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Protection Cube
Let’s be honest here: the only reason this card even
exists is Mega Charizard Y.
Yes, there are quite a few Pokémon in the format that
have self-damaging attacks. Some have even seen play in
the past (notably Zekrom
BLW/LTR and to a much lesser extent,
Reshiram EX), though not so
much these days. For
a card like Protection Cube to be worthwhile, though,
you need two factors to come into play . . .
First, the damage has to be so catastrophic that it
seriously affects a Pokémon’s chances of surviving the
next attack. It would not work that well with
Zekrom, because
OHKOing something with 130
HP (as opposed to 90) isn’t that tough these days:
popular cards like Yveltal
EX and Black Kyurem EX do it
with ease. Secondly, the self-damaging attack has to be
good enough to use without the assistance of Muscle Band
(which doesn’t add to self-damage, by the way). For this
reason, a card like Reshiram
EX will generally prefer the Band as an attack which
does 170 (a OHKO on most EX
Pokémon) is a lot more desirable than one doing 150.
The only card we have which fits these criteria right
now is Mega Charizard Y,
which does a ridiculous 300 damage at the cost of 50 to
itself. Obviously an attack as stupidly huge as this
needs no boost, and avoiding the 50 damage is a very
good idea indeed, as Mega Charizard
requires so much investment in terms of Energy and a
skipped attack, that having it
OHKO’d is pretty much a disaster. Unfortunately
Mega Charizard just isn’t
very good right now (or ever, probably) due to the Mega
mechanics and its very high Energy cost.
As more cards are released, maybe Protection Cube will
have another use besides making Mega
Charizard suck slightly less
than it already does. For now, it’s a card with
unrealised potential.
Rating
Modified: 2.5 (would be higher if we had better things
to use with it)
Limited: 1.25 (only useful if you also pulled the Mega)
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