Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Leavanny
8/98 (Emerging Powers)
Most experienced player will know
by now that when you get two versions of the same card
in a set, one will always be better or more interesting
than the other. This is because Japan releases a lot
more cards than we do in the form of structure decks and
promos which feature the weaker versions of the cards,
and because we don’t really get these types of release,
we end up having most things incorporated into out sets.
Emerging Powers is a prime example of this phenomenon,
with alternate versions of many Pokémon, including
Gothitelle,
Beartic,
Ferrothorn, and today’s
card, Leavanny.
And yes, you guessed
it, this is the less
interesting version. Like yesterday’s card it has
reasonable HP, terrible Grass Typing, and a nice retreat
cost. Unlike yesterday’s card, it lacks an interesting
techy attack and is simply
focused on offense. How good is it at that job? Let’s
take a look . . .
First up is Slash, and it is as
plain and predictable as its name suggests. For one
Colourless Energy, you get to do 30
damage. Good value? Yes it is . . . but is a
quick 30 damage
really what you want from a Stage 2 these days? I
don’t think so. Tyrogue
HGSS, for example, will do the same for no cost
whatsoever. Leavanny’s
second effort, Triple Cutter is much more expensive at
[G][G][C], and incredibly
unpredictable. You flip three coins and do
60 damage for each heads. Get
lucky, and 180 for three Energy is
brilliant, and enough to OHKO virtually anything in the
format. Even with two heads, 120 is
pretty good. Any less than that however and the attack
starts to look bad. 60 for three?
Zero for three? No thank you. And that is the very
serious risk that you run with this card: one turn of
poor, or even average,
flipping and you will probably find yourself in a very
bad situation.
In the end, the fact that this
Leavanny is vulnerable in a
Fire-heavy meta, and its
major attack is both expensive and unreliable, means
that it isn’t worth the effort required in getting it
into play. Think of all the Stage 2s that give you a
better, more certain reward
. . . and then slip Leavanny
quietly into the binder.
Rating
Modified: 1.75 (too frail and too
risky)
Limited: 2.5 (eh . . . you could
give it a try)
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virusyosh |
Happy Friday, Pojo viewers! Since we had our 2000th
COTD earlier in the week, today's COTD is a twofer:
we're going to be reviewing both Leavanny from Emerging
Powers. One of them was originally in the Japanese Black
and White expansion (#7), while the other has so far
only been released in the Emerging Powers set. I'll
start with #7, then talk about #8.
Both Leavanny have the same top and bottom stats, so
I'll talk about them generally here. 130 HP is pretty
good for a Stage 2, it's about the average of what we
get right now, and should allow both Leavanny to take a
few unboosted hits. Sadly, 130 HP is still within OHKO
range for many powerful attacks in our metagame,
especially with PlusPower. Fire Weakness is quite bad,
meaning that Reshiram, Typhlosion, and Emboar easily
OHKO. No Resistance is somewhat to be expected, and a
single Retreat Cost is fairly good.
Both Leavanny have two attacks.
Leavanny #7 has Nurturing for a single Colorless,
which allows you to search your deck for an Evolution
card, show it to your opponent, and evolve one of your
Pokemon, shuffling afterward. This attack is great for
its cost, only it has the problem of being on a Stage 2
already. The attack would have been much more effective
on a Basic or even a Stage 1, as the early-game is when
Nurturing would be most effective, and if you already
have a Leavanny out, chances are you should be able to
have your attacker out as well. It is worth noting,
however, that if you See Off a Leavanny with Mew Prime,
Mew can then use Nurturing to quickly evolve your other
Pokemon. X-Scissor is this Pokemon's only form of
offense, starting with a decent 30 damage for a Grass
and a Colorless, but does 50 more damage if you flip
heads. This is an average of 40 damage a turn, and while
80 damage for two Energy is fairly decent, our Modified
metagame is in a place where that value is too low to be
effective, especially for a Stage 2.
Leavanny #8, on the other hand, is all about offense.
It has Slash as a cheap vanilla 30 damage for a single
Colorless Energy, and Triple Cutter allows you to flip
three coins, dealing 60 damage times the number of heads
for two Grass and a Colorless. Neither of these attacks
are really going to have much impact on Modified play
right now, but both are quite decent in Limited. Triple
Cutter may end up working well with Victory Star Victini
(which we'll probably get in Noble Victories), but there
are generally better options to pair that with as well.
Modified (#7): 2/5 I can't really see Leavanny making
that much of an impact in Modified any time soon, but
Nurturing is quite a nice attack that can be abused by
Mew Prime. It's probably not the most reliable strategy,
but it can definitely help with evolution acceleration.
Limited (#7): 4/5 Nurturing is excellent here, and
X-Scissor can also be quite nice. Search is always great
in Limited, and searching and evolving together is
great. X-Scissor is also fairly cheap for the cost, and
can end up dealing decent, if not amazing damage.
Modified (#8): 1/5 This Leavanny probably won't see
play in Modified, even when Victini comes out. Slash is
too vanilla and weak to be useful on a Stage 2, and
Triple Cutter is too flippy.
Limited (#8): 3/5 Unlike in Modified, Leavanny #8
isn't terrible in Limited. Slash is a good attack to use
while waiting to power up Triple Cutter, and a few lucky
flips with Trriple Cutter can easily get a few KOs in
your favor. While it's not the most consistent attacker
in Emerging Powers, it's quite serviceable, especially
if you draft a lot of Grass. Just wish it had slightly
nicer Energy requirements, though.
Combos With: Leavanny #7 combos with Mew Prime.
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