Name/Level:
Toxicroak Lv.39
Set:
Mysterious Treasures
Card#:
36/123
Rarity: Rare
Type:
Psychic
Stage: 1
(Evolves from Croagunk)
HP: 90
Weakness:
Psychic +20
Resistance:
None
Retreat Cost:
C
Poké-Body:
Poison Sacs
Your opponent can’t remove the Special
Condition Poisoned by evolving or devolving his or her
Poisoned Pokémon. (This also includes putting a Pokémon
Level-Up card onto the Poisoned Pokémon.)
Attack: (PC)
Knuckle Claws [30]
The Defending Pokémon is now
Poisoned.
Pokédex #:
454
Specie:
Toxic Mouth Pokémon
Height:
4’03”
Weight:
97.9 lbs
Flavor Text:
Its knuckle claws secrete a toxin so vile that even
a scratch could prove fatal.
Name/Level:
Croagunk Lv.16
Set:
Mysterious Treasures
Card#:
78/123
Rarity:
Common
Type:
Psychic
Stage: Basic
HP: 60
Weakness:
Psychic +10
Resistance:
None
Retreat Cost:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Ghastly Sound
Flip a coin. If heads, your opponent
can’t play any Supporter cards from his or her hand
during his or her next turn.
Attack: (PP)
Finger Poke [20]
The Defending Pokémon is now
Poisoned.
Pokédex #:
453
Specie:
Toxic Mouth Pokémon
Height:
2’04”
Weight:
50.7 lbs
Flavor Text:
Its cheeks hold poison sacs. It tries to catch foes
of guard to jab them with toxic fingers.
Toxicroak LV.39
is a one of the new Stage 1 Diamond/Pearl generation
Pokémon we got in Mysterious Treasures. Please note
that I will stop referring to it by its level since it
is the only version of the Pokémon to exist at the
moment. It is a Psychic-Type, because apparently they
are shifting Poison Pokémon (its video game type) from
Grass to Psychic. I think it’d make more sense as a
Grass-Type, but this might be more a “balance” issue:
think how many Pokémon this adds to Psychic’s stables
and how many formerly Grass/Poison and Bug/Poison
Pokémon finally can be something other than Grass.
Being Psychic is a boon at the moment;
though don’t be surprised if this changes come Battle
Roads. One of the decks I tend to see is Mario (Machamp/Lucario),
and of course, those are Psychic Weak Fighting-Types.
It is good to have an edge over something established.
Psychic Weakness has long been fairly common to the
game: “true” Fighting and Psychic-Types in addition to
“Poison” Types. So I would consider this change to be a
big benefit to Toxicroak.
It has 90 HP. This is adequate for a
Stage 1 by Diamond/Pearl, though only just since it
doesn’t Evolve further. Thankfully, while it is Psychic
Weak as Poison-Types are wont to be, it is only at the
“+20” level. So another Psychic Pokémon has to hit 70
damage to OHKO it. Even with the pumping up Diamond and
Pearl gave Pokémon, that’s requires a pretty big attack:
the final, expensive attack for a “big” Basic or
intermediate Stage 1, and even for end-stage Pokémon it
isn’t going to be easy. Sadly, there is no Resistance
on this card. I find this sad because I sincerely feel
that this is an important part of the game. I do hope
they more fully integrate it in the future, especially
since it, like Weakness, is now a +X amount for the most
part.
Toxicroak
has a nice, affordable single Energy Retreat Cost, which
is low enough for Phoebe’s Stadium to eliminate.
A free Retreat Cost is even better and so often
important to a deck for its utility.
Toxicroak
has a Poké-Body and a single attack. The Poké-Body is
probably the reason you’d play this: Poison Sacs
prevents the Poison Special Condition from being removed
via the easiest method early game: Evolution. It isn’t
bad, but honestly it isn’t too good since that isn’t the
most common method of removal (just the easiest early
game since you usually want to Evolve anyway). The most
common method is Benching the afflicted Pokémon, either
by retreating or using cards like Switch. As
such, the effect is mostly an annoyance, not a killer
strategy.
Knuckle Claws, the attack, is similarly
and solid attack, but nothing brilliant, even combined
with its Poké-Body: 30 damage and guaranteed Poison for
one Psychic Energy and one more of any Energy type.
That amount of Energy “pays” for 25 points of damage.
Automatic Poison tends to be worth about a Colorless
Energy. So we are getting an extra 15 points of damage…
which is reasonable as a bonus for being a Stage 1
(remember folks, even with Rare Candy it still
takes some work to run Evolutions and get them into
play).
Speaking of Evolutions, let us look at
the Basic form of Toxicroak, Croagunk.
Only one version exists, and it is not horrid, but
neither is it anything special. For one of any Energy,
on a successful coin flip, you can block Supporters.
When it works, it will buy time, but not for long
against well made decks. Finger Poke is just Knuckle
Claws without the discounts afforded to a Stage 1: if
each Psychic Energy requirement yields 15 points of
damage, then it should do 30. Where is the missing 10?
The automatic Poison isn’t free, you know.
How best to use this card? As stated,
Phoebe’s Stadium will give you a free Retreat Cost.
Whether that is the best Stadium, I cannot say. I do
think Ariados LV.32 can help: its Sticky Poké-Body
will bump up your foes’ Retreat Costs, and that
basically means the only way to ditch Poison against an
Active Toxicroak is using cards like Switch
or the rarely useful “healing” cards. I can find no
good way to prevent the changing out of Pokémon, but
there is one Pokémon to “add to the stack” that might
final create a good combo for the deck: Crobat LV.45.
This newest Crobat and set-mate to Toxicroak
seems a natural partner: it’s Poké-Power does a
two-counter Poison when you Evolve something of yours
into Crobat and its attack does 50 damage to the
opponent’s Pokémon of your choice and has a 50% chance
of returning Crobat and everything attacked to it
to your deck. Even if it doesn’t, it is already a free
Retreat Cost Pokémon. Either you have the opponent
nearly locked into attacking while severely Poisoned
(and unable to Evolve out of it thanks to Toxicroak
or affordably retreat thanks to Ariados LV.32) or
“wasting” attacks on Crobat (who will probably be
shuffled into the deck next turn). Just remember the
deck has to set up quickly or else they will be able to
OHKO whatever you throw at them.
For those of you who aren’t caffeinated
yet, that’s a bad thing.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5 – On the bright side, there are more combo buddies!
Too bad they all get pwned by the raw power of other
decks.
Modified:
2.5/5 – Even in the deck I described, it isn’t overly
valuable. If Crobat was a Stage 1 Pokémon so
there was room for one more line, maybe covering this
small aspect of getting rid of Poison would matter more.
Limited:
4/5- Cha-ching! Finally it gets someplace to shine.
First, poison is sickly good here. Second, about the
only way to get rid of it is retreating or Evolving. It
is quite common to be unable to retreat due to a lack of
Energy or lack of Bench. Sure, Evolving happens less
often, but when it does, it is important. Both
Toxicroak and Croagunk are better beatsticks
here as well.
-Otaku
