Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Simisear
Ok, I was getting a bit bored of the Monkey Trio on BW
cards until I saw the artwork of
Simisear strutting along in classic ‘haters
gonna hate’ pose.
Too funny.
The BW Simisear was actually
a halfway decent card, able to spread damage effectively
for a cheap cost. It didn’t see much play because spread
is not a particularly good strategy right now (spreading
damage to Zekrom and
Reshiram in particular is
committing suicide via Outrage), and being a pretty
frail Pokémon, it is not likely to get sufficient damage
on the field before it hits the discard pile.
Unfortunately, this Simisear
is even less likely to see play than the last one. Yep,
like the other Monkeys in Emerging Powers, this card is
designed to be used in some kind of all-Monkey Trio
gimmick deck that is only slightly more competitive than
playing Base Set Gastly + 59
Psychic Energy. What you have here is frail 90 HP Stage
1 with some very mediocre attacks whose weird off-type
Energy requirements make them even worse.
Take Water’s Power, for example. This attack does 30
damage and inflicts Sleep for [C][C].
That wouldn’t be complete rubbish if you could use DCE,
but no: if you want the effect you have to attach Water
Energy. Congratulations – this Pokémon is now slower and
harder to power up! The second attack, Flamethrower,
suffers from the same problem. With a cost of [F][C][C],
and needing a discard, it would also be DCE-compatible .
. . unless you had attached a Water Energy to try and
use Water’s Power first *sigh*.
The whole concept of a ‘four corners’ style deck with
the Monkeys may be cute, but it’s essentially
unworkable.
Because of this, I’m not even sure I can call it a ‘fun’
deck. It’s not fun to have your deck of low HP Pokémon
run more slowly than it needs to, is it?
Rating
Modified: 1.25 (just an ill-conceived gimmick)
Limited: 2.75 (probably works as a decent tech in a deck
running Water)
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virusyosh |
Happy midweek, Pojo viewers! Today we're going to
continue our Emerging Powers reviews by reviewing a new
version of one of the monkey trio from the new set.
Today's Card of the Day is Simisear.
Simisear is a Stage 1 Fire Pokemon. Fire Pokemon are
very common in our current Modified metagame, with
Reshiram, Typhlosion, and Emboar all being common
sights. That being said, due to Reshiram's ubiquity as a
hard-hitting Fire-type, Simisear is already competing
for some crowded space. 90 HP is about average for a
final evolution Stage 1, although it's sadly too low to
be of any real competition in Modified. In Limited,
though, 90 HP is quite decent. Water Weakness isn't that
big of a problem right now in Modified, but look out for
Beartic and Samurott. Simisear also has no Resistance
and a Retreat Cost of one.
This fire monkey has two attacks, Water's Power and
Flamethrower. It's very similar to the other monkey trio
evolutions in Emerging Powers. Water's Power does 30
damage for two Colorless Energy, and if Simisear has a
Water Energy attached, the Defending Pokemon is now
Asleep. This works rather well in Limited, although it
doesn't do quite enough damage in Limited. Flamethrower
deals 70 damage for a Fire Energy and two Colorless,
making you discard an Energy attached to Simisear. This
attack is interesting in that you can discard any kind
of Energy, making it quite splashable for Limited.
However, in terms of Modified, Simisear is greatly
outclassed by Reshiram, which has more HP, is a Basic,
and deals more damage for the Energy costs.
Modified: 1/5 Simisear is totally outclassed by Reshiram,
so if you were going to use Simisear, just use Reshiram
instead. It may be fun in a League deck based around the
monkey trio or something, but it doesn't have real
tournament potential.
Limited: 3.5/5 Simisear is quite nice in Limited.
Colorless Energy requirements are always good in
Limited, and Simisear is one of the very rare Fire-types
in Emerging Powers, a set where Grass-types are
incredibly common. Therefore, it makes it quite easy to
splash some Pansears and Simisears into your Modified
deck in order to combat Grass-types. Pansear makes for a
good starter, and Simisear's attacks are decent in
Limited, especially Flamethrower. If you pull or draft
one in Limited and need an answer to Grass-types,
definitely give Simisear a look.
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