Hello, and welcome to Tuesday and the continuation of
our SV previews. Today, we continue with Drifblim FB!
There is a strange little thing about this card,
something unique in it's attack, that'll I'll get onto
later. First up, though, is the basics of the card, and
it first of all has 80 HP. For an SP Pokémon, it's
roughly average, and will probably survive a hit, but I
wouldn't be certain about much more than that. x2 Dark
Weakness isn't exactly good, considering Weavile (SW)
could, theorectically, appear in almost any deck,
meaning it is a widespread weakness. Proper Dark types,
however, are few and far between, apart from the
occasional Shiftry (RR) (or other Dark Pokémon that may
appear in SV...). -20 Colorless Resistance is nice, even
if it is mainly useful against Flygon (RR) if it stays
popular, though other Colorless Pokémon may become big.
2 Retreat Cost for what is essentially a gas bag seems
pretty steep to me, though Moonlight Stadium (GE) can
get rid of it entirely if need be. Also, it's an SP
Pokémon, meaning it will benefit from all the usual SP
stuff, like Energy Gain and all that jazz.
Abilities next, and I'll start off with it's Poké-Body,
Pump (it) Up (I've been playing Rock Band 2 too much).
Anyway, Pump Up gives the nice effect of increasing
Drifblim FB's maximum HP by 40 when your opponent has
already taken 3 or more their prizes. OK, extra HP on
this card isn't going to make a massive difference,
though having a 120 non-Lv.X basic active is quite nice.
It does make for a wall for your opponent to try and
smash their way through, and unless they have Weavile
(SW) in their deck (or are running one of the few
playable Dark Pokémon), then it's going to be hard to
breakthrough.
The attack is the most interesting part of this card
though. Shadow Ball is a sniping attack, doing 40 damage
to one of your opponents Pokémon for the cost of PCC (or
PC and an Energy Gain). Sounds expensive, but that's
mainly because of it's unique trait: Shadow Ball applies
Weakness and Resistance in it's damage calculation, even
against Benched Pokémon. So if your opponent has a
benched Psychic weak Pokémon (like an AMU Pixie), then
you'll be smiling as you do a load more damage with
Shadow Ball than you normally would (Lake Boundary or
Lucario GL (RR) are nice ways of increasing this damage
even further). However, it does mean you can't snipe
Dark or Metal Pokémon, at least, not if you want to do
some serious damage for your energy cost. That means if
you want to damage them, you'll either need another
sniper, or use Weavile (SW). The former is probably the
better choice.
So, with it's unique Weakness and Resistance applying
sniping and possible annoyance to your opponent with
massive HP after them taking a load of prizes, what do
you think combos with this card? Well, as far as I can
tell, other snipers, Weavile (SW), and that's about it.
Even with it's uniqueness, there are still so many
snipers out there to choose from, and in that massive
pile, Drifblim FB is probably going to be lost amongst
it. OK, KOing pixies may be nice, but you do need Lake
Boundary or Lucario GL in play to be able to do so,
which isn't so great. There are other snipers which can
actually do the 70 required to snipe these often played
benched Pokémon, and that may be for the same Energy
cost, and needing nothing else bar themselves, which
makes them more viable than little Drifblim FB here.
Maybe it could be used as a tech, though, especially in
decks that often rely on using Damage Counters to snipe
rather than actually damage. They may fear Unown G (GE),
but Drifblim FB will still be able to attack the Pokémon
with Unown G (GE) attached to it, so the sniping deck
will still be able to hit every Pokémon. So, maybe
Drifblim FB will see play in Gengar (SF) decks then?
Really, that all depends on how popular it's counters
are. It has 2 main counters really. The first are Dark
Pokémon, or those who use Weavile (SW). These prey on
Drifblim FB's frankly horrendous x2 Dark Weakness,
meaning even a 40 damage attack (or 60 with Pump Up
active) will be able to OHKO it. Not good. The second is
Machamp (SF), simply because of Take Out. Mind you,
unless it's Toxicroak G (PL), all SP's fear Machamp
(SF), as does just about any deck really. Unown G (GE)
can counter it, but you may be saving them for more
important Pokémon.
Ratings:
Modified: Pump Up is very nice, granting it 120 HP
maximum in the later stages of the game is very nice,
and Shadow Ball is a nice little attack. However, while
it may be unique, it doesn't really have many advantages
over other snipers. Like most snipers, on it's own, it
will still only 2HKO pixies even with Weakness, and
unlike other snipers, it's never going to trouble proper
Dark or Metal Pokémon. Other snipers may be higher
staged Pokémon, so require a little bit more work to get
out, but they will also be better. Still, I do like the
idea of this card as a tech in decks that rely on damage
counters, and sniping with them (like Gengar (SF)).
2.5/5
Limited: From the translations of the equivalent
Japanese sets, I can see a lot of Psychic weak Pokémon
for this card to be able to snipe with it's unique, but
expensive, Shadow Ball. It may not get many OHKO's, but
the fact that it can snipe and 2HKO most of the Psychic
weak cards has got to be enough of a reason to use it.
Even better, when you are working with the 4 prize game
in this format, your opponent will only have to take 1
prize before Pump Up activates, making it a massive 120
HP tank, and one that your opponent will not be able to
get around in a short amount of time. Honestly, I can
see this card winning pre-releases and drafts virtually
by itself. Use it. 4.5/5
Steel_Winger
Welcome back to the Pokemon COTD!
Today's card is the second of the new cards to appear
out of the Supreme Victors set: Drifblim FB.
Drifblim FB has a base 80 HP, which is the norm for most
SP Pokemon nowadays. It's a Psychic-type, so it can hit
weakness on Alakazam 4, Gallade 4, and even Nidoqueen
among others. Being a Ghost-type in the games, it also
has a x2 Weakness against Dark-types, which really isn't
much of a problem barring Weavile (SF) and Mightyena
(PT). There's a -20 Resistance to Colorless-types;
Flygon (RR) would need almost a full bench to KO this
guy. A Retreat Cost of 2 can easily be played around
with the use of Moonlight Stadium. It's an SP Pokemon,
so it reaps the benefits of Energy Gain, Flint's
Willpower, and all of the other support out there for
it.
Drifbilm FB has a Poke-Body: Pump Up increases its HP by
40 if your opponent has 3 or less Prizes left to take.
That extra boost brings it to 120 (140 with Snowpoint
Temple), putting it up there with Dialga G LV. X in
terms of survivability. It'll also give you more time to
power up its attack...
...which is Shadow Ball. For 3 energies (or 2 with
Energy Gain), one of which must be a Psychic energy, you
get to do 40 damage to an opposing Benched Pokemon. Yes,
it's a bit underpowered, and there are better snipers,
but Drifblim FB's attack is the only one I know of that
lets you apply Weakness and Resistance to whatever
you're sniping on the bench (key word: bench).
Sounds fun. Let's look at some potential targets you
could snipe with this:
Uxie, Azelf, & Mespirit: +20 as normal, x2 on their LV.
X forms. Dirfblim FB, when applying Weakness, cannon
OHKO these Pokemon by itself if they're in full health.
Call on Crobat G.
Toxicroak G: Drifblim FB can't OHKO this guy by itself
either. Call on Crobat G.
Alakazam 4 and Gallade 4: It can OHKO these if they're
not at LV. X.
Machamp (SF): A 2HKO on this guy, but depends on whether
or not you want to use Unown G in place of Energy Gain.
Claydol (GE): Can't exploit Weakness, but can still 2HKO
this guy as well. Gengar and Dusknoir can't do a thing
if Claydol has Unown G on it, but Drifblim FB does
actual damage, which bypasses Unown G's protection.
Nidoqueen (RR): Drifblim can 2HKO a healthy Nidoqueen,
even with its Maternal Comfort healing itself every
turn. People might start teching this for this reason
alone, probably.
Note: Drifblim cannot hit any of the aforementioned
Pokemon if they're active. Still, I believe it's worth a
shot using. If you want Drifblim FB to hit an active,
attach a Techincal Machine G when it has taken a lot of
damage, which will be easy with Pump Up.
Ratings:
Modified: 3/5 Combined with Crobat G, Drifblim FB can
cake out quite a few of your opponent's benchwarmers.
Limited: 3/5 There are a few useful Pokemon that can be
2HKOed in this set, so be on the lookout for them.
