aroramage |
Here's a simple card with a simple effect, because
it's an Item card that you get to compete for! Welcome
back, today we take a look at the great vacuum, Super
Scoop Up!
All you gotta do is flip a coin!
...this is never going to be competitive, is it?
Well, we'll see about that. For anyone familiar with
Super Scoop-Up (aka anyone who's played from Neo Genesis
onward), it flips a coin and if it's heads, you put a
Pokemon and ALL the cards attached to it back into your
hand. This includes previously evolved forms, Energy
cards, and any Tools attached to it. Now this isn't the
kind of card you'd want to use on a fully evolved
Pokemon, given all the resources going in to make it in
the first place and then just resetting that.
You'd actually probably want to use this card to return
an EX to the hand with a lot of damage on it in danger
of getting KO'd, or maybe to swap out the Tool on one
Pokemon with one who's actually going to use it like a
Muscle Band or Sparkling Robe, something like that.
That's a pretty nice card to have in that scenario, and
while you're only going to be getting that effect off
50% of the time, it's still worth the chance to go for
it and save yourself from losing a valuable Pokemon and
2 Prizes.
The only issue beyond that is space - where you going to
put that Super Scoop Up while there's stuff like Muscle
Band, Sycaper, Skyla, Hypnobank, Rare Candy, Lysandre,
and a whole other mess of less chancy Trainers? But if
you feel like you can grab a niche space amidst all of
that, well then it's going to get you out of a jam for
sure!
...well, half of the time, at least.
Rating
Standard: 2.5/5 (a halfway mark for a half-n-half kind
of card)
Expanded: 2/5 (honestly, you've got more access to more
Trainer cards here, so you've got more space to compete
for)
Limited: 3.5/5 (denying an opponent a KO here is
actually really beneficial, I'd imagine, even if it's a
50/50)
Arora Notealus: What exactly is Super Scoop Up supposed
to suck up? Let's be honest, you're not fitting
something like, say, Steelix or Snorlax in that tiny
little funnel tube, let alone the container!
Next Time: I need to fix something real quick, hang
on...
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Today we are re-reviewing a card: Super Scoop Up, recently
reprinted as XY: Furious Fists 100/111. We first
got this card with slightly different wording as Neo
Genesis 98/111, then came Expedition 151/165,
EX: Fire Red/Leaf Green 99/112; EX: Delta
Species 100/113; DIamond & Pearl 115/130;
DP: Majestic Dawn 87/100; HS: Unleashed
83/95; and the next most recent Black & White
103/114. Strangely, there is only one previous review
here
from nine years ago.
Super Scoop Up is a “tails
fails” Item; the card has no effect unless you get
“heads” on the initial coin toss. In theory this is
meant to balance out a somewhat potent effect; you can’t
truly rely on a coin toss, and it requires good luck to
significantly deviate from the average 50/50 split
between “heads” and “tails”. In practice, such cards
seem to rarely be well balanced; either the results of
“heads” are too weak so no one plays it or too strong so
its okay that (on average) half your copies will whiff.
As of right now, Super Scoop Up is of the “too good”
variety, though it is by no means a deck staple. On
“heads”, you select one of your Pokémon and return both
it and all cards attached to it to your hand. It
provides healing, as the card you bounce naturally
ditches all damage counters, Special Conditions and any
other effects that were on the card. It allows for
advanced resource management, as you can reuse
coming-into-play-Abilities, reclaim Pokémon, Items and
Energy cards and replay them down, either onto the
original Pokémon (after Benching it) or onto something
new. As it can target your Active, it can help you get
it out of the Active slot… when it works.
Now besides the fact that it always has a 50% chance of failing,
there are a few other issues, however they are things
you can address with proper usage. First, the rules
states you lose if you don’t have a Pokémon so if you’ve
got only one Pokémon in play, this is actually worse
than a dead card… because you can legally still play it
and thus you’ll lose if you get “heads”! Second the
card isn’t foolproof like some simpler options; you can
waste a Hypnotoxic Laser, using it when you
didn’t need the damage or when Special Conditions are
being blocked but it requires some pretty elaborate,
specific situations where using one will ultimately help
out your opponent as much or more than it aids you. Super
Scoop Up is a little trickier; sometimes it is
better to give up a Prize and allow something to go down
attacking (or having its Ability in effect). Bouncing
something that can’t (or cannot easily) be re-played is
another issue: Stage 2 Pokémon that Evolved via Rare
Candy or Restored Pokémon, for example, or saving
your attacker when you don’t have a replacement handy
and keeping up your offense was the better play.
So it sounds like I am being kind of hard of this card, which I
just told you was “too good”. That is just the reality
of most TCGs; even the best cards are far from perfect,
and Super Scoop Up isn’t even one of the best,
just a good card. There are two reasons why this card
is not a staple, and they are quite valid; you
can’t bounce something that has been KOed and this is a
format of frequent OHKOs, and deck space is sorely
limited (which is of course often the case). The latter
is the same reason all decks don’t run Crushing
Hammer or Pokémon Catcher: like Super
Scoop Up not only is there always the risk of
“tails”, but there is the risk of minimal to no
advantage in getting them to work (no Energy worth
discarding, nothing on the Bench worth forcing Active)
and so the space goes to something that more reliably
generates advantage, even if it carries a cost.
Speaking of “reliably”, I know some players refuse to
use coin flip based cards. This is somewhat
understandable; reliability is key in TCGs because by
their nature they are very “luck” based. Why add the
luck of additional coin flips when you’ve already got
the luck of the opening flip, the luck of the match-up,
the luck of what goes into Prizes, the luck of the draw,
etc.? The answer is because the risk is worth it, at
least for certain decks unfortunately, this format
already relies fairly heavily upon luck, just of the
other kinds listed.
So for Standard, this is a generally useful card that is especially
useful when a deck can capitalize upon what it does. So
what decks are those? Decks that need to reuse
coming-into-play effects, reclaim Special Energy cards
already in play and/or that can get whatever was bounced
back into play and functioning ASAP (preferably the very
turn it was bounced). It also helps if you can search
out Items. So this might be a worthwhile pick for your
typical Korrina backed Landorus-EX/Lucario-EX
build; Max Potion is the “safer” choice (discard
the Energy but reliably heal), but taking the risk
allows you to get back precious Strong Energy.
If you are building a deck around Dragonite-EX,
you find a similar divide and you may even have reason
to run both. Decks running Jirachi-EX may find
this tempting as well, whether to remove an easy target
from in play or to reuse its Ability.
For Expanded, I once again must merely make my best guess due to a
lack of first hand experience or significant second hand
information… and as is often the case, that leads to a
“more or less the same” prognosis as I am unaware of any
cards that will significantly help or hurt the usage of
Super Scoop Up. For Limited, skip it if you are
running a +39 deck (a deck built around a single
Pokémon). I am actually embarrassed I didn’t score it
higher way back in that 9-year-old review; this effect
should be worthwhile enough (if only as an unreliable
Switch) that I am hard pressed to justify not
running it even if you get several other amazing pulls.
Ratings
Standard: 3.5/5 - One of
the many potent cards that you wish you had room for in
just about every deck, but will often have to skip
because you just don’t have the space.
Expanded: 3.5/5 - My best
guess is that it will be the same as in Standard, as I
can think of no major combos for or against it in the
larger card pool.
Limited: 4.9/5 - Just be careful to use it well and be prepared for it to
fail.
Summary: There are two important things to tuck into the summary, because
you need to be aware of them and to prevent me from
turning them into multi-paragraph rants. The history of
this card is that it is easily overlooked or crowded
out, but in some formats it has been amazing, so keep
testing to see when it truly does provide “technical
advantage”, winning more matches for you than it loses.
Second, remember that you’re either building something
that can handle when you can’t seem to flip “heads” to
save your life (or rather the match) or you’re willing
to win or lose based on that coin toss. “Resetting” a
Pokémon via Super Scoop Up is a potent thing
(whether it sees competitive play or not) and honestly
something I wish hadn’t returned to the game, just like
so many of the other “tails fails” cards.
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