Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Yamask
(Dark Explorers)
Over the years there has been quite
a bit of Pokémon stuff that has been censored or altered
because it has been deemed inappropriate for a Western
audience. I’m thinking of stuff like the Japanese
artwork for Misty’s Tears, the anime episode that
featured guns, or the re-naming of
Mesprit LV X’s attack from ‘God Blast’ to
‘Supreme Blast’. Sometimes, however, something weird and
disturbing slips through and it’s often in the flavour
text for cards (remember how Cubone
wears the skull of its dead mother?). Well,
Yamask is another example of
this.
Each of them
carries a mask that used to be its face when it was
human. Sometimes they look at it and cry
I hardly know where to begin with
that. What happened to a person to turn them into this
strange little ghost? Why do they have to suffer the
pain of carrying their own human face? Seems like a very
cruel form of punishment to me. Ghost Pokémon often have
quite unsettling backstories
if you look into them (see also
Banette and the whole
Chandelure line), but this is probably the
creepiest.
The card
itself? Well, it’s the Basic stage of yesterday’s
card, Cofagrigus, and it has
60 HP, Weakness to Dark, and an ok Retreat cost of one.
It’s only attack, Astonish, costs just one Colourless
Energy, does 10 damage, and can give you a bit of hand
disruption on a coin flip, as on heads you get to
randomly select a card from your opponent’s hand for
them to shuffle into their deck. That’s not bad for an
evolving Basic, which is the kind of card where anything
more than a token 10 damage should be seen as a bonus.
If you are playing
Cofagrigus, then your choice
of Basic will come down to either this one or the one
from Noble Victories that gives you a coin flip for
Confusion. It
largely depends on whether you are running Psychic
Energy or not (if not, then stick with today’s card). If
you ever do decide to play a deck
with this Pokémon in it though . . . try not to
have nightmares.
Rating
Modified: 2 (slightly above average
for what it is)
Limited: 2 (hands tend to be full
of junk in Limited, so Astonish is unlikely to do much
good)
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Jebulous Maryland Player |
Yamask 51
Yamask is a Basic Psychic with 60 HP. Weakness to
Darkness and a retreat cost of 1. Searchable by Level
Ball, Pokemon Communication, and Ultra Ball. Skyarrow
Bridge gives him free retreat... just looking for some
good aspects to it.
'Astonish' requires 1 energy of any type, which means
you can use it the same turn you attach to it. The
effect, flip a coin, if heads randomly choose a card in
your opponent's hand. They reveal it and shuffle it
into their deck. Disruption is good!
Okay, I would not use this card. I'm not a big coin
flip guy, as I probably land heads 30% of the time (and
tails at pivotal moments). Kind of like why I don't
play the Hooligans supporter. You can combo with
Victini (Fliptini), so maybe there is some kind of hope
for a disruption deck. There you go, a disruption deck
full of Fliptinis, Yamasks, Hooligans, and other Pokemon
that have hand disruption (whether flippy or not). Me,
I don't foresee using it, unless I stop being lazy and
try to make said disruption deck.
In Modified, I would expect this thing to get eaten
alive (though anything 60 HP or less falls into the
donking category now thanks to Tornadus EX).
In Limited, it could be more useful, depending on
whether or not the opponent can recover or not.
Modified: 1/5
Limited: 3/5
Combo's With: Fliptini |
