Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Axew
(Plasma Blast)
Ok, so why are we reviewing an evolving Basic today?
Well, he’s cute, for sure, but is there any more to it
than that?
Actually, even for an evolving Basic,
Axew is pretty limited with
low HP and a horrible Dragon Claw attack that does 20
for two different Types of Energy. He does evolve into
that Haxorus which is an
awkward-to-use Plasma counter, but I’m still struggling
to see anything notable about the card from a playing
point of view.
On the other hand, it does have a charming Pokémon
anime-related attack in Strong Bond which allows you to
search for the Iris Supporter. Ironically, this kind of
search does not do Iris any favours, though. For a
start, Iris is not an early game card to use with an
evolving Basic like Axew:
your opponent must take at least one Prize before Iris
has any effect, and she becomes more powerful as more
Prizes are taken. More importantly, though, a lot of the
value of Iris is the surprise factor: even if the
opponent knows you run it, they don’t know when/if you
will drop it for the extra damage. Unless you telegraph
the move a turn in advance with Axew and give
them time to prepare . . .
So, from a play perspective, Axew
is just a terribly executed gimmick card. But like I
said earlier, it’s cute and the way it references the
anime makes it even more adorable.
Rating
Modified: 1.25 (does
something
even if it does it badly)
Limited: 1.5 (I suppose it would thin your deck if you
also pulled Iris)
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Jono Robus |
Axew (Plasma Blast)
Today we have a card with a reference to the anime! It
is Plasma Blast Axew.
Axew is a Basic Pokemon, Dragon type, 50 HP, weak to
it's own type, Retreat Cost of 1.
And it's first attack is Strong Bond, allowing it to
search your deck for the Supporter card named Iris for
one Colorless. It is nice, but wasting your attack for
it... I'm not too sure.
It's second attack is Dragon Claw, doing only 20 Damage
for multiple types of Energy that Dragon types require a
lot, this time 1 Fighting and 1 Metal.
It should be worth noting that this is the only Axew you
can use currently if you want to get out Plasma Blast
Haxorus, which isn't too shabby, so I can't give this
card too bad of a rating.
Ratings:
Modified: 2 (slow card, but needed in a Haxorus deck)
Limited: 3.5 (if you pulled one or more of the
game-changing Iris, it is not a bad idea to put this in
your Limited deck)
Combos with: Iris
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