Penny – Scarlet & Violet
Date Reviewed: May 24, 2023
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 3.0
Expanded: 3.0
Limited: 4.0
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Vince
Penny (Scarlet & Violet 239/198) is one of those cards which would have made the countdown of the best cards of Scarlet & Violet, though even today I still haven’t compiled a top X list of any category. But if you were wondering why I think he might be on my hypothetical top X list of Scarlet & Violet, he is a Supporter card which lets you put 1 of your Basic Pokemon and all cards attached to it onto your hand.
AZ, Acerola, Cheren’s Care….these are Supporter cards that also provides bouncing methods, and there’s also non-Supporter bounce-based cards like Super Scoop Up, Scoop Up Net, and ACE SPEC Scoop Up Cyclone. The reason why such effect from past cards is incredibly helpful is because it could be used in many ways such as denying a KO (scooping up a heavily damaged Pokemon away from play), promoting a Benched Pokemon to be put on the Active Spot (because you scooped up your Active Pokemon), freeing up bench space so that you can put a different Pokemon in play, and enabling multiple instances of coming-into-play abilities – or abilities that can be activated anytime from a Basic Pokemon – as long as certain effects aren’t a hard once-per-turn (such as Lumineon-V and the banned Shaymin-EX with the Set Up ability). Most of the Pokemon with awesome abilities are Basic Pokemon, and Penny fits the bill perfectly!
However, he does not affect Evolved Pokemon, so it won’t scoop certain mechanics like Pokemon VMAX/VSTAR, Stage 1 and Stage 2 Pokemon-ex/GX, and Pokemon VUNION, so Penny is not as awesome than some of the older cards are, but he is currently your Standard legal option in regard to bounce. For Expanded, I might have mentioned some of the older cards, but for comparison:
-AZ lets you put 1 Pokemon in play onto your hand while discarding everything else attached to it. You would retrieve the entire evolutionary line, but you’ll have to discard Pokemon Tool(s) and energy cards.
-Acerola lets you put 1 Pokemon in play that has any damage counters on it and all cards attached to it onto your hand.
-Cheren’s Care lets you put 1 Colorless type Pokemon in play that has any damage counters on it and all cards attached to it onto your hand. (Perhaps the most restrictive of the bunch.)
And non-Supporter bounce-based cards:
-Super Scoop Up can let you put 1 Pokemon and all cards attached to it onto your hand…if you get heads on a coin flip.
-Scoop Up Net lets you put 1 Pokemon that isn’t a Pokemon-V or Pokemon-GX onto your hand while discarding everything else attached to it.
-Scoop Up Cyclone lets you put 1 Pokemon and all cards attached to it onto your hand without any drawback…other than the fact that the player can only have one ACE SPEC card in their deck, while disregarding other ACE SPEC cards (like Computer Search and Dousing Machine) competing for a spot of anyone’s deck.
Penny seems to be competing in a crowded field for Expanded, but what he does might set it apart from others, and with VS Seeker and Battle Compressor lingering there, he could easily be searched and retrieved at your leisure.
Ratings:
Standard: 3/5
Expanded: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
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