aroramage |
So what's the deal with this
beagle?
Whose name is Smeargle?
And whose attack is really
subpar-oh of course it's the Ability.
No matter where you are in Legacy,
Smeargle is probably one of those Pokemon that'll be
really amazing and show up a lot. Its Ability is
definitely of note...actually, no, that's not an
Ability. It's in the same spot as the Ability, but it's
actually titled as a "Poke-Power". Now Poke-Powers are
something that have gone as far back as the original
Base Set, and it's really important to note that they
are NOT Abilities. They may take the same place as
Abilities, and they may at times be as powerful as some
Abilities, but for effects referring to Abilities,
Poke-Powers do not count.
As I recall Poke-Powers, they
usually turn off when the Pokemon is affected by a
Special Condition, and such is the case with Smeargle.
Portrait lets you take a look at your opponent's hand
and use the effect of a Supporter in it as the effect of
the Power. The only caveats are that Smeargle can't be
affected by a Special Condition, and he needs to be in
the Active spot. Not too hard to work around, especially
with Float Stone and Keldeo-EX around.
You should never really use
Smeargle's Tail Rap for 2 Energy dealing 0-40 damage
based on coin flips, but having Smeargle hit up the
paint section for Portrait is amazing. It's essentially
allowing you to play up to two Supporters in a turn -
one of your own, and one from your opponent's hand! Even
if they don't have a Supporter card, you still end up
with a good peek at what they've got going on. What's
more, Smeargle also has the advantage of a low Retreat
Cost to work with Skyarrow Bridge, meaning he can get
in, Portrait a Supporter, and get out real fast in a
number of ways.
Give him a whirl and see how much
crazier things can get!
Rating
Legacy: 4.5/5 (I'd rate him higher
if his HP were just a bit more and he had a better
attack)
Limited: 4/5 (though what
Supporters are abound will affect your plays as much as
your opponent's)
Arora Notealus: Always had a little
soft spot for these crazy sketch artists...if it weren't
for that one Pokemon Randomizer incident where I ran
into a Gym Leader's last Pokemon being a Smeargle with
only Struggle - even though they could learn Low Kick!!
@_@
Next Time: EEEEEEEEEEK!!
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Otaku |
If you skipped
Monday's
and
Tuesday’s
reviews, know that this is Legacy Week, where we are
covering some of the general usage cards for the Legacy
Format. If you want a more detailed explanation of
the Legacy Format just click
here.
The short version is that it is an exclusive format for
the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online (PTCGO), to provide
a good place for its users to enjoy their older cards.
The PTCGO has no sets that predate HeartGold/SoulSilver,
but new card interactions made its “Unlimited Format”
pretty bad (just not as much as the real Unlimited
Format). The Legacy Format consists of all
releases from the HeartGold/SoulSilver series,
Call of Legends, and Black & White series.
The Legacy Format creates something unusual not just for
Pokémon but most ongoing TCGs: a stable card pool.
No rotation to lose older cards, and new releases don’t
affect it either. As I found out I enjoyed it, I’d
like to see the Legacy Format at least recognized by the
official tournament floor rules like the 30-Card,
2-On-2, and Team Battle alternate rules, which are not
legal for a sanctioned Play! Pokémon tournament but are
allowed for side events.
Today we look at
Smeargle (HS: Undaunted 8/90; Call of
Legends 21/95). It is a Colorless Pokémon;
though there is no Colorless Weakness or Resistance in
the BW-era cards, there are some of each in the HS-era
releases. Spoiler warning: We aren’t going to be
using Smeargle to attack (unless very, very
desperate) so it shouldn’t matter. Type support
and counters aren’t likely to matter much either, but if
you run Aspertia City Gym you can get a +20 to
this card’s HP and if your opponent is running
Haxorus (BW: Dragon Vault 16/20) its first
attack will do an extra 60 damage for a OHKO (keep in
mind, said attack was only 10 short of a OHKO anyway).
Being a Basic is the best and this time, all the
benefits I usually list matter. Not a surprise
that requiring minimal space, time, and effort to hit
the field is useful, but as we’ll see Smeargle is
very useful as an opening Pokémon, which it can
naturally do as a Basic. There is also a
particular piece of Basic Pokémon support that will also
prove especially relevant, though it isn’t essential to
the card (hint: it involves the Retreat Cost).
The 70 HP is small
but still bigger than it looks. Your opponent can
pretty easily score a OHKO once his or her set up is
complete (barring decks that aren’t focused on damaging
the Active, of course). Early game though it is
just big enough that only the most aggressive decks will
score a OHKO, and even then it will require a decent set
up. Remember, there is no Muscle Band here,
though there are some other damage buffs that can allow
a simple combo to score a OHKO on the second turn of the
game; better than in Expanded or Standard where that is
a given for most decks. Weakness is one of those
potential buffs, but again it’s safer than in the modern
card pool. Strength Energy is an XY-era thing,
so most Fighting Types will need Hypnotoxic Laser
and Virbank City Gym to score the OHKO (if they
can do it at all) on the second or third turn of the
game. Landorus-EX just needs the Hypnotoxic
Laser and while that is not good, again Fighting
Weakness is far less devastating here than in Expanded
or Standard. Lack of Resistance is typical; I’m
not sure -20 damage in a single matchup would have
really mattered, and Normal Types aren’t known for
Resistance anyway in the video games, so moving on we
come to the Retreat Cost. Normally [C] is very
good, and technically it still is; a single Energy is
usually easy to pay and to recover from having paid, but
Smeargle has something that will make retreating
for free important. Besides the more general
tricks like Float Stone, Smeargle can use
Skyarrow Bridge to zero out its Retreat Cost.
Why is it so
important for a card I said was a great opener to get
back to your Bench? Smeargle has a Poké-Power
called “Portrait”. Once per turn while
Smeargle is your Active Pokémon and before you
attack, Portrait allows you to look at your opponent’s
hand and select a Supporter you find there.
Portrait then copies the effect of that Supporter.
This card required a lot of rules clarifications, and
they are so relevant I’m just going to list the rulings
in this review:
Q. Can I use
Smeargle's "Portrait" Poke-POWER if I have already used
a Supporter this turn?
A. Yes, you are not
playing a second Supporter, you are just using the
Supporter's effect as the effect of the power. (HS:Undaunted
FAQ; Sep 9, 2010 PUI Rules Team)
Q. When I use
Smeargle's "Portrait" Poke-POWER to look at my
opponent's hand, can I terminate the power's effect
without choosing a Supporter card?
A. No, you cannot.
You must choose a Supporter card when you use the effect
if the opponent has one in their hand. (HS:Undaunted
FAQ; Sep 9, 2010 PUI Rules Team)
Q. When using
Smeargle's "Portrait" Poke-POWER, can I choose a
Supporter that will have no effect?
A. You cannot pick
a supporter you couldn't normally use; for example you
can't choose "Twins" unless you are behind on prizes at
that time, nor Aaron's Collection if you don't have
anything in your Discard Pile. You would have to choose
a different Supporter if one is available. (Dec 9, 2010
PUI Rules Team)
Q. What happens if
I use Smeargle's "Portrait" Poke-POWER, but I cannot
satisfy the conditions of any of my opponent's
Supporters?
A. You get to look
at the opponent's hand, and that's all. (Dec 9, 2010 PUI
Rules Team)
Q. If I use
Smeargle's "Portrait" Poke-POWER and find "Engineer's
Adjustments" in my opponent's hand, do I have to use it
if I have an Energy card in my hand?
A. Yes, if you have
an energy card and you choose Engineer's Adjustments,
you have to discard the energy and draw 4 cards. (Dec 9,
2010 PUI Rules Team; Mar 17, 2011 PUI Rules Team)
So this Poké-Power
will always at least give you a glance at your
opponent’s hand. If you hit a Supporter you can
use but would rather not, the only way you can avoid
selecting it is if there is another valid Supporter in
hand. This was a bit safer back when this card was
new; only towards the very end of its legality did we
have Professor Juniper, so you at worst might
shuffle away some cards you wanted to keep in hand.
There is now also N which could help your
opponent out by shuffling away a bad hand (and you’ll
know since you get to see your opponent’s hand right
before), or leave you with a smaller and thus probably
worse hand (early game, you should still get a decent
draw). Another danger is Seeker, and older
Supporter from the HS-era; it has each player bounce a
Benched Pokémon to hand; can help you win the game if
you hit it at the right time, but it can also force you
to return say a Stage 2 you Evolved with Rare Candy
that was loaded with Energy cards you can’t easily
reattach. However the “average” and “great”
results outweigh these nightmare scenarios, especially
as you will often be able to take measures to reduce the
risk, like using up your hand before risking Portrait.
If you are
wondering what a “Poké-Power” is, you probably need to
read that article I wrote. Leaving a lot out, Poké-Powers
are a lot like Abilities except the game considers them
two separate things. Poké-Powers usually have a
clause stating that Special Conditions disable them and
Portrait is no exception; if Smeargle is Asleep,
Burned, Confused, Paralyzed, or Poisoned it won’t work.
Hypnotoxic Laser makes this far more likely than
I recall from the time Smeargle spent legal in
Standard play.There are effects to shutdown Poké-Powers
in the HS-era card pool, but I haven’t encountered
anyone using them. Garbotoxin on Garbodor (BW:
Dragons Exalted 54/124; BW: Plasma Freeze
119/116; BW: Legendary Treasures 68/113) can shut down
all Abilities, but does nothing to Poké-Powers which can
add further value to Portrait. Smeargle also has
an attack called “Tail Rap” for [CC]; it has you flip
two coins and Smeargle does 20 damage per
“heads”. This is filler, but not awful filler, at
least remembering that in this card pool, an average of
20-for-two is less often outclassed. If you do get
desperate, it may be worth attacking with Smeargle
to finish something off.
Not all decks use
Smeargle, but most want to, with the only true
exception something with such a complex, sensitive setup
that it cannot risk hitting a card like N or
Professor Juniper at the wrong time. So
maybe something like decks built around “Deck and
Cover”, the attack on Accelgor (BW: Dark
Explorers 11/108); not only might there be a lack of
room in both the deck and the Bench, but discarding a
resource at the wrong time or having your lock spoiled
because you just hit yourself with N while you
had only one Prize left can easily cost you the game.
Other decks may find themselves simply too crowded; I
can’t speak for “good” lists, but even though I would
want Smeargle in my Rayeels deck, there just
isn’t the room for that, Eelektrik (BW: Noble
Victories 40/101), Rayquaza-EX (BW:
Dragons Exalted 85/124, 123/124; BW: Black Star
Promos BW47) and the typical additional support the
deck may require. Rayeel decks are going to want
at least two Eelektrik on the Bench (preferably
three), an attacker, and either a spare attacker or
Keldeo-EX (with Float Stone) to help with
reloading the main attacker (most in this deck discard
their Energy). That leaves one, maybe two Bench
spots but a spare attacker, third or even four
Eelektrik, or a place to have used a Jirachi-EX
are often needed.
Deck space is a bit
more common a concern, and the other is getting
Smeargle out of the way. As you cannot attack
first (you could when Smeargle was Standard
legal), you aren’t losing an attack if it is stuck
Active T1, but if you went second you might be missing a
valuable opportunity. Not much you can do about
the former: shock of shocks, deck space is at a premium
in the Legacy Format just like in almost all others.
The Retreat Cost can be addressed by several things,
many of which are likely already in the deck.
Trainers are the easiest: Float Stone to give
Smeargle a free retreat cost, Switch,
Escape Rope or a few others to get it out of the
Active slot without retreating. While the others
are one-and-done effects, they do allow you the
tantalizing possibility should you have an additional
Smeargle with Portrait of pulling off an effective
third Supporter for the turn. With Float Stone,
your opponent has to worry about you getting a bonus
Supporter every time you have a Switch (or the
like) to spare and of course every time he or she takes
a KO; just promote Smeargle, go about your
business, Portrait if it seems like a good move, then
retreat for free (remember, this was with
Float Stone). There are some great Abilities
as well: the “Dark Cloak” Ability on Darkrai-EX (BW:
Dark Explorers 63/108, 107/108; BW: Black Star
Promos BW46; BW: Legendary Treasures 88/113)
means you just have to get a [D] Energy on Smeargle
and it can retreat for free, while “Rush In” on
Keldeo-EX allows it to force itself Active… which
you should already know, as these are still heavily used
in Expanded play.
One last reason
that you might not run Smeargle is because you’ve
got a different opener eating up the space.
This isn’t a guarantee though as sometimes they can
effectively team up. I’ve seen decks use
Smeargle alongside Celebi (HS: Triumphant
92/102), where the latter also is used for its “while
Active” Poké-Power that allows you to attach an extra
[G] Energy card from hand to one of your Benched
Pokémon. Even if you had to use up your manual
Energy attachment on Smeargle so it could
retreat, you can still send up Cleffa (BW:
HeartGold/SoulSilver 17/123; HS: Black Star
Promos HGSS12 Call of Legends 24/95) or
Pichu (HeartGold/SoulSilver 28/123).
These two Pokémon have attacks that cost no Energy to
use and are useful to open the game as they have effects
on par with a Supporter. We’ll cover more of one
of these three openers
tomorrow.
The biggest reason I have seen for people not running
Smeargle is that they just don’t have one (yet); it
is an in demand card and a Holo-Rare. At least it
appears in two different sets.
Smeargle
is very good in the Legacy Format, but I don’t think it
would be as useful in at least the current Standard and
Expanded Formats. Why? Besides the fact that
it would not get a straight up reprint but an “update”
that would give it an Ability instead of a Poké-Power,
we have Battle Compressor, Versus Seeker,
and Shaymin-EX (XY: Roaring Skies 77/108,
106/108) in these formats and it has changed how we
build our decks. Not only do we have fewer
Supporters being run, but a more diverse selection.
You have additional opportunities sure, but additional
risk of backfiring: AZ can force you to bounce
once of your cards (and attached cards don’t come along
for the ride this time), Delinquent could force
you to discard your own Stadium (and discarding from
your opponent’s hand could backfire as well), Hex
Maniac could turn off Abilities when you want them
left on, Xerosic could force you to discard your
own Special Energy or Pokémon Tool card, etc. Smeargle
looks like a great pull for Limited play though; the
lower average HP score means its own 70 HP goes further
and its attack effectively hits harder. All
Colorless requirements make it easier to work into your
deck, and a single Energy Retreat cost is still good
here. You’ll mostly just be getting a look at your
opponent’s hand with Portrait, but that knowledge tends
to do you more good here as well. Of course,
actually having a chance to use cards this old for
Limited play is a rare, pricey treat.
Ratings
Standard:
N/A
Expanded:
N/A
Limited:
5/5
Legacy:
3.9/5
So using
Smeargle comes with a significant risk but for an
even more significant reward. It is a card you may
not always use but which you’ll wish you could.
You probably won’t ever need a full playset, but try to
get at least one (preferably two). If you want a
look at how it was used back when it was Standard legal,
the CotD crew reviewed it
three
different
times.
Smeargle was less impressive at first owing to
even more competition for being an opener, but one of
those reviews is the fifth place position for the Top 10
Cards of 2010. Also you can get a laugh with old
Otaku reviews (that make me cringe when I read them
now).
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