Exeggutor
from HeartGold & SoulSilver follows a
common pattern to previous iterations:
it is a Stage 1 Pokémon designed to
reward risky behavior.
I just did a search of the 10
other versions of the card, and nine of
them have attacks with damage dependant
on coin flips, and I didn’t count
reprints as separate versions.
Likewise, only two versions fail
to reference Energy in some fashion for
the attacks, be they Energy attached,
Basic Energy attached, Energy discarded,
etc.
This new
Exeggutor matches their past high of
90 HP, but since this is the last Stage
of the line, that’s just adequate: it
can take one solid attack and survive.
That damage doubling Psychic
Weakness voids that against Psychic
decks and the lack of Resistance vexes
me as always.
The two Energy Retreat Cost isn’t
a surprise but is unwelcome unless this
card proves amazingly potent.
Having two attacks bodes ill for this
card, and their names are familiar.
Psychic Absorption is a
transplant from other cards, but if you
have a deck capable of dumping two
Energy cards into the discard for
something useful, you’ll enjoy a quickly
powered up
Exeggutor.
Indeed, it doesn’t specify Basic
Energy cards, so if two
Double Colorless Energy are in
there, you can attach them with this
attack.
Big Eggsplosion is also a
returning attack, and looking at the
other
Exeggutor have Eggsplosion variants.
This modernized version requires
a Psychic Energy to use, but that is
easy enough to work into most decks.
The payoff is that you flip a
coin for each Energy and for each heads
you’ll score 40 damage.
Again, notice that it is for each
Energy and not each Energy card:
Double Colorless Energy isn’t as
abusive as
Boost Energy was, but it is still
potent.
As I said, this card rewards risky
behavior: attaching a lot of Energy to a
comparatively small Pokémon and then
relying on successful coin flips to rack
up the damage.
However, Exeggutor does it in a
manner that minimizes the risk:
recycling Energy from the discard and
allowing you to fudge your numbers with
cards that provide more than one Energy.
When you’re flipping enough
coins, the odds of the attack completely
failing are lowered substantially.
If you can quickly attach enough
Energy to this card, you’ll be flipping
so many coins that getting the two or
three heads you need for a KO will not
only be possible, but the likely result.
We have two other, similar
Exeggutor and they might have better
combo options available.
If this card was Grass, there’d
be an obvious combo with Wild Growth
Sceptile; pity it isn’t.
You could maybe use this with an
Energy Trans or Leaf Trans enabled
Pokémon: the different
Exeggutor offer Energy acceleration
from the deck and shuffle and draw
options via inexpensive opening attacks.
Even the currently legal
Exeggute have some potentially handy
opening tricks.
I see a lot of potential for this card,
but things are so fast right now the
risk may not be worth the reward.
Additionally, I see it as very
combo dependant: it isn’t to be played
as its own deck, but rather in
conjunction with a lot of supporting
Pokémon.
I’ve brought up past decks that
used multiple Stage 1 Pokémon of
different types but low specific Energy
requirements, and this card begs for
such a deck to return.
If we can get something for
speedy set ups and enough to type match
against the top decks, this card begs to
be an opener/cleaner.
So here are my hopeful scores.
Yes, I think its pretty much a
must run for Limited: it can suck
Psychic Energy from the discard, so you
just need to run enough to draw into at
least one.
You can send it up early or hold
it in reserve for later and build it,
but either way it should rack up the
KOs
unless your luck is awful.
Ratings
Modified:
3.25/5
Limited:
4.5/5
