We close out the week with a special
treat; a double review!
We will review
Garbodor (BW: Plasma Storm
66/135) and
Garbodor (BW: Plasma Storm
67/135).
After all… they are both
Garbodor.
Stats
Miscellaneous:
Both
Garbodor are Team Plasma Pokémon,
and as we have two unaffiliated
Garbodor I’ll be referring to
today’s cards as
Garbodor [Plasma], at least when I
can refer to both of them at the same
time.
This also means they can tap Team
Plasma Support, which I’ll address…
later (I am sure you are shocked by
that).
Type:
Each
Garbodor [Plasma] is a Psychic-Type
Pokémon; the main claim to fame is being
able to hit
Mewtwo EX for double damage, and the
main drawback is
Darkrai EX and most Metal-Type
Pokémon take 20 less points of damage
from your attacks.
There are many other Pokémon that
are Psychic Weak or Resistant, but those
are the two you can expect to see and
see a lot of at a tournament, where as
the rest are actually more likely not to
show.
There is also
Gardevoir (BW: Next Destinies
57/99; BW: Dark Explorers
109/108) for Type support; specifically
when you have
Psychic Energy (that is the basic
Energy card version) attached to a
Psychic-Type Pokémon, it provides (PP)
instead of (P).
This had a brief flash of
potential, doing well in at least one
tournament, but I haven’t heard anything
about it since BW: Plasma Storm
hit.
Stage:
Both
Garbodor [Plasma] are Stage 1
Pokémon; simply put Evolutions are
“slow” this format and it takes a lot
for them to compete against the best
big, Basic Pokémon… even the ones that
aren’t Pokémon-EX are often a challenge.
You’ll need both more time and
more slots in your deck for a Stage 1 as
compared to a Basic.
Hit Points:
110 HP is a bit low in terms of
functionality.
As far as Stage 1 Pokémon go,
there are many that are lower but this
is a fast, hard hitting format and so
110 is within at least pseudo-OHKO range
of most if not all competitive decks.
Still, better to require the
extra help of cards like
Hypnotoxic Laser to be finished off
from a single attack than be a true
OHKO; it raises your odds of surviving
just a little.
Weakness:
Psychic Weakness isn’t as bad as it once
was, but that is only because
Mewtwo EX usage has dropped
dramatically.
Not because
Mewtwo EX became “bad”, but because
each set has introduced enough
Pokémon-EX that are as good or close to
as good
Mewtwo EX.
The Weakness is still a big
concern, and the metagame can take it
from bad to worse; if you ever manage to
create a great
Garbodor [Plasma] deck, everyone
would just start running
Mewtwo EX to help counter it.
Resistance:
No Resistance; still the most common and
still dissatisfying.
Retreat:
Three is big; so big you shouldn’t pay
it even if you can afford it unless you
will lose for not doing it.
With the reliance on
Hypnotoxic Laser, a deck running
Garbodor [Plasma] (either version)
will need a trick to lower Retreat
scores or a means of bypassing manual
retreating entirely.
As such, the Retreat Cost isn’t
as bad as it might appear at a glance,
plus the negative of being so expensive
for the moments when you would have
needed to manually retreat may even be
compensated by either
Garbodor [Plasma] being a legal
Heavy Ball target.
Effects
Attack#1:
BW: Plasma Storm 66/135 opens
with “Biosmog”, an attack for just (C)
making it very easy to pay.
It inflicts 20 points of damage
and guaranteed Poison, which isn’t
horrible for the Energy cost, and also
gives a coin flip to discard an Energy
from the Defending Pokémon.
In our current format, this could
prove useful but probably can’t function
as a primary attack unless the rest of
the deck supported it.
BW: Plasma Storm
67/135 requires (CC) for its first
attack, Ensnarl.
This does 20 points of damage
times the number of (C) Energy
requirements in the Defending Pokémon’s
Retreat Cost.
This feels a bit overpriced
seeing as how low Retreat costs are
common, and it has been ruled that
Darkrai EX or rather it’s Dark Cloak
Ability, while in effect, does result in
a free Retreat Cost and thus Ensnarl
hitting for zero damage.
The same holds true for any
similar effects.
Attack#2:
BW: Plasma Storm 66/135 follows
up with Sludge Bomb; for (PPC) it does a
flat 70 points of damage.
Simply put, that is overpriced
but not the worst to grace a
Garbodor card… and considering it is
a Gen V Pokémon that only has two other
versions, that is a bit depressing.
BW: Plasma Storm
67/135 may do a little better.
For (PCCC), Double Ducts has you
flip two coins and score 80 points of
damage for each “heads”; double “tails”
whiffs completely (one in four results),
double heads scores a magnificent 160
points of damage (one in four possible
results), while one of each results in
80 points of damage (the remaining two
of four results, and also the attack’s
mean damage).
Like most players I don’t like attacks
where I might hit for zero damage, and
the odds of that here are a bit too high
for comfort.
Still, at least it has the
capacity to hit hard, which is something
I can’t say for the other attacks.
The real problem I suppose is the
Energy required; for four Energy I
usually want to hit 100 points of
damage… meaning the attack does 20 less
than I would like per “heads”.
It would be better still if the
damage was further subdivided, so that
it always hit for something, one “heads”
hit for a solid amount, and two
delivered the big damage.
Synergy:
For each version of
Garbodor [Plasma], the attacks have
only fundamental synergy with each other
(Biosmog with Sludge Bomb and Ensnarl
with Double Ducts); the smaller attack
can feed into the larger.
In the case of BW: Plasma
Storm 67/135 there is arguably a
little more synergy as Double Ducts can
be used when Ensnarl would hit for no
damage at all, and both attacks can make
efficient use of most Energy
acceleration.
For possible synergy between the
attacks of BW: Plasma Storm
66/135 and BW: Plasma Storm
67/135, see the next section.
Usage
Card Family:
There are five different versions of
Trubbish available to Evolve from:
BW: Noble Victories 48/101,
BW: Dragons Exalted 53/124, BW:
Plasma Storm 63/135, BW: Plasma
Storm 64/135, and BW: Plasma
Storm 65/135.
All are Basic, Psychic-Type
Pokémon with Psychic Weakness, no
Resistance, and no Abilities.
BW: Dragons Exalted 53/124
and BW: Plasma Storm 65/135 both
have 70 HP and Retreat Costs of two,
while the others have only 60 HP but
single Energy Retreat Costs.
Considering all
Garbodor are legal
Heavy Ball targets, it is a shame no
Trubbish qualify.
In an odd twist, the
Trubbish have some good attacks,
especially for Evolving Basic Pokémon.
BW: Noble Victories 48/101
can top deck a card from your discard
pile for (C), though its second attack
just hits for 20 points of damage at a
cost of (PC).
BW: Dragons Exalted 53/124
is vanilla, but then again it also is
one of the 70 HP versions, so 20 for
(CC) or 30 with automatic Poison for
(PCC) isn’t good, but is arguably better
than most of the
Garbodor attacks.
BW: Plasma Storm
63/135 has two attacks.
The first requires (P) and
requires a successful coin toss, but
“heads” does let you add an Item from
deck to hand, quite useful with
Garbodor (BW: Dragons Exalted
54/124).
Sludge Toss for (CC) does 20;
unlikely to be useful, but at least not
horribly priced.
BW: Plasma Storm 64/135 is
the dud of the group: it is one of the
60 HP versions and it can only do 10 for
(C) or 40 for (PPC).
BW: Plasma Storm 65/135
makes me wish
Memory Berry would get reprinted;
(PC) does 20 points of damage for each
Pokémon Tool attached to a Pokémon in
play (counts both players!).
So that would be from zero to 240
points of damage with the current card
pool.
There are two other
Garbodor, both of which are Modified
legal.
BW: Noble Victories 49/101
was quite forgettable when it debuted,
while
Garbodor (BW: Dragons Exalted
54/124) is the well known version that
has made a good showing as of late.
Each has the same Stats as
Garbodor [Plasma] save for
not being Team Plasma Pokémon and
having only 100 HP.
Garbodor
(BW: Noble Victories 49/101) has
two attacks: for (PC) Gentle Wrap does
30 points of damage and prevents the
Defending Pokémon from retreating, and
for (PPC) Gunk Shot does 60 points of
damage with automatic Poison.
This is actually just a bit
better now than it was when it debuted,
as now it could tap
Hypnotoxic Laser and/or
Virbank City Gym for a little extra
damage.
Garbodor
(BW: Dragons Exalted 54/124) sees
play due to its Ability, Garbotoxin; in
a format where several key decks rely on
Abilities, shutting them down is very
potent.
Yes, even when it is on a Stage 1
that requires a Pokémon Tool to do it.
It has what I consider to be the
overall worse attack of the bunch,
however: Sludge Toss at a cost of (PPC)
but hitting for only 60 points of
damage!
There is decent synergy between most
Trubbish and
Garbodor; both older copies and
Garbodor [Plasma]; this is in part
because the
Garbodor honestly compliment each
other.
BW: Noble Victories 49/101
is still not a good card, and as all
four
Garbodor fight with each other for
deck space it is not worth including…
but if you are shutting down Abilities
with BW: Dragons Exalted 54/124,
have
Virbank City Gym in play and a
Hypnotoxic Laser in hand, it would
take
Switch or
Escape Rope to get them out of a
soft lock… and so many decks rely on
Darkrai EX (Dark Cloak) and or
Keldeo EX (Rush In) instead.
BW: Dragons Exalted
54/124 itself
does see play.
That makes it very beneficial to
try and combo either
Garbodor [Plasma] with it.
BW: Plasma Storm 66/135
also enjoys Dark Cloak/Rush In being
shut down, and several Items useful for
triggering Garbotoxin prove helpful
here.
BW: Plasma Storm 67/135
repeats the story; Ensnarl does nothing
if Dark Cloak is in effect, while Double
Ducts is the only attack likely to ever
hit hard if
Garbodor are your only attackers.
After all that, we aren’t quite done.
As Team Plasma Pokémon, both
Garbodor [Plasma] can tap their
support, but unfortunately of the
available support the only one likely to
matter is the usual
Colress Machine/Plasma
Energy combo, which speeds up the
attacks.
Combos:
With a
Garbodor (BW: Dragons Exalted
54/124) on the Bench, either
Garbodor [Plasma] will find their
attacks a little more effective.
For BW: Plasma Storm
66/135, you could hope that your 110 HP
does just avoid getting OHKOed (Giant
Cape
can help with that) and then as your
attack cost is so low,
Max Potion any damage away.
With a
Virbank City Gym in play, Biosmog
will effectively hit for 50, and as you
are also stripping Energy away on a
lucky coin toss, it actually might be
enough… but probably not.
If
Tool Scrapper isn’t being run
heavily, I would be tempted to use
Trubbish BW: Plasma Storm
65/135 and try for surprise “big” hits.
Compared to the damage output of
the other attacks, if you can get five
or six Pokémon Tools out (less if your
opponent has some in play), you can get
an amazing hit.
Of course, that is a completely
untested idea that occurred to me while
writing late at night; probably not the
best horse to bet on.
If you are running multiple
Garbodor of different versions,
Devolution Spray may prove useful,
but probably not as it would require
Garbodor not only avoiding a OHKO,
but having enough HP left to survive
Devolving.
Lastly, if you really want to try
BW: Plasma Storm 67/135, consider
a “fun” deck pairing it with
Jellicent (BW: Boundaries Crossed
45/149).
If you can get a full four count
out and your opponent doesn’t have Dark
Cloak zeroing out Retreat costs, Ensnarl
hits for 80+ damage.
Unlimited:
Simply put… no.
Neither helps against first turn
win decks or stands up well against
anything else likely to be played
competitively.
If you insist on trying, at least
take advantage of the unintentional
old/new card combos, and focus on BW:
Plasma Storm 67/135 and the older
(and current) cards that can help bump
up Retreat Costs.
Modified:
Both
Garbodor [Plasma] can at least do
“something”, but not well enough to
really warrant play.
Perhaps consider a single copy of
one of them in a
Garbodor (BW: Dragons Exalted
54/124); given that the usual build
would contain the support suggested for
it, I could see BW: Plasma Storm
66/135 functioning in this role.
Limited:
Garbodor [Plasma] (again, both
versions) enjoy much about Limited.
The fact that there are three
Trubbish (two Common, one Uncommon)
and two
Garbodor [Plasma] (even if one is a
Rare and the other a Holo-Rare) give
better odds of pulling a fleshed out
line.
Most need a source of (P) to
attack, but they aren’t so Energy hungry
that you couldn’t work them into a dual
Energy deck.
After that, all the usual benefits
apply; fewer Evolutions can be played
and Pokémon-EX are rare pulls, so
average HP scores and damage output
plummets.
If you don’t pull
Escape Rope, you have to manually
Retreat out of attack effects and
Special Conditions, making BW: Plasma
Storm 66/135’s attacks more
effective, while the total lack of
Darkrai EX and Dark Cloak make
Ensnarl a lot better.
Future:
The future doesn’t look bright, but
there is some upcoming cards worth
mentioning that could help (directly or
indirectly) either
Garbodor [Plasma].
The first is more Team Plasma
support;
Team Plasma Ball can fetch it
without breaking a sweat, though
Heavy Ball might remain superior
since I can’t see not running
Garbodor (BW: Dragons Exalted
54/124).
Team Plasma Badge can allow that
Garbodor to tap Team Plasma support
while activating Garbotoxin, assuming
that would be useful.
We don’t know exactly when, but
Elesa is out in
Japan,
and allows you to search your deck for
up to three Pokémon Tools and add them
to your hand; this again helps
Garbodor (BW: Dragons Exalted
54/124) but also
Trubbish (BW: Plasma Storm
65/135).
Team Plasma Badge would allow you to
manually attach a source of (P) Energy
while covering the (C) portion of the
attack cost with
Colress Machine/Plasma
Energy so it could attack the turn
it was dropped… well I think I’ve at
least figured out my future “fun” deck
at this rate.
Ratings (BW: Plasma Storm 66/135)
Unlimited:
1/5
Modified:
3/5
Limited:
4.25/5
Ratings (BW: Plasma Storm 67/135)
Unlimited:
1/5
Modified:
1.75/5
Limited:
4/5
Summary
I hope you enjoyed a double review for
Friday;
Garbodor (BW: Plasma Storm
66/135) shows just a tiny bit of promise
as a surprise attacker for a
Garbodor (BW: Dragons Exalted
54/124) deck, while
Garbodor (BW: Plasma Storm
67/135) might make for a fun League
deck, but unless I missed something,
neither are likely to be dominating the
format.
