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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Leavanny #8

Emerging Powers

Date Reviewed: Sept. 9, 2011

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 1.40
Limited: 2.75

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
2010 UK National
Seniors
Champion

Leavanny 8/98 (Emerging Powers)

Most experienced player will know by now that when you get two versions of the same card in a set, one will always be better or more interesting than the other. This is because Japan releases a lot more cards than we do in the form of structure decks and promos which feature the weaker versions of the cards, and because we don’t really get these types of release, we end up having most things incorporated into out sets. Emerging Powers is a prime example of this phenomenon, with alternate versions of many Pokémon, including Gothitelle, Beartic, Ferrothorn, and today’s card, Leavanny.

And yes, you guessed it, this is the less interesting version. Like yesterday’s card it has reasonable HP, terrible Grass Typing, and a nice retreat cost. Unlike yesterday’s card, it lacks an interesting techy attack and is simply focused on offense. How good is it at that job? Let’s take a look . . .

First up is Slash, and it is as plain and predictable as its name suggests. For one Colourless Energy, you get to do 30 damage. Good value? Yes it is . . . but is a quick 30 damage really what you want from a Stage 2 these days? I don’t think so. Tyrogue HGSS, for example, will do the same for no cost whatsoever. Leavanny’s second effort, Triple Cutter is much more expensive at [G][G][C], and incredibly unpredictable. You flip three coins and do 60 damage for each heads. Get lucky, and 180 for three Energy is brilliant, and enough to OHKO virtually anything in the format. Even with two heads, 120 is pretty good. Any less than that however and the attack starts to look bad. 60 for three? Zero for three? No thank you. And that is the very serious risk that you run with this card: one turn of poor, or even average, flipping and you will probably find yourself in a very bad situation.

In the end, the fact that this Leavanny is vulnerable in a Fire-heavy meta, and its major attack is both expensive and unreliable, means that it isn’t worth the effort required in getting it into play. Think of all the Stage 2s that give you a better, more certain reward . . . and then slip Leavanny quietly into the binder.

Rating

Modified: 1.75 (too frail and too risky)

Limited: 2.5 (eh . . . you could give it a try)

virusyosh

Happy Friday, Pojo viewers! Since we had our 2000th COTD earlier in the week, today's COTD is a twofer: we're going to be reviewing both Leavanny from Emerging Powers. One of them was originally in the Japanese Black and White expansion (#7), while the other has so far only been released in the Emerging Powers set. I'll start with #7, then talk about #8.

Both Leavanny have the same top and bottom stats, so I'll talk about them generally here. 130 HP is pretty good for a Stage 2, it's about the average of what we get right now, and should allow both Leavanny to take a few unboosted hits. Sadly, 130 HP is still within OHKO range for many powerful attacks in our metagame, especially with PlusPower. Fire Weakness is quite bad, meaning that Reshiram, Typhlosion, and Emboar easily OHKO. No Resistance is somewhat to be expected, and a single Retreat Cost is fairly good.

Both Leavanny have two attacks. Leavanny #7 has Nurturing for a single Colorless, which allows you to search your deck for an Evolution card, show it to your opponent, and evolve one of your Pokemon, shuffling afterward. This attack is great for its cost, only it has the problem of being on a Stage 2 already. The attack would have been much more effective on a Basic or even a Stage 1, as the early-game is when Nurturing would be most effective, and if you already have a Leavanny out, chances are you should be able to have your attacker out as well. It is worth noting, however, that if you See Off a Leavanny with Mew Prime, Mew can then use Nurturing to quickly evolve your other Pokemon. X-Scissor is this Pokemon's only form of offense, starting with a decent 30 damage for a Grass and a Colorless, but does 50 more damage if you flip heads. This is an average of 40 damage a turn, and while 80 damage for two Energy is fairly decent, our Modified metagame is in a place where that value is too low to be effective, especially for a Stage 2.

Leavanny #8, on the other hand, is all about offense. It has Slash as a cheap vanilla 30 damage for a single Colorless Energy, and Triple Cutter allows you to flip three coins, dealing 60 damage times the number of heads for two Grass and a Colorless. Neither of these attacks are really going to have much impact on Modified play right now, but both are quite decent in Limited. Triple Cutter may end up working well with Victory Star Victini (which we'll probably get in Noble Victories), but there are generally better options to pair that with as well.

Modified (#7): 2/5 I can't really see Leavanny making that much of an impact in Modified any time soon, but Nurturing is quite a nice attack that can be abused by Mew Prime. It's probably not the most reliable strategy, but it can definitely help with evolution acceleration.

Limited (#7): 4/5 Nurturing is excellent here, and X-Scissor can also be quite nice. Search is always great in Limited, and searching and evolving together is great. X-Scissor is also fairly cheap for the cost, and can end up dealing decent, if not amazing damage.

Modified (#8): 1/5 This Leavanny probably won't see play in Modified, even when Victini comes out. Slash is too vanilla and weak to be useful on a Stage 2, and Triple Cutter is too flippy.

Limited (#8): 3/5 Unlike in Modified, Leavanny #8 isn't terrible in Limited. Slash is a good attack to use while waiting to power up Triple Cutter, and a few lucky flips with Trriple Cutter can easily get a few KOs in your favor. While it's not the most consistent attacker in Emerging Powers, it's quite serviceable, especially if you draft a lot of Grass. Just wish it had slightly nicer Energy requirements, though.

Combos With: Leavanny #7 combos with Mew Prime.


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