Today we look at
Genesect (BW: Legendary Treasures
16/113), a recent card easy to miss in
the shadow of the previous set’s
Genesect EX.
Genesect
is a Grass-Type Pokémon; we finally
have some successful support for the
Energy Type (in the form of
Virizion EX), but nothing worth
running is specifically for Grass-Type
Pokémon.
As fast as hitting Weakness and
Resistance goes, Grass Resistance seems
to be a thing of the past while Weakness
is prominent on a few popular Pokémon.
Being a Basic Pokémon is still the best,
a definite mark in the favor of today’s
card; requires the least amount of
resources (including time) to get into
play plus
Basic Pokémon posses a natural
synergy with various effects; search
cards are more potent since it is “one
and done”, recursion cards like
Super Rod only need to use up one of
its targeting allotment to recycle a
Genesect (unlike a Stage 2 where you
would have to burn up all three to truly
add an entire copy).
The advantage isn’t as much as it
used to be thanks to the new rules;
going first no longer allows you to
attack, giving a slight breather to
Evolution decks, but it isn’t the proper
balance we might get from, say, just not
making “big” Basic Pokémon into overly
fast, overly powerful attackers that
even have the capacity to hit for damage
first turn, let alone possessing a
useful Ability so they can double as a
potent Bench-sitter or a major attack so
they can double as opener and heavy
hitter.
Genesect
has 110 HP, the third highest printed on
Basic Pokémon that lack a gimmick e.g.
are not Pokémon-EX.
It is still not enough to
reliably avoid a OHKO, but your opponent
usually require a slightly juiced up
attack to score a OHKO, outside of
Weakness or decks that already fall into
the OHKO area.
For example,
Darkrai EX just needs a
Dark Claw, but at least it needs
something beyond a straight up attack.
Speaking of Weakness, Fire
Weakness hasn’t been a major issue, but
as usual it still isn’t “safe”.
Recent reprints and rule changes,
coupled with the success of
Genesect EX and
Virizion EX are spurring players on
to try and rekindle past Fire decks or
spark some new ones.
No Resistance is the worst Resistance,
but it is also quite common so
Genesect is not really at a
disadvantage.
Even if it were present, it
wouldn’t be likely to matter given how
reducing damage by 20 isn’t that
impressive in a format where most decks
can deliver a solid 140 via combos (if
not actual attacks).
The single Energy Retreat Cost,
on the other hand, is quite good; you
should be able to easily afford it in
most decks and if you’re running
anything that lowers Retreat Costs,
you’ll drop it to zero.
Overall, the card has solid stats
for a big, Basic Pokémon that can’t
Evolve.
So what can it do?
The first attack is Slash, which
requires (G) and hits for 20.
This hasn’t really been a “good”
amount for years thanks to power creep.
Slash is certainly better than
nothing, though that also assumes that
the designers would have made the card
exactly as it is now sans the attack,
which seems unlikely.
Slash is fast but with the new
first turn rules, very underpowered
compared to what other decks can do for
one to three Energy?
Why one to three?
The second attack, Gaia Blaster,
requires a hefty four Energy to use so
any less and you’ve got to rely on
Slash.
The base damage is only 50 unless
the Energy used triggers the effect;
while the actual Energy requirements are
all Colorless, for each Grass Energy
attached to
Genesect the attack does an
additional 20 points of damage.
Just two (of four) Energy being
Grass puts Gaia Blaster into 2HKO range
for most cards (and OHKO for those with
Grass Weakness) and with four or more
Grass Energy you hit 130+ damage.
The catch is that it’s a really
steep investment in Energy, so trading
Prizes is not a good idea.
Yes, there are some Energy accelerating
options to consider, like he
aforementioned
Virizion EX, but it just isn’t
enough.
This card really needs mass
Energy acceleration, be it from the
deck, hand, or discard… mass as in
easily dropping four to seven (seven
Energy yields 190 points of damage,
enough to OHKO even non-Weak Pokémon-EX)
in a single turn.
You certainly could still run
this card to some success with
Virizion EX,
Energy Switch, and basically most of
what you see in your typical VirGen
deck, then enjoy some of the cards that
Genesect EX can’t use, like
Silver Bangle and
Silver Mirror.
The thing is… why would you?
Yes
Genesect EX also requires some
additional, special consideration but
the reward is a deck built around Basic
Pokémon that still manages to OHKO
anything that regularly sees play
(thanks to
G Booster) plus provides a
replacement for the nerfed
Pokémon Catcher (in the form of Red
signal).
For Unlimited, things aren’t any better;
you have more options but the
competition is far steeper given the
rules change merely made the most
prominent First Turn Win deck, Sabledonk,
a little less reliable (though it put
the kibosh on any that absolutely
required that first turn attack).
I don’t recall there being a good
way to load up on more than a few Grass
Energy in a single turn, even here, its
just here you don’t have to burn an
attack to do it.
As for Limited, the card is an
excellent pick.
Unsurprisingly not strong enough
to pull off a +39 build as you don’t hit
OHKO range quickly enough, but even a
no-Grass Gaia Blaster on a 110 HP Basic
Pokémon is “okay”, so just about any
deck can make use of it even if only as
just that, and if the deck has room for
even a few
Grass Energy cards, definitely worth
running.
Ratings
Unlimited:
2/5
Modified:
1.75/5
Limited:
4/5
Summary
We have other options for a big, Basic
Grass-Type attacker, and that includes
Genesect (BW: Plasma Blast
10/101), which would be in direct
competition for space due to sharing the
same name.
That
Genesect has 10 less HP but aides in
setup; I don’t know if it is worth
playing, but it seems more useful than
too low damage on the inexpensive attack
and no effective way to quickly build
and rebuild the second attack.
Unless we get some more Grass
Energy acceleration that compliments
this card, I think this bug’s hopes have
been squashed.
