At last we come to the
final card in our
countdown of the Top 10
Promising Picks of
Plasma Storm.
That card is
Hypnotoxic Laser (BW:
Plasma Storm
123/135).
I can say with
all certainty the
following:
I’M A’ FIRIN’ MAH LAZER!
Stats
Hypnotoxic Laser
is a Trainer,
specifically an Item.
This allows you
to play it alongside as
many other Items, one
Supporter, and one
Stadium with a new name
on your turn.
Normally such a
statement would be for
the sake of
thoroughness, but I will
tell you now that this
card is significantly
enhanced by its combo
opportunities,
opportunities which
would not exist if this
effect was the result of
most other card
classifications.
Hypnotoxic Laser
is also a Team Plasma
card.
This mostly
serves to make Team
Plasma look good for
having something this
nasty, but it does allow
it to work with one or
two of their current
support cards (click
here for an article
about the Team Plasma
cards), none of which I
am overly thrilled with.
It is still worth
noting, especially as we
get more Team Plasma
cards and support, which
will improve what we
already have as well as
providing many new
options.
Effects
Hypnotoxic Laser
has the effect of
automatically
Poisoning the
Defending Pokémon, with
a required flip to
inflict Sleep on the
Defending Pokémon as
well.
In case anyone is
still confused, the
Poison is guaranteed,
the flip is only for
inflicting Sleep.
This is a great effect;
it works as an enhanced
PlusPower in many
ways; Poison damage
doesn’t care if the
attack actually does any
damage at all, it just
won’t give you a bonus
for hitting Weakness and
multiple copies won’t
stack.
There is also the
chance of extra,
lingering damage and of
course Sleep, making it
clearly superior in
almost all situations.
Just remember
that the odds of the
Sleep sticking are low.
Usage
Hypnotoxic Laser
is not a new deck staple
for Modified, but it is
quite close.
It falls
somewhere between
Pokémon Catcher
(which you should always
run at three or four
unless you simply don’t
have that many) and
Crushing Hammer
(good to try and squeeze
in at least one as TecH,
with several decks using
it heavily as a major
part of their strategy),
at least where those
cards were before BW:
Plasma Storm
released.
Pokémon Catcher is
still as much a staple
as ever, but
Crushing Hammer is
being muscled out of
several decks for
Hypnotoxic Laser;
creating effective OHKOs
results in discarded
Energy, after all.
The many attacks
myself and other
reviews have pointed out
that barely missed the
OHKO or 2HKO can now hit
it thanks to
Hypnotoxic Laser.
Yes,
PlusPower allowed
that as well, and can
stack with itself, but
Hypnotoxic Laser has
Virbank City Gym,
which ultimately proves
far more effective in
most situations.
Virbank City Gym
increases the damage
counter placement done
by Poison by two.
A fairly simple
two card combo where the
Stadium has a solid
chance of being re-used,
yields three damage
counters to doubled-up
copies of
PlusPower yielding
only an extra 20 points
of damage.
Even non-damaging
attacks like Junk Hunt,
the infamous attack on
Sableye (BW: Dark
Explorers 62/108),
can enjoy this;
constantly reclaim
Hypnotoxic Laser and
one other Item, and keep
Poisoning whatever your
opponent throws at you.
You won’t usually
save that
Sableye (unless of
course the rest of the
deck is built for
disruption as well) from
being KOed, but now your
follow up attacker has a
much easier time taking
out the Defending
Pokémon.
You don’t have to run
Hypnotoxic Laser
with
Virbank City Gym,
and even when you do,
two copies of both may
be enough.
If you’ve got
room, more copies of
Hypnotoxic Laser are
usually welcome, but as
we all know spare copies
of a Stadium are just
that; spare.
They are
important if you
opponent starts
discarding
Virbank City Gym
from play but otherwise
are discard fodder.
Thanks to the
popularity, much like
when
Skyarrow
Bridge
was in fashion, you’ll
have the chance to use
your opponent’s
Virbank City Gym for
your own
Hypnotoxic Laser,
further lessening the
need to run a lot.
Now for some important
but minor issues: a
“new” Poisoning replaces
an older one.
This can cause
issues for a Pokémon
like
Crobat (BW:
Plasma Storm
55/135), which causes
multi-damage counter
Poison even without
Virbank
City
Gym.
You either have
to skip
Hypnotoxic Laser or
be careful while using
it as well as risking it
being a dead card.
You also have to
be careful with your
math; if you already
have a 2HKO and the
extra damage isn’t going
to result in
a
OHKO, don’t waste the
cards!
Even if you need
the combo for a 2HKO,
save it for the final
blow; better
N shuffles them back
into the deck for later
than wasting them before
an opponent drops
Max Potion.
This card is why
Keldeo EX (BW:
Boundaries Crossed
49/149, 142/149),
Darkrai EX (BW:
Dark Explorers
63/108, 107/108; BW
Promo BW46), and a
source of (D) Energy
will be a common sight.
Not all decks can
use that, but one of the
two Pokémon is quite
handy, and can be
supplemented with
Switch and/or
Escape Rope.
Some decks will
also just rely on the
Items; that combo has
some fringe benefits,
but for the space it
entails in a deck that
has no other reason for
running a source of (D)
Energy or
Darkrai EX, you can
fit in a lot of Items.
In Modified, if a deck
has room it will be
packing
Hypnotoxic Laser.
Many but not all
of those will also be
running
Virbank
City
Gym.
Get used to it.
In Unlimited, I
am kind of stumped.
It could help a
first turn win or
certain lock decks, but
can also be completely
unnecessary (or at least
only needed as a
fallback option).
If you are
encountering something
other than those two
classes of deck, the
Hypnotoxic Laser can
bypass the infamous
Focus Band as well
as Baby Rule.
At least Limited
is quite simple; you
pull this, you run it!
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.75/5
Modified:
4.5/5
Limited:
5/5
Summary
Decks that have room
will be running
Hypnotoxic Laser
unless they hit so crazy
hard they don’t need the
extra damage or some
similar exemption.
Expect to be
seeing it a lot, and
definitely get yourself
a play set.
Fortunately a
single copy is included
in either of the BW:
Plasma Storm Starter
decks.
Hypnotoxic Laser
was unsurprisingly my
number one pick for the
set.
