Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Magnezone
#46 (Plasma Storm)
We end the week with another Pokémon that has an
interesting Ability, designed to help decks out with
consistency issues. This is something that the current
format is definitely lacking. We have nothing really
comparable to cards like Uxie
LA, Claydol GE, or even ones
like Chatot MD,
Cleffa HGSS and
Smeargle UD. Those were all
Pokémon that could be used to provide draw and/or give
players an out when they had a bad hand.
So . . . what do we have here then?
Magnezone is a Stage 2 Pokémon with a decent 140
HP and Fighting Weakness (not great, but could be
worse). It has a Retreat cost of three which at least
makes it searchable via Heavy Ball. The attack . . .
isn’t that bad. Yes, you do only get 80 damage for the
considerable cost of two Lightning and one Colourless
Energy (meaning you can’t even two-hit KO an EX), but it
is a ‘hit and run’ attack so you could always switch out
to a Pokémon that can block damage like
Sigilyph DRX, I suppose.
Gyro Ball also forces your opponent to switch which may
or may not be what you want, depending on the situation.
I consider the attack good enough to use when needed,
but not something to build a deck around.
The main reason why this card was a runner up in our Top
10 countdown is its Ability: Dual Brains. The name of
the attack does make me wonder what happened to the
third Magnemite’s brain when
it evolved, but it’s probably better if I don’t know.
Dual Brains’ effect is quite simple: during your turn,
you may play two Supporter cards.
Sounds great in theory, doesn’t it? We rely almost
exclusively on Supporters for all of
our draw (Juniper, Bianca,
Colress etc) and one of our best search cards (Skyla).
Surely being able to play two in a turn would greatly
improve deck consistency and even open up the option of
building a deck with the risky ‘tails fails’ disruption
Supporter, Hooligans Jim & Cas?
Unfortunately, I have two big problems with the theory.
Firstly, Magnezone is a
Stage 2. Working this, plus Rare
Candy into your deck means that consistency is taking a
hit before you even start. The time when you
really need
the consistency boost is when setting up, and
Magnezone doesn’t give that
boost until you already have a Stage 2 in play. The
second objection is that you need two Supporters in your
hand on any given turn in order to use the
Ability, otherwise all you
have is a mediocre attacker occupying Bench space. In
order to achieve this in a reliable way, you need to
pack your deck with Supporters above and beyond the
12-14 that most decks play and this not only gives you a
problem fitting stuff into your deck, it also leaves you
prone to very poor opening game hands full of Supporters
which you will most likely end up having to discard with
Juniper anyway.
Like yesterday’s card, Clefable,
you can see the intent behind
Magnezone. It aims to reward you with better
consistency if you choose to run an evolution deck. I do
think it’s a better card than
Clefable, but it still falls short of being a
practical option in a format dominated by fast and
efficient EX Pokémon. So, nice idea, and maybe in the
future someone will be able to make something of it. For
now, though, it’s not really all that playable.
Rating
Modified: 2.25 (good in theory, not in practice)
Limited: 2.5 (unlikely you will ever be able to use the
Ability)
|
|
virusyosh |
Happy Friday, Pojo readers! Today we end our CoTD week
with a very hyped card from Plasma Storm that doesn't
quite have a place yet. Today's Card of the Day is
Magnezone (#46).
Magnezone is a Stage 2 Lightning Team Plasma Pokemon.
Lightning-types have waned in popularity for the time
being, with some Eelektrik variants still around
occasionally, but other than that, they're not a huge
presence in the current metagame. As a Team Plasma
Pokemon, Magnezone gets support from Team Plasma cards
(though not so much in this set). 140 HP is just about
standard for a Stage 2, allowing Magnezone to take at
least one major unboosted hit before going down.
Fighting Weakness means that Landorus and Terrakion will
often have the upper hand on the Magnet Area Pokemon, so
that's definitely something to watch out for.
Unfortunately, Magnezone has no Resistance, but it does
have a massive Retreat Cost of 3, so you'll definitely
want to use Switch or Escape Rope to move Magnezone out
of the Active position.
This version of the Magnet Area Pokemon has an Ability
and a single attack. Dual Brains allows you to play 2
Supporter cards per turn, which is fantastic. Playing
Supporters is a major strategic part of the Pokemon TCG,
and being able to Skyla into a Colress/Juniper/whatever
else you may need is a huge advantage. Unfortunately,
due to the wording of this Ability, it doesn't stack
(it'd be even more insane if it did), but even still,
expect to see people playing around with this card quite
a bit.
Gyro Ball is Magnezone's attack, dealing 80 damage for
two Lightning and a Colorless, with the side effect of
having both players switch out. While not impressive,
this attack is passable, if not a bit heavy on Lightning
Energy requirements. Magnezone won't be winning any
offensive awards, but even still, as a support Pokemon,
you could do much worse.
Modified: 3/5 Magnezone is going to see play for Dual
Brains, but whether or not it will actually work out has
yet to be determined. Dual Brains is absolutely insane,
generating you tons of advantage and putting your
opponent into a very difficult spot. Of course,
Magnezone's being a Stage 2, Fighting Weakness, and
large Retreat Cost do set it back a bit, but you can be
sure that people will be trying to use/break the Magnet
Area Pokemon for the sheer amount of advantage it
brings.
Limited: 4/5 Magnezone is very good in Limited, too.
While Dual Brains won't often make much of a difference
(unless you get very lucky and draft a bunch of
Supporters), but Gyro Ball is a good attack, even though
it's kind of expensive. However, the automatic switching
can be a bit problematic in this format, as it can
definitely get you into some bad situations. Like many
other Stage 2s, Magnezone will often be a game-changer
if you get it out, so if you manage to pull a Magnezone
line, use it! |
