aroramage |
Welcome to another card of the day with one of Gen
V's more unusual Pokemon, Gothitelle! But seriously, how
many bow ties does one need on one's body anyway? I
guess the Gothic lolita-style that Gothitelle is based
on has some...interesting fashion choices. But enough
about fashion, let's talk card games!
Gothitelle is another Stage 2 with an Ability and an
okay 3-for-60 Psy Report attack which reveals the
opponent's hand. That's not a bad attack, if anything it
tells you what your opponent's got in store for you on
their next turn, but chances are by the time you get
Gothitelle out, you've got a pretty good idea of what
your opponent's playing and what they're going to be
doing. If anything, Psy Report just confirms your
suspicions and let's you await the inevitable; this kind
of thing would probably be better off as an Ability,
since you could then prep yourself for your opponent's
moves rather than waiting a turn to have their hand
completely changed by Juniper/Sycamore or N.
Gothitelle's Ability, Teleport Room, is...well,
interesting. It works as a reverse of regular Stadium
play; instead of playing a new Stadium from the hand to
discard a Stadium in play, you discard a Stadium in play
to play a new Stadium from the discard pile. Kinda
strange, but luckily there's a few Stadiums to utilize:
Fighting Stadium, Training Center, Virbank City Gym,
Mountain Ring, Frozen City, Shadow Circle, Fairy Garden,
Plasma Frigate, Aspertia City Gym, Magnetic Storm, and
Champion's Festival. There's also going to be more
Stadiums on the way (in case you haven't been keeping
track of the next set, Phantom Forces, coming out in
November), so Gothitelle will have no shortage of
options.
But what deck could afford to run a Stage 2 that cycles
back Stadiums? Fighting decks would rather focus on
Landorus-EX/Lucario-EX, offensive decks using Virbank
don't really want the extra space, and Plasma
decks...well, Gothitelle's not Plasma, so that can't
help it much. Most of the time, I imagine a deck would
want to just run 2-3 Stadiums rather than work around an
entire Stage 2 set-up just to have the option of cycling
a Stadium back. The other quip to take with this Ability
is your opponent might not even be running a Stadium
card in their deck, meaning you'll have to discard your
own Stadium to bring out a different Stadium from your
discard pile, and that's just a bit too backwards for my
taste.
Gothitelle's got an interesting Ability and an
interesting attack, but she just doesn't bring enough to
the table to justify competitive play. Even with the
format developing moreso around Stadium cards (at least,
a Stadium-centric format is what the Pokemon Company's
telegraphing with all these releases, in my opinion),
Gothitelle just takes up too much for not enough. Still,
it's cards like her that make playing certain Stadiums a
hassle (looking at you, Training Center/Aspertia City
Gym), so casual play may see her in a deck that spreads
damage and replaces the player's own Stadium, but that's
a gimmick at best.
Rating
Standard: 2/5 (there's just not enough room to play with
her, even in a format she's practically built for)
Expanded: 2.5/5 (I rank her a little higher here because
in this format, there's Tropical Beach to consider, so
she might see play based around that)
Limited: 2.5/5 (if you've got room for her, she can
definitely mess with your opponent's Stadium, but she is
going to be slower here)
Arora Notealus: So Gothitelle's psychic powers allow for
cosmic bodies that we can't see to be visible. How that
works is beyond me, but if the Hubble Space Telescope
and various space probes have taught us anything, it's
that there's always more to space than meets the eye. I
wonder if Gothitelle can see our planet from here...
Next Time: HAWK SMASH!!
|
Otaku |
Gothitelle
(XY:
Furious Fists
41/111) is a Psychic-Type; right now that is useful for
hitting Weakness (many Fighting-Types and other
Psychic-Types) but you’ll also have to deal with
periodic Resistance (Darkness- and Metal-Types) and
currently the Type based support is lacking. Being a
Stage 2 means it requires significantly more deck space
and time to get into play; even with
Rare Candy
it will be a second turn and three total cards, and if
it must Evolve manually,
Gothitelle
will need three total turns as well. Unfortunately, the
Evolution mechanics still appear to be quite unbalanced.
130 HP is not the lowest we see for Stage 2 Pokémon, but
it is the low end for what we typically see being
printed and used (130 to 150) in competitive play. It
isn’t cripplingly bad, but this is a Stage 2 that is
more than likely going down with one attack or an
absurdly easy 2HKO. Its own Psychic Weakness will make
it vulnerable to cards like
Mewtwo-EX,
though at least clocking in with an odd-numbered HP
score means whiffing by 10 or some degree of overkill.
The lack of Resistance is disappointing (not that it
helps much) but justified due to the irritating
combinations of video game Types that become video game
Types, though I wish the same logic had been applied to
Weakness; in short no video game Weakness or Resistance
cleanly translates to the TCG. Speaking of things that
don’t translate well, the Retreat Cost (a mechanic that
doesn’t really exist in the video games or is based on
some weird combination of traits) of two is low enough
you’ll often be able to pay it if you must, but at the
same time it sets you back enough you really would
prefer not to; fortunately the format already makes it
desirable to have at least one (sometimes multiple)
alternatives to paying that full cost (either lowering
it or bypassing it altogether).
Gothitelle
sports an Ability and an Attack. The former is
intriguing, but wishes it had been released several
years prior; Teleport Room allows you to discard a
Stadium that is in play and then replace it with one
from your discard pile that has a different name. If
rulings are out for this card I have missed them, but if
precedence can be trusted you should be able to discard
an opponent’s Stadium even if you lack a replacement
(you do as much of the effect as you can). The text
also has the usual once-per-turn-before-you-attack
restriction, and I would assume that multiple
Gothitelle
could each use Teleport Room on the same turn. You
can’t “revive” a Stadium if there isn’t one already in
play and as the discard pile is public knowledge and the
second part is not optional, you cannot simply discard
an opponent’s Stadium to clear the field but must
replace it with one of your own. This is a good effect,
but alone doesn’t cover the cost of running a Stage 2
Pokémon; had it come out between 6 and 10 years ago
(give or take) then some impressive combos could be had.
There were Stadiums that placed damage counters on
Pokémon with a specific trait (Cursed
Stone,
Desert Ruins),
ignored the usual once-per-turn Evolution restriction (Broken
Time-Space)
and even provided draw power (Speed
Stadium).
We have some good Stadiums available, but not to the
degree of those. The attack - Psy Report - doesn’t
impress; for [PCC] it scores 60 points of damage and
allows you to see your opponent’s hand. Unless we are
getting sufficient “combo” pieces later on, this attack
needs to hit for about 30 more points, though if you
were desperate a
Silver Bangle
or the like would get it into 2HKO range of Pokémon-EX.
There are currently four Standard legal
Gothita:
BW: Emerging Powers
43/98 (I’ll explain),
BW: Boundaries Crossed
75/149,
BW: Legendary Treasures
69/113 (alternate art reprint of
BW: Emerging Powers
43/98),
BW: Legendary Treasures
70/113 and
XY: Furious Fists
39/111). Expanded adds back
BW: Emerging Powers
44/98 and
BW: Dragons Exalted
55/124. All are Psychic-Type Basic Pokémon with Psychic
Weakness, no Resistance, a single Energy Retreat Cost
and no Abilities. BW:
Dragons Exalted
55/124,
BW: Legendary Treasures
70/113 and
XY: Furious Fists
39/111 each only have 50 HP while the other versions
have 60. For [C], BW:
Emerging Powers
43/98 and
BW: Legendary Treasures
69/113 can cause the Defending Pokémon to Sleep and for
[CC] allow you to flip two coins, inflicting 20 points
of damage per “heads”. BW:
Emerging Powers
44/98 has just one attack, costing [CC] and hitting for
20 points of damage. BW:
Dragons Exalted
55/124 also has just one attack, for [P], and it allows
you to look at the top five cards of your deck and
rearrange them as you wish. BW:
Boundaries Crossed
75/149 can hit for 10 at a price of [P] or 20 for [CC].
BW:
Legendary Treasures
70/113 does 10 for [CC], plus another 20 if you get
“heads” on a coin toss. Lastly
XY: Furious Fists
39/111 can do 10 for [P] or 10 with a 50% chance of
Paralysis for [PC]. None of these are good cards, so
we’ll focus on just surviving to Evolve. BW:
Emerging Powers
43/98 (and
BW: Legendary Treasures
69/113) then become the top choice; Sleep is inexpensive
and can stall, and it has 60 HP instead of 50.
Gothorita
is similar; for Standard you can choose between
BW: Emerging Power
45/98 (it got reprinted),
BW: Boundaries Crossed
76/149,
BW: Legendary Treasures
71/113 (again the alternate art reprint of
BW: Emerging Power
45/98) and
XY: Furious Fists
40/111, while Expanded adds back
BW: Emerging Powers
46/98 and
BW: Dragons Exalted
56/124. All are Psychic-Type Stage 1 Pokémon with 80
HP, Psychic Weakness, no Resistance, single Energy
Retreat Costs and two attacks (no Abilities). BW:
Emerging Power
45/98 and
BW: legendary Treasures
71/113 can flip two coins for 20 damage per “heads” at a
cost of [C] or inflict 20 points of damage and Confusion
(no coin flip required) for [PC]. BW:
Emerging Power
46/98 needs [P] to flip a coin and (if heads) discard an
Energy attached to one of your opponent’s Pokémon, and
for [PCC] it can deal 50 points of damage. BW:
Dragons Exalted
56/124 needs [P] to hit for 10 with Sleep or [PCC] to
hit for 40 while ignoring Weakness and Resistance. BW:
Boundaries Crossed
76/149 can swing for 30 at a cost of [CC] or 50 with a
coin flip to discard an Energy from the Defending
Pokémon for [PCC]. XY:
Furious Fists
10/111 can look at the top five cards of your opponent’s
deck and reorder them at will for [C] while for [PC] it
can smack (actually Smack is the attack name) the
opponent for 30 points of damage.
None of these cards are going to be worth attacking with
except in extreme situations. A few of the attacks
might have made for good Abilities but dealing with what
we have… take your pick. A major issue is the Energy;
as a Stage 1 you might actually might be able to meet
the Energy requirements for the larger attacks, and
while all are overpriced many have a secondary effects
that really could help. So as long as one attack
disrupts the opponent, it probably isn’t too bad an
option. Yes, even between Standard and Expanded, its
still your call which to run as the main thing, the HP,
remains constant (and still within
Level Ball
range). I suppose I could comment about Limited; the
first attack (Fortunate Eye) could be worthless could be
amazing for slowing down your opponent in a format where
you’re mostly stuck with what you can draw into.
There are also other
Gothitelle
to consider. In Standard you can run (either alongside
or instead of today’s version)
BW: Emerging Powers
47/98 or
BW: Legendary Treasures
72/113, where the latter is a reprint of the former with
some alternate art. It was reviewed in a past formats
here,
here
and
here;
why so many looks? While it has the same Attributes as
today’s CotD, its Ability prevents your opponent from
playing Items from hand, which is quite strong. Its
attack ended up being about 20 points underpowered on
top of never getting an adequate source of Energy
acceleration: [CCC] for 30 plus 20 more per [P] Energy
attached; we’ve seen this attack work elsewhere but
doing 50+ and partnered with good Energy acceleration.
This actually could be partnered with today’s card;
even focusing on the Item lock keeping a useful Stadium
in play can be important, enough to justify at least one
copy of today’s version. The catch is people are
not
already playing this version; you have alternatives for
Item lock in the form of
Trevenant
and
Seismitoad-EX
that are already seeing play.
In Expanded, you gain access to
BW: Emerging Powers
48/98 which was reviewed
here
and
BW: Dragons Exalted
57/124, which never received a Pojo review. The former
has 10 less HP than the other versions and both have two
attacks. BW:
Emerging Powers
48/98 can do 30 for [P] or for [PCC] it can hit for 60
points of damage plus get a coin flip to determine the
effect (“heads” Confuses, “tails” discards an Energy
attached to the Defending Pokémon). The damage is way
too low for something that has no purpose but being a
Stage 2 glass cannon. BW:
Dragons Exalted
57/124 actually has two attacks that are almost worth
it: for [PC] Doom Decree has you flip two coins for an
auto-KO while for [PCC] Black Magic does 40 plus 20 per
Benched Pokémon your opponent has in play. Besides both
attacks having great names, they compliment each other
by making it more dangerous to go with a small Bench
(especially no Bench) or with a heavy Bench (especially
maxed out). You need
Victini
(latest printing
BW: Legendary Treasures
23/113) to improve your odds with Doom Decree, but in
the end it all comes up a bit short. Either would
likely be better off backed by a copy of today’s CotD to
control the Stadium in play.
It is always good when you can get rid of something that
is currently hurting your own deck, but not much works
well with
Gothitelle.
In Standard we currently have
Aspertia City Gym,
Champions Festival,
Fairy Garden,
Fighting Stadium,
Frozen City,
Magnetic Storm,
Mountain Ring,
Plasma Frigate,
Shadow Circle,
Training Center
and
Virbank City Gym.
The only one that straight up works for
Gothitelle
without extra “bits” is
Training Center…
which is better when you’ve got
Gothitelle
to help a single copy win Stadium wars. Everything and
anything else might be justified by a different attacker
(or running
Hypnotoxic Laser),
but some are easier to work in than others (like
Mountain Ring
that just needs either player to be running something
that damages the Bench of the player running
Gothitelle).
Expanded brings back
Battle City,
Pokémon Center,
Skyarrow Bridge,
Tropical Beach
and
Twist Mountain.
As the discard is public knowledge, I don’t know if a
Stadium being discarded and then brought back resets a
once-per-turn-effect or not, but as you can’t bring back
a Stadium with the same name, you would need at least
two
Gothitelle
to even try. Multiple copies of today’s
Gothitelle
does enable some nice tricks, like flashing a
“Once-per-turn” effect back into play for you to use it,
then getting rid of it for whatever benefits you the
most, as well as just ultimately winning Stadium wars.
For now,
Gothitelle
doesn’t strike me as being worthwhile; after all none of
the other
Gothitelle
are seeing major play right now, and there isn’t any
Stadium (or Stadium enhanced Pokémon) worth the effort
of running a Stage 2. Factor in that you can’t protect
what you have in play (which arguably might be more
valuable, providing stability), and while you might win
a Stadium war so that your
Training Center
is granting +30 HP to all of your stuff with no fear of
it being discarded, this would likely be several turns
in, and unless you knew your opponent’s exact deck you
couldn’t be sure that you had actually ensure your
desired Stadium was sticking around. We really need
stronger Stadiums or Pokémon that are more greatly
enhanced by a particular Stadium (or both) to make this
Gothitelle
worthwhile.
Ratings
Standard:
1.75/5 -
Gothitelle
does something useful, but with the format how it is, it
isn’t worth the effort of a Stage 2 to do it.
Expanded:
1.8/5 - You gain access to more Stadiums, but they make
only a token amount of difference, and as I am still
operating almost totally with guess work about this
format, its possible the different dominant decks would
render it even less effective.
Limited:
3.5/5 - Finally a chance to shine! While you won’t run
this instead of a deck built around a lone big, Basic
Pokémon, this set has three Stadiums that tend to help
or hinder a variety of decks, and controlling which
Stadium is in play can be a big deal. Psychic Weakness
isn’t everywhere this set, but its common enough
(especially as most will want to run Fighting-Types and
the support for them in this set). So this line is
worth running here, though still not overly strong.
Summary:
I really wanted to like this card; I remember the
amazingly potent Stadium cards that once resulted in
decks running at least three Stadium cards and even
five… with yet even more for certain specialty decks. Gothitelle
yearns for such days as well, as it would be much more
potent in such a format. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll get
what it needs in pending sets.
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