Beach Court – Scarlet & Violet 167/198
Date Reviewed: May 12, 2023
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 3
Expanded: 3
Limited: 5
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Vince
Beach Court (Scarlet & Violet 167/198) is a Stadium card that states that the Retreat Cost of each Basic Pokemon in play is (C) less. This is another one of those cards whose effect is actually identical to an older card. In this case, this effect is recycled from Skyarrow Bridge (BW Next Destines 91/99), which has been reviewed twice by the review crew:
–The 4th best card of Next Destines.
and
–The 8th best card lost to rotation (end of the 2013-2014 season)
Looking at those reviews, Skyarrow Bridge was a great card when it came out when Stadium based options were scarce and the format was dominated by big Basic Pokemon (such as BLW Reshiram & Zekrom, Mewtwo-EX, and later on Rayquaza-EX). We even had further support regarding Basic Pokemon such as Prism Energy and Eviolite, and the first turn rules were drastically different than what they were today. Unlike today’s rules, back then, players can attack and play Supporters on their first turn (if they chose to go first). It was a no-brainer that players would turn to Skyarrow Bridge for further support on Basic Pokemon just to turn down their retreat cost a notch.
Skyarrow Bridge was fortunate enough to still be used, even when it was about to leave rotation. There were some Stadium cards that came before/after Skyarrow Bridge; Tropical Beach has a nice draw-based effect, even if it does end your turn and your current hand being at the mercy of your opponent who is about to play N. Virbank City Gym, usually paired with Hypnotoxic Laser, helps facilitate easier KOs on many small targets and many evolving basics. Fighting Stadium benefits Fighting type Pokemon by helping them hit harder on the opponent’s Active Pokemon and other generic/support cards like Strong Energy and Muscle Band help push those numbers a lot more. There are even other options of lowering the retreat cost or just outright switching your Active Pokemon, like Darkrai-EX’s Dark Cloak letting any Pokemon retreat for free if there’s any Darkness energies attached to that Pokemon, or the Keldeo-EX’s Rush In ability and Float Stone Pokemon Tool to easily maneuver your Pokemon. I think the latter has singlehandedly made Skyarrow Bridge obsolete, though not every deck has room for a couple Keldeo-EX and Float Stones. Still, Virizion-EX and Genesect-EX sometimes use Skyarrow Bridge to reduce their retreat costs from C to zero without the help of Keldeo-EX, and Virizion-EX’s Verdant Wind ability can block all Special Conditions from happening, especially Asleep and Paralysis (because those two special conditions prevent you from retreating).
With the ever-growing list of Stadium cards emerge even after Skyarrow Bridge’s departure from Standard, it makes Skyarrow Bridge not as impressive as it once was due to increasing competition and the Stadium’s own redundancy. That’s not to say that this card was suddenly bad overnight, rather that it made sense not to use it as much anymore, especially when there are a few anti-basic Pokemon cards that can cause trouble such as Pyroar from XY Flashfire or Jolteon-EX’s Flash Ray attack. But under the right deck, Skyarrow Bridge can still prove useful. I realized that Skyarrow Bridge has hijacked Beach Court’s review, but they both possessed the same effect, hence why I went back to an older card. I hope that those past COTDs of Skyarrow Bridge can convince you that Beach Court is still a good card, even if it’s in a crowded area with a bunch of other Stadiums. In present time, Miradion-ex would greatly appreciate the reduction of its retreat cost from C to free. Miradion-ex can call forth any basic Lightning type and then retreat for free to send out the new Basic Pokemon. Other Basic Pokemon-V can benefit from Beach Court to some degree unless another Stadium card is just as important.
Ratings:
Standard: 3/5
Expanded: 3/5
Limited: 5/5*
Legacy (Skyarrow Bridge): 3.5/5**
*Scarlet & Violet contains only two Stadium cards: Mesagoza and Beach Court. Forgot that counter-stadium is a must, though you could benefit from two effects in one turn by using the effect of your opponent’s Mesagoza to hopefully fetch for a Pokemon and then replace that stadium card with yours.
**I’ve decided to add a Legacy score due to Skyarrow Bridge’s effect being identical to Beach Court. The Legacy format is exclusive to PTCGO, and it contains cards ranging from the HGSS series to the BW series (like over 15 sets from there). Even though the PTCGO will sunset on June 5 and make way for Live, at least I would have fun scoring something even though this format will no longer exist. But even if it does exist, it will be incredibly hard to find matches there because not many players invested on older cards from at least a decade ago. Even IRL, when I showed my friends all of my DPHGSS cards, they told me that I was the only one that still has those cards and most of the players/friends I knew no longer have them, so they looked at my collection for nostalgia.
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