Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Archen
(Plasma Blast)
With the recently announced rule changes (in effect from
November 8th), first turn attacks are gone and Pokémon
Catcher’s effect becomes dependent on a coin flip (like
Pokémon Reversal). Because of this, there is a lot of
speculation that Stage 2 decks will get a new lease of
life in the format and we will be seeing more of them
than just a whole lot of Blastoise,
plus the occasional Hydreigon
or Garchomp. If this is the
case then Archeops (NVI but
legal because reprinted in DEX) certainly becomes an
interesting card with its Ancient Power Ability that
stops either player from playing a card from their hand
to evolve a Pokémon.
This is where the Archen
from Plasma Blast comes in. It may have low HP and an
attack that is barely worth mentioning, but it also has
the Prehistoric Call Ability that we have seen on
Restored Pokémon in this set. This allows
Archen to be put on the
bottom of the deck if it is in the discard pile where
you can then dig it out with a Plume Fossil Trainer. Put
simply, it transforms Archen
from a Pokémon that is a luck-based nightmare to use,
into something that is merely a bit inconvenient. (You
still need Archen, Plume
Fossil, plus a method of discarding, to get it out).
This could mean, in turn, that
Archeops itself becomes a playable Pokémon and a
viable counter to powerful evolution decks.
It’s tough to make any real predictions of what will
happen as we head off into the
unown of the X/Y block, but at least
Archeops now stands a
chance.
Rating
Modified: 3 (just what Archeops
always wanted)
Limited: 3 (the Archeops in
the set is pretty good)
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