lot of play thanks to those Firestarter decks
that just refuse to die. Quagsire has 80 HP; this is a tad
puny for the final Stage of an Evolutionary line. I would
have preferred 90; 80 doesn’t seem like a disadvantage, but
it’s not like this can Evolve again. Another thing, 80 HP
just fails to get it out the
two-Energy-discard-for-the-KO-range for Rayquaza ex.
Quagsire
is Weak to Grass Pokémon, which is one of the safer
Weaknesses to have right now: no really strong “true” Grass
decks have emerged lately. There are promising candidates,
like the Jumpluff we looked at the other day, but nothing
established. Sadly, this card has no Resistance, and as
I’ve said before “No Resistance is the worst
Resistance”. Finally, we have an average Retreat Cost of
two.
Abilities:
That useful Saturation Poké-Body that appears on Wooper
shows up hear, but it lets you remove two damage
counters instead of just one, while still removing Special
Conditions. So if you add a Water Energy, your normal
Energy attachment performs a triple duty-its normal job
plus being a Potion plus being a Full
Heal. This is great. The attack, Hyper Pump is also
great: in a sense, it’s like having four attacks on this
card. This means this card can attack sooner, which makes
the odds of Saturation kicking it at a useful moment more
likely. These attacks have good synergy and are great in
and of themselves.
Uses/Combinations:
Here’s the kicker: where can we use this wonderful blue
blob? The most likely candidates are in a Water Call
Swampert deck or a Blastoise ex deck. Why? Both
can power it up fast while healing it at the same time. It
has been ruled that Blastoise ex’s damage from its
Energy Rain resolves occurs before Saturation kicks in, and
more importantly, that use of that Poké-Power does indeed
trigger Saturation. I would assume we can derive that Water
Call would similarly trigger Saturation. The Quagsire is
less useful in the Water Call deck as if it’s damaged, it
was probably already active, and if it is active, you should
have already powered it up so it can be attacking. So the
real thing I’d keep my eye on would be Blastoise ex.
So are they an effective combination? I haven’t had a
chance to test them out, so I can only present the pros and
cons. The main pro is that, provided the rest of your deck
is running smoothly, you should be able to set a few of them
up by your second turn. The thing is they aren’t really
strong enough to stand up against heavies like Rayquaza
ex. Against pretty much anything but the top
attackers from the top decks, they are great shock troops,
swarming and overwhelming most other Pokémon.
Ratings
Unlimited:
2/5-The attack isn’t bad for Unlimited, but the Poké-Body
would rarely come into play, especially in the deck that
would strengthen it the most: Raindance.
Modified:
3.5/5-I am going out on a limb here, but I think at least
one strong Energy Rain variant could use it.
Limited:
4/5-Wooper are common, so if you pull this, there’s a
good chance you can run it. With enough Water Energy to
back it, it will take a lot to make any damage stick.
Summary
Seemingly
tailor made to go with Energy Shower, as it would allow said
Poké-Power to attach Water Energy to Quagsire with no
drawback (unless you tried it with only 10 HP left). A
strong attack and healing Poké-Body are great… but the
prevalence of OHKO decks means it can’t be your main hitter.
