Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
#6 Roller Skates
Whenever we do these top 10s, there is usually a card in
the countdown that surprises me, either by having a
higher placing than I thought it deserved, or by being
there at all. Today’s card is one of those surprises.
Not that Roller Skates isn’t good – it is. Or rather, it
could be. Roller Skates is
our second Item-based draw card, with Bicycle being the
first. Unlike Bicycle, there are no restrictions on its
use: no matter how many cards you are holding, it lets
you draw another three.
Now drawing three cards with an Item, rather than a
Supporter, is obviously brilliant. Too brilliant, in
fact, and that is why there is a big downside to stop
this card making Cheren and
Tierno even more irrelevant
than they already are. It won’t exactly come as a shock
to learn that Roller Skates is
a flip-a-coin tails fails card.
The way to use cards like this is to build a deck in
such a way that the consequences of failure are not too
devastating. Obviously, you will not want to rely
heavily on a card like this in a deck that has a
relatively demanding set up and needs resource
conservation (such as Emboar/Rayquaza).
Instead, it could be very good in a speed-focused list
that aims to run through the deck as fast as possible,
spamming Items along the way. Here, if one Roller Skates
fails, then another one will be along shortly, or a
Bicycle, or a Juniper . . . you get the picture.
Something like a super fast Lugia
EX or Yveltal EX deck which
aims to take Prizes from the second turn onwards would
be a natural home for this card.
Despite the temptation, I would never advocate putting
one or two copies of this card into any deck. I guess
when it works, it will look like a genius move, but all
those times when it fails, you will just wish you had
chosen something more reliable.
Rating
Modified: 3 (Great for speed decks, wouldn’t use it
anywhere else)
Limited: 4.75 (you’ll use any kind of draw you can get
your hands on here)
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HEZ
Intro to
Unlimited 150 |
Roller Skates.
Modified.
We’ve not had many Items that draw cards recently,
Bicycle being the only one in Black & White. Has that
seen lots of play? Not much really. I just don’t like
flippy cards, you can get much more reliable cards to
draw with, I’d rather save my flips for effects you
don’t get on reliable Supporters like Catcher and
Hammers. It is bound to see some use though, you can
turn a Skyla into instant draw power on a good flip or
recur it with Dowsing Machine or Junk Hunt Sableye. I
find it’s best in “win more” situations, it’s too much
of a risk in topdeck mode but it can help push you even
further forward in the game used alongside a draw
Supporter.
Unlimited 150.
Choosing to play this card
or not will rely largely on what sort of
Trainer/Supporter engine you prefer to run, which can be
roughly divided into Draw & Item based or Search &
Supporter based. Personally, I like to play the latter,
being able to find 1 specific card to suit the situation
each turn. Draw Item based has its positives though,
being able to make huge explosive plays out of nowhere,
chaining multiple draw Items to draw huge chunks of deck
at once. Going second, drawing half of your deck and
being fully set up on your first turn can be very
intimidating! Of course it has its weaknesses especially
because of the incredibly popular Item lock Pokémon,
Spiritomb (Arceus) being played in almost every deck.
Rating this card is tough because personally, I’ll never
use it but I have seen people make effective use out of
similar cards (or the identical Bill’s Teleporter) so I
know it has potential and will be used in winning
decklists.
Ratings.
Modified: 3.5
Unlimited 150: 3
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