Name:
Grumpig
Set:
Dragons
Type:
Psychic
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Spoink)
HP:
80
Weakness:
Psychic
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(PC) Psychic Boom [20+]
Does 20 damage plus 10 more damage for each Energy attached to
the Defending Pokémon.
Attack#2:
(PCC) Mind Trip [50]
If Grumpig and the Defending Pokémon have the same amount of
Energy attached to them, the Defending Pokémon is now
Confused.
Name:
Spoink
Set:
Dragons
Type:
Psychic
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Psychic
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Bounce [10]
After your
attack, you may switch Spoink with 1 of your Benched
Pokémon.
Name:
Spoink
Set:
Dragons
Type:
Psychic
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Psychic
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Hop [10]
Attack#2:
(PC) Psybeam [10]
Flip a
coin. If heads, the Defending Pokémon is now Confused.
Attributes:
Grumpig is a Stage 1 Psychic Pokémon. There is currently only
one “Grumpig”, so in that respect, it’s on its own. Being a
Stage 1 is better than being a Stage 2, but worse than being a
basic-you can’t just drop it into play. There are two Spoink to
choose from-neither is great. Bounce is under-priced, until you
realize since it’s the only attack, it had better be good. The
latter Spoink’s Psybeam is over-priced by a Colorless Energy,
which is also not happy-choose what one you want.
It is Psychic,
which kinda hurts it-on the bright side, (in Modified)
Psychic-weak Pokémon are everywhere, but that’s because most
Psychic Pokémon are weak to Psychic, and Psychic is the
strongest type right now. Second, while Grumpig would be easier
to add in than, say, Gardevoir ex, it is harder to add in than
Mewtwo ex. In Unlimited, Psychic just doesn’t get used to much
because so many resistant Pokémon are around.
Moving on to
HP, we see a solid 80. This is not a huge advantage for a Stage
1, but its still on the happy side of minimum playable HP. It
should survive at least one strong attack (in Modified-it’s
hosed in Unlimited, so assume I mean Modified unless otherwise
stated)… unless it’s from its Weakness, Psychic. Then it will
probably be OHKO’d. >_< Oh well. Probably the worst Weakness it
could have (and not in line with the GB games, where Psychic
Pokémon are Resistant to each other. Next is its
Resistance, which is… nothing. -_- Rarely will a Resistance
break a card. Bad TPC. Moving on, we come to retreat, which is
one. It’s not the best, but it is the second best, and easy to
pay for. And as you’ll soon see, we want a way to be able to
discard energy from this…
Abilities:
First up is Psychic Boom. A nice solid attack-pay for 25
damage, but get 20 plus 10 for each Energy they have attached.
Most big Pokémon have big Energy requirements to go with them,
and hey, Metal Pokémon hate these kinds of attacks, as it
basically means Metal Energy does nothing against it. If you
are wondering what I mean, each Metal Energy attached to a Metal
Pokémon will block 10 damage, but due to Psychic Boom’s effect,
it also adds 10 damage, so in the long run, it’s like it isn’t
even there. Next up is Mind Trip. Just by its base damage, it
is slightly discounted: you pay for 35 but get 50. Next, if you
and the Defending Pokémon have the same amount of Energy, they
get hit for Confusion. Don’t estimate it even though retreating
out of it no longer requires a flip-you only get one retreat per
turn, and even in Unlimited, this can screw up someone bad. I
used Confusion to stall a game that was almost a lock for an
opponent into a tedious hour long affair (sorry Baboon). Note
that it is Energy, and not Energy card. Still, most big Pokémon
will need 3 or more for their “big” attack, so they will be
vulnerable. Sadly, the attacks don’t support each other. If
they don’t have the Energy to make Psychic Boom nice, they
probably won’t have enough to trigger Mind Trips extra effect.
They probably should have put Mean Look or something for the
first attack, so that Mind Trip would be more effective.
Uses/Combinations:
Aquapolis Tentacruel’s Strange Tentacles Poké-Power will let you
make sure the Energy’s match up, guaranteeing Confusion (or if
you load Grumpig up, a KO with Psychic Boom). Mirage Stadium
can help make that Confusion stick, where as Aquapolis Ariados
or Octillery could be used to make retreating out of Confusion
more painful.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.75/5-Sorry to sound like a broken record, but “it does
stuff”. With Slowking and Broken Ground Gym, Mirage Stadium, or
Rocket’s Training Gym in play, it could be a fun Rogue deck, but
Resistance and better Psychic Basics are everywhere.
Modified:
3/5-Just as Espeon was sort of a weaker version of Gardevoir ex,
this seems a toned down Espeon. The difference is that Espeon
was a Rare, where as Gardevoir ex was a Pokémon ex (whatever you
would consider their rarity), while Spoink is a Holo-rare. This
would have been a killer uncommon card. I suppose it’s more
reliable than Espeon though.
Limited:
3.5/5-Special Conditions are better in Limited events. It also
only needs one Psychic Energy, making it easy to splash (I
didn’t mention this in the others because there are better
splashable Psychics in the constructed formats).
2-on-2:
3.25/5-A touch better here since you have to targets to chose
from, making it easier to maximize Grumpig’s attack results.
TMP:
3.15/5-Like 2-on-2, but with Grumpig able to be attacked twice.
Summary
Good attacks
that just don’t compliment each other make for an average card.
-Otaku (nintendotaku@hotmail.com)
