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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Simisage #8/114 (Black and White) Hello and welcome to another week of new Black and White Pokémon here on Pojo’s CotD. We kick off the week with one of the Monkey Trio that features in the first Gym you have to beat in the video game. You also get given one of them at around the same time. It’s kind of useful at first (mainly because it covers your starter Pokémon’s Weakness), but you soon replace it with something more powerful. And that’s exactly how it works with Simisage in the TCG. In Limited, he’s just about ok, mainly thanks to Seed Bomb: an attack which offers good value at 30 damage for a single Grass Energy. When the Prerelease is over, however, Simisage is going to be passed over in favour of better Pokémon. That’s because it just doesn’t have anything to offer really. Seed Bomb is cheap enough but relatively ineffective and Simisage’s second attack, Fury Swipes, is both expensive and flippy (three Energy of any Colour for a ‘flip three coins’ style attack). Add to that the low 90 HP and the fact that it is a Stage 1 with a Retreat cost of two and not even the handy Water Resistance is going to tempt you into playing this card. Nowhere near as good as fellow monkey Simisear, the only one of the trio that’s worth even a second look. Rating Modified (HGSS-on): 1.5 (just filler really) Limited: 2 (Seed Bomb is ok, but you still only use him as filler in a Grass deck)
Mad Mattezhion  Professor Bathurst League Australia	Simisage (Black & White)   Hello boys and girls, today we have one of the elemental Monkey trio up for review. Give a warm welcome to Simisage!   I must say, Masakazu Fukuda has done an excellent job on the artwork. The waterfall in the background is stunning and Simisage itself looks like it is primed for battle. Sadly, the card itself doesn't do justice to the beautiful workmanship of Fukuda.   Simisage is a Grass type non-evolving Stage 1 with 90 HP, Fire weakness, Water resistance, a retreat cost of 2 and two attacks.   Obviously, with that HP Simisage isn't destined for longevity against a big hitter and the Fire weakness only makes it worse with Emboar, Reshiram, Charizard and the odd Blaziken running around. The retreat seems overly expensive when you consider the low survivability and the Water resistance is good but it isn't enough to save this card. You all know the drill, either a non-evolving Stage 1 has an awesome Ability/above average HP or it hits the binder.   Okay, we can already see that Simisage is doomed but are the attacks at least worthy for Limited?   Seed Bomb is the first attack and costs [g] for 30 vanilla damage. The cost is fair by Black & White standards but it isn't going to win you any battles on its own, and it isn't as good as the matching attacks on either Simisear or Simipour.   Fury Swipes has been printed the exact same way on all 3 of the little simians and costs [c][c][c] to flip 3 coins, dealing 40 damage per Heads. Just like I said in the review for Simisear, this is worth the investment in Limited as you will be dealing at least 80 damage half of the time and dealing 60 damage on average without needing any specific energy, but you will be defeated if your opponent puts up something more reliable. The problem is that the other monkeys can do the same thing and are better prepared to fit in with other cards in the set as well as being more likely to take advantage of weakness.   This is the weakest of the 3 monkeys as it has the least useful typing and stats, with the least effective first attack to boot. Only run this card in Limited if you are using Serperior or you are really short on options. Don't even think about trying to run this card in Modified.   Modified: 1.5 (Grass may have a lot of support options both in this format and the next but Simisage is definitely not the card to take advantage of them. Barely adquate HP + Flippy damage = Failure)   Limited: 2 (both Simisear and Simipour have better first attacks and belong to types that are stronger in Black & White [Fire is common, Water is the counter] so the only advantage of Simisage is the resistance)   Combos with: a cozy pocket in the binder to show off that brilliant artwork.
conical Deck Garage	5/9/11: Simisage(Black & White)   I am back! Now that my finals are over with, I am now prepared to resume normal writing here at the COTDs and the Deck Garage(which there should be a link to under my name, if you're interested). And what else would be a fitting return but to review a weird grass monkey. Hrm.   The monkey has a few good things in its favor, most notably that it has cheap attacks, which I'm always in favor of. They're also pretty vanilla, so we can go through them quickly. Seed Bomb is a simple G for 30 attack, and Fury Swipes is the classic “flip heads for damage” attack. Sadly, neither attack does enough damage to justify its use in Modified, and frankly the retreat of 2 is ridiculous. I mean, it looks pretty nimble, right? Why should retreating be so slow? It's still decent in Limited, though, at least until you run into the guy who pulled 3 Reshirams. Which, if you're like me, will be half the people present. But I'm not bitter at all, no sir.   Modified: 2/5 Limited: 2.5/5
virusyosh	Welcome back, Pojo readers! I hope that all of you had good weekends. Today we continue our reviews of the new Black and White set by reviewing the final evolution of one of the new monkey trio. Today's Card of the Day is Simisage. Simisage is a Stage 1 Grass Pokemon. Grass Pokemon don't see a whole lot of play right now aside from the random Jumpluff deck or Roserade GL tech, but may eventually see some play with Serperior from BW. 90 HP is decent for a Stage 1, meaning it should be able to take at least two hits on average. Fire Weakness isn't very good, as Fire will probably be quite dominant next format, whereas a Water Resistance is great, given that Water decks will undoubtedly pop up to counter the Fire decks. A Retreat Cost of 2 isn't good, so be sure to use another method to retreat. Simisage's two attacks, Seed Bomb and Fury Swipes, are very similar to the other two members of the trio. Seed Bomb does a vanilla 30 damage for [G], and Fury Swipes lets you flip 3 coins, dealing 40 damage for each head you flip for the expensive [CCC]. In Modified, Simisage won't do enough consistent damage to be effective, either in our current MD-on format or the upcoming HGSS-on. In Limited, Seed Bomb is decent for the cost, and Fury Swipes may end up seeing a bit of use if you're feeling lucky or have invested all of that Energy onto Simisage. Modified: 1/5 Only average HP, bad Weakness, and lackluster attacks mean that Simisage probably won't be seeing serious play here any time soon. Limited: 3/5 The monkey trio are all pretty good here because of their decent HP for the format, cheap elemental attack, and colorless Fury Swipes. Simisage is definitely usable, albeit unspectacular, in Limited.
Otaku	We start the week with Simisage, a 90 HP Stage 1 Grass-Type Pokémon. Grass has some solid support right now but only keeps bits and pieces of it when the rotation happens. Being a Stage 1 Pokémon is a little better than it used to be now that Rare Candy doesn’t work in a single turn, and next format things might finally even out for the Stages. The 90 HP is a tad low. HP scores seem to be holding steady or even climbing a little, even as damage-to-Energy ratios are finally coming back to sensible levels. A 90 HP Stage 1 is dangerously close to OHKO range in the next format, and definitely is in the current state of the game. Fire Weakness appropriate, and while I do worry a little because Fire looks to be heating up now and might be ablaze next format, I have to remember this is one of those “self correcting” Weaknesses; Fire Pokémon tend to hit hard for a lot of Energy, with discards that aren’t always optional. Simply put, many of the heavy hitters of Fire Pokémon decks won’t need the Weakness for the OHKO or at best saving a PlusPower. It matters more when their decks are slow to start and a Pokémon that isn’t fully Evolved starts attacking: those are the Pokémon that will need the boost. Water Resistance -20 is good to see: again this is appropriate and hopefully with all the Fire decks I anticipate, Water should also be popular. It can still come in handy right now, irritating Gyarados by requiring they have all three “spare” Magikarp in the discard for Tail Revenge and an Expert Belt on Gyarados. Irritating, but not a serious problem for a Gyarados player… speaking of irritating, the Retreat Cost is a full two for Simisage, and that seems high for a Stage 1 with just 90 HP. Peeking ahead, I am not seeing a combo that justifies it being above what you’d expect. Still, it isn’t impossibly high and you might get away without including something to Bench it, or at least relying on what your deck is inclined to run anyway. Simisage Evolves from Pansage, and Pansage is apparently where we get vanilla from because that describes his card. 60 HP seems to be the new standard for a Basic that can Evolve, and even the ones that Evolve twice often reach it now. Of course it is a Grass Pokémon, and it has the same Weakness and Resistance as its Evolved form, though neither are apt to matter except for the first or second turn of the game: any serious attack can OHKO it, so only opening Pokémon need be concerned about damage modifiers. The single Energy Retreat Cost is nice, but also expected for a Basic. The first attack is Scratch, a straight up 10 points of damage for one of any Energy, or you can blatantly overpay for Vine Whip and do 30 points of damage for three Energy, at least one of which must count as Grass Energy. Just run it for the purpose of Evolving, but wait! There is a promo version (BW14), is it any better? Nope: same stats, needs (GC) for its only attack, and that’s flipping four coins for 10 damage per “heads”. Use whichever one you prefer. Getting back to the main event, Simisage itself has solid attacks: Seed Bomb does a straight 30 points of damage for one Grass Energy, and for three of any Energy Fury Swipes let you flip three coins and score 40 points of damage per “heads”. Nothing brilliant, but especially after the rotation solid enough it could see some play as a supporting Stage 1 line, or possibly in an intentional “Simi” deck running Simisage, Simisear, and Simipour and focusing on type matching. Kind of what Eeveelution decks try to do, but without a common Basic as the starting point, and with the format slowing down it might actually work. Seed Bomb gives you a solid 30 points of damage for a single Grass Energy. This is just barely fast and strong enough that if you can type match and run PlusPower it might actually make for a strong opening, quickly taking out your opponent’s opener and not being completely useless when your opponent starts Evolving. Double Colorless Energy definitely is a must in such a deck: if you’re taking three full turns to power up it just doesn’t work. In Limited removes the “if” part of the above. It is an Uncommon and Pansage is a Common, so odds are good you can at least get a 1-1 line. You won’t be able to exploit Grass Weakness but you will be able to enjoy your Resistance, and with skillful play still ignore your own Fire Weakness. It might be crowded out of a deck if you pull enough good cards, but since you don’t technically need Grass Energy to run it (it is better with a few, though), you can splash it into whatever you’re running. It isn’t a “must run”, but you can think of it as the top of your “maybe” pile or bottom of your “probably” pile. Ratings Modified (MD-On): 2.5/5 Modified (HGSS-On): 3/5 Limited: 3.75/5 Summary This card is pretty close to allowing for a Stage 1 type-matching focused deck, though definitely not in a competitive manner this format. Next format it might just barely sneak in, but overall this looks like a good “training” deck, the kind you run to challenge yourself or give less experienced players a chance. So strangely enough I recommend using it (and its cousins), just not at important tournaments.