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Hypno (HGSS)
Now here is an interesting Pokémon that is just begging
for a rogue deck to be built around it.
On the face of it, Hypno suffers from all the drawbacks
that make most Stage 1 Pokémon bad in this format. It
has low-ish HP (80) a double Weakness to a popular type
(Psychic) and a horrid Retreat cost of two. Its solitary
attack is both expensive and rubbish. For the large
investment of [P][C][C] Psychic Shot does a pathetic 30
damage and 10 to a Benched Pokémon.
So, it’s a slow Pokémon with terrible damage output, but
it does have one redeeming feature: Sleep Pendulum.
Sleep Pendulum is a PokePower which lets you flip a coin
once per turn. If you get heads, then the opponent’s
active Pokémon is Asleep. Now flippy Powers are not
usually all that great, but the good news here is that
Sleep Pendulum stacks, which means that if you have two
or three Hypno Benched, then you get two or three
chances of it working.
Of course, Sleep isn’t the best Special Condition . . .
there is a 50/50 chance of the Pokémon waking between
turns, and it doesn’t inflict damage either. This is
where combos with other Pokémon come into play, as there
are a few Pokémon which actually work very well with the
Sleep Condition. Darkrai G, for example, has a PokeBody
which puts a damage counter on each sleeping Pokémon
between each turn. Venusaur SV’s Special Reaction
attack has a base damage of 40, but does 40 more for
each Special Condition afflicting the Defending Pokémon.
There are other interesting possibilities too, so have a
look through your collection and see what you can come
up with.
Right now, the format is probably a bit too fast for
Hypno and friends, but that may change in the future.
Any Pokémon with a disruptive Power that works from the
Bench is certainly one to bear in mind when trying to
think up new decks and combinations.
Rating
Modified: 2 (may have future combo potential)
Limited: 2.75 (Sleep can be very disruptive and
annoying, but the attack is still bad)
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