Review too long? Skip straight to the scores and
summary.
Name:
Dustox ex
Set:
EX Legend Maker
Card#:
86/92
Rarity:
Pokémon-ex
Pokémon-ex Rule:
When Pokémon-ex has been Knocked Out, your opponent
takes 2 Prize cards.
Type:
Grass
Stage:
2 (Evolves from Cascoon)
HP:
140
Weakness:
Fire, Psychic
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Poké-Body:
Safeguard
Prevent all effects of attacks, including damage,
done to Dustox ex by your opponent’s Pokémon-ex.
Attack#1:
(GC) Silver Wind [40]
During your next turn, if an attack does damage to
the Defending Pokémon (after applying Weakness and
Resistance), that attack does 30 more damage.
Attack#2:
(GCC) Cutting Wind [70]
Name:
Cascoon
Set:
EX Legend Maker
Card#:
30/92
Rarity:
Uncommon
Type:
Grass
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Wurmple)
HP:
70
Weakness:
Fire
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
CC
Poké-Power:
Emerge
Once during your turn (before your attack), if
Cascoon is your active Pokémon, you may flip a
coin. If heads, search your deck for a card that
Evolves from Cascoon and put it onto Cascoon. This
counts as Evolving Cascoon. Shuffle your deck
afterwards. This power can’t be used if Cascoon is
affected by a Special Condition.
Name:
Wurmple
Set:
EX Legend Maker
Card#:
70/92
Rarity:
Common
Type:
Grass
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Fire
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Poké-Body:
Poison Payback
If Wurmple is damaged by an opponent’s attack (even
if Wurmple is Knocked Out), the Attacking Pokémon is
now Poisoned.
Attack:
(C) String Pull
Switch 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon with
1 of the Defending Pokémon. Your opponent
chooses the Defending Pokémon to switch.
Attributes:
Dustox ex is a Stage 2 Pokémon. It Evolves
from Cascoon, who in turn Evolves from
Wurmple. The new Wurmple and Cascoon
are actually pretty good: Wurmple can use its
attack to bring something up that can’t hit hard, so
that the Poison its Poké-Body inflicts will have
time to work. Cascoon has a chance of being
able to not only pull a card that Evolves from it
out of the deck, but then to Evolve into said
Pokémon.
Dustox ex
is a Grass-type Pokémon. Grass Weakness is out
there, and on some prominent cards, so if Dustox
ex is up to snuff, it will have some nice
match-ups. However, Resistance is also out there,
so watch out.
Dustox ex
has 140 HP, which isn’t too bad for a Stage 2
Pokémon-ex: some are higher, some are lower, but
over all it’s a solid score. Unfortunately, they
decided it needed two Weaknesses to balance out that
HP: Fire and Psychic. The good news is that the
Poké-Body which we will get to later helps
compensate for it to a degree. There is no
Resistance, which is a bit disappointing, but again,
at least the Poké-Body will provide some defense.
A retreat cost of a single Energy is quite nice: it
should be easy enough to pay most of the time.
Abilities:
The most striking thing about Dustox ex is
that it has the infamous Safeguard Poké-Body. This
means that other Pokémon-ex can’t hurt it, possibly
opening up an interesting niche. Simply put, this
is a great Poké-Body, so I’ll just move on.
Silver Wind looks like a good supporting attack for
a Pokémon-ex. You pay for 25 points of damage,
before factoring in being a Stage 2 and a
Pokémon-ex. Even after that, the 40 points of
damage that it gives are pretty solid, especially
since there is an effect on top of all that: your
next attack, as long as it does damage, will do 30
more points of damage. So a constant barrage of
Silver Wind attacks would do 40/70/70/70/70/etc. I
find that very good for just two Energy.
The second and last attack is Cutting Wind. You pay
for 35 points of damage, and get 70. Not bad.
However, it is a hair disappointing since that’s the
same amount as a boosted Silver Wind. Silver Wind’s
effect will increase Cutting Wind’s damage as well,
but only enough to average… 70 damage a turn.
Still, it makes a good finisher if you have being
doing Silver Wind repeatedly.
Uses and
Combinations:
Dustox ex simply must be a deck focus:
there are no other Dustox in the Modified
Format. There is a Beautifly, but that’s a
pretty tall order to run the two, since the split
occurs with the Stage 1 of the line. That is, you’d
have to run both Silcoon and Cascoon,
or rely on Rare Candy. Given that this set
brings us a powerful Stage 2 Pokémon capable of
devolving multiple Pokémon with its attack… I don’t
like that idea.
On its own, I see combining it with EX Hidden
Legends Bellossom for healing, or perhaps EX
Team Rocket Returns Kingdra to remove its
Weakness. Personally, I can’t think of anything
else, but much like yesterday’s card, I feel there
is something more that is just waiting to be
discovered.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5-Pokémon-ex aren’t heavily used here, so there’s
little benefit from the Poké-Body.
Modified:
3.5/5-Another Pokémon I feel has strong potential,
though I can’t name specifics. As long as
Pokémon-ex are popular, it stands to have some
favorable match-ups.
Limited:
5/5-The lower stages are quite good in this format.
It needs only one Grass Energy to use its attacks,
allowing you to mix in other Energy types with
ease. The most troubling competition, other
Pokémon-ex, can’t hurt it, and it does just enough
damage that Silver Wind should feed many OHKO’s.
Basically, a perfect pull for this format.
Summary
Dustox ex
is a very interesting card that is just looking for
a deck to support it in Modified, as it is immune to
attacks from the strongest Pokémon in the game.
.jpg)
