Beauty – Vivid Voltage
Date Reviewed: December 19, 2020
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 1.50
Expanded: 2.00
Limited: 3.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Vince
Just a small trivia that I found from Bulbapedia that Lasses grow up to be Beauties. Pretty interesting that there are some trainer classes that turned into other trainer classes.
Beauty from SS Vivid Voltage is a Supporter card that lets you draw 2 cards. If that was the only effect it has, she would’ve seen no play whatsoever because the “draw 3” Supporters outclass her, but she does have one thing that 99.9% of other Supporters don’t:
She can be used on the first turn of the game!
With the no T1 Supporter rule that went into effect almost last year, Beauty has the distinction of being able one of the few Supporter cards to be used on the first turn of the game. That’s assuming you have her in your opening hand, because you wouldn’t use her any other turn. You could run a full four in hopes that you can at least get one of her in your starting hand, but what will happen after you benefit from your first turn? The other three are underwhelming.
The niche of being able to be used T1 might have some appeal, but when you look at the bigger picture, sometimes other cards do a better job. Dedenne-GX or Crobat-V can actually draw far more cards for you. And eventually there may be other Supporters cards in the future that can be used T1 that competes with Beauty.
Ratings:
- Standard: 2/5
- Expanded: 2/5
- Limited: 3/5
Otaku
Beauty (SW – Vivid Voltage 148/185, 181/185, 194/185) is a Trainer-Supporter from the latest expansion. Her claim to fame is the first line of her effect, which lets you use her Turn 1, when you normally aren’t allowed to use any Supporter. Well, normally as of Sword & Shield, or some much older Formats. The Pokémon TCG is weird like that; rule changes, especially between Pokémon generations, are pretty common. So, what wonderful effect can you make use of during your first turn? Beauty has you draw two cards. That is only good Turn 1, when you cannot play any other Supporters. The rest of the game, it is rather poor.
I should explain why Beauty isn’t looking so pretty. Hop is this generation’s “Draw 3 cards.” Trainer-Supporter. To my knowledge, it has seen no successful competitive play. Some of its same-except-name predecessors have, but under pretty extreme niche conditions. The vast majority of the time, drawing three cards isn’t enough, so it comes as no surprise drawing two cards isn’t either. Now, two cards with another effect? That can work; Professor Kukui definitely saw competitive success. The thing is, it drew two cards and added 20 to the damage your attacks did to the opponent’s Active that turn. You might sometimes not need or have to waste that damage bonus because you needed to draw, but the option was there.
Beauty’s “bonus” is only applicable Turn 1. Not the first turn of the game, because Turn 2 (Player 2’s first turn) a player can use Supporters normally. Even if you could guarantee starting with Beauty, you’re only getting her real benefit half the time. If you have a deck that wants to go second, absolutely forget about her! If your deck prefers to go first, then there’s the issue of getting Beauty into hand Turn 1. If you run four of her, the other three copies aren’t dead in hand the rest of the game, but they’re worse versions of a card we already don’t play. If you run a low count (like one of her), you probably won’t see her that often, even when you could use her Turn 1.
In Expanded and the Limited Format, things are better for Beauty. She’s still not great, but a single copy, if you have room, could be used somewhat reliably in certain deck builds. Why? VS Seeker, and either Tapu Lele-GX or Battle Compressor. Tapu Lele-GX has a coming-into-play Ability to fetch a Supporter from your deck; drawing two cards Turn 1 seems like a waste of that Ability, but at least it is an option. Using a VS Seeker on a Beauty you used as discard fodder Turn 1, or intentionally sent to the discard pile from the deck via Battle Compressor? That just barely seems like a solid deal. Again though, that is for a deck already running these cards and with room for Beauty. In the Limited Format, you almost always will have room for Beauty, even without any supporting combos.
Ratings
- Standard: 1/5
- Expanded: 2/5
- Limited: 3/5
Beauty is hurt by the powers-that-be insisting “Draw 3 cards” should be the baseline for cards like Hop, because she very much comes across as being designed with that baseline in mind. “How about a draw Supporter you can use Turn 1?” “Okay, Hop-1 to keep it balanced!”. Even apart from that, though, I think there are ways to have done Beauty right. How about make it so that you can always use Beauty on your turn (including the first turn of the game)? Word it so that you still need an available Supporter use if that sounds too good; at least then a clutch copy of Beauty could also help when facing Supporter-lock… though that is still very, very niche.
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