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Ninjask
(Dragons Exalted)
We’re taking another break next week as
Pojo will be on holiday, so
I’ll leave you with what will be a slightly odd review,
as Ninjask is a highly
specialised Pokémon with a very specific use in one
particular deck.
His stats are extremely unimpressive. A Stage 1 with
just 60 HP is going to get mullered
in today’s format of big-hitters (Darkrai-EX
can also KO it with two Night Spear snipes). The HP is
so low that the Fire Weakness doesn’t matter at all, but
what really annoys me about this card is the Retreat
cost of one. Ninjask is one
of the fastest Pokémon in the video game (along with
Deoxys Speed
forme and
Accelgor), so making him pay
to Retreat just seems a bit off-theme.
What is on-theme though is
Ninjask’s Ability. Cast-off Shell states that
when you play Ninjask from
your hand to evolve, you can search your deck for a
Shedinja and put it on your
Bench. This neatly replicates the way that
Shedinja is acquired in the
video game and really provides the engine for a
Ninjask/Shedinja
deck.
Now I won’t lie, said deck is unbelievably gimmicky and
incredibly frail. It’s also a lot of fun if you fancy
trying something a bit different at League (and aren’t
too bothered about winning). The basic strategy of the
deck is to keep using Ninjask’s
Night Slash attack to do 60 damage and switch
Ninjask to the Bench, while
sending up Shedinjas to
replace them, as their Empty Shell Ability means that
they do not give the opponent a Prize when they are
KO’d.
I’m sure that the problems with such a deck are apparent
to everyone. Spread damage, snipe damage, or Pokémon
Catcher will completely ruin the strategy, as will
Garbodor DRX (which shuts
off Abilities), and any deck which can shrug off
Ninjask’s mediocre damage
output. Yep . . . I think that covers pretty much
everything in the format, doesn’t it? Nevertheless, it’s
the only real way to play Ninjask:
in anything else he is just a much worse version of
Accelgor DEX. Avoid when it
comes to competitive play.
Well, that’s it for the week. I’ll be back after our
break with some more reviews, so until then I’ll just
wish everyone good luck at Battle Roads.
Rating
Modified: 1.75 (enjoy uncompetitive gimmick decks? Then
this is for you!)
Limited: 3 (I suppose you could try it here if you
pulled enough Shedinja)
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