New Feature:
If you think this review is too long to read, just skip
straight to the scores and then read the summary for a
concise overview!
Yes, the summary now lives up to its name.
Name:
Furret
Set:
EX: Team Rocket Returns
Card#:
22/109
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Sentret)
HP:
80
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Quick Change
Choose up
to 3 cards in your hand and put them on top of your deck.
Then, search your deck for that many cards and put them into
hand. Shuffle your deck afterward.
Attack#2:
(CC) Quick Tail Smash [30]
Before
doing damage, you may flip a coin. If heads, this
attack does 80 damage instead. If tails, this attack
does nothing.
Name:
Sentret
Set:
EX: Team Rocket Returns
Card#:
75/109
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Friend Search
Look at
the top 5 cards of your deck. Choose a Basic Pokémon or
Evolution card you find there, show it to your opponent, and
put it into your hand. Put the 4 other cards back on top of
your deck. Shuffle your deck afterward.
Attack#2:
(C) Surprise Attack [20]
Flip a
coin. If tails, this attack does nothing.
Attributes:
Furret is a Stage 1 Colorless Pokémon. This is the only
Furret legal for Modified, and the old ones aren’t good
enough for Unlimited. Being a Stage 1 means that this card
will require certain “price breaks” when it comes to its
other stats and abilities. The reason for this is that it
requires more effort to get a Stage 1 into play than a Stage
2. Since this Pokémon is the final Evolution Stage for its
line, it should receive a bit more of a boost than an
intermediary Stage 1, like Seadra or Charmeleon.
It has a solid basic in this set: Sentret can’t do much
damage, but it has a nifty searching attack. With these
things in mind, let’s look at the other attributes.
It is
Colorless. Now that they appear to be treating “Colorless”
as its own type, instead of a lack of type, this has become
an advantage for the Modified Format: there is almost no
Resistance, but some Weakness. In Unlimited, Unown N
and Sprout Tower can reduce the damage Colorless
Pokémon do, but are rarely seen, and neither Colorless
Weakness nor Resistance are seen. All in all, being
Colorless is a little bit of an advantage in Modified and a
slight disadvantage in Unlimited.
Furret’s
HP is 80. Where this merely an intermediate Stage 1, it
would be solid, if not a little good. This is the final
form of this Pokémon, however, it is at best average, and is
possibly on the unhappy side of the HP curve. This ties
into the Weakness: Fighting. So any Fighting Pokémon that
can hit for 40 can OHKO you. Compare this to if its HP had
been 90: 50 damage flat usually only comes from a main
attack. We have no Resistance, which is automatically the
worst. So as you can see, Furret comes across as a
tad Fragile.
Now for
Furret’s final attribute, its Retreat Cost. It just
needs to discard a dingle Energy to retreat. Looking
forward to the cost of its attacks, this is definitely
nice. It needs at most two Energy to attack, and has
something for one, so a single Energy is extremely easy to
pay. So to summarize the attributes, the Stage is neutral
Abilities:
The first attack is solid: Quick Change is up to a triple
Computer Search in a sense. Still, this is an attack on a
Stage 1, and this is what makes it unreliable-a fringe
benefit of running Furret. Quick Tail Smash is a
good attack, though I wouldn’t build a deck around it. You
put enough Energy into it for 20 damage and you get either a
reliable 30. You can also risk it on a coin flip. So, just
using the Energy, that would still only give you (20 times
2) 40 damage. Using the attacks real base damage, it would
be (30 times 2) 60 damage. Instead, you get 80 damage. So
like I said, it’s a good attack. However, we must remember
that this is a Stage 1, which makes it still a good attack,
but then factor in that this is the only offensive attack on
the card, which means its respectable attack. Sadly, these
attacks lack a lot of synergy, other than both being
inexpensive.
Uses/Combinations:
This is a “supporting Pokémon”. It shouldn’t be the focus
of your deck, but should help you set up. You’ll still need
draw power when relying on Quick Change: even if you wait
and Evolve normally, your hand only is six cards if you just
attach a single Energy. It’s enough to set up simple
things, but anything complicated (read, more than just a
bunch of Energy or an Evolution). The attack makes it okay
for opening/closing, but that should be thought of as a perk
and not the card’s true calling.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.75/5-It wants to be good, and if it were a Baby, it’d
probably replace Cleffa (quality over quantity). As a Stage
1, it’s too much effort for the return. And of course,
Tyrogue smacks it hard.
Modified:
3.25/5-I can see certain decks running this to help set-up.
Nothing specific, just those that need key cards at the
right time. Most will just stick with Dunsparce and
Delcatty though.
Limited:
4.5/5-It’s a prime pull here. Sentret is a great
common for this format, so you have a decent shot of being
able to run this even though it’s a “Rare” Evolution. Quick
Search is great for setting up whatever other goodies you
pulled, while Quick Tail Smash can either whittle away at
their Pokémon or go for annoying OHKO’s (I know this from
having it used against me).
Summary
The new
Furret is meant to support another Pokémon line. It’s
got enough HP to survive one or two hits from other early
game Pokémon (unless they are Fighting), and has two
inexpensive attacks useful for this time period. Quick
Search can set up your main line with ease, while Quick Tail
Strike can go for an early lead in prizes.
