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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

 

Jumpluff

HeartGold & SoulSilver

Date Reviewed: 02.xx.10

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 4.17
Limited: 3.75

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale.
1 being the worst. 
3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating.

Back to the main COTD Page

Baby Mario
Top 4 UK Nats

Jumpluff (HGSS)

 

Today we get to review one of the really hyped cards from HGSS – Jumpluff.

 

Why is Jumpluff hyped? Because players took one look at Mass Attack and thought; ‘OMG! Attach Expert Belt and do 140 damage for one Energy!!11shiftone1!’. (No-one pays any attention to Leaf Guard, and neither will I).

 

Of course it isn’t as simple as that. What Mass Attack does is 10 damage for every Pokémon in play (both yours and the opponent’s). Combine that with Pichu HGSS, though, and getting that 140 damage with Expert Belt doesn’t seem so impractical, as Pichu has an attack which invites both players to fill their Bench with basic Pokémon.

 

Is there any downside at all to this strategy? It won’t surprise anyone to learn that there are quite a few. Firstly, the deck relies on very weak 30 HP Basics (Hoppip, Pichu), and so can be donked on the first turn, or give up easy prizes to snipe or spread decks. Secondly, Jumpluff itself is not the sturdiest Pokémon, as it is a 90 HP Stage 2 with a double Fire Weakness. Thirdly, Jumpluff has a natural enemy in Charizard AR, which just loves to fill its bench with Fire Pokémon and OHKO Jumpluff for one Energy, making it just as fast and a whole lot tougher to knock out.

 

The most significant drawback, though, is that getting your opponent to fill their Bench is inviting them to get their deck fully set up. If for any reason you can’t then get Jumpluff out fast enough to keep up with their deck, you’ve lost.

 

So, does that mean that Jumpluff, like so many cards before it, will fail to live up to the hype? Not necessarily. Grass is possibly the best Supported type in the Format, and the deck can be teched to cover some of its failings. Metapod HGSS will remove the Fire Weakness, for example, and Shaymin LV X can do something about the abysmal HP.

 

I do expect Jumpluff to see quite a lot of play at States. It is fast and can do big damage cheaply. That makes it very viable in this format. How successful it will be, we will have to wait to find out, but I definitely think this is a deck that all players should test and be prepared to face.

 

Rating

 

Modified: 4 (a tournament-level card, with a few drawbacks)

Limited: 3.25 (if you can get it out, great)

virusyosh

Happy midweek, Pojo readers! Today's Card of the Day is a personal favorite of mine from the HeartGold and SoulSilver expansion, the Cottonweed Pokemon, Jumpluff.

Jumpluff is a Stage 2 Grass-type Pokemon. Being a Grass-type is awful right now with all of the Blaziken FB running about, but being Grass will get slightly better once more people start running Rain Dance decks. 90 HP is pitifully low for a Stage 2, and is definitely one of the low points of this card. Weakness to Fire is horrible, Fighting resistance is great, and a Retreat Cost of zero is fantastic.

Jumpluff has two attacks. The first attack, Mass Attack, deals 10 damage for each Pokemon in play for [G]. This attack is fairly costed and has ridiculous combo potential. If you are looking to fill benches, Pichu from HGSS works wonderfully, as it can fill both benches for no cost. However, if your opponent figures out this strategy, it won't be quite as effective. Even still, most people run Claydol, Uxie, and other support Pokemon on their benches quite often, so you should be able to deal fairly decent damage every turn. Add in an Expert Belt and a Shaymin Lv. X (Land Forme) as support, and you have the beginnings of a very potent rogue deck.

Leaf Guard, Jumpluff's second attack, does 30 damage for [G] and reduces the amount of damage Jumpluff takes by 30 after applying Weakness and Resistance. Leaf Guard isn't nearly as useful as Mass Attack in most circumstances, as this is a format filled with one-hit KOs. However, if you have Jumpluff active and there are three or fewer Pokemon in play, it might be worth using.

Modified: 3.5/5 With an attack that abuses something players do normally and with many ways of bringing Pokemon into play, I think Jumpluff has a lot of potential. Pichu HGSS was already mentioned, and Sunflora HGSS can also be mentioned as Pokemon-based acceleration for the Jumpluff deck, along with normal draw engines like Claydol and Uxie. It's not all good for Jumpluff, though: Low HP for a Stage 2 and a horrible x2 Weakness to Fire can definitely ruin Jumpluff's day. However, it is worth noting that a Jumpluff holding an Expert Belt can one-hit KO a Blaziken FB Lv. X if you have a full bench and your opponent has two Benched Pokemon, which is a fairly common scenario if your opponent has a Claydol and something else. Furthermore, when Rain Dance decks start being played more (and I think they will), Grass will become a more popular type in order to counter Feraligatr Prime.

Limited: 3/5 Stage 2s are hard to get out in Limited, and Jumpluff is no exception. Cheap abusable attacks and free retreat are great to have in Limited, and since the format is slower, there will probably be many full benches for Jumpluff to exploit. However, the low HP is still a problem, and there are a few potent Fire-type threats (Typhlosion, Ninetales, Arcanine) that will get rid of Jumpluff in a hurry. Overall a solid pick.

BoDragon

Jumpluff

HeartGold & SoulSilver, #6

 

Today we look at the Grass-type Cottonweed Pokémon Jumpluff from HeartGold & SoulSilver.
 

Its first attack, Mass Attack, really wins me over upon its first look.  For {G}, it deals 10 damage times the number of Pokémon you and your opponent have in play.  That single Energy can power an attack with a base damage range of 20 to 120.  With Jumpluff in play and a field full of Pokémon, this becomes a lethal attack that spells doom for someone.

 

Also requiring a {G}, its second attack, Leaf Guard, deals 30 damage and any attacks done to Jumpluff on your opponent's next turn is reduced by 30 after applying Weakness and Resistance.  This attack deals damage and creates and opportunity to reduce incoming damage to Jumpluff on your opponent's next turn.  I would recommend using this attack when Mass Attack is dealing 30 or less base damage because reducing any incoming damage on the next turn is better than nothing; otherwise, Mass Attack should be the dominant attack.

 

Jumpluff's free Retreat Cost is another plus for this amazing Pokémon, allowing it to return to your bench to allow another to finish the job for you.

 

I dislike its 90 HP, low for a Stage 2 evolved Pokémon, but it is easily overshadowed by everything else that makes Jumpluff great.

 

Ratings:

Modifed:  5/5

Broken Time-Space and Rare Candy will allow for quick evolution to Jumpluff to begin its carnivorous assault.

 

Limited:  5/5

Professor Elm's Training Method will allow you to search out Skiploom and Jumpluff to enable Jumpluff in play by three turns.


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