Name
:
Serperior
Set/#/Rarity
:
Black & White 6/114, Holo-Rare
Stage
:
2 (Evolves from Servine)
Type
:
Grass
Hit Points
:
130
Weakness
:
Fire x2
Resistance
:
Water -20
Retreat Cost
:
C
Ability
:
Royal Heal
At any time between turns, heal 10
damaged from each of your Pokémon.
Attack
:
(GC) Leaf Tornado [60]
Move as many (G) Energy attached to your
Pokémon to your other Pokémon in any way
you like.
------------------------------------------------------------
Name
:
Serperior
Set/#/Rarity
:
Black & White 5/114, Holo-Rare
Stage
:
2 (Evolves from Servine)
Type
:
Grass
Hit Points
:
130
Weakness
:
Fire x2
Resistance
:
Water -20
Retreat Cost
:
C
Attack#1
:
(CC) Vine Whip [40]
Attack#2
:
(GC) Leaf Storm [60]
Heal 20 damage from each of your Grass
Pokémon.
------------------------------------------------------------
Name
:
Servine
Set/#/Rarity
:
Black & White 4/114, Uncommon
Stage
:
1 (Evolves from Snivy)
Type
:
Grass
Hit Points
:
80
Weakness
:
Fire x2
Resistance
:
Water -20
Retreat Cost
:
C
Attack
:
(GC) Wring Out [30]
Flip a coin.
If heads, the Defending Pokémon
is now Paralyzed and discard an Energy
attached to the Defending Pokémon.
------------------------------------------------------------
Name
:
Servine
Set/#/Rarity
:
Black & White 3/114, Uncommon
Stage
:
1 (Evolves from Snivy)
Type
:
Grass
Hit Points
:
80
Weakness
:
Fire x2
Resistance
:
Water -20
Retreat Cost
:
C
Attack#1
:
(C) Wrap [20]
Flip a coin.
If heads, the Defending Pokémon
is now Paralyzed.
Attack#2
:
(GC) Rollout [30]
------------------------------------------------------------
Name
:
Snivy
Set/#/Rarity
:
Black & White 2/114, Common
Stage
:
Basic
Type
:
Grass
Hit Points
:
60
Weakness
:
Fire x2
Resistance
:
None
Retreat Cost
:
C
Attack#2
:
(GC) Leaf Blade [10+]
Flip a coin.
If heads, this attack does 30
more damage.
------------------------------------------------------------
Name
:
Snivy
Set/#/Rarity
:
Black & White 1/114, Common
Stage
:
Basic
Type
:
Grass
Hit Points
:
60
Weakness
:
Fire x2
Resistance
:
None
Retreat Cost
:
C
Attack#1
:
(G) Tackle [10]
Attack#2
:
(GC) Vine Whip [20]
------------------------------------------------------------
Name
:
Snivy
#/Rarity
:
BW06, Promo
Stage
:
Basic
Type
:
Grass
Hit Points
:
60
Weakness
:
Fire x2
Resistance
:
None
Retreat Cost
:
C
Attack#1
:
(C) Paralyzing Gaze
Flip a coin.
If heads, the Defending Pokémon
is now Paralyzed.
Attack#2
:
(GC) Tail Smack [20]
------------------------------------------------------------
Name
:
Snivy
#/Rarity
:
BW01, Promo
Stage
:
Basic
Type
:
Grass
Hit Points
:
60
Weakness
:
Fire x2
Resistance
:
None
Retreat Cost
:
C
Attack
:
(GC) Slam [20x]
Flip 2 coins.
This attack does 20 damage times
the number of heads.
------------------------------------------------------------
Quite a lot of text spoilers today, but
I had the time so I decided to be
thorough. Today we look at the
Serperior, specifically the first
one in that list of spoilers.
So why did I include the rest?
As usual I’ll be doing a “micro”
review of the lower Stages since if they
are nearly worthless or brilliant, it
can really affect
Serperior.
I also missed my chance at
reviewing the other
Serperior.
This gives me a chance to weigh
in and it could help or hurt this
version’s score depending on whether it
supports or surpasses this version.
Though of course it could do
neither.
As a change of pace, let’s look at the
Basics.
All have the exact same stats:
Basic Grass Pokémon (of course) with 60
HP (okay), Fire Weakness (okay now,
troublesome next format), Water
Resistance (hurray!), and a Retreat Cost
of one (good).
The Weakness/Resistance aren’t
important now, but probably will be next
format, so either way, these are decent
stats.
If all the attacks are bad, it
will really hurt
Serperior, even though
Snivy is being looked at basically
as the means to an End Stage.
First let us see if there are any
strategic attacks that can disrupt the
opponent, directly protect
Snivy, or aid in set-up.
Only one version (BW06) has a
defensive move, and it is just a 50%
chance at Paralysis (before outside
factors) and still needs (C).
The second attack is bad in the
current format and still poor in the
next one, though not by as much: (GC)
for 20 just isn’t good.
The thing is, the others aren’t
really any stronger of attackers (those
that can do more rely on flips), so we
might as well go with the slightly
defensive one and hope for heads and an
opponent with a poor hand.
Contrary to
Snivy, both
Servine actually have solid attacks.
They still aren’t brilliant
cards, having 80 HP and the same other
stats is a good start.
Black & White 4/114 needs
(GC) to attack, and it only hits for 30
points of damage, however you get to
toss a coin and if it is heads the
attack Paralyzes and lets you discard an
Energy from the Defending Pokémon.
Black & White 3/114 enjoys
quick damage, and while it isn’t
especially high the first attack needs
only one Energy and can Paralyze (on a
“heads”) while doing 20 points of
damage.
Rollout is a vanilla 30 for (GC),
low but better than the Basics.
It really depends on whether you
think giving up that one attack is worth
the extra effect, and since it is a
transitory Stage 1, testing and
observing your metagame is the only way
to get the answer.
At last we come to
Serperior!
Just because I might as well,
I’ll look Black & White 5/114
first.
Don’t worry, the review is short
because the rest of the staff pretty
much nailed it in their reviews: being a
Stage 2 requires a card (and soon a
time) investment that can be
challenging, being a Grass Pokémon gives
it access to some solid support, 130 HP
is about average, Fire Weakness is okay
now and probably bad next format, Water
Resistance is okay now and probably good
next format, a Free Retreat is great,
and the attacks are… redundant.
The damage for the Energy (and
effect of the second attack) isn’t bad,
but the first attack is only not a waste
if played in a deck no source of Grass
Energy (and thus probably no other Grass
Pokémon) or if you run
Double Colorless Energy (which can’t
be used at all for the second attack’s
cost).
Otherwise if you drop two
Grass Energy cards on it, you can
skip its first attack and use the better
second attack.
As we’ll see, the second attack
is okay except that today’s card
outclasses it in every way, making the
Retreat Cost the only real benefit here,
and that isn’t enough to be worth
playing.
We finally, truly come to today’s CotD.
This
Superior
has the same stats as the other, except
it does have a single Energy Retreat
Cost, which is still a good stat in its
own right.
It has an Ability, Royal Heal,
which lets you remove a damage counter
from each of your Pokémon between turns
and an attack for (GC) that hits for 60
and let’s you freely move Grass Energy
around on your Pokémon.
Well, as freely as you can as one
effective action: you re-arrange the
Grass Energy as you wish and then your
turn ends.
I am betting if there is a useful
Ability or Poké-Power or Poké-Body that
triggers when an Energy card is attached
to a Pokémon, you couldn’t say you were
infinitely moving the Energy around to
trigger it as often as you liked.
Essentially each Grass Energy can
be moved once, but from any Pokémon to
any other Pokémon. That is still pretty
good.
I’ve heard some people talk about
running
Serperior with
Reuniclus, but I think I’d rather
have a different support Pokémon, extra
attacker, or final copy of
Serperior instead of cluttering up
my deck with another Stage 2 line. A
good suggestion from a player who goes
by Vaporeon on Pokegym was a perfect
example of cross-type tanking and taking
advantage of the hype surrounding
Zekrom:
Donphan Prime.
Even without fleshing out a full
deck, it looks like a challenging
match-up for anything that isn’t Water
or Fire.
In Limited play, as long as you have at
least a 1-1-1
line, I’d say risk running
Serperior.
Simply put, the Ability is that
powerful here.
Even if you run no
Grass Energy and you occasionally
have to start with
Snivy… it doesn’t matter,
Serperior is that good!
If you can run even a few
Grass Energy, you’ll get some nice
combo opportunities and a possible wall.
Just mind the Fire Pokémon.
Ratings
Modified (Current):
3.75/5 – This is actually a pretty high
score considering the rest of the
format.
Modified (HGSS-On):
4/5 – This could be part of what creates
a balance in the upcoming format.
Even if not, stackable healing!
Limited:
5/5 – Run it if you can!
Combos with:
Donphan Prime
Summary
Automatic, costless (except for running
a particular Stage 2), mass healing has
already proven useful in past cards.
Serperior actually cranks it up
unless I’ve missed some errata for the
Ability: you should be able to stack up
to four of them together.
This allows a lot of cards to
tank.
Essentially expect a metadeck of
[insert tank Pokémon/]/Serperior
to arise, though most probably won’t be
of significance.
My eyes are starting to blur as I type,
so I’ll just be short and obvious:
please buy my stuff
here,
or at least take a look.
Thanks. :)
