Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Magnezone
#47 (Plasma Storm)
We end the week with another card that falls under the
‘if there’s two cards of the same Pokémon in a set, only
one will be interesting’ rule. I really need to think of
a neater way of putting that.
The card in question this Friday is the ‘other’
Magnezone from Plasma Storm
– the one without the gimmicky Ability. This is just a
straightforward Lightning Type Stage 2 with an average
140 HP, unattractive Weakness to
Fightning, and an annoying Retreat cost of two. I
don’t mind my Magnezones
having high retreat cost, but please at least make them
searchable with Heavy Ball.
Magnezone
comes with two attacks. The first, Double Assist costs
just one Lightning Energy and does
30 damage, but it also comes with the great bonus
of allowing you to attach two Basic Energy cards from
your discard pile to one of your Pokémon. That’s
actually good . . . or it would be if setting up a Stage
2 and using its attack to accelerate Energy was a viable
strategy in this format. It isn’t. The time and
resources you spend on setting this up are simply too
heavy for a deck based around this attack to work. In
fact, it feels like a very slow and clumsy budget
version of a card you are going to be seeing a lot of
very soon . . . The second attack isn’t nearly so
interesting. Tumbling Attack costs one Lightning and
two Colourless, and for that
you get 70 damage plus a coin flip for an extra 20.
Considering the effort it takes to get a Stage 2 into
play, that isn’t a very good return, even if you
do hit
heads.
After giving it a proper look, this
Magnezone is not quite as terrible as I expected.
However the gulf between average cards like this and the
real power players of the format is huge and means that
this is never going to see any play the way things are.
Speaking of power players, next week sees the start of
our top 10 countdown for Plasma Freeze. As with most
pre-Nationals sets, this one is really going to shake
the game up . . . I hope you’ll join us for the reviews!
Rating
Modified: 2 (not awful, but stands no chance in our
format)
Limited: 3 (I dislike Stage 2s in limited, but he’s ok
if you can get him out)
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virusyosh |
Happy Friday, Pojo readers! Today we're reviewing a
Stage 2 Pokemon that has generally received good cards
in the Pokemon TCG. Today's Card of the Day is Magnezone
(#47) from Plasma Storm.
Magnezone is a Stage 2 Lightning Pokemon.
Lightning-types are seeing a bit of a resurgence in
play, as the new Thundurus-EX is the subject of a lot of
hype and will likely see play along with its set partner
Deoxys-EX. That being said, there are quite a few other
good Lightning Pokemon available in the format (like
Eelektrik), so if Magnezone is playable, it can
definitely be supported. 140 HP is standard for a Stage
2, and Magnezone should be able to take at least one big
hit before going down (as long as it's not for
Weakness). Magnezone is weak to Fighting like most
Lightning-types and similarly has no Resistance;
however, the Retreat Cost of two is payable most of the
time, but you're still probably better off using
something like Switch, Escape Rope, or Scramble Switch.
This version of the Magnet Area Pokemon has two attacks.
Double Assist does 30 damage for a single Lightning
Energy, and allows you to attach two Lightning Energy
from your discard pile to one of your Pokemon. This
makes for a great acceleration option in Limited, as
Modified has access to things like Eelektrik (that don't
use up an attack) and such acceleration is rare in the
slower format. However, one thing to note is that Double
Assist is not just limited to Benched Pokemon, so
Magnezone can easily power itself up with this attack,
allowing it to use its second attack on the next turn.
Speaking of that second attack, Tumbling Attack starts
off at 70 damage, but can deal 20 more if you flip a
coin and get heads. This attack is nothing too
impressive, as an average of 80 damage is bare minimum
by Modified standards right now unless an attack
spreads, but can easily get the job done, once again
likely in a Limited setting.
Modified: 2/5 Magnezone provides some interesting
acceleration options, but it's overshadowed by Eelektrik.
If you'd like to run a Magnezone deck, you're probably
better off running the Dual Brains Magnezone with one of
these for acceleration (and even then, it may not be
necessary).
Limited: 4.5/5 Magnezone is fantastic in Limited. Double
Assist allows Magnezone to power up itself and others,
making it an excellent team player as well as a good
fighting force. While Tumbling Attack is nothing
special, the damage output is more than enough for this
format, and Magnezone should easily 2HKO almost
everything in the format. Like many Stage 2s, if you get
it out, you should be able to win.
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