At last, we come to the number one
ranked and/or most anticipated card
based from BW: Dragons Exalted
and it is… actually two separate cards!
That’s right, after thinking it
over it became apparent that most of us
thought
Blend Energy
GRPD was good… but so was
Blend Energy WLFM.
Since Energy cards have often
proven less meaty for the purpose of a
good review, it was decided the two
different
Blend Energy cards would be reviewed
together as a two-for-one.
It not only was an idea I agreed
with, but was my suggestion; time to see
if that should count as boasting or a
confession!
Stats
First to be clear,
Blend Energy GRPD and
Blend Energy WLFM are indeed two
separate, named cards.
At the time I made the
suggestion, I didn’t consider that it
was reasonably easy to mistake them as
two versions of the same card (but they
aren’t) and that reviewing them together
might confuse some readers.
The
Energy symbols are part of the card name,
and it is already accepted practice to
simply use the widely accepted
single-letter shorthand for Types (Darkness,
Fighting, Fire,
Grass,
Lightning,
Metal,
Psychic, and
Water) when writing out those
names.
So yes, you can run up to
four of each in the same deck.
Since I listed all the others and
there may be some new players reading
this,
Colorless is represented by a
“C” and I’ve got no idea how one should
represent the Dragon-Type in shorthand.
No such Energy exists, but such
shorthand is used for Pokémon Type as
well and so there are still places in
card text that would be represented by a
[Dragon-Type Symbol] and used in common
discussion.
Note that D, R, and G are already
in use, hence why I am not sure what
letter to use; given that we have the
card named
N,
that one would be a poor choice as well…
so “A” or “O”?
Maybe we should consider a
non-alphanumeric character, then?
Second, let me remind my fellow players
that a card provides Energy first and
foremost according to the symbol it has
in its upper right-hand corner: in both
cases, it is a single Colorless Energy
requirement.
Anything else the Energy card
provides is according to the effect
text, not fundamental game mechanics.
This would matter for effects
that attach Energy from the hand, deck
or discard pile; unless they work on any
Energy or on Colorless Energy, they
aren’t hitting either
Blend Energy.
It would also matter if the
Special Energy card’s effect isn’t
working, and we’ve had cards with
effects to shut them off before.
Basic Energy cards all have a single
symbol of the appropriate Energy Type in
the upper right-hand corner, while some
Special Energy can have other
variations; currently legal would be
Double Colorless Energy which
displays (CC) in the upper right-hand
corner, so unless another effect
overrides this, it
always counts as (CC), whether
attached to the Pokémon, in hand, in the
deck, in the discard pile, or in the
lost zone.
This is yet another thing most
experienced players know, but don’t be
surprised if you have to explain this to
a novice or someone who just hadn’t
dealt with the “correct” older cards.
Effects
Blend Energy GRPD
provides one unit of Energy, but it
simultaneously counts as Grass, Fire,
Psychic, and Darkness Energy, while
Blend Energy WLFM counts as one unit
of Energy providing Water, Lightning,
Fighting, and Metal.
Since it is a single unit of
Energy, it can only be used to meet one
requirement for purposes of quantity
however it still counts as and is
providing multiple Types of Energy.
You not only don’t need to
specify, but you couldn’t have it
provide only one of those Types even if
you want it too; while attached, it
counts as all.
Just to be clear, here are some
examples.
If an attack requires (RL) to be
used,
Blend Energy WLFM can count towards
any of those requirements as its effect
means it simultaneously provides Water,
Lightning, Fighting, and Metal Energy.
It only is one unit, so the
Pokémon in question would need at least
one more Energy attached, and the
combination must satisfy all Type
requirements concurrently.
So
Blend Energy WLFM and a
Lightning Energy card or
Blend Energy WLFM and a
Fire Energy card would work, since
Blend Energy WLFM can cover which
ever requirement I lacked the basic
Energy card for, but if I had
Blend Energy WLFM and a second
Energy that didn’t count as either of
those two Types, then I couldn’t apply
the same
Blend Energy WLFM card to both
requirements.
Two copies of
Blend Energy WLFM would work because
I could apply one to each requirement.
Lastly, if the effect then said
to discard all (R) Energy cards, whether
I used the
Blend Energy WLFM to meet the (R)
requirement or not, it always provides
(R) while its effect is working and thus
it would be discarded unless it
specified basic (R) Energy cards: either
Blend Energy is always considered a
Special Energy card.
Usage
The two
Blend Energy cards are clearly
designed to help multi-Energy requiring
decks to function more easily.
The new Dragon-Type Pokémon
almost all have attacks that require if
not two different Energy Types in the
same attack, then in each of two
separate attacks.
Even if they didn’t, other
Pokémon have done it as well and
splashing in off-Type Pokémon is a
common (and important) strategy for
Pokémon, and it is nice having greater
flexibility instead of being stuck with
the wrong basic Energy for your
requirements.
Rainbow Energy didn’t make the jump
from HS-On to BW-On, though
Prism Energy did; however it only
works on Basic Pokémon while either
Blend Energy works on all Stages.
The two Type combinations were either
carefully designed based on the card
pool, or the card pool was designed
knowing these were coming.
We currently have
Hydreigon (BW: Dragons Exalted
97/124) that can move Energy cards that
count as Darkness-Type around the field
at will during a player’s own turn, and
Klinklang (Black & White
76/114) that does the same with Energy
that counts as Metal-Type, both via an
Ability.
In HS-On, the U.S. Nationals were
won by a
Klinklang deck that used
Rainbow Energy and
Prism Energy to allow the deck to
run several different Types of Pokémon,
providing tremendous opportunity.
Since the HeartGold/SoulSilver
block of sets weren’t designed with the
future Black & White block of
sets in mind, the split was almost
certainly an intentional balancing
agent, so that no one deck could easily
access the best cards of any one Type.
One can argue one
Blend Energy is better than the
other, but at least both decks have
access to one, again keeping things
relatively even.
There is a little more to it than that;
in terms of Type themed support, right
now Darkness is the strongest; remember,
we are talking cards that specifically
support Darkness-Type Pokémon.
It is paired with Grass, Fire,
and Psychic; while there are strong
representatives of all three Types,
decks built purely around those Types
are markedly weaker than decks built
around Darkness, Lightning, or Metal
Energy.
In fact, I haven’t seen an
especially good Fire or Grass deck
lately, and am unsure if we’ll see many
in the coming format.
Lightning-Type decks have been strong
since the shift to HS-On, and will
continue to be a presence in BW-On. The
support isn’t as plentiful as that of
Darkness-Types, though, so it gets
Fighting, Water, and Metal…
Metal which is no slouch either,
Fighting which is good but largely due
to hitting Weakness on the Darkness and
Lightning-Type Pokémon, and Water which
(going into BW-On) will finally show
some solid hybrid-Type decks.
The common Type/Weakness/Resistance
pairings also reflect these cards fairly
well.
Most Darkness Pokémon resist
Psychic Pokémon, who are usually weak to
themselves or Darkness-Type Pokémon;
putting them alongside Darkness-Types
helps them more than it hurts.
Adding Fighting in would have
overpowered things given what has done
well and is expected to do well, so it
is placed so that Fighting hurts
Darkness, but two of Fighting’s three
most likely Weaknesses (Psychic and
Grass) are present alongside Darkness on
Blend Energy GRPD.
Fire just sort of seems to be
there, perhaps to ensure it is opposite
of Water?
As for going the other direction,
Lightning-Type Pokémon are usually Weak
to Fighting-Types, and are even Resisted
by some. That isn’t the thing keeping
Lightning decks out of the number one
slot; Darkness-Type decks and possibly
Dragon-Type decks behind that.
Blend Energy WLFM provides access to
some useful Dragon-Type Pokémon as well
as the Fighting-Type Pokémon that are
most threatening to Darkness-Types.
Access to Fighting-Type Pokémon
also helps Water-Types, since their big
concern are the Lightning-Type Pokémon
right now (though many Water-Type
Pokémon are also either Grass or Metal
Weak).
Keeping Metal-Type Pokémon from
having as easier of access to
Darkness-Type Pokémon, as stated, seems
like something done intentionally.
So for Modified, expect
Blend Energy GRPD or
Blend Energy WLFM to show up in a
lot of decks;
Double Colorless Energy and
Prism Energy are likely to be as
common if not a little more so, and some
decks will run neither or both
Blend Energy, but as a whole both
Types will see significant play.
In Unlimited, right now the
format is dominated by decks that win or
lock things down first turn, and still
have
Rainbow Energy if they should need
to worry about Energy Types; if their
grip loosens or you’re playing at a less
cutthroat level, the two
Blend Energy cards will find niche
usage.
There are actually more sources
of easing multi-Color requirements in
this format than I care to list!
In Limited, it all depends on what you
pull; for the most part I expect that
either
Blend Energy will be a must run, but
it is possible you’ll pull one but get
Pokémon that need only one (or less)
Energy-Type that it contains, meaning it
is no more useful to you than the
appropriate basic Energy card.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.25/5
Modified:
4.5/5
Limited:
4.75/5
Summary
If I were to rank these two separately,
the Unlimited and Limited scores would
remain the same, but I’d add a quarter
of a point to
Blend Energy GRPD and deduct one
from
Blend Energy WLFM, at least based on
my current play testing.
The former just comes in more
useful than the latter, but still a half
point of difference is quiet close.
Some decks legitimately won’t
need them, but a hefty chunk will be
running one or the other, and some
wouldn’t really work without them; there
just isn’t the room to run the necessary
basic Energy card equivalents.
For those wondering, I ranked
Blend Energy GRPD and
Blend Energy WLFM at second place on
my own list.
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clicking
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It’s me whittling away at about
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collecting, spanning action figures,
comic books, TCGs, and video games.
Exactly what is up is a bit
random.
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