aroramage |
Ahhhh, the Wages of Fluff...
...yeah, no, you're not playing
Whimsicott.
Cute and fuzzy and adorable as
ever, you're not gonna run a Stage 1 that says, "Hey if
the Defending Pokemon gets KO'd on your next turn, take
2 more Prize cards." I don't care how cheap it costs. I
don't care that you could potentially be nabbing up to 4
Prize cards by KOing a GX or EX. I don't think you even
want to consider running it, consider the other attack
is 1-for-30 vanilla.
Whimsicott suggests an idea that
you want to go with, that you think would be amazing,
but chances are you're using an Energy you'll need on an
attack that basically gives your opponent a Prize - 80
HP isn't that much at all these days, so it'd be more
surprising if your opponent DIDN'T KO Whimsicott. You're
also relying on your opponent not to Switch out their
Defending Pokemon to something else by your next turn,
and you also have to already have something that could
either finish something off - which requires set-up in
terms of damage anyway - or can OHKO something easy
enough. Keep in mind that for the most part, you need at
least 170+ damage for EXs or Basic GXs and as much as
250 damage to KO anything in the game. Choice Band makes
that easier by tacking on 30 damage for those EX/GX
Pokemon, but that still leaves you with a range of 140
at the last, 220 at the most for damage to OHKO Pokemon.
Never mind that Whimsicott takes up
at least 2 spaces in your deck to be playable. I can
just about guarantee you won't run Whimsicott unless you
rely solely on the off chance your opponent doesn't
switch out their Pokemon and you have that set-up
required to pull Whimsicott off.
Rating
Standard: 2/5 (trust me, it ain't
happening)
Expanded: 1.5/5 (not at all)
Limited: 2.5/5 (nope)
Arora Notealus: I love love LOVE
Whimsicott, but please don't pretend Whimsicott is
competitive. There are way too many factors to
incorporate to make her work - the set-up, the space
taken up in the deck, the execution, the reliance on the
opponent to not change their set-up so your set-up works
- it's a lot to figure, and I don't think it'll bring as
much success as some might hope for.
Also my thoughts briefly on
Metagross-GX: it's a great card with great acceleration
and one of the better GX attacks in the game, but it
might just be too slow with its Giga Hammer move to be
more than just set-up for others, and right now that
doesn't make it amazing. It is solid though, and it's
even started showing up in tournaments, so don't knock
it till you try it - 3.5/5
ALSO also my thoughts briefly on
Dhelmise: Seriously, what is this thing? Well it's a
great addition for Metal decks at the least, and its
Psychic typing does give it an edge against Psychic-weak
decks...but Metal decks don't usually run Psychic
Energy, so it's a bit of a hit-or-miss? It's probably
the card behind the Metagross-GX success, considering
multiple copies of this plus a Choice Band will KO a lot
of stuff with Giga Hammer - 3/5
Next Time: AND NOW WE GO BACK IN
TIME TO...wait this was only a few years ago.
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Otaku |
Whimsicott
(SM: Guardians Rising 91/145) is our subject
today. It is a Fairy-Type, but based on the rest
of the card I don’t think that will prove relevant.
It is a Stage 1, which is definitely relevant: you’ll
need to run at least two cards to get a single copy of
Whimsicott into play, and unless you use a trick
like Wally, you’ll have to wait a turn to Evolve
Cottonee into Whimsicott. This is
actually more favorable than most other Stages of
Evolution, but Basics still reign supreme for needing
the least investment, the best speed, and working well
with various game rules and mechanics. 80 HP means
Whimsicott ought to be a OHKO; even decks
focused on attack effects (or otherwise don’t do much
damage) are likely to manage it. Metal Weakness is
typical, but I’m not sure if enough contemporary
Metal-Type attackers would fail to score the OHKO even
without Weakness; Metagross-GX (for example)
scores a OHKO almost twice over before applying
Weakness. Darkness Resistance might barely help;
it means 100 damage instead of 80 for a OHKO, and that
could actually matter to Yveltal-EX or Zoroark
(XY: BREAKthrough 91/162) with their varying
amounts of damage. The free Retreat Cost is
perfect and very welcome… though a tad bittersweet if we
were going to use this in a Fairy-focused deck, as they
tend to use Fairy Garden to zero out Retreat
Costs. As stated, though, I don’t think
Whimsicott will be running around in many Fairy-Type
decks.
Whimsicott
has two attacks. The first is “The Wages of
Fluff”, a name I find quite funny. It costs [C]
and states “If the Defending Pokémon is Knocked Out
during your next turn, take 2 more Prize cards.” I’m
not sure, but I believe the wording means that this
effect rests on the Defending Pokémon; that means
your opponent can shake it by retreating or Evolving
that Defending Pokémon, in addition to more extreme
measures like using Pokémon Ranger. If
you can get the effect to stick, it might be worth it.
Why “might”? You’re investing a Stage 1, Energy,
and attack to use it; if you’re using a deck that needs
to take most of its Prizes all at once, that’s handy.
If you’ve got something that can’t attack many times but
is likely to score a OHKO when you use it, I guess that
this combo could give it some teeth, but for the most
part, you could just use a better attacker. Even
for a single Energy, you’ve got things like Garbodor
(SM: Guardians Rising 51/145). Sure, it
requires some setup, but you’ll need that to pull off
The Wages of Fluff. The second attack is “Fairy
Wind” for [Y], which does 30 damage: a filler attack,
but decent damage for the Energy.
Due to time
constraints, I can’t get really deep with this card… or
rather, I cannot take the time to run through every
single Whimsicott and Cottonee. This
card is waiting for something that can copy attacks
and/or hit the opponent with a serious lockdown effect.
Maybe Vileplume (XY: Ancient Origins 3/98)
might help with that. For that matter,
Decidueye-GX could help as well; even if you wish to
score the KO with something else, its “Feather Wing”
Ability can soften up a target for your actual attacker.
This card seems like it could be nasty in Limited play;
scoring a OHKO against a 2 Prize attacker is unlikely
here, which means the Wages of Fluff can set up a 1
Prize attacker to be KO’d for 3 Prizes, which is well
worth sacrificing the fluffball and an attack. At
least, it is if things work out well.
Ratings
Standard:
1.5/5
Expanded:
1.5/5
Limited:
3/5
Conclusion
Whimsicott
is here to torment Johnnies. There is still a
piece of myself screaming that there has to be a killer
combo that utilizes The Wages of Fluff, but at least for
now, I am pretty sure there isn’t. Enjoy it in
Limited or casual play, and don’t forget it in case we
get a combo partner that can pull it off.
Whimsicott
tied with yesterday’s Dhelmise, having four
voting points. I rolled off to see who would come
out on top, and Dhelmise got a “5” while
Whimsicott only rolled a “2”. They were one
voting point below the three-way tie that preceded them,
and one voting point ahead of this Friday’s CotD.
As you probably guessed from my review, Whimsicott
didn’t make my own Top 10, or 15 or 20 or… anything.
It isn’t the worst card in the set… unless we dock it
for looking like it has potential that will
likely never actually amount to anything.
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