|
Jigglypuff13 |
8/6 Porygon-Z Lv.X (MD)
Hello, and this is the second of the MD Lv.X's that we
some how missed out, Porygon-Z LV.X. Out of all of the
Lv.X's released so far, this is one of the more
interesting ones, due to having 2 Poké-Powers and no
attacks, rather than having at least 1 attack. With the
normal Porygon-Z (GE), that means it could have in
total, 3 Poké-Powers it could use. No other Pokémon has
that number of Poké-Powers, even on a single card
actually. However, before talking about the Pokémon,
I'll talk about the basic card first. Well, to start
with, 130HP on a Stage 2 Lv.X is roughly average at the
moment, but should be able to survive at least 1 hit.
Unless it's from the most popular attacking Fighting
Type around, Gallade (SW), because Porygon-Z Lv.X has a
massive x2 Fighting Weakness, which means Gallade will
only ever need to flip 1 prize maximum. No Resistance is
annoyingly expected, and that 2 Retreat Cost is also
average.
Now, the Poké-Powers, and I think these will make you
want to play Porygon-Z Lv.X. First we have Mode Crash,
which, when Porygon-Z Lv.X comes into play to Level Up
Porygon-Z, you get to discard all Special energies in
play. Considering the amount of Special Energies that
are played, you will be discarding a lot of Energies in
most of your games. While it is only a one time effect,
it is a brilliant one. The second Poké-Power is Decode,
which could argueably be called the better of the 2
Powers. For this, you get to choose 2 cards from your
deck, shuffle the rest of your deck, and put those 2 on
top of your deck in any order. That's just a brilliant
set-up Poké-Power, which when combined with a draw
engine (either Porygon2 (GE) or Claydol (GE) considering
it is the Porygon line we are on about), you can make
sure you get what you want every turn, which is just
amazing. However, this effect has been done once before.
Now, for those of you who weren't playing in the
e-Reader series of Pokémon cards, there was a card
called Oracle, that did exactly what decode does, but in
a Supporter. This was used in many decks, including most
of the decks that were released from the 2004 World
Championships (maybe even all), and was an absolutely
brilliant card with the draw engine of choice at the
time, Delcatty (RS). Of course, the great thing about
decode is that, while you may still only be able to use
1 per turn, you can end up using it more than 4 times
all in all, you just need Porygon-Z Lv.X to stay in play
that long.
Now, for Porygon-Z Lv.X's weaknesses, and the first is
it's massive weakness to possibly the most played deck
of the format, GG/Plox. Gallade (SW) will happily flip
just 1 prize for a OHKO, but Gardevoir (SW) goes a more
subtle approach, stopping Porygon-Z's 3 (including the
normal form) Poké-Powers, which stops most of Porygon-Z's
power. from this, Cessation Crystal and Battle Frontier,
both are less played than GG/Plox decks, but still cause
the same problems as Gardevoir's Psychic Lock attack.
However, unlike Gardevoir, Battle Frontier and Cessation
crystal are easy to get rid off, with Pachirisu (GE)
taking care of the former, counter stadiums taking care
of the latter, and Windstorms taking care of both.
However, since they aren't played that much, there isn't
that much need to fear them. Glaceon Lv.X (MD) also
shuts down Poké-Powers, but that is taken care of by
Lati-Lock. 130HP should allow Porygon-Z Lv.X to live for
a while, with decks needing to fulfill unrealistic
conditions for a OHKO. examples include Ho-Oh (SW) in
Skittles needing 7 different Basic Energies for a OHKO,
or Magmortar (SW) needing 7 Fire Energies attached for a
OHKO, or Leafeon Lv.X (MD) needing 10 energies in play
on the Leafeon players side of the field. The last of
them is actually the most likely to happen, but still...
Other archetypes just can't get a OHKO, though Empoleon
(MD) can go for a 30 snipe with Dual Splash, then use a
fully powered Surf Together to finish Porygon-X Lv.X
off. Garchomp (MT) decks will only ever get a 2HKO due
to only being able to do 110 maximum. T2 decks can only
go for a 2HKO as well, due to most of the maximum damage
being caused by T2 decks being 80 (though Blissey (MT)
is the exception to the rule). The only other deck that
has a chance of OHKOing Porygon-Z Lv.X is Kabutops (MD)
in Fossil decks, but since they aren't played that much,
it shouldn't be a massive problem.
However, the biggest problem that Porygon-Z Lv.X has is
that there is no good Porygon-Z. The GE one is our only
one, and is way too flippy to actually be any good,
though with Lake Boundary, Porygon-Z's Poké-Power could
turn the otherwise 120 max. damage attack to a max. 240
damage with discarding the correct energy. However, it's
damage is based on the flipping of coins, which is never
the sign of a good attacker, and since it would end up
being Porygon-Z Lv.X's sole attack, there is no good
reason to end up using Porygon-Z Lv.X.
Ratings:
Modified: Like Garchomp Lv.X on Monday, this is a great
card, but is let down by having no real good normal
form. However, it also ha a massive weakness to the
biggest and most played deck in the format, GG/Plox
decks, which makes an already kind of unplayable card,
to a totally unplayable card, unless you have a nice
metagame that doesn't use GG or Plox decks at all. As
soon as there is a real good Porygon-Z though, I have a
feeling this card could end up being quite well used.
2.25/5
Limited: Is there a Porygon-Z here? No, so it can't be
used. 1/5 |
