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If you are reading this, I forgot to write an
introduction.
Stats
Plasma Energy
is a Special Energy card, so unlike basic Energy cards
it is still restricted to four copies in your deck.
The symbol in the upper right hand tells you that
the default Energy value for the card (such as when it
is not in play) is (C).
There is also a handy blue border, small reminder
label in upper-right-hand corner of the card art labeled
“Team Plasma”, and Team Plasma’s crest in the background
behind the effect text to remind you this is a Team
Plasma card in three different ways.
Effects
Plasma Energy
states that it provides… (C) Energy.
That is all.
Pretty underwhelming, but this card is meant to
act as a trigger and a resource.
Usage
Like Retro
Energy (EX: Legend Maker 82/92), this card is
all about what it can trigger or be targeted by.
Perhaps the most important is
Colress Machine.
You can read up on that card
here, as it was our number five choice for the Top
10 Promising Picks of Plasma Storm.
The short version is that it allows you to select
one of your Team Plasma affiliated Pokémon in play,
search your deck for a
Plasma Energy,
and attach it to said Pokémon; that’s very good.
All Team Plasma Pokémon released so far have at
least one (C) Energy in their attack costs.
The other Trainer that requires it to have any
significant effect is
Plasma Frigate
(BW: Plasma Storm 124/135).
While you could theoretically run it just to
discard other Stadiums, which would be a waste; its
effect states that a Pokémon with a
Plasma Energy
attached has no Weakness.
It works for all Pokémon; Benched Pokémon don’t
apply Weakness or Resistance anyway, but it is
significant to know it works for your opponent as well
if they meet the criteria, and it works for both Team
Plasma Pokémon and those that are not!
You can click
here for more our review of this card… provided you
are reading this after the review of
Plasma Frigate
has been posted.
Three Pokémon released so far have attacks that have a
bonus effect when
Plasma Energy
is attached to them; the Team Plasma aligned versions of
the Legendary Bird Trio!
All three are Pokémon-EX with 170 HP with
Fighting Resistance, a Retreat score of one, and two
attacks.
Articuno EX
(BW: Plasma Storm 25/135, 132/135) is a
Water-Type with Metal-Weakness.
For (WCC) it hits for 60 plus 10 points of damage
to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon.
For (WWCC) it hits for 80, and if you have a
Plasma Energy
attached, scores Paralysis.
Moltres EX
(BW: Plasma Storm 14/135) is a Fire-Type with
Water Weakness.
Its first attack for (RC) does 30 points of
damage and has a mandatory coin toss; get heads and you
discard an Energy attached to the Defending Pokémon.
Zapdos
(BW: Plasma Storm /135) is a Lightning-Weak
Lightning-Type and for (LC) it also does 30 with a coin
flip dependent effect; this time “heads” prevents all
effects of attacks done, including damage, to itself.
For (RRCC) or (LLCC),
Moltres EX
and Zapdos EX
(respectively) have differently named attacks that do
the same thing; 80 points of damage with an extra 40
(total 120) if the attacking Pokémon in question has at
least one Plasma
Energy attached to it.
All three have promise, but also face some big hurdles,
the biggest being most support you would consider
running with them has been proven with other Pokémon,
Pokémon that have performed so well it is unlikely the
preceding three could best for deck space.
I have some ideas for some very odd builds, but
due to circumstances I have zero play testing with these
decks, and being brutally honest the odds are low that
my concepts would be overly strong if they are even
functional.
Lugia EX
(BW: Plasma Storm 108/135, 134/135) flat out
requires Plasma
Energy to attack, and you can read about it
here as it was our number two pick on our recent
list. It
flat out requires you discard a
Plasma Energy
to use its only attack, and its Ability only works with
its attack, so you will not see
Lugia EX
without Plasma
Energy.
Unfortunately,
Lugia EX may
not be convenient enough for the relationship to flow in
the opposite direction; I am sure many decks can run
Plasma Energy
but struggle to support
Lugia EX.
Lastly for the Team Plasma Family of cards, there are
two sources of additional draw power that
Plasma Energy
can help fuel.
Skarmory (BW: Plasma Storm 87/135) and
Team Plasma
Grunt (BW: Plasma Storm 125/135) can draw you
three and four cards, respectively.
Unfortunately both require you discard a Team
Plasma card to do so. The
former (Skarmory)
is a Basic, Metal-Type Pokémon with 90 HP, Fire
Weakness, Psychic Resistance, and a Retreat of (C), and
the draw is its first attack with an Energy cost of (C).
Its second attack for (MMC) does 40 while
reducing the damage it takes by 20.
The latter (Team
Plasma Grunt) is a Supporter… so both cards are hard
pressed to justify running, let alone discarding a hard
to reclaim Team Plasma card like this for such a small
return.
Speaking of getting
Plasma Energy
back, right now the only non-attack based option (and
you shouldn’t even consider the attack based options)
comes in the form of
Recycle.
An old Item first printed in Fossil and
reprinted in BW: Emerging Powers, it is a “tails
fails” effect that when it does work allows you to
select a card and put it on top of your deck (where you
could target it with
Colress Machine,
for the record).
Personally, I don’t think any deck uses
Plasma Energy
well enough to justify it, and even then making room for
it is difficult.
Plasma Energy
is a must run for any deck running an adequate amount of
Plasma Pokémon
or that desperately need to attempt to cover Weakness
with Plasma
Frigate, at least in Modified.
In Unlimited, it likely isn’t worth running at
all, though again I am still grasping at straws when it
comes to this format so feel free to test and find out
if I am wrong.
Given the kind of speedy decks that win first
turn and the challenge of even winning with a
traditional donk deck, I am skeptical.
For Limited play, only run it if you get one of the many
cards that gets an extra effect from it.
Colress
Machine,
Plasma Frigate, and
Team Plasma
Grunt are all Uncommons, and remember
Colress Machine
needs a Team Plasma Pokémon in play to target as well.
Skarmory
is a Normal Rare,
Articuno EX,
Lugia EX,
Moltres EX,
and Zapdos EX
are all “Rare Holo EX”, and only
Articuno EX
and Lugia EX
are available as Full Art cards this set.
I’ve heard Full Arts termed Super Rare Holo
cards, though I thought that would apply to the Rare
Holo EX rarity (which are a step below), making them
really “Ultra Rare” cards.
So… don’t expect to be able to use it in Limited, but
enjoy it if you can.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.5/5
Modified:
3/5
Limited:
3/5
Summary
This is another example of a card ill-suited to our
scoring system.
It is exactly as good as it is meant to be,
because it exists to simply be a target of or trigger
for effects.
Some of those are quite good, but I don’t want to
give too much credit here since it really belongs to
those other cards, like
Colress Machine.
So for now, it scores as above since it isn’t
really good or bad; it simply is.
This did not make my list.
I thought it might be worth reviewing alongside
Colress Machine,
Plasma Frigate,
etc. as a bonus, or even saving it for April Fool’s Day,
since had we reviewed more of the above cards before…
this CotD would have lost the bulk of its material.
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