Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Togekiss
(Plasma Storm)
Yay!
It’s Friday, just a nice standard
Pojo review to do before it’s the weekend!
Except we get Togekiss.
First off, let’s get the usual stuff out of the way.
Togekiss is a Colourless
Type Stage 2 Pokémon with the average Stage 2 HP of 140.
Stage 2s continue to be difficult to use, so now more
than ever you need a good reason to play something like
Togekiss. The Lightning
Weakness is ok at the moment, and the Fighting
Resistance positively nice, but that’s not a reason.
Neither is the attack which offers a Bianca-like effect
and 30 damage for a single
Energy. OK, it’s cheap, but it isn’t getting much done.
It’s when we look at the Bright Veil Ability that things
get a little bit confusing: ‘As long as this Pokémon is
your Active Pokémon, whenever your opponent plays an
Item card from his or her hand, prevent all effects of
that card done to your Pokémon’. See where this could
get complicated? What does ‘done to your Pokémon’ mean?
What cards will this affect?
Now back in the days when Wizards of the Coast ran
Pokémon, they had a ‘play as printed’ principle which
meant that rulings were based on an interpretation of
the actual card text. This lead to
some unfortunate cases like the mistranslated
Slowking NG ruling the
format from the Bench. Since Nintendo took over
though, the principle has shifted to ‘play as intended’,
or more specifically ‘play as the Japanese designers
say’. When it comes to Togekiss
this means that there’s no point in getting all caught
up with textual analysis and different shades of meaning
(remember, these cards
are
translations), you just have to know that the intention
is for Bright Veil to protect your Pokémon from the
effects of Item cards in general. So . . . it stops the
effects of: Hypnotoxic
Laser, Tool Scrapper, Crushing Hammer and Pokémon
Catcher to name the most common examples. Even though
you might say that, technically, Crushing Hammer targets
the Energy, and not the Pokémon, it doesn’t matter:
Bright Veil stops Item cards from doing anything which
has any kind of consequences for your Pokémon.
Right, now we have got that out of the way, the question
is whether this will be a factor in tournaments, or is
it just all academic? Well, for the moment, more or less
the latter. Despite Bright Veil being an incredibly
useful Ability, it’s not good enough to justify having
Togekiss active all the
time, doing next to no damage. One way around that might
be to combo it with a Punch-and-Run attacker like
Donphan PLS or
Ferrothorn EPO, but they’re
pretty mediocre (if I’m being kind), and not a whole lot
better than Togekiss. I
guess that Bright Veil is
such a good
Ability that the designers decided
tha tit needed to be nerfed
by putting it on an otherwise bad Stage 2.
They did a good job. (Of the
nerfing, that is).
Rating
Modified: 2.25 (brilliant Ability, terrible Pokémon)
Limited: 1.5 (not a lot of Trainer action happening here
in the first place. Maybe you will block a Laser if
you’re lucky)
|
|
virusyosh |
Happy Friday, Pojo readers! Today we're ending our Card
of the Day week with a new card version of one of my
favorite Pokemon. Today's Card of the Day is Togekiss.
Togekiss is a Stage 2 Colorless Pokemon. Colorless
Pokemon have versatility as a strength; that is, they
can easily fit into any deck due to their relaxed Energy
requirements, making them good support Pokemon. 140 HP
is standard for a Stage 2 these days, and should allow
Togekiss to take one or maybe two unboosted hits before
going down. Lightning Weakness isn't too big of a
problem right now, but will be soon with the release of
Thundurus-EX; Fighting Resistance is great against
Landorus and Terrakion; and a Retreat Cost of one is
reasonable.
The Jubilee Pokemon has an Ability and a single attack.
Bright Veil nullifies the effects of all effects of Item
cards played by your opponents that target your Pokemon
while Togekiss is active. Therefore, when Togekiss is
out in front, your opponent's Hypnotoxic Lasers and
Pokemon Catchers won't be doing a whole lot, which is
great. Of course, the downside here is that Togekiss is
a Stage 2 and has to be Active, so its attack will
determine how much play the card sees.
Unfortunately, Togekiss's attack isn't all that
powerful. Return does 30 damage and allows you to draw
until you have six cards in your hand. Most hand sizes
these days are around six to begin with, and 30 damage
off of a Stage 2's attack is really unimpressive.
Therefore, Togekiss probably won't see a whole lot of
play until the format slows down, or will be relegated
to Limited.
Modified: 1.5/5 Bright Veil is a really interesting
Ability, but nothing else about Togekiss is really
playable in this format.
Limited: 3/5 Togekiss is great because it easily fits
into any deck, but unlike most Stage 2s, it isn't a
premier fighting force. Return deals a relatively tame
30 damage for its decent cost, and the card draw won't
be all that relevant here, either, as hand sizes are
often large. Of course, Togekiss is still probably worth
running if you get the evolutionary line, because card
draw and protective effects are always good, even if
they won't necessarily swing the game in your favor! |
