Cherrim – Battle Styles
Date Reviewed:
March 24, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 2.75
Expanded: 2.50
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Note: Due to a site hiccup, an incomplete version of yesterday’s Empoleon V review went live. Based on site numbers, several dozen of you saw the incomplete review, so feel free to go back and see the finished review. I also took this as a sign I may as well go back and touch up the rest of the countdown’s reviews, adding a few details I had to cut due to time constraints.
Rounding out the top 10 is Cherrim (SW – Battle Styles 008/163; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH088). This is a baseline Pokémon, not a Pokémon V, no Battle Style, etc. Peeking ahead, you shouldn’t be using Cherrim as an attacker, so it doesn’t even matter that Grass types are currently poor when it comes to type matching. [G] support still matters and it seems more miss than hit. Some of it clashes (or is redundant with) Cherrim, though Turffield is nice. Slight chance Flareon (SW – Vivid Voltage 026/185) could be an issue, as its “Incandescent Awakening” Ability shuts off the Abilities of [G] types if Flareon has a Memory Capsule attached… and I already said Cherrim isn’t here for its attack.
Cherrim is a Stage 1 Pokémon. While not as easy to run as a Basic, being a Stage 1 means Cherrim can be run with as low as a 1-1 count, and upwards of a 4-4 count, with first number in each pair actually referring to Cherubi. Cherubi is the Basic from which Cherrim evolves, and none of the Cherubi are anything but filler. You can also use Ditto {*} if you’re in Expanded. Cherrim has 80 HP. The good news is that this makes it Level Ball-legal, but Cherrim is quite likely to be OHKO’d if Active, and isn’t long on the Bench against spread. This means Cherrim’s Fire Weakness and lack of Resistance don’t really matter. Its Retreat Cost of [CC] is typical, though on a Stage 1 with just 80 HP, it actually feels somewhat chunky. It is low enough you can pay it, but high enough you’d rather not; at least you can zero it out with Air Balloon.
Cherrim has the Ability “Spring Bloom”; as often as you like during your turn, Spring Bloom lets you attach a [G] Energy from your hand to one of your Pokémon excluding those with a Rule Box. Only basic Grass Energy cards count as [G] while in your hand, and not working with Pokémon V, Pokémon-GX, or Pokémon-EX is a serious restriction, but this level of Energy acceleration should prove useful once we find a good attack partner to work with Cherrim. Cherrim itself is not one of those attackers; for [GCC] it can use “Seed Bomb” to do 70 damage. Not awful for a filler attack, but not good.
The big question with Cherrim is who do you partner with it as attackers? The answer is… I don’t know. Tapu Bulu (SW – Battle Styles 016/163) is one option, and its a solid 130 HP Basic Grass type. For [GGC], its “Nature’s Judgment” attack does 80 damage, or 160 if you discard all Energy attached to it. Maractus (Sword & Shield 007/202) has the attack “Powerful Needs” for [GC], but the attack’s effect states you flip a coin for each Energy attached to itself, good for 60 per heads. Even looking at fellow Stage 1 Grass types doesn’t give us better options. There are some decent attackers among the Stage 2 Pokémon, but they work better with other forms of Energy acceleration.
We aren’t actually restricted to Grass types, but this is where my search ends, because you can use Spring Bloom to fill any [C] requirements. So that means Pokémon of any Type are potential candidates, and thanks to cards like Aurora Energy, a single non-[G] or non-[C] Energy requirement is doable. There are also potential workarounds for the attachment restrictions. Any Stage 1 or 2 Pokémon-GX works with Cherrim so long as you can attach to their lower Stages before evolving into them. Nanu (remember him) means you can attach to a non-Rule Box Pokémon, then switch to a [D] type with a Rule Box. Shaymin {*} has an attack that hits harder based on how many basic Energy are in play. In Expanded, you have Mew (XY – Fates Collide 29/124) with its “Dawn of Memories” Ability. You can attach to Mew then use Dawn of Memories to use an attack found on a Basic with a Rules Box.
In the Expanded Format, you have a larger pool of potential attackers, but have to deal with stronger anti-Ability effects. You also gain access to older versions of Cherrim, and there’s a chance they might be worth running alongside today’s version. Cherrim (SM – Ultra Prism 11/156) overwrites the Weakness of your Grass Pokémon, so that they function as if they had none. Pretty handy if your deck is mostly or mono-Grass. The other other Cherrim (BW – Plasma Storm 7/135) is less impressive. Its Ability just lets you heal 20 from one of your Grass Pokémon once per turn. I wouldn’t bother with the healer, but doing away with Weakness, even though it matters so rarely, is nice.
Ratings
- Standard: 2/5
- Expanded: 2/5
I think Cherrim has potential, and I considered it for my own list, but until Cherrim finds a partner, I just can’t rate it higher. I mean, I almost gave it a three-out-of-five, but it just doesn’t look right. Accelerating Energy is only useful if you have something worth accelerating that Energy to… and Cherrim just doesn’t. It also doesn’t help that a similar card, Frosmoth, didn’t do anywhere near as well as I originally expected.
Vince
Our 10th best card of Battle Styles is a card which I am extremely happy that I was able to get from the Build & Battle box because of how hard it is to get Pokémon TCG products.
Cherrim brings something familiar to the table whose ability has been extremely popular since the days of Base Set: unlimited energy acceleration. But this time, that ability is on a Stage 1 as opposed to a Stage 2 and it lets you attach as many Grass Energies as you like…except for Pokémon with Rule Boxes. For the Standard format, the Pokémon with Rule Boxes include Pokémon-V/VMAX, Pokémon-GX (Basic, Stage 1, Stage 2, and even Tag Teams), and Prism Stars. For the Expanded Format, the exception expands to exclude Pokémon-EX (even Mega Evolutions) and BREAK Evolutions since they also have Rule Boxes. And even the Unlimited format has older cards with Rule Boxes such as Pokémon-ex, Pokémon LEGEND, and LV.X; they have the box, but didn’t exactly specifically say “Pokemon-ex rule” or “Pokemon LEGEND rule” despite giving up two prizes! Yes, I still have a couple LV.X cards, but I’m not that concerned about the ruling regarding much older cards.
Anyways, with such exclusions, Cherrim is not as amazing as I thought because most attackers are the ones that have a lot of HP and can dish out lots of damage. Pokémon that gives up multiple prizes are good examples because they have that trait. However, there are also a nice plethora of single prize Pokémon that Cherrim can benefit. Since it can easily cover attack costs that involve Grass or Colorless energies, that means Grass types and Colorless type Pokémon can benefit the most. Tapu Bulu in this same set as Cherrim has Nature’s Judgment which can deal 80 plus 80 more damage if you discard all energies attached to it, and I guess Cherrim was made for good single prize attackers like Tapu Bulu. It also helps Shaymin (*) ramp up as much damage output as possible. This is going to sometimes compete Rillaboom’s Voltage Beat due to what Cherrim does, but Rillaboom doesn’t exclude anyone.
Ratings
Standard: 3.5/5
Expanded: 3/5
Cherrim is another card in the group of other Pokémon that provides unlimited energy acceleration, but because of the exclusion, Cherrim needs viable single prize attackers. Fortunately, it has at least two of them, and there could be even more that I missed.
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