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Copycat (HGSS)
Hello and welcome to a brand new week of Pojo’s CotD.
This week, we will be taking a break from reviewing
actual Pokémon and instead we will be looking at some of
the Supporters and Trainers in the recent HGSS set.
We start with a reprint of one of my very favourite
Supporters: Copycat.
The effect of Copycat is simple, and should be familiar
to anyone who has used Chatot MD. You shuffle your hand
in to your deck and draw the same number of cards as
your opponent has in their hand.
Being a Supporter, Copycat will have to work hard to
justify it’s inclusion in a deck, thanks to the
one-per-turn rule. Luckily, it is equipped to do just
that. There are many situations in which shuffle draw
can get you out of a tight spot. Maybe you have just
lost a Team Galactic’s Wager and are down to three
cards; maybe you need to dig through your deck to find a
vital, unsearchable card (such as a Rare Candy); or
maybe you just have an abysmal hand. Copycat could be
the answer to all of these problems.
So, should it be a staple card in any deck? Well you
should think hard about that as there are some decent
alternative shuffle draw cards. Cynthia’s Feelings can
draw you eight cards if your Pokémon was knocked out on
the previous turn; Looker’s Investigation allows you a
peek at your opponent’s hand and the option of making
them shuffle; Professor Rowan lets you keep hold of one
of your cards (at the expense of inferior draw); and the
new Professor Oak’s New Theory will guarantee you a draw
of six cards: something that Copycat cannot always
manage.
On the other hand, Copycat offers something that none of
those cards do: the possibility of massive draw when you
need it. True, Claydol and Uxie use has meant that hands
tend to hover around 5-7 cards, but some popular decks
such as Gyarados and SP often run with huge hand sizes.
In the end, your choice of shuffle draw card will depend
on the type of deck you run. For example, Gengar SF
decks benefit from using Looker’s Investigation to
calculate the damage they can do with Poltergeist; and
decks that run weaker Pokémon (such as Jumpluff) may
prefer Cynthia’s Feelings as they will experience
frequent KOs.
With Power Locking, Luxray GL LV X and several viable
snipers in the format, Claydol and Uxie are not as
reliable, or last as long on the Field, as they used to.
For this reason, running some kind of shuffle draw card
to refresh the hand and draw through the deck is highly
recommended. You could play safe and include a couple of
Professor Oak’s New Theory . . . or you could choose the
slightly riskier, but potentially more rewarding,
Copycat.
I know which one I will go for.
Rating
Modified: 4 (I’m probably over-rating it a bit. Sue me)
Limited: 5 (hand refresh is fantastic in Limited)
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