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Happy Boxing Day and a belated merry Christmas readers!
Today we look at a card that has made a huge impression
on me and has seen a lot of play this format:
Sableye (BW:
Dark Explorers 62/108).
It clocks in as our sixth best card of 2012.
We first took a look at the card
here, in a review that was near the end of the
previous format.
It didn’t make the Top 10 for BW: Dark
Explorers, so how did it make the Top 10 for the
year?
When Sableye
debuted, we still had
Junk Arm,
allowing decks to run a TecH Item and spam it up to four
times, as well as recycling important Items that were
run in higher concentrations.
This meant for me it barely missed making the
cut.
Especially post rotation, we’ve seen
Sableye in
most competitive decks capable of meeting the (D) Energy
requirement to use its infamous “Junk Hunt” attack.
Probably the most notable usage for this card is in
Hammer Time… or any other deck relying on repeatedly
playing Crushing
Hammer and the occasional
Enhanced Hammer
a.k.a. “Hammer Spam”.
While some decks are more resistant or more
vulnerable to the strategy than others, very few decks
can afford to have Energy cards (basic or Special)
discarded rapidly.
Most decks have efficient attackers, but those
cards are usually not enough to carry the deck to
victory.
Yes, even when essentially sacrificed as a Prize,
Sableye is
usually well worth it.
Computer
Search and
Skyla have just made it even better; while pricey a
Sableye
player can use
Computer Search and a loaded hand to set-up
complicated combos over a few turns.
Skyla
on the other hand improves the odds of having used a
“good” Item that turn, including snagging
Computer Search
first turn to begin abusing it.
So what holds
Sableye back from ranking higher?
Three things and I can’t tell you which is more
significant.
As Junk Hunt requires (D) to use, it requires
effort to fuel in decks not running a solid count for
basic Darkness
Energy or running a combination of basic
Darkness Energy,
Blend Energy
GRPD and/or
Prism Energy.
This card might have taken first place if Junk
Hunt only required (C).
The second concern is
Sableye is
only really good for Junk Hunt.
Its HP is only 70, making Confuse Ray even less
intimidating; you have to be awfully fortunate for
Confuse Ray to save
Sableye from
a KO. This
may sound like nitpicking because it was likely needed
for game balance, but the simple fact is that a slightly
stronger attack (even for an increased cost) or a useful
Ability would have helped this card’s ranking.
The third and final issue is
N; usually
you want whatever you reclaimed from the discard via
Junk Hunt in your hand, but your opponent always has a
turn to mess with your hand.
Again this might sound like a minor point, but it
is a common issue for Junk Hunt usage, occurring at
least once a game.
In Unlimited, as stated, you won’t use this.
Sableye
(DP: Stormfront 48/100) is quite infamous as it
stars in its own Donk deck and is often used for other
First Turn Win decks; if you’re running a
Sableye
here, it is the one.
Sure, you might want to recycle Items, but you
have access to up to four copies of
Item Finder
before we get to more elaborate combos or specific
cards.
For Limited, just like before it is always a solid
“filler” pick thanks to Confuse Ray and its stats, and
becomes a must run if you have any Items (of which the
set contains multiple) and are already running basic
Darkness Energy
(or can squeeze a few in).
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5
Modified:
4/5
Limited:
4.5/5
Summary
Sableye
has made a strong showing this year, and I don’t think
it is going away anytime soon.
However, a lot of its potency comes from
interactions with other cards, and the most important
ones were going to be heavily run anyway.
Its usefulness is tied directly into what Items
it can reclaim and a lack of good alternatives, as well
as what it can easily support.
Which is why I actually left it off my Top 10; shocking
given how much I’ve hyped the card.
Part of me thinks this was a major oversight on
my part and… that is what it was; a major oversight on
my part.
There were a lot of impressive cards this format and
this one got lost in the shuffle.
While not everywhere, it is in a good chunk of
decks where it generates a good deal of advantage, and
well deserving of its place in the Top 10… possibly even
deserving a higher place than it received.
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