At last we crack the top three of the
Top 10 Promising Picks of Plasma Storm
countdown!
In the number three spot is
Scramble Switch (BW: Plasma Storm
129/135), which I will like even if it
doesn’t prove good simply because its
name reminds me of Transformers… the
five figure combiners where one figure
has four others plug in to form larger
limbs is known as “Scramble City” style
combiners.
There is a lot more to this card than a
fun name, so let’s dig in.
Stats
Scramble Switch
is a new Item, a subcategory of
Trainers, making it
Skyla bait.
This is more important than
normal since it is an Ace Spec card,
something you are only allowed one of
overall.
While everyone who isn’t new
already knew that, it bears repeating
just because this is as important to the
card as its effect: you must run this to
the exclusion of every other Ace Spec
card, after all.
Effects
Scramble Switch
allows you to switch your Active Pokémon
with one of your Benched Pokémon, and
then move as many of the Energy from the
former Active Pokémon to the new Active
Pokémon.
The restrictions are almost
negligible: one of the Pokémon involved
needs to be your Active and the other
needs to be on your Bench, and you can’t
just move the Energy and keep your
original Active up front.
You can move any kind of Energy,
basic or Special.
It is kind of like a
Switch with a limited Celebration
Wind.
For those that don’t remember,
that would be the Poké-Power from
Shaymin (HS: Unleashed 8/95).
That
Shaymin was phenomenal and made
certain decks, but it also had tricks to
reuse it.
Still, this seems like an effect
quite worthy of being an Ace Spec.
Usage
For my money, this seems like the best
Ace Spec we’ve got: not for every deck,
but for many
Scramble Switch will give you a
fantastic, powerful option.
This card allows you to preserve
your Energy in play, shunting it to a
different Pokémon (most likely a second
attacker).
The way it does this also solves
any issues with Special Conditions
(unlike say a hypothetical card that
shifted damage counters between two
Pokémon).
Even if you have no advanced combos, you
can use it as an over glorified
Switch.
Most of the time you’ll be able
to use it to force your opponent to burn
an extra
Pokémon Catcher for a Prize they had
already earned without having to
sacrifice momentum; Attacker A gives way
(and all its Energy) to attacker B, and
moving Energy around like this most
definitely counts as Energy
acceleration.
If you do plan ahead,
Max Potion makes for an obvious
combo.
Max Potion is already common to
several decks, so unless they are
already running something else to allow
them to move Energy around, this
instantly gives them the capacity to
shed Special Conditions and all damage,
probably wasting your opponent’s last
attack entirely… maybe even a
Hypnotoxic Laser.
Skyla of course gives you better
odds of getting
Scramble Switch into hand at the
right time, and
Sableye (BW: Dark Explorers
62/108) can Junk Hunt to use it multiple
times… and in fact could recycle a
Max Potion at the same time, given
Junk Hunt snags two Items from the
discard.
So what are the draw backs?
Giving up the other Ace Specs: no
Computer Search for a small (but
important) reliability boost, no
Dowsing Machine for a second shot at
an important Trainer, and no
Gold Potion for less complicated
healing.
Gold Potion isn’t much of a loss at
all, unless you absolutely can’t fit
Max Potion in alongside
Scramble Switch.
The others are great cards, and
even though I consider
Scramble Switch better, the
difference is slim.
Computer Search
is simpler to use and probably more
comfortable for players; even though
it’s a minor boost to reliability
(unless paired with
Sableye or something else that
allows you to re-use Ace spec cards) it
is easy to understand and is familiar.
Dowsing Machine is less versatile,
but boosts reliability about as much
while giving you the power of a
variable, spare Trainer.
Scramble Switch simply gives your
deck a new capacity, one that has made
for power plays before.
When it comes to Modified decks,
Dowsing Machine is my current
default… just because I don’t think
Computer Search boosts reliability
enough to outperform it, and it is
simple and easy to use.
If my deck at all can support
advanced usage of
Scramble Switch (like already
running
Max Potion) and doesn’t have another
means of effectively moving a lot of
Energy (like various Abilities we’ve
seen in specific decks), then I make the
switch.
For Unlimited, unless this enables a
first turn win,
Computer Search is probably more
important.
Plus this format has the cards to
abuse that
Shaymin I mentioned earlier.
For Limited, this is a must run;
even if you get one of the other Ace
Specs, this is the easiest to use well.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.5/5
Modified:
4.5/5
Limited:
5/5
Summary
From now on, you’ve got three great Ace
Spec cards to choose from.
I’ve made it clear that my
favorite is
Scramble Switch but I’ll be using
Dowsing Machine by default.
Computer Search is still the best
option for some decks as well, though I
think the first two now outclass it by a
small but significant margin.
If your deck can’t optimize
either of the other two or if it can
specifically be optimized for
Scramble Switch, that’s the play.
Scramble Switch
was my number five pick, mostly because
of a lack of self-confidence.
Despite no where near enough
testing (and given I already admitted to
overrating
Colress Machine and
Ether), rewriting my list today I
would stick
Scramble Switch in the number two or
three spot.
I am glad the group helped me get
it right.
