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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Mawile  

- Plasma Freeze

Date Reviewed:
July 26, 2013

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 1.33
Limited: 3.00

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

Mawile (Plasma Freeze) 

Without doubt, Mawile is one of the weirdest Pokémon ever designed (and that’s saying something). Apparently, it’s based on a Japanese legend of a woman with a mouth in the back of her head. Yeah . . . think I’ll leave that one to Dr Freud. 

As a Pokémon, Mawile is an unevolving 70 HP Basic, and these are the cards that you expect to either help you out in setting up, or perform some kind of specialist function which aids the deck. Unfortunately, Mawile doesn’t really do either of these things . . . or at least she doesn’t do them very well. 

The first attack, Astonish, costs a single Metal Energy and gives you a coin flip for the chance to pick a random card from your opponent’s hand and shuffle it back into the deck. This is disruption on a very minor scale and the fact that it is flip-dependent means there is a substantial risk of it being a total waste. Even with heads, you are asking for a lot of luck in hitting something crucial like their only Supporter. Big Ol’ Bite (lolattackname) is rather expensive at three Energy, but it does seem to have a lot of effects. You do 30 damage, heal 30 from Mawile, and prevent the Defending Pokémon from Retreating next turn. This could have been a pretty useful attack: trap a Gothitelle EPO (or any Pokémon which would struggle to Knock Out Mawile) and KO it slowly while healing off any damage (which won’t be much due to Psychic Resistance). The huge Energy costs make it somewhat impractical though, and you have more realistic options like Sneasel NEX and Sandile BLW if you want a trapping Pokémon. 

If only they had shaved one Energy off the cost of Big Ol’ Bite, Mawile might have been playable. As it is, I can’t see this card getting used. 

Rating 

Modified: 2 (nice attack, shame about the cost)

Limited: 3 (could become very annoying) 

 . . . and that will be my last review for a while as I am taking some time off for the World Championships in Vancouver. Best of luck to everyone who is attending. Worlds is always a fantastic time.


Jason Klaczynski
"Ness"
Two-Time World Champion
Check out The Klaczynski Open. August 31, 2013

Mawile

About the only worthwhile thing Mawile has going for it is a funny attack name. If you're playing a 70 HP basic that can't evolve, its attack must do something better than have a 50% chance of shuffling one of your opponent's cards into their deck. Big Ol' Bite might trap a Gothitelle or Keldeo EX for a few turns, but if that's your goal, there's cheaper attacks, like Sneasel's Corner.

Modified: 1/5
Limited: 3/5

virusyosh

Happy Friday, Pojo readers! Today we're reviewing a card from Plasma Freeze that one of my friends did amazingly with at a Prerelease (much to his surprise). Today's Card of the Day is Mawile.
 
Mawile is a Basic Metal Pokemon. Metal Pokemon see a bit of play with Klinklang, but since the Shift Gear Klinklang is likely going to rotate with this year's format shift, their continued viability remains to be seen. 70 HP is average for a Basic, though somewhat bad for a non-Evolving Basic, as this is going to be all you're going to get. Therefore, Mawile has to do something absolutely spectacular in order to see Modified play, or it's going to be quickly relegated to Limited. Fire Weakness isn't too big of a deal right now; Psychic Resistance is good against Deoxys (though it will probably still OHKO); and a single Retreat Cost isn't bad, and easily payable.
 
Mawile has two attacks. Astonish allows you to flip a coin, and if heads, choose a card at random from your opponent's hand and shuffle it into their deck for a single Metal Energy. This isn't bad in Limited, as it can be a serious disruptive force, but this sort of effect isn't generally worth using an attack on, especially an attack that requires a coin flip for the effect. Therefore, you'll likely be using Astonish until you have Big Ol' Bite powered up. This humorous attack does a very expensive 30 damage for a Metal and two Colorless, but also heals 30 damage from Mawile and prevents the Defending Pokemon from retreating during your opponent's next turn. This sort of attack is wasted on a Pokemon with such low HP, but can indeed be a force in Limited. Just imagine if they put an attack like this (dealing more damage) on an EX!
 
Modified: 1/5 70 HP, doesn't evolve, and both attacks are expensive and unreliable. There are many better options.
 
Limited: 3/5 A friend of mine played a Limited deck with two Mawile as his only Pokemon at our local Plasma Freeze prerelease, and ended up locking his opponents out so effectively with Big Ol' Bite that he ended up winning a majority of his matches. While this strategy isn't likely to pay off in most cases, it demonstrates that with enough time to power it up, Mawile can be an excellent attacker in the Limited format, despite its low HP numbers and very expensive Energy requirements.


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