Today we are looking at
Maractus (BW: Plasma Storm
11/135).
It should be interesting because
I got distracted and ended up writing
this quickly and kind of late at night!
Stats
Type:
Maractus is a Grass-Type Pokémon;
hitting Grass Weakness is in high demand
and in the current card pool, there is
no longer any form of natural Grass
Resistance to worry about.
Unfortunately, neither is there
any worthwhile Grass-Type support or
truly successful Grass-Type decks or
attackers.
Stage:
Maractus is a Basic Pokémon, which
is not bad since this is a format
dominated by Basic Pokémon.
I don’t really want to call that
“good”, since unfortunately it is
practically a requirement; not advantage
but avoiding potential disadvantage.
Hit Points:
90 HP isn’t safe even first turn
anymore, but it isn’t completely
abysmal; first turn it will take a good
solid combo to take you out.
Past that, most decks should
manage to OHKO
Maractus, I am afraid.
It is a legal
Level Ball target, and as it doesn’t
have the greatest HP, Defense, or
Special Defense in the video game, it is
probably doing good to have even 90 HP
in the TCG.
Weakness:
Fire Weakness is the usual for
Grass-Types, and at least for now it is
pretty safe as we lack any prominent
Fire-Types, let alone Fire-Type decks.
Resistance:
Water Resistance isn’t likely to save
Maractus from the most likely
Water-Type attacker (Keldeo
EX), but it is far better than
nothing.
Granted, it seems an odd choice
considering the TCG Water-Type is made
of video game Water-Types and Ice-Types,
and in the video games Ice-Type attacks
hit Grass-Types for double damage.
Lightning Resistance could work
without any similar contradiction, but
obviously they didn’t go with that.
Retreat:
The single Energy required to retreat is
easy to pay and can be wiped out
completely with
Skyarrow Bridge; possibly this
card’s best feature so far.
It is even more appreciated
factoring in this is a Pokémon modeled
after plant life and possessing a poor
Speed Stat in the video games.
Effects
Attack#1:
For (G) Dazzle Dance does 10 points of
damage plus automatically Confuses the
Defending Pokémon; this isn’t brilliant
but it is a decent stall tactic.
Confusion was severely weakened
years ago when they altered its rules:
it used to do damage instead of placing
damage counters, and retreating out of
it used to require a Confusion check
flip.
Overall, it is slightly weak but
serviceable.
Attack:
For (GC), Ambush does 20 points of
damage and gives you a flip to score
another 30.
20 for two is pretty pathetic
right now, especially for a card’s “big”
attack, and even when you hit for the
full 50, by modern rates that a weak
return.
Ambush really lets this card
down.
Synergy:
Besides the basic synergy of the smaller
attack being there to buy time to build
to the larger attack, the Confusion from
Dazzle Dance can provide both protection
and additional damage if you are not
only lucky enough that your opponent
flips “tails” while attacking, but that
they can’t shed Confusion to begin with.
Usage
Card Family:
There are four other versions of
Maractus, though Black& White
11/114 and McDonald’s 2011 2/12
are the same card, save for the latter
getting a special holographic treatment.
All versions are Basic,
Grass-Type Pokémon with Fire Weakness,
Water Resistance, and two attacks.
The two just mentioned have 80 HP
and Retreat Costs of two.
For (G) each can hit for 20 while
healing 20 points of damage from itself,
while for (GGC) it allows you to flip
four coins and do 20 points of damage
per “heads”.
Not a version worth playing.
Black & White
12/114 does a little better, with 90 HP
but still having that two Energy Retreat
Cost.
For (G) it allows you to flip
three coins; no “heads” does nothing,
one does 10 points of damage, two does
30 points of damage, and three does 60
points of damage.
For (GGG) it hits for 50 points
of damage and heals itself by however
much damage the attack does in the end:
f used on something Grass Weak, the
attack would ultimately hit for 100
points of damage and heal that same
amount from that particular
Maractus.
Sadly still not worth playing.
BW: Dragons Exalted
16/124 can hit for 20 points of damage
plus gets to flip for a shot at
Confusion at the price of (GC).
For (GCC), it can hit for 40
points of damage and if it has a Pokémon
Tool attached, the attack’s effect adds
another 40 points of damage to that
amount (totaling 80).
Unfortunately, this version is
still not worth using.
Looks like
Maractus is on its own.
Combos:
There are no worthwhile combos for
Maractus; there are things you could
do with it, such as backing it with
Garbodor (BW: Dragons Exalted
54/124) as without Abilities, many decks
will have a more difficult time
retreating out of Confusion but that is
hardly an optimal build.
Unlimited:
Skip it; doesn’t win first turn, doesn’t
lock things down first turn, doesn’t
even work as an aggressive first turn
attacker when considering only Basic,
Grass-Type Pokémon.
Modified:
Skip it; we may not have better
Grass-Type attackers but we have other
better Basic attackers that do a better
job than
Maractus could even if the Defending
Pokémon was Grass Weak.
Limited:
Being a fully Evolved Basic Pokémon,
Maractus is a great pick here; the
only downside is your deck needs to run
at least a few (three to five)
Grass Energy (assuming that isn’t a
major thing for your deck already).
The 90 HP is pretty big in
Limited as is the damage from Ambush
considering there aren’t that many big,
Basic Pokémon in the set and most
Evolutions can’t be played because they
are pulled without their lower Stages.
Dazzling Dance is also better
because Special Conditions are hard to
get rid of here, and even forcing the
opponent to Retreat their current Active
can generate advantage.
Future:
Nothing pending will make this card
better, though some could make it worse
if they catch on (namely anything that
is a Fire-Type).
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5
Modified:
1/5
Limited:
4/5
Summary
Maractus
is best enjoyed in Limited, or if you
want a pretty straight forward review
and don’t mind it being a bit
depressing.
Maractus would make an okay Evolving
Pokémon, but unfortunately the designers
thing this passes for a fully Evolved
Basic Pokémon.
