Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Bouffalant
(Plasma Storm)
For a non-evolving Basic, the
AfroBull has had quite an impressive short
history in the TCG. Revenge
Bouffalant from BLW was a nice addition to decks
running Double Colourless Energy as his ability to do 90
for two Energy made him a
useful surprise weapon against a
Zekrom that had used Bolt Strike or a
Reshiram that had taken too
much damage from repeated Afterburner attachments. More
recently, Bouffalant DRX has
found a place in quite a few decks thanks to his
relative durability (for a non-EX) and his more than
useful anti-EX attack.
So, how will this new version measure up? Well, like the
rest, he’s a 100 HP Colourless Basic Pokémon, Weak to
Fighting, and has a Retreat cost of two. Unlike the
other Bouffalant, this one
is a Plasma Pokémon, so you can use him with the
(currently fairly limited) Team Plasma support cards
like Colress Machine. None
of those things exactly scream ‘play me!’, so I guess we
should look at the attacks . . .
For a single Energy of any Colour, you get Tool Breaker.
This does no damage, but it does discard a Tool attached
to the Defending Pokémon. The most important user of
Tools right now is Garbodor
DRX, and that’s a Bench-sitter, so you would have to use
Catcher in combination with
Bouffalant to do the business here. Why you would
want to use a Pokémon’s attack when you can just use a
Trainer (Tool Scrapper) to do this job is beyond me
though. Better hope the second attack is a bit more
useful. Except it isn’t.
Hammer In does a very mediocre 70 damage for the massive
cost of four Energy (even if
they are Colourless). Basically, that’s rubbish,
requiring a huge investment for very little return. Not
that I would expect Boufallant
to last long enough to use it. Or maybe it
will . . . your opponent
probably wouldn’t see him as a threat worth targeting,
and with good reason.
After the other versions we have seen, this new Plasma
Bouffalant is a bit of a
let-down to say the least.
Rating
Modified: 1.25 (please just use Tool Scrapper)
Limited: 2.25 (still very mediocre, but can be discarded
with Team Plasma Grunt for some draw)
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virusyosh |
Happy midweek, Pojo readers! Today we're reviewing
the newest iteration of a popular Basic Pokemon. Today's
Card of the Day is Bouffalant from Plasma Storm.
Bouffalant is a Basic Colorless Team Plasma Pokemon.
Colorless Pokemon are great since they can easily fit
into any deck, and are most commonly seen as techs,
supporting Pokemon, or secondary attackers (like
Tornadus-EX). As a Team Plasma Pokemon, Bouffalant gets
a whole host of Team Plasma support, most of which
begins in the next set. 100 HP is good for a non-EX
Basic Pokemon, and Bouffalant should be able to take at
least one hit in Modified before going down (though
Hypnotoxic Laser really hurts in this regard). Fighting
Weakness is bad against Landorus and Terrakion, no
Resistance is unfortunate but expected, and a Retreat
Cost of 2 can be paid for in a pinch.
This well-coiffed Pokemon has two attacks. Tool
Breaker discards a Pokemon Tool attached to the
Defending Pokemon for a single Colorless Energy, which
could be good against Garbodor variants, but not much
else. Additionally, Tool Scrapper does a much better job
than this attack at destroying Tools, so you'll probably
just want to use that instead. In Limited, however, Tool
Breaker can easily get rid of your opponent's annoying
Eviolites, which is a major plus. Hammer In does a
vanilla 70 damage for four Colorless Energy, which is
just plain slow by today's Modified standards, and maybe
even in Limited as well. 70 damage isn't all that
impressive for that cost, but it's at least usable in
Limited.
Modified: 1/5 Bouffalant isn't all that great, even
with all of the Garbodor variants running around this
particular States metagame. Tool Breaker is almost
entirely worse than Tool Scrapper, aside from the fact
that Bouffalant is more easily searched out (though you
still have to burn an Energy and use an attack to get
the watered-down effect). Also, Hammer In doesn't do
nearly enough damage for its cost, so it's best to just
stay away from this one and run Tool Scrapper with much
better attackers instead.
Limited: 3/5 However, Bouffalant is decent in
Limited. Tool Breaker can get rid of the opponent's
Eviolites (and the occasional Victory Piece), and Hammer
In does steady damage for the cost. However, four
Colorless Energy is rather difficult to power up in
Limited, so you'll want to hopefully keep your opponent
away from Bouffalant until it's ready or use Colress
Machine. Either way, Bouffalant can be great if you have
the necessary time to power up its attacks.
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