Name:
Absol
Set:
EX Holon Phantoms
Card#:
18/110
Rarity:
Rare
Type:
Darkness
Stage:
Basic
HP:
70
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
Psychic
Retreat:
(C)
Attack#1:
(C) Foresight
Look at the top 5 cards of either player’s deck and
put them back on top of that player’s deck in any
order.
Attack#2:
(DC) Overrun [10]
Choose 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon.
This attack does 20 damage
to that Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and
Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)
Attributes:
Absol is a Basic Pokémon, making it fairly
easy to run. It doesn’t Evolve,
nor does it lave a “pre-Evolution”, so it has to be
pretty good since its all on its own. To begin
with, it is a Darkness Type Pokémon which is perhaps
the best “mono-type” Pokémon since it gains access
to the damage increasing power of Darkness Energy.
It has a sturdy 70 HP, enough that it’ll usually
take a big Stage 1 or 2 to OHKO it. It has a
Fighting Weakness, which isn’t good, but no Weakness
really is. Fighting decks will shred it. Psychic
Resistance is wonderful to see, though it isn’t
going to be especially useful at the moment. Still,
if you encounter a Psychic Pokémon, it’ll need to
hit for 100 damage to OHKO
you. Finally, we have a Retreat Cost of a single
Energy. This is nice and cheap, and shouldn’t be an
issue most of the time. Obviously free would be
better, but this is still a significant advantage.
Abilities:
Foresight is a decent opening attack, allowing you
to set up your own draws and frustrate your
opponent’s. Overrun, sadly, isn’t a good attack for
a Darkness-Type Pokémon. You see, Darkness
Energy only adds to damage to the Active, and
this attack is more geared towards hurting the Bench
(20 to a Benched Pokémon versus 10 to the Active).
Additionally, it’s just not good as the “main
attack” for a card. Foresight is handy for setting
up with, but it’s not as good as a lot of common
openers. Even if you use two
Darkness Energy to power Overrun, 30 to
the Active and 20 to the Bench is just “okay”. You
may be getting a little more than you paid for (DC
would yield only 25 damage),
it isn’t like Absol has another attack or an
Evolution available.
Uses and
Combinations:
A “decent” opener, though not on par with a lot of
easier to get cards. It is nice that you can see
whether or not you should use a shuffle and draw
Trainer or just a plain draw Trainer. It needs
Darkness Energy to do anything worth while in
terms of attacking, but it doesn’t do enough to
warrant risking the loss of said Energy.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5 – Darkness Energy are for Neo Genesis
Sneasel and Murkrow. Neo Genesis
Cleffa is a better opening Basic.
Modified:
2/5 – Same as above, but with their modern
contemporaries. Darkness Energy decks want
to save it for the big hitters/key KOs. Jirachi,
Plusle, etc. are better for setting up.
Limited:
2/5 – Decent HP and it can help set up, but even if
you get a Darkness Energy (or a way of
providing it), Overrun just isn’t so hot.
Summary
A good idea with a poor execution, if you have
Absol but lack some of the more popular opening
Pokémon, go ahead and give it a whirl.
Unless I missed a key combo
(which has happened before), this card likely to be
something to use unless you have to.
-Otaku
