aroramage |
It's a delicious fluffy treat that
gives you some good to eat! It's the Captivating Poke
Puff!
This card is an...interesting idea
to say the least. You put it down, and your opponent
reveals their hand. Then they throw down any Basic
Pokemon they were holding onto on their Bench.
...interesting.
Alright, assuming they don't have a
full Bench, why wouldn't they throw down Basic Pokemon
in their hand? Well usually it'd be to save them for
plays or to avoid an easy KO from something getting
Lysandre'd. Better yet, it'd be to avoid those sniping
attacks that could KO something easy - so the first
reason to play this is to get that one target they're
holding back and then KNOCK IT OUT!!
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-
That's really about it. That's all
I can think of. I thought that maybe based on the
wording it could keep cards like Shaymin-EX from
activating, but no, it wouldn't. It's just gonna make
them work faster. So ya know, great. Maybe against Night
March, but soon that's not even going to be a deck type
with rotation. And against Pokemon-EX decks? Please! If
anything, it's only other use is late in the game to,
again, put something down your opponent doesn't want to
put down and get the easy KO.
So Captivating Poke Puff: it's got
merit, so keep an eye out for that!
Rating
Standard: 2.5/5 (I'm in the middle
with this card cause I see it's got GREAT usage)
Expanded: 2.5/5 (but then I also
think of those times where those misplays give your
opponent a bigger advantage)
Limited: 2.5/5 (...would...would
giving your opponent more Bench-sitters be good or bad
here?!)
Arora Notealus: It's deliciously
sweet and easy to eat! Poke Puff!
Next Time: And now for one of our
runner-ups in the Top 10-oh wait, you thought that's
what those earlier cards were? Psh, nah!
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Otaku |
Captivating Poké
Puff
(XY: Steam Siege 99/114) is our subject for
today, and it is deceptively simple. This is a
Trainer, specifically an Item, and its effect allows you
to see your opponent’s hand, then put as many Basic
Pokémon as you want from there onto your opponent’s
Bench… provided there is room for them. At a
glance this might seem quite useless; you’re just
helping your opponent fill his or her Bench from hand.
Of course, almost as quickly you realize “Wait, unless I
just made them draw, any Basic Pokémon he or she has not
yet played must be in hand for a reason.” This is the
point where the wheels in my (and hopefully your) head
begin to turn.
The two chief uses
for this card are clogging your opponent’s Bench with
cards he or she would rather not go there and/or setting
up an easy KO. The use that would be highly
specialized except so many decks run multiple copies of
Shaymin-EX (XY: Roaring Skies 77/108,
106/108), is that coming-into-play Abilities are not
triggered. Early on we had a ruling from Japan
stating just the opposite, but as of the Pre-Releases
the ruling had been reversed. For the record even
if it flip flops again, we come back to the “Your
opponent probably kept it in hand for a reason.” and so
even if “Set Up” activated, forcing it at the wrong time
is better than leaving it alone. Forcing certain
counters like Jirachi (XY: Black Star Promos
XY67), forcing them to the field ahead of schedule can
make them vulnerable, and of course counters that your
opponent doesn’t need this match; for example that same
Jirachi when the other player isn’t running any
Special Energy cards. Attackers that feed of your
opponent’s Bench, like Zoroark (XY:
BREAKthrough 91/162), as well as Trainers like
Colress (still good in Expanded) or Lass’s
Special (not an endorsement of that combo) may also
benefit. So would spread decks, especially the
ones that manipulate damage counters or produce true
spread that hits everything your opponent has in
play. Night March probably will Bench the Basics
wanted and discard the rest before you can use
Captivating Poké Puff, but if they are even a bit
slow, stick them with a Bench full of weak Basics while
also leaving them no room to use Shaymin-EX.
Besides the two
obvious issues of deck space and Item lock, the final
thing hurting this card is that sometimes you won’t find
anything you want to Bench. Of particular note is
that players are often trying to Bench all their
Shaymin-EX (or at least two of them) first turn
for a massive opening set up. Still you will be
able to see your opponent’s hand, so basically at its
worst it is a Hand Scope. Try this out in
Standard and Expanded play, and definitely use it in
Limited; your opponent might be forced to play a bunch
of “spare” Evolving Basics that can’t actually Evolve
(like someone running a 3-1 line). Even if your
opponent fills his or her Bench completely Hand Scope
would be an almost auto inclusion were it legal, so
Captivating Poké Puff is pretty much a must run.
Ratings
Standard:
3.25/5
Expanded:
3.35/5
Limited:
4/5
Summary:
An interesting bit of control/disruption, Captivating
Poké Puff is one of those cards you leave out
because it isn’t the optimal pick, as opposed to not
being a useful card. It reminds me a bit of
Target Whistle. No T8 lists from the 2016
World Championships included it, which does leave me a
bit concern, but then against Target Whistle took
a while to find its niche.
This is the last of
the cards that were on my (lost) Top 15 list; tomorrow
we start with the actual two runner ups from the list!
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