Name:
Absol
Set/Card#:
Team Magma Vs Team Aqua, #96/95
Type:
Dark
Stage:
Basic
HP:
70
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
(C)
Attack#1:
(CC) Quick Attack [10+]
Flip a
coin. If heads, this attack does 10 damage plus 10 more
damage.
Attack#2:
(DDC) Feint Attack
Choose 1
of your opponent’s Pokémon. This attack does
30 damage to that Pokémon.
This attack’s damage isn’t affected by Weakness,
Resistance, Poké-Powers, Poké-Bodies, or any other effects
on that Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance
for Benched Pokémon.)
Attributes:
Absol is a Basic Pokémon, which
is best: you can drop it into play with no problems. It is
a Dark Pokémon, which is possible the single greatest
type-no natural Resistance, some Weakness, and it gets
access to the damage increasing effects of Darkness Energy.
Absol has a nice, solid 70 HP.
This is known as the “magic number” for Pokémon because,
outside of certain Modified decks (that I consider broken),
it’s hard to OHKO something with 70 HP without
type-matching. Note that in the “old days”, it was rare for
anything to reliably hit that hard. The Weakness is
Fighting, which pretty much kills this thing for Unlimited,
but isn’t too bad for Modified. It has no Resistance. This
is wrong in my opinion-I can’t see this card being broken by
being Resistant to a type it was in the GBA games-either
Psychic or Dark. Alas, it’s too late now. Finally, for
attributes anyway, we come to retreat. A Retreat of one is
the second best in the game of course. Still, be
cautious-you don’t want to blow a Rainbow or a Darkness
Energy when retreating.
Abilities:
This may well be the worst Quick-Attack I have ever seen. I
think it’s been seen this poorly priced before, but still,
it’s bad-you pay (CC). This should yield an average
of 20 damage. This attack should
average 15, though-rip off! Still, it is better than
nothing. The second attack is an old favorite for Dark
Pokémon: Feint Attack. This wonderfully wicked attack gets
to ignore just about all effects on the opponent,
guaranteeing damage. It also lets you target a Benched
Pokémon if you wish. However, it only does 30 damage, and
Darkness Energy’s bonus won’t apply to
benched Pokémon. Now, the attack is fairly priced:
the (DD) would yield 30, and the (C) would pay for the
ability to target the Pokémon of your choice. This is a
very solid attack… but it’s not something that, on its own,
is a game winner-even if you power it
with two real Darkness Energy, you would only be
hitting for 50. It was so devastating on Neo Genesis
Murkrow because that card could “lock” something weak out
front then pick off the bench at your leisure. Still, it’s
a good attack.
Uses/Combinations:
If you have a deck that already uses Rainbow and/or Darkness
Energy, this could be worth running-real Darkness Energy can
up the damage on Quick Attack to a respectable level, and
Feint attacks can frustrate an opponent trying to set up.
However, Sandstorm Electabuzz might be a better choice-Thunderspear,
its bench hitting attack, does 40 for just (LCC). It can
also be used in conjunction with Sandstorm
Elekid, it can actually set up by
turn two. Neither will do much good in
either Modified or Unlimited.
Ratings
Unlimited:
2/5-Tyrogue bait… but it can OHKO
a benched Baby…
Modified/2-on-2/ TMP:
2/5-No Tyrogue here… but Firestarter decks will easily KO it
before it can power-up to try and use Feint Attack. As
usual, if something can bring those in line, then it might
see some use.
Limited:
2/5-Remember, no Darkness or Rainbow Energy in this set:
Team Aqua/Magma Energy and Double Rainbow Energy can’t be
used on it. Still, it is a big basic, and Quick Attack will
do at least 10 damage. If a set containing Darkness Energy
or Rainbow Energy is included, it goes up to 2.5/5.
If both are in the set, then its 3/5-its
hard to draft two of them, but it will be great if it can
get set up.
Summary
A weak
first attack and lack of Resistance give this no solid use.
-Otaku (nintendotaku@hotmail.com)
