The new set, BW: Legendary Treasures,
is upon us so it is time for a new Top
10 list!
Last time we expanded to a Top 12
because of scheduling: this time the
nature of the set itself demands we
“adjust” our usual practice.
When we select cards for a Top
10, we don’t normally consider
“reprints”… but that would exclude most
of Legendary Treasures.
With the set being mostly reprints, the
new rules about to go into on November 8th,
and the still relatively recent rotation
we’ll be doing two Top 5 lists: the Top
5 Promising Picks of Legendary Treasures
followed by the Top 5 Reprints of
Legendary Treasures!
The review will be based on the
format post rules change.
Today we’ll tackle
Phione (BW: Legendary Treasures
36/113).
Phione
is a Basic Pokémon, which is still the
best a Pokémon can be.
It is a Water-Type which honestly
doesn’t mean much right now.
Its 70 HP makes it an easy OHKO
but also a legal
Level Ball target.
Its Lightning-Type Weakness is
not crippling – only a few Pokémon will
enjoy turning a 2HKO into a OHKO as the
HP is so low most already scored a OHKO.
Lack of Resistance is a bit
boring but is the norm, and Resistance
isn’t that strong of a mechanic anyway
(just a nice potential bonus).
A single Energy Retreat cost is
normally good, but on a small Basic
Pokémon almost feels like too much;
still it is easy to pay if you aren’t
just bypassing it anyway.
Phione
has two attacks.
The first is Pull Out; for (C)
you can top deck a card from your
discard pile.
The second is Aqua Boomerang,
which requires (W) and scores 20 points
of damage while returning
Phione and all cards attached to it
to your hand.
Reclaiming any card from your
discard pile (Pokémon, Trainer or
Energy) is useful, as is the ability to
hit for 20 for one on such a small card
(do a little damage, get out of there).
Aqua Boomerang could allow you to
use high quality combo pieces with
Phione without actually losing them,
like
Prism Energy and
Silver Bangle.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem like
enough to justify playing it.
Top-decking something from your
discard pile is useful, but it isn’t
Junk Hunt.
Sableye (BW: Dark Explorers
62/108) can’t be use in just about any
deck (like
Phione), but where it can be used,
it is used much, much better.
Two cards in hand are worth more
than one on top of the deck, even if it
is two Items versus one of any card.
The quantity matters because it
allowed
Sableye to bombard opponents with
multiple Items turn after turn or
enhance its own set-up… and the decks
that don’t use it often don’t need such
a strategy;
Blastoise wants to set-up and steam
roll the opponent, not fall back on
“Hammer Spam”.
Phione
can be disrupted in more ways as it
top-decks and unless your opponent uses
an effect that allows you to draw
without shuffling on said opponent’s
turn, you’re giving up a lot for that
recycled card: an Energy card, space on
your side of the field, an attack, and
your next turn’s draw.
If you don’t have an unrestricted
amount, giving up an Energy attachment
also factors in, and there is a very
good chance that
Phione itself is being KOed for a
Prize.
I’ve heard some defend that with
“So it will be a seven Prize game then!”
and the answer is… only if you didn’t
have another non-Pokémon-EX you wanted
to play.
Despite the complaint that
Pokémon-EX dominate the format, most
decks already have regular Pokémon they
play.
The new rules also factor in;
Sableye may not be as good as it
once was now that you can’t get off that
turn one Junk Hunt.
Why
does that matter?
In a sense it was your “profit
margin”.
If you play a card, you want to
at least get equivalent value to the
cost of playing it, but what separates
“winning” decks from “functional” decks
is finding a way to come out at least a
little ahead.
If you don’t, then when you
eventually face a situation (due to a
cunning opponent or just bad luck) where
you fail to break even, you lose.
Yes,
Phione and
Sableye no longer have to worry
about being “donked” first turn… but at
best that just means breaking even as
they are now deadweight first turn.
For Limited, the only reason not to run
this card is that you’re going for a
Basic+39 strategy where you can only
have one Basic Pokémon.
You lose if you Aqua Boomerang
with nothing else in play so that
definitely doesn’t suit
Phione (and makes attacking with
Aqua Boomerang “iffy” in general).
If you have anything worth
reclaiming, then
Phione varies from an adequate to a
great option due to Pull Out, but it
isn’t a hard and fast rule like “always
run draw Trainers”.
Aqua Boomerang is nice in that it
can shed damage from
Phione, but for 20 points of damage,
the need to run
Water Energy, and the fact you
likely won’t have something huge with a
free Retreat Cost you can bring up to
soak hits in between doesn’t help much.
As for Unlimited, there are
better options to do what it does.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5
Modified:
1.75/5
Limited:
3.25/5
Summary
Phione
is a card that I believe shows false
promise; what it does better than a card
like
Sableye is offset by what it does
worse.
You’re giving up a lot to
top-deck a single card, and while these
two no longer have to worry about being
donked first turn, they can’t generate
any advantage first turn either, and the
slightly slower decks get that same turn
of respite.
Phione
didn’t make my Top 5 list, or even my
list of prospective picks.
