If you’re reading this, then I forgot to
write an actual intro.
Stats
Milotic
is a Stage 1 Water-Type Pokémon.
I am unaware of any Type Support
for Water; now or in the coming set.
There is some support coming
built around Water Energy, and a very
important piece coming in the form of
Blastoise (BW: Boundaries Crossed
31/149), but it isn’t here yet.
In terms of type matching, hitting Water
Weakness right now is merely okay;
Fire-Type Pokémon are best known for
Water Weakness, but are in short supply
right now with
Ho-Oh EX (BW: Dragons Exalted
22/124, 119/124) being the main
exception. Some Fighting-Types that are
video-game Ground- and/or Rock-Types are
also Water Weak, but again the future
looks brighter as
Landorus EX (BW: Boundaries
Crossed 89/149, 144/149) is Water
Weak but also expected to be powerful
and popular.
Water Resistance is also present on many
Grass-Type Pokémon, but since most don’t
see play, that won’t be a concern.
What will be is the comparatively
slow pace of Evolutions.
This is a brutally fast format,
even if it isn’t as fast as the last two
or three, and it really hurts
Evolutions.
Space is also tight, making it a
double whammy as Stage 1 Pokémon are
slower and take twice the space of Basic
Pokémon.
110 HP is okay functionally; most decks
can hit 80 damage reliably and with
little effort, but every 10 afterward
becomes a little less reliable while
needing a little more effort, and 110
isn’t the kind of number you usually see
on attacks;
Milotic (if starting out undamaged)
can see a second turn against a lot of
attackers.
The big exception will be any
Lightning-Types, as it is unsurprisingly
Lightning-Weak (though Grass-Weakness
would be better unless I missed a
combo).
The lack of Resistance is unfortunate;
adjusted from video game Types, Metal,
Fire, and Water Resistance would all be
completely accurate.
It also is so common I won’t I
won’t count that against
Milotic.
It enjoys a single Energy
Retreat, which is fairly easy to pay.
All in all, these Stats are
unimpressive but not horrible.
Effects
Milotic
has two attacks.
The first requires just (W) and
is called Clear Search; an apt name
since it allows you to search your deck
for any three cards and add them to your
hand.
Any three cards you like is
pretty potent, but since it is an attack
your opponent has a whole turn to either
alter your hand (such as with
N),
or alter the field (mostly by KOing
something) to render that search less
useful.
For (WCC)
Milotic can use Water Pulse, hitting
for 60 points of damage and automatic
Sleep.
Remember though that Sleep has a
50% chance of curing itself and Special
Conditions are laughably underpowered in
the TCG (Evolving, Devolving, and any
effect that Benches a Pokémon can cure
it).
The attack is just too weak,
though I do give it credit for being
somewhat splashable and being able to
use many forms of Energy acceleration
(even something as simple as
Double Colorless Energy).
So we have too slow search and a too
weak attack; this does not bode well for
Milotic.
Usage
To get to
Milotic, we must go through
Feebas.
In the video games, I think part
of the idea of
Feebas is that you have some “old
school” JRPG grinding; trying to find
“enemies” weak enough to defeat to
level-up and eventually not be nearly
helpless.
This does not translate well to
the TCG; even though you might only have
one turn of being an easy-to-OHKO
Feebas, that is one turn too many
for survival much of the time.
Feebas
(BW: Dragons Exalted 27/124),
your only Modified legal option, is also
a Lightning Weak Water-Type with no
Resistance and a single Retreat Cost,
but it only has 30 HP; many spread and
“bench-hit bonus” attacks can thus OHKO
while still slamming other Pokémon.
30 HP is the lowest I am aware of
being printed on anything only playable
as a Pokémon (Trainers-as-Pokémon have
had only 10), and one would expect
anything coming from that to be
borderline broken.
True, we could see if
Feebas can do something amazing to
compensate a little as well, but that
would be a bit out of character (its
video game Base Stats are quite poor,
and moves it learns through leveling-up
are weak).
This one has a weak but at least
not completely worthless attack.
For (W),
Feebas can use Add-a-Dash, allowing
the player to flip two coins and draw
one card per heads.
This is not worth using
Feebas for on its own, but since it
isn’t evolving itself or protecting
itself, at least you might draw into
something.
In Limited,
Milotic a good pull provided you get
at least one
Feebas; even if it shows up late
game, both attacks on
Milotic will still prove useful. The
Energy costs are such you will rarely
have a hard time working some basic
Water Energy into your deck to make
sure you can attack.
Feebas themselves are a bit of a
risk, but yes even they are a tad better
in Limited, since it is a little more
likely your opponent can’t quickly build
something to hit for a clean 30 points
of damage, and the draw power is
effectively better just like HP scores
and damage outputs.
You’ll notice I skipped Modified. I did
this because I really don’t see any
legitimate use for it; by the time you
can use Clear Search you really need be
attacking, and you probably had to use
resources just to set
Milotic up.
As for Unlimited… well there
might be a niche usage for it,
especially after we get some more
Japanese sets.
Computer Search is being re-released
in BW: Boundaries Crossed, but it
is now an “Ace Spec” card and thus
restricted to one-per-deck.
Assuming all older copies of
Computer Search will be considered
either “illegal” or have an errata
issued (note: for Unlimited, as we
already know they won’t be Modified
legal), this might slow down the
normally dominant decks enough for you
to shoot for some kooky Item lock deck,
with your deck using
Milotic up front to keep your deck
moving.
If you can get certain other
Bench-sitters going to create an
offense, you might be able to slowly
take down whatever your opponent is
running.
Not great odds, but it is
something;
Broken Time Space allows an opening
Milotic (and any other Evolutions)
after all.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.75/5
Modified:
1.5/5
Limited:
3/5
Summary
Milotic
is another Pokémon that feels like a
near miss, despite my reviews.
Considering the disruption we
have in the game, if the format were
just a touch slower, or we had more
disruption, I could see an odd deck work
behind it; any three cards from your
deck really is amazing.
Granted, the increased disruption
would also need to be ineffective
against
Milotic itself, but it could still
work.
