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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Marill - Sandstorm

Date Reviewed: 12.02.03

Ratings & Reviews below

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating.

Heidi Craig	Hello, Marill 1.5/5 Modified For two energy with the attack being flip based not really reliable. I am not a big fan of cards that rely 100% on flips. If the flips went well you can paralyze your opponent helping to stall but with evolution running ramped it may not stop your opponent from attacking next turn. I like the fact it has free retreat that seems to be rare these days and for that purpose it may have it's uses in some water decks. Unlimited 1/5 I wouldn't use this card. In this format strong basics rule the game and this card simply couldn't compete. The weakness poses a problem with lightning being used in many unlimited decks. Draft 2/5 With free retreat and the ability to paralyze if the flips go right might be useful in this format. It would depend on the other Pokemon you drafted. This card could be a good back to do some damage and hopefully paralyze your opponent but with a flip attack it isn't reliable enough to depend on it. Heidi
Bullados	Strategy for Marill (Sandstorm) Attributes: Not all that bad for a Basic that can evolve. 50 HP is fairly standard for this type of Pokemon. Lightning weakness is not all that bad. There are not many pure Lightning decks out there, and most of them would KO Marill without the help of the weakness. No resistance, no mention. The retreat cost on this card is somewhat of an enigma, and has the entire Pokemon community baffled. Some versions of this card have no retreat, others have [C] retreat. Obviously, the one with no retreat is better. Free retreat is extremely rare in the Modified format, so use it well. Attack #1: "Double Bubble" There is no strategy behind this attack. 75% of the time, your opponent is completely helpless, while you're dealing a decent amount of damage. This is virtually the same as auto-paralysis. This is also the only real stall card in Modified today (forget about the Babies, they don't have free retreat). The damage isn't all that much, but it's enough to make this card playable in almost any deck. Because of this, this card's main strengths are speed and stalling power. Ratings: Unlimited: Worthless, unless you play an Azumarill deck. There are better stalling cards coughchanseycough, and the attack doesn't do enough damage for the amount of energy that you put into it. Nothing doing here. 1/5 Modified: Better, but still not great. This card is more TecH for Big Fire and an occasional staller while you work up something bigger and badder. Splashable and mobile, it's good, but not great. 2.75/5 Limited: Do not pass this guy up, especially if he has free retreat. This attack alone will net you at least one, if not two prizes. Also, it will take a long period of time to get those prizes, allowing you to build up something better, then you just retreat for nothing and wax your opponent. Again, splashable and mobile make this card more than worth its weight in cardboard. 4.5/5 (take Zangoose, Lunatone, or Solrock if they're in the pack) ~Bullados
Patriarch	Woo-hoo! Today, we look at arguably one of the best Water basics out there! Read on...read on... Hmmm...this guy's pretty neat! 50 HP is about average for a basic, and for a Water and Colorless, you can for a 75% chance of paralysis! This is very good, especially when we need some form of efficient stall...however, the error version's free retreat cost makes it an AWESOME card! Since our good POP pals ruled that you can use him with no errata, this is a major boost for the somewhat weak water decks out there. I personally think that he works best with Kingdra ex. Unlimited (1.5/5 non-error, 2/5 for error): Not very impressive here. Although a good chance of paralysis is still awesome, your opponent has more disruption at his/her disposal. To top it all off, there are several better free-retreaters, like pure babies (ie Cleffa, Tyrogue, Elekid, etc), and Sneasel... Modified (3/5 N-E, 4/5 error): It has lots of potential here! Not only can you paralyze and free retreat, but it also works well with its counterpart Azurill! Basically, you use the attack of Azurill once, and then throw down Marill! However, there's not been an outstanding Azumarill for a while, so you're better off playing this guy solo. He stalls a lot, and might even save you a game or two. ^_- Draft (3.25/5 N-E, 4.5/5 error): Basically, the same applies that did in modified, only Azumarill will prove to be VERY useful. If I were playing water, I doubt I'd ever pass this thing off (yes, even the no-error one).
Otaku	Name: Marill Type: Water Stage: Basic HP: 50 Weakness: Electric Resistance: None Retreat: None Attack: (WC) Double Bubble [10x] Flip coins. This attack does 10 damage times the number of heads. If either of the coins is heads, the Defending Pokémon is now Paralyzed. Attributes: Marill is a Basic Water Pokémon. When being used outside its evolution line, it has mostly Aquapolis Suicune and Sandstorm Wailmer for competition in Modified, and Articuno and Lapras (both from Fossil) for Unlimited. There are other Marills, but this one is the best, so I won’t mention them again. Marill has a pre-Evolution available to it (Azurill) and an Evolution available to it (Azumarill). Azurill can fetch a Trainer from the deck, so it might see some use in Modified, but I would only do so with a deck focused on the whole Azumarill line, but not Unlimited. The Azumarill are a mixed bag in my opinion, though the most recent shows promise. Let us go back to Marill, though. Its HP falls short of all the others on the list, though all but Articuno have the same Weakness: “Lightning” (Electric) types. In Unlimited, this is more or less a kiss of death, what with Buzz and even Rocket’s Zapdos still kicking around. In Modified, it can still be pretty dangerous now that even the faint-hearted will likely try Electric decks with Ampharos ex in them (I prefer AQ Zappy and say Sceptile for some crafty Electric/Grass carnage). Sadly, like so many others, it lacks a Resistance. =/ Of the others, only Articuno has it, and Fighting at that. Last we come to retreat… HELLO! This is the only true free retreating basic in Modified. This is why I highlighted it: a free retreat is a precious thing for Modified, and for many decks, this might be the best option. This is half of why to use this card… Abilities: … and this is the rest of it. Double Bubble may look bad at a glance: (WC) for an average of 10 damage… but you then notice something quite rare: if at least one coin flip is heads, then you get Paralysis. That gets really, really annoying. I mean really annoying… when it’s the opponents Marill. -_- Uses/Combinations: First as a free retreater, then as semi-splashable Water. An average of 10 damage is nothing much, with a 75% chance of Paralysis makes it a decent counter to Water Weak Pokémon. While not strong, that Paralysis can give you quite a few free turns. Ratings Unlimited: 2/5-This is the best Marill, and I think Sandstorm Azumarill could be decent in a Raindance deck. That is reason for the score. There are better Water Basics and free-retreaters. Modified: 3/5-When I first proposed this, I had not realized that Xatu, a free-reteater as well, makes a fair supporting Pokémon (major healing with multiples). Still, good Water and all. Limited: 4/5-It won’t win the game, but that 75% Paralysis will probably net you 2 prizes for the cost of a Marill and 2 energy. -Otaku

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