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It’s that time again: we’ll be looking at the Top 12
Promising Picks of Plasma Blast!
That is right: this time it is a Top 12 list
because… the schedule just worked out that way.
As usual, these are predictions, not results.
Taking the 12th place slot on the list is
Iris!
I’ve barely seen any of the more recent seasons
(let alone episodes) of the animation and I haven’t
played any video game more recent than Pokémon Pearl, so
there isn’t a lot I know about the character.
So I’ll skip all that and just focus on the card
itself: this is another new Supporter, and for better or
worse it is another specialist.
Stats& Effects
Iris
is not more draw power, nor is she more search power.
She represents one of the lesser seen Supporter
concepts; that of increasing attack power.
Using your Supporter for the turn on
Iris
increases the damage done by the attacks of your Pokémon
to Active Pokémon by 10 points per Prize your opponent
has taken; before applying Weakness and Resistance, in
case you were wondering.
So is it worth a 0 to 50 point damage boost to burn your
Supporter?
Maybe. No
extra damage (assuming you can even play it then) is
obviously no good, while 10 and 20 probably weren’t
worth running this over
PlusPower
(and with so many damage boosting options, I doubt
you’ve got them all squeezed into one deck).
30 points of damage is quite solid – the same
you’ll often get out of a
Hypnotoxic Laser/Virbank
City Gym combo (causing similar shifts in damage).
40 and 50 are definitely worth a Supporter… but
by that point you’re in danger of your opponent
“jumping” said moments through advanced play.
Usage
What hurts is that you need to get this into hand at the
right time; too early and it just ends up wasted,
possibly because you never got your set-up underway.
The way
Iris calculates damage doesn’t care if you’re ahead
or behind in Prizes, just that your opponent has taken
them at all.
So while I believe this could (justifiably) see
some play, for main stream decks the best it would be is
a 2-of (and I really doubt that even a 1-of becomes
standard).
So what are the more “specific” options?
First there is a card we might review later called
Jirachi EX;
if you haven’t seen it, just know it’s a 90 HP
Pokémon-EX with an Ability you can only Activate by
Benching it from your hand.
Said Ability lets you search your deck for a
Supporter, show it to your opponent, and add it to hand.
If you select
Iris and
your opponent can’t disrupt your hand, then if they
ignore everything else you’ve got and go for a quick KO
on a Jirachi EX,
then you’ll be looking at attacking the next turn for at
least +20 points of damage.
Second option is to use
Shaymin EX,
which already hits harder based on how many Prizes your
opponent has taken – this will spike your damage faster,
perhaps enough to finally be worth it.
Third, this is a means of increasing attack
damage by a significant chunk that doesn’t care about
the Pokémon using it;
Lugia EX
decks (if they still exist or could be revived) now have
another option to hit big damage… and this one just
requires timing and a single slot per attempt.
Ratings
Unlimited:
I haven’t checked in here for a while, but nothing I
have seen should have shifted this format dramatically,
and I’ve certainly read nothing about that happening.
It doesn’t seem like a good fit for the existing
top decks, but as Supporters aren’t as vital here their
might be something in the more “fun but still effective”
category. 1.5/5
Modified:
Did the format change over officially yet?
Given how much has been reprinted, this rotation
really only hits a few decks hard and leaves the rest
untouched… and what takes the hit wasn’t what I expected
to use this, so same score for both.
3.25/5
Limited:
The bonus tops out at +30, but in Limited you are
unlikely to have much else worth considering.
Outside of “1 big, Basic Pokémon plus 39 Energy
(give or take)” builds, definitely run this as you
shouldn’t have enough to crowd it out and even +10 is
handy here.
4.95/5
Summary
Iris
is a good Supporter in a fast, hard-hitting format of
great Supporters.
She didn’t make my own Top 12, though she was one
of the 20 cards that made the first cut.
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