Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Sceptile
(Plasma Freeze)
Hello, and welcome to a short week of reviews here on
Pojo’s
CotD. That’s because our American readers will be
celebrating their 4th July weekend. More importantly (in
the Pokémon world anyway), US Nationals will also be
taking place, so I wish anyone who is attending the best
of luck – you’ll need plenty of it to get through such a
huge and difficult tournament.
We kick off the week with Sceptile,
a Grass Type Stage 2 with 130 HP, an almost irrelevant
Fire Weakness and a handy Resistance to Water. The
retreat cost of two isn’t much fun, but it’s going to
have its work cut out to impress as the HP isn’t enough
to keep it around for long, and Stage 2s are relatively
slow and take up a lot of deck space.
The first attack, X-Scissor, costs one Grass and one
Colourless Energy and does just 30 damage which is poor.
You do get a flip for an extra
40 damage, but even then I’m not really very impressed.
All that effort to get Sceptile
out needs a better reward than 70
damage: it really needs an attack that will be an
unboosted two-shot on an EX
at worst and a one-shot when hitting for Weakness (say,
against Keldeo-EX).
Unfortunately, even Sceptile’s
second attack, Energy Bloom, can’t do that, even though
it adds another Grass Energy to the cost. 80 damage
for three Energy won’t wow
anyone, and the bonus healing effect (20 from each
Pokémon that has Energy attached) in no way makes it
worthwhile running such an underpowered Stage 2 Pokémon.
Although it’s always nice to see a Generation III
starter get a TCG card, this one is strictly filler and
not much use for competitive purposes. Now . . . where’s
my Mudkip? (We haven’t seen
one since Supreme Victors!)
Rating
Modified: 1.5 (another Stage 2 that doesn’t do nearly
enough)
Limited: 2.5 (doesn’t really repay you here either)
|
Ness
Two-Time World Champion
Check out The Klaczynski Open. August 31, 2013 |
Sceptile
Sceptile is a terrible Stage 2 that
may have been a nice counter to Kyurem's Glaciate
attack, but Kyurem hasn't been popular since 2011.
Maxing out at 80 damage for three energy all while
requiring evolving twice makes Sceptile one of those
cards that sits and collects dust. Sceptile even needs
to flip heads to KO the weakest of basics!
If you're looking for options to
heal all of your Pokémon, B&W Serperior and its Royal
Heal Ability are a better bet.
Modified: 1/5
Limited: 1/5
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