aroramage |
And now for a lazy day with a lazy
Pokemon...ahhh, Snorlax, you're as popular as ever.
BUT WOW DOES SWALLOW...well, it's
bad. Swallow is Snorlax's second attack, at 4-for-50.
But hey, at least it heals off the damage he deals! This
is a bad attack, a really really bad attack, and I've no
remorse if I were to just write off Snorlax as just
plain bad because of it.
At the least though, he makes up
for it. Toss and Turn is his first attack with 3-for-30,
so it's not that much better, but it does come with a
catch! The attack can actually be used while Snorlax is
Asleep, and if he is, it'll deal an extra 90 damage.
That makes this a 3-for-120 hit when he's sleeping,
which is a pretty big deal. This could actually make him
a decent backup attacker in Darkrai-EX/Hypno decks where
Sleeping is a good thing!
That being said, outside of such a
deck, he's an overcosted slob of a Pokemon card, so I
wouldn't recommend him anywhere else. Snorlax you've got
a lot of good things about you, just stay asleep and
they'll be great.
Rating
Standard: 2/5 (his biggest asset is
literally going to sleep...)
Expanded: 2/5 (...)
Limited: 2.5/5 (......yeahhhhhhh)
Arora Notealus: But seriously,
where can you find Snorlax in Pokemon Go? I'm sure he's
around, I keep seeing people with him taking over Gyms.
Where are you, you sleepy giant lazy bear...
Next Time: DOUBLE AURA POWER
|
Otaku |
Cue up some
Skeleton Key, ‘cause it’s time to watch the fat ‘mon
swing!
Snorlax
(XY: Fates Collide 77/124) is a Colorless Type,
so it
·
Doesn’t get to enjoy Weakness
·
Have to worry about Resistance
·
Enjoys some proven Type specific support
·
Doesn’t face any proven Type-specific counters
“Proven” in this
instance means something that at least one noteworthy
deck has used well in high level play (like top cutting
at a major event), or multiple decks have used
reasonably well in slightly lower level play (top
cutting in multiple low level events). Let’s keep
with the bullet points today: as a Basic Pokémon
Snorlax
·
Takes minimal deck space to run (1 card = 1 copy)
·
Takes minimal effort to put into play
·
Can be your opener/meets minimum deck requirement
·
Enjoys proven Stage specific support
·
Enjoys a natural synergy with certain card effects
·
Has to deal with Stage specific counters
Quality can matter
as much or more than quantity, but in this case all the
points may be equally valid, so five to one being a
Basic is awesome. 140 HP is the new record set by this
card for Basic Pokémon which lack a special
gimmick like being a Pokémon-EX. Fighting Weakness
is still probably the worst Weakness to have right now;
the Fighting Type does not contain the current top
decks, in fact I’m not sure if any of the current best
decks are Fighting Types, but we are looking not just at
how often something is played, but how dangerous it is
when you encounter it. The Fighting Type typically
enjoy attacks with good damage-to-Energy ratios, often
at least one single Energy attack, and multiple effects
that boost damage done which stack not only with each
other, but damage buffs from the general card pool.
Lack of Resistance is the worst, but also typical; here
it is a bit noteworthy since even if only against a
single Type it would have meant an effective 160 HP
against OHKOs, 180 against 2HKOs, etc. The Retreat
Cost of [CCCC] is pretty obviously bad, but perhaps not
as bad as it looks; at one less Energy it would still be
too expensive to afford in the long term, often even pay
at all. Pack at least one reusable alternative to
retreating at full price, several that aren’t, or a way
to tank if it is forced Active too soon; preferably some
combination of at least two of the preceding. Heavy
Ball and Heavy Boots become possibilities,
but I’ll tell you now they aren’t likely to matter.
Snorlax
knows two attacks: “Toss and Turn” and “Swallow”.
The first one requires [CCC] and the second [CCCC]; it
is good they are staggered, but such a high cost on the
“cheap” one means this is a slow attacker by modern
pacing, with even Double Colorless Energy you’ll
need one more form of Energy acceleration to ready it in
one turn. Toss and Turn does only 30 damage, which
would be awful but there is a “+” symbol beside it.
The effect text clarifies that not only can the attack
be used while Snorlax is Asleep, but it does an
additional 90 damage if that is the case. The card
has no way to put Snorlax itself to Sleep, so
this attack is decent but not great; your opponent is
unlikely to do it for you (a bit better odds in Expanded
thanks to Hypnotoxic Laser) but the card pool
does contain an answer. If it didn’t the attack
would be terrible because while 120 for three is awesome
and even 30 for three is at least barely functional
filler, the awesome damage would be almost impossible to
pull off. Swallow, the second attack, does 50
damage while healing Snorlax by the same amount
of damage it did to the opposing Pokémon. On its
own, this would be bad because it is a lot of Energy for
not a lot of damage; even with its massive HP the
healing is only going to matter some of the time, so it
is merely decent. Really wish he has this attack
with lower damage but a lower Energy cost. Though
a way to inflict Sleep on itself would probably be best
of all.
Before we get into
the combo you probably figured, let us run through the
other currently legal Snorlax cards. As my
favorite Pokémon, I forget how often it is printed
because most versions have been so lackluster,
especially those legal for Expanded or Standard play:
BW: Boundaries Crossed 109/149, BW: Plasma Storm
101/135, XY: Kalos Starter Set 36/39, XY:
Flashfire 80/106 (reprinted as Generations
58/83), and XY: BREAKthrough 118/162. All
are Basic Colorless Pokémon with 100+ HP, Fighting
Weakness, no Resistance, Retreat Cost [CCCC], and no
Ancient Traits. BW: Boundaries Crossed 109/149
is the run of the litter with 100 HP exactly and two
attacks, both very vanilla and recycled from older non-Snorlax
cards. “Double Lariat” needs [CCC] so you can flip two
coins good for 40 damage per “heads” (“tails” adds no
damage) while “Rollout” does 60 for [CCCC]. Badly
underpowered, and if you’re going to make a Snorlax
this small (relative to its norm) then it could at least
have lower attack costs so it could be the “fast one”.
Gonna skip to XY: Kalos Starter Set 36/39 because
it is the same story, but the details are different; 120
HP is better but its attacks are also recycled. “Rock
Smash” costs [CCC] to do 10 with a coin flip to add 30
(so if lucky 40 for three) while “Strength” at least
improves on Rollout since it still costs [CCCC] but does
70. From here, things won’t always be good but at
least they’ll be interesting.
BW: Plasma Storm
101/135 jumps up to the then maximum HP for a non-Basic
Pokémon-EX of 130, gains Team Plasma affiliation (and
thus access to their card support), the Ability “Block”,
and the attack “Teampact” Being a Team Plasma Pokémon
is a good thing; a few cards punish you for it but they
have some great themed support. Block stops the
opponent’s Active Pokémon from retreating. Another
effect can still change out the Active, but it is a
solid trick that at least partially counters effects
like those of Keldeo-EX; even with Float Stone
a Keldeo-EX is stuck up front unless another card
effect gets it out. Teampact is crazy expensive
with a cost of [CCCCC] but thanks to the extra Energy
acceleration available to Team Plasma Pokémon (plus some
available in general), while difficult this attack was
used successfully in some competitive decks. Block
however ended up being good enough to be used without
it, as some would try to open with Snorlax
[Plasma] to soak hits and disrupt an opponent’s open
(which often needed something to be able to retreat).
Add in Hypnotoxic Laser and additional disruption
and there was even a Quad Snorlax deck that did well for
a short, short time. This Snorlax was
reviewed
here.
XY: Flashfire
80/106 loses the Team Affiliation but still has 130 HP,
an Ability, and a pricy attack. This time the
Ability is “Stir and Snooze”, which causes you to flip
two coins instead of one to see if Snorlax wakes
up from Sleep and if either is “tails” this
Snorlax is still Asleep. The attack is “Sleepy
Press” and does 120 damage for [CCCC], heals 20 damage
from Snorlax before putting itself to Sleep as
the last part of the attack. Decent attack with an
Ability designed to keep Snorlax from working as
well as it otherwise might. Really wishing today’s
card had gotten Sleep Press instead of Swallow.
Last up is XY: BREAKthrough it has 120 HP with an
Ability and attack. The Ability is “Plump Body”
which reduces the damage this Snorlax takes by 30
(after Weakness and Resistance, of course). The
attack costs [CCCC] again, but “Knock Away” only does 50
damage with a coin flip to try and make it 80 (“heads”
adds 30 damage, “tails” adds none). Glad we didn’t
get stuck with Knock Away on today’s card but imagine if
Swallow had been skipped and it just had Plump Body.
This Snorlax was reviewed
here
but with that attack he was only worth it as a
meatshield, and we’ve already got plenty of great walls.
So none of these
Snorlax are likely competition for today’s card
since they just aren’t that good or are Snorlax
[Plasma] and can be good but with a very specific deck
that doesn’t do much for Snorlax (XY: Fates
Collide 77/124). Which is a shame because that
might have been an answer to a problem with its deck.
Yes, it has its own deck. Not a tournament winning
deck, but a functional piece of work using Hypno
(XY: BREAKpoint 51/122) to constantly put both
your own and your opponent’s Active Pokémon to Sleep.
This enables you to swing away with Toss and Turn while
the opposing Active may even be Asleep and unable to
attack or retreat. This harkens back to Snorlax
(Jungle 11/64, 27/64; Legendary Collection
64/110) and how it was used in Turbo Snorlax decks where
Drowzee (Team Rocket 54/82; Legendary
Collection 73/110) could use its “Long
Distance-Hypnosis” to flip a coin and if “heads” the
opponent’s Active was Asleep but if “tails” yours was
instead. Dark Gloom had a similar Poké-Power
(Pollen Stench) except the flip was for Confusion.
Toss in a Dark Vileplume to block Trainers and
you could have a chunky Active immune to Special
Conditions while each Drowzee gave you a coin
flip for Sleep, each Dark Gloom a coin flip for
Confusion, and Snorlax itself a coin flip for
Paralysis via its attack. For the record, the
Drowzee turned out to be overkill.
So do we do the
same thing here? Unfortunately no; even though we
could use Vileplume (XY: Ancient Origins
3/98) to lock down Items, you need Hypno
to put Snorlax to Sleep. You also will want
to make sure you can get Fighting Fury Belt onto
its ample frame plus there are other Items you won’t
want to part with so even though it might be tempting,
it isn’t happening. You do have the option of
running the deck without Shaymin-EX (XY:
Roaring Skies 77/108, 106/108), though you’ll need
Octillery (XY: BREAKthrough 33/162). Altaria
(XY: Roaring Skies 74/108, XY: Black Star
Promos XY46) is nice to rid Snorlax of its
Fighting Weakness as well. It isn’t bad for a
budget deck but you get slaughtered if Abilities go
offline. There are other smaller issues like you
would expect, but the crippling bit is that without
Abilities, Snorlax has to swing for 30 or 50
damage. I remembered to build and test this deck
on the PTCGO before writing a review this time,
and once I faced a Greninja BREAK deck I realized
how fragile this deck could be: the Fighting Type
opponent’s weren’t fun either but one could still fight
back against them. Makes me miss the obscure Item
Tropical Wind, which could leave both Active
Pokémon Asleep.
So for Expanded and
Standard, Snorlax (XY: Fates Collide
77/124) is super niché but at least it has a small role
it performs well (better than some versions of the
card). For Limited it is good but not for
Toss and Turn. Hypno is from another set so your
opponent would have to put Snorlax to Sleep.
Instead Swallow becomes amazing due to the typically
lower average HP scores and damage output seen here. Snorlax
may seem immortal with 140 HP while doling out and
healing 50 damage with each attack. Though Swallow
improves, that Fighting Weakness is still quite
dangerous given this set’s focus on the Type, so while
Snorlax is nearly a must run.
Ratings
Standard:
2.5/5
Expanded:
2.25/5
Limited:
4/5
Summary:
Even being a huge Snorlax fan (pun intended), Snorlax
(XY: Fates Collide 77/124) is basically half of a
combo that exists, but in a form that faces some key
counters right now. Enjoy it in a fun or budget
deck and in Limited play. Unless we get a Trainer
or Energy that can allow you to put Snorlax to
Sleep without relying on Abilities, or Ability counters
suddenly become less effective. Then revisit this
card and its deck, as it might surprise us all.
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