I'm sure you've all read at least ONE
article on Dark Vileplume and how it's going to change the tournament a whole
bunch with it's unique ability to eliminate trainers from the playing field.
Before I say anything more here is Dark Vileplume's status.
NAME: Dark Vileplume
TYPE: 2--From Gloom
HP: 60
COLOR: Grass
RARITY: Rare Holo/Non-Holo
WEAKNESS: Fighting (which is a miss-print that WOTC CONFIRMED.
It should be fire)
RESISTANCE: None
RETREAT: 2
Pokemon Power Hay Fever: No trainer cards may be played. This
power stops working Dark Vileplume is asleep, confused or paralyzed
Petal Whirlwind (GGG) 30x: Flip 3 coins. This attack does 30
times the amount of heads. If you get 2 or more heads, Dark Vileplume is now
confused(After dealing damage).
So now that you have seen Dark Vileplume's
status I will continue on with my article. Do any of you remember around
a month before Fossil came out and there was all this hype on how Muk and
Aerodactyl were going to change the tourney environment. Well, I can't deny
the fact that they did, but not as dramatically as everybody thought. Mainly
because people wanted to evolve or didn't want to sacrifice their own
pokemon powers. Muk and Aerodactyl are now MAINLY used as a just a fun deck to
play or a "metagame" tool.
Personally I think Dark Vileplume will
be like this for several reasons. The main one being that you demolish YOUR
ability to use trainers. What I THINK is that people will start to build
decks around Dark Vileplume and find out they liked their old
"trainer" deck better. Now, there are other reasons such as the 60
Hp. The good thing though is it isn't weak to GOW like must lower Hp pokemon.
Of course Vileplume is a Stage 2 pokemon which means it has to go through
2(Unless you use breeder) pokemon to get out Dark Vileplume. Those 2 pokemon,
Gloom and Oddish, are weak to GOW having only 50/60 Hp. Another reason is
Aerodactyl for 2 reasons.1 being Oddish/Gloom can't evolve. The second, being
a fluke, is that Dark Vileplume is weak to fighting.
Do you know what this means? The comeback of
Aerodactyl/Hitmonchan/Fossil Magmar Haymaker decks. Aerodactyl keeps out
evolution(Dark Vileplume) and Hitmonchan is just plain good. Not to mention he
can take out a Vileplume in 1 hit with Special Punch. Fossil Magmars take
care of Scyther and other Fighting resistance pokemon.
Another weakness will be smart players will
try to get rid of Oddish/Gloom ASAP. Just like Raindance players try to
get rid of Muk ASAP.
Of course, who knows? Dark Vileplume may
change the tournament environment so much it will unrecognizable. Or it could
be like Muk/Aerodactyl. We'll never know until Dark Vileplume is put to
the test. If it does well, the person that used Dark Vileplume will post his
or her deck and it will be copied so thus another Archetype is born. Or
people will play with it. Tweak there deck. Give it another shot.
Tweak it until it does good and post it giving people hope to build successful
Dark Vileplume decks(Just like Muk did). Keep in mind this is just MY OPINION.
Signed,
Tycoon.