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For our last card of the week and our #6 slot, we
have...Teammates! Huh. Not that having a couple of
schoolgirls bonded together through the power of
friendship and Pokemon is anything bad, but...well, I'll
be honest, this wasn't on my list. So let's see what's
up with this card!
So at first glance, it seems rather appealing - you can
search your deck for any 2 cards and add them to your
hand! That's a really good effect - simplifying Battle
Compressor combos, doing Skyla and Ultra Ball's jobs at
the same time, though I wouldn't be using them to
simulate Professor's Letter unless you REALLY need
Energy! That...almost seems too good an effect!
AND INDEED IT WAS!! Because like Archie and Maxie,
there's a restriction on this card too! I think it's a
sign of the times when you begin to see limitations on
your Supporters - maybe the developers have noticed the
trend of powerful Supporters getting used a lot?
Alright, so what's the limitation on Teammates?
One of your Pokemon has to be KO'd.
...oh. This isn't a Skyla/Ultra Ball/Battle Compressor
combo. This is a "catch-up" card. As in you have to be
behind in order to use it. Archie and Maxie are similar
in that manner to this card - they also only activate in
a particular situation, and usually that's when you're
at a disadvantage. The big difference? YOU DON'T HAVE TO
PUT YOUR OPPONENT IN THE LEAD TO DO IT!!
Alright, so that's a rather pessimistic way of looking
at it, but maybe it's the case where you've got, say, M
Aggron-EX in play and have been landing heads for a
while now. All of a sudden, opponent plays a series of
cards, and long story short, M Aggron-EX got KO'd. But
wait, is that a Teammates in your hand? Oh look, two
free cards to make up for the M Aggron-EX you just lost!
In that way, this is not only a "catch-up" card but a
"reinforcements" cards. Sure, you could be behind in
Prizes, in which case it can grab you what you need to
attempt a counter assault, but if you're in the lead and
lose your big sweeper, it can get you just what you need
to reinforce your current position so you can hold
strong. And that's why I suspect this card is our #6.
I personally don't like the idea of having a Pokemon get
KO'd in order to use a card like this, even with as
powerful an effect as it's got, but I'm not going to
deny the benefits of being able to snag 2 cards from
your deck - the possibilities are literally endless, so
really the big question is, "Is it worth running knowing
that you need to lose 2+ cards to get up to 2 cards from
your deck?" Cause chances are in most decks, you're
going to have that M Aggron-EX scenario - only with
Yveltal-EX, Lucario-EX, Seismitoad-EX, etc. - in which
case you lose:
1) a really big Pokemon
2) any Energy/Tools attached to said Pokemon, on top of
3) your opponent getting 1-2 Prize cards
It's a half-and-half card for me, but who knows? I
usually don't like ketchup on my cards.
Rating
Standard: 3/5 (I rate it above my half-n-half score of
2.5 because of how beneficial that effect really is, but
that's about as big a pass as I'm willing to give this
card)
Expanded: 3/5 (same situation here)
Limited: 4/5 (outside of a +38/39 deck, I can understand
running this card in this format. Again, you have to
lose to gain, but considering you're usually going to be
losing only 1 Prize to your opponent, it's not as bad to
get 2 cards like, say, an evolution line or a Trainer
you really need)
Arora Notealus: The actual relationship between the two
Teammates here is, in the Japanese version of this card,
known as "senpai and kōhai," or translated, "mentor and
protegé," or even, "senior and junior," relating to the
original Gen III names of this particular duo, "Sr. and
Jr." Language is fun!
Weekend Thought: Do you agree with our list so far? What
cards do you expect to see in the Top 5? Any cards you
think we ought to reexamine?
Next Time: I dunno where we are...but I don't like how
quiet it is.
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