aroramage |
Initially, I had Delphox BREAK here
higher up on my list, but I had to reconsider
some...other things. You'll probably see them show up on
this list sooner or later, but for now, let's take a
look at what Delphox BREAK does that other BREAK Evos
don't do!
And the answer is actually quite
simple: Energy acceleration.
Once you put Delphox BREAK onto one
of your Delphox, she gets access to the Flare Witch
Ability, which lets you take a Fire Energy from your
deck - yes, your DECK - and attach directly to one of
your Pokemon. No restrictions, no drawbacks, just
instantly put an Energy into play! That's a tremendously
powerful effect, and it's no wonder that Delphox BREAK
hits the list so hard!
I mean, you get to take a card out
of your deck that you don't wanna draw into anyway and
power up ANY Pokemon you want! You could power up Emboar-EX
after he's discarded some Energy, or Houndoom-EX, or
Rayquaza-EX in Expanded! There's a lot you can do with
this, and it's well worth mentioning it in addition to
your normal attachment! How cool is that?
...well, that's about all there is
to it. Truth be told, after considering some things,
Delphox BREAK only scratched by my Top 10 list. Energy
acceleration is a strong thing to have, but putting it
on what is effectively a Stage 3 Pokemon? That's a lot
of investment just to put Delphox into play, let alone
Delphox BREAK.
At least you can use Wally or
Evosoda to get the BREAK out faster...
Rating
Standard: 3.5/5 (Energy
acceleration: it's worth playing a Stage 3)
Expanded: 3/5 (...most of the time)
Limited: 4.5/5 (but really, if
you've got enough time to BREAK Evolve in a Limited
environment, you've got enough time to win, am I right?)
Arora Notealus: Delphox truly aims
to shine above the rest, and at least in this set,
Delphox BREAK can use a Delphox that wants to get more
Energy attached! Could be useful in the future, but we
will just have to wait and see.
Next Time: An interesting Pokemon
with an interesting card...
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Otaku |
For the record, yes my CotD for
yesterday
has indeed been posted; I was only several hours late,
not several days (this time).
Time for our 9th place pick from this set, Delphox
BREAK (XY: Fates Collide 14/124)! This
is a Fire Type, which means it can hit most Grass Types
and nearly all Metal Types for double damage, but
doesn’t have to deal with the nuisance that is
Resistance. There are some anti-Fire Type effects
but they aren’t particularly good, while the Fire Type
has one spiffy piece of support in Blacksmith and
in dedicated decks, a solid trick with the Stadium
Scorched Earth. As the name makes clear, this
is a BREAK Evolution, specifically the BREAK Evolution
of a Stage 2; it takes a lot to get it into play as even
if you include Energy acceleration, you’ve got to start
with Fennekin then either use Braixen or
skip directly to Delphox via Rare Candy,
and finally you can Evolve into Delphox BREAK.
If you want to be technical, there are probably some
obscure combos like using Cradily (BW: Plasma
Blast 4/101) that have never really worked.
Using Rare Candy and Wally or a Wally
each turn get Delphox BREAK into play in two
turns, but that just adds even more cards plus your
Supporter usage to the investment pile. Delphox
BREAK does enjoy 180 HP, which is 40 more than any
Delphox and even 10 more than Delphox-EX.
The last thing Delphox BREAK supplies is the
Ability “Flare Witch” which allows you (once per turn
per copy of Flare Witch) to search your deck for an [R]
Energy and attach it to one of your Pokémon.
Similar effects haven’t worked out well in recent
formats, but have proven great further back.
Everything else about Delphox BREAK will come
from the Delphox underneath it, but before we get
to those let’s start with Fennekin. The are
five versions of Fennekin, though some have been
reprinted: XY: Kalos Starter Set 8/39 (also
released as XY: Black Star Promos XY02 and
McDonald’s 2014 3/12), XY 24/146, XY:
BREAKthrough 25/162, XY: Fates Collide
10/124, and XY: Fates Collide 11/124. All
are Basic, Fire Type Pokémon with Water Weakness, no
Resistance, Retreat Cost [C], no Ancient Trait, and no
Ability. XY: Kalos Starter Set 8/39 has 60 HP,
can use “Scratch” for [R] to do 10 damage and “Live
Coal” for [RC] to do 20. XY 24/146 has 50 HP and
the lone attack “Will-O-Wisp” that does 20 for [R]. XY:
BREAKthrough 25/162 has 50 HP and the attack “Firebreathing”
for [RC] 10 damage and to flip a coin; “heads” means +30
damage (40 total). XY: Fates Collide 10/124 has
60 HP; for [R] has Will-O-Wisp against for 10, while for
[CC] it can use “Tail Whip” to flip a coin and it
“heads” the Defending Pokémon can’t attack during your
opponent’s next turn. Finally XY: Fates Collide
11/124 has 50 HP and for [C] it can use “Invite Out” to
flip a coin; if “heads” you can select one of your
opponent’s Benched Pokémon and switch it with your
opponent’s Active. I suggest XY: Fates Collide
10/124 due to its 60 HP and - if desperate - you can
power up and try to use its Tail Whip to stall.
Preferably you won’t have to attack with Fennekin
at all.
If you go with Braixen instead of using Rare
Candy, you have XY: Kalos Starter Set 9/39,
XY 25/146, XY: BREAKthrough 26/162, and
XY: Fates Collide 12/124. All four are Stage 1
Fire Type Pokémon with 80 HP, Water Weakness, no
Resistance, Retreat Cost [C], no Ancient Trait, and no
Ability. XY: Kalos Starter Set 9/39 can can use
Firebreathing again, still for [RC] time for 20 (+20 on
“heads”), and for [RCC] it can use “Flame Tail” to do 60
damage. XY 25/146 allows you to use “Clairvoyant
Eye” for [C] to look at the top three cards of your deck
and rearrange them as you wish while for [RC] it can use
“Fire Tail Slap” to do 40 damage, but this attack also
requires you discard an [R] Energy from Braixen
itself. XY: BREAKthrough 26/162 has just one
attack - “Flamethrower” - for [RCC], which does 70
damage and has you discard an Energy (this time of any
Type) from Braixen itself. XY: Fates Collide
12/124 can use “Destructive Flames” for [R] to do 20 and
flip a coin; if “heads” you discard an Energy attached
to the opponent’s Active. For [CC] it can use
“Crackling Ribbon” to do 30 damage. Go with XY
25/146 or XY: Fates Collide 12/124; I am
uncertain with you will need help with future draws or
trying to disrupt by discarding Energy more, though I
would go with XY 25/146 as it doesn’t rely on a
coin flip. Of course it still is luck based, as it
is all about the top three cards of your deck, but if
you are desperate enough to attack with Braixen
in the first place, you may as well know if help is
within those next three cards.
At last we come to Delphox itself; our options
are XY: Kalos Starter Set 10/39, XY
26/146, and XY: Fates Collide 13/124. All
three are Fire Type Stage 2 Pokémon with 140 HP, Water
Weakness, no Resistance, Retreat Cost [CC], and no
Ancient Trait. XY: Kalos Starter Set 10/39 for
[RC] it brings back Will-O-Wisp, but for only 30 damage,
and for [RCCC] it brings out “Fire Blast” to do 120
damage while discarding an Energy from itself.
This Delphox was reviewed
here,
but did not fare well; I think I would have scored it
similar to the other reviewers. XY 26/146 has
the Ability “Mystical Fire” which (once per turn per
copy of Mystical Fire you have in play) allows you to
draw until you have six cards in hand. Its lone
attack is “Blaze Ball” for [CCC], which does 50 damage
plus 20 per [R] Energy attached to itself; if you fuel
the attack purely with [R] Energy you’ll swing for 110
damage, and you can build it up to a lot more than that.
The Ability is great and the attack is good;
unfortunately being a Stage 2 kept it from seeing any
real success in competitive play. This one
actually received impressive scores when reviewed
here,
but I don’t recall it ever living up to those scores.
The new kitsune on the block is XY: Fates Collide
13/124 and it brings two attacks to play; “Flickering
Flames” requires [R] and does 40 damage leaves the
opponent’s Active Asleep, while for [CCC] it knows “Psystorm”
which does 20 damage times the amount of all Energy in
play. These are good attacks, but not great
attacks.
So what Delphox should you use with Delphox
BREAK? XY 26/146 gives you a great Ability
and a good attack, albeit one that carries a big risk as
it requires you load Delphox (or Delphox BREAK)
with [R] Energy. Delphox BREAK and Blacksmith
can help with Energy acceleration, while Mystical Fire
helps with everything else. Still, you might want
to make room for a copy of XY: Fates Collide
13/124, maybe even two. While Mystical Fire seems
quite valuable, Psystorm really can be amazing if your
opponent is stuck with a lot of Energy in play. I
think I would rather just include some strong Basic
attackers to supplement Delphox BREAK instead.
Remember that Flare Witch attached from the deck;
Energy Recycler can toss five of them back into your
deck with ease so massive discard costs aren’t crippling
unless Items are being locked away, and if they are you
still have Blacksmith (unless you’ve used them
all up). In the end though I think that even with
Mystical Fire to help with further setup after you get
your first Delphox, this seems like more than was
we’ve had any current deck manage. Yes Greninja
BREAK has seen success but it has both Archie’s
Ace in the Hole and Frogadier (XY:
BREAKpoint 39/122), with the latter appearing to be
the successful option (shows what I know).
Fortunately there is an even better point about the
success of Greninja BREAK; it’s about abusing
your own decks Ability while locking down the
opponent’s, and the Abilities your Pokémon bring to the
table typically include supplemental draw and bonus
damage counter placement. With Delphox BREAK
it is going to be constructive, not destructive.
If you manage to pull Delphox BREAK it should be
a great pull… unless I totally have misunderstood how
the new Pre-Release rules work: if the contents I am
seeing for the Evolution pack are correct, whichever one
you get contains a 2/2/2 or 3/2/2 Delphox line.
I guess if you pull the correct big, Basic Pokémon-EX it
might still be tempted to run just it in a +39 build,
ensuring you start with said Pokémon-EX as it will be
your only Basic Pokémon, but otherwise Delphox BREAK
ought to be going in your deck.
Ratings
Standard:
3.25/5
Expanded:
3/5
Limited:
4.95/5
Summary:
Delphox BREAK adds HP and some useful Energy
acceleration to Delphox decks (whichever
Delphox is being used), but what the deck has been
needing most is speed. I think Delphox BREAK
will see a lot of play at first and then quickly burn
out due to the massive card investment required. Greninja
BREAK manages it, but it has a few things going for
it that Delphox BREAK does not. Only three
cards that made the final list failed to make my
personal Top 10 list at all, and Delphox BREAK is
the second of those for the reasons I have given, though
I do think the designers came close to helping it be
worth the hassle.
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