Rocket's Sneak Attack

"Totally underrated!"

10.21.00  It's been used since it was out, now less decks are using it, but it's still in many of the Hay variants and almost all Wigglys.

But before I talk Rocket's Sneak Attack, I'd thought I'd talk about the tournament I was at yesterday! I lost 3 games, drew once, won 4. Not very good for me. It will really hurt my rating. I could have won the draw with a flip, and I would have won another game if Magmar's Smokescreen would have stopped a Chan from Jabbing out my single basic, it didn't stop him, twice in a row I was jabbed with a PP and then jabbed again. I lost another one of those because of those lovely opening hands of 3 Item Finders and an Nightly Garbage Run. Boy did that suck.. it'll hurt my rating, a lot, but I'm going to try to get it back.

The Bad Start it Gives

This card when played first turn can really give you ad advantage. Say you put the Jiggly down and attach an energy. You wanna go for the Wiggly turn 2 with a full bench. Energy Removal could slow you down. Sneak Attack it away. Play up to 4 if you need to get rid of the Oak, Comp Search, and everything, leaving them crippled. It will normally leave your opponent with no good trainer options for a few turns while Wiggly is doing the wave with PlusPowers for one hit knock outs. I think an important part about a Wiggly/RSA deck is to have a good enough advantage on them so when they do get the Oak or Comp Search for it you can still win, not allowing them to recover. In other words- don't build up just one Wigglytuff, and attach extra energy if you have to to stop those ERs or force them to play a lot.

With Hay variants using it you just have to stay fast and use Gusts and more importantly PlusPowers, to just beat on your opponent fast and hard before they can recover. If they do get the Oak soon, you'll be in trouble, since they are Oaking from a deck that has had things added back to it, depending on how many times you RSA'd. I believe that if you Oak and your opponent can keep up with you without doing it, you'll lose, because you two will come close to being even, then his Oak will hurt you.

The Very Bad Start it Gives

When your opponent has benched no basic, RSA them, get rid of their card drawing and searchign, preventing them from getting another basic easy. You can use your PlusPowers to quickly knock it out for a fast game.

The Seldom Middle-Game RSA

It's not always useful in the middlegame since hands are normally large enough that taking the Oak won't hurt, and anything you want to get rid of can be easily recovered by a Comp Search or something, but it can be, and you may have to play two, but it's best at getting rid of someone's Scoop Up. Most good players can tell when their opponent is intending on playing a Scoop Up on their Pok�mon. They send out a Lickitung, before you Thunderpunch it or Smog it to 70HP, RSA them. Take their Scoop Up. If they have two Scoop Ups and a Computer Search, or just many ways to get the Scoop Up(more ways then you have RSA's to get rid of), don't take the Scoop Up! Get something else. It's normally not very good in the middle game though and especially not well toward the end game when decks are low and hands have a lot of things to work with.

The Trapper Combo

In Trapper decks, RSA is great to get your opponent down to 3 cards, then Trap. You don't need the Imposter Oak's Revenge, always. You can RSA a 5 card twice, since you should probably be able to spot two trainers, then Trap.  After they get two cards in their hand it's a good idea to Trap or RSA since Comp Search and Item Finder can be played with the third draw.

The Viewing Benefit

Don't forget- RSA lets you know your opponents entire hand. If it's a lot of trainers, after you have a nice Pok�mon advantage and enough energy, play Lass. That's always good. You can RSA them to see if they're worth Lassing, (if they have a huge hand of card drawing, removal etc.)

Will it be Good at the STS?

Some people believe it will be worse at the STS because with only 15 trainers, there isn't much to take. Others believe 15 Trainers makes it easy to take the single Oak. It will be good at the STS. That's the truth. All decks still need their card drawing, and if you can stay fast and if you can have an advantage and leave them with few options, it will be even harder for your opponent to recover, especially since most recoveries need Removals to stop what you have built. Most people won't waste space on normal removals, but watch out for Supers.

My Rating (1- Almost completely useless, 5- Useable, 10-Totally broken)
This card has really changed the Pok�mon environment, making going first very important. It makes games "come down to the draw," which is something I really don't like about Pok�mon(it's so much luck). It can really win a lot of games, fast though, and with the damage it's doing in Hays, Wiggly, and Trapper, I think it deserves the very high rating 9.5. Remember, it's not a coin flip, like everything else in Pok�mon...

~

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