Devoured Field – Pokemon COTD

aroramage

Devoured Field seems like it’d be a great card overall for specific decks, but there’s not a whole lot of them. While this Stadium’s active, Dark and Dragon Pokemon can deal 10 more damage with their attacks. Both of these Types have been known for their aggressive styles in the past – even now in Expanded, Dark decks have been prevalent in the format. It may not be that much, but that 10 damage can make what would normally be a 3HKO into a 2HKO.

It’s subtly impactful, and if there are Dragon or Dark decks that start popping up in the future, this card could definitely see play.

Rating

Standard: 2.5/5 (right now, the card’s not that great, but if those Types become stronger, watch out – they’ll be running this)

Expanded: 3/5 (this will likely be the new Stadium for Dark decks, if they’ve got the room for that extra bit of 10 damage)

Limited: 3/5 (there aren’t that many Dark/Dragon Pokemon in the set, but this can make them a bit stronger in this format)

Arora Notealus: This place is not friendly looking to be honest. I mean I know it’s a little barren, ravaged, torn apart, desolate, that sort of thing…I guess that’s why Dark and Dragon Pokemon like it so much. It just works better for them!

Side Reviews: Tapu Lele – Still outclassed by its GX counterpart, Tapu Lele remains a niche promo at best. Psywave has the potential to do a lot, but it’s just a weaker form of other attacks that are much stronger. Magical Swap is pretty good though, but I don’t think there has been a lot of application for it right at the moment.

Next Time: We’re going way back to the beginning for that one cute girl!

Otaku

Devoured Field (SM – Crimson Invasion 93/111) is a Trainer-Stadium that causes the attacks of [D] and [N] Pokémon – Darkness and Dragon, if you haven’t learned the shorthand yet – to do 10 more damage (before applying Weakness/Resistance).  10 damage isn’t much, but damage buffs aren’t necessarily about hitting big numbers, but the right numbers, the ones that matter for your strategy.  Usually, this means scoring a OHKO instead of a 2HKO, a 2HKO instead of a 3HKO, etc.  The next thing that matters is whether or not there are significant alternatives or counters in the metagame. 

Knowing whether or not 10 extra damage makes a difference can vary from deck to deck and matchup to matchup, but we already know the alternatives and the counters.  Reverse Valley has been around for a little while now; it is one of the Stadiums that have two effects, each applying only to one player based on the orientation of the Stadium card.  One side offers +10 damage for attacks made [D] Types against opposing Pokémon while the other reduces the damage taken from an opponent’s Pokémon’s attacks by 10 for [M] Pokémon.  While this doesn’t answer whether or not we might want Devoured Field for [N] decks, [D] decks have mostly not been taking advantage of Reverse Valley for the last few major events.  It isn’t a total no show, but for the amount of [D] Type-containing decks, I’d expect it to show up a lot more if it was a great play.

It is possible that Reverse Valley isn’t seeing much play because of the other half of its effects, but it looks more like people just need different Stadium cards for their strategies.  After all, you’ve got Stadium cards like Brooklet Hill, Dimension Valley, Parallel City, and Sky Field to name just a few; not all are Standard legal, but enough are that Devoured Field still has blatant competition.  We also have Field Blower, which gives decks an easy way to deal with an opponent’s Stadium and Tool at the same time for the low cost of being an Item.  In the end, Devoured Field isn’t bad, it just isn’t as good as so much of its competition.  Keep an eye on it, maybe even get a playset now just in case.  Oh, and enjoy it in Limited Format play; there aren’t a huge amount of [D] or [N] Pokémon to pull this set, but there are some and therer is another Stadium, so you may need Devoured Field simply to knock out that other.

Ratings

Standard: 2.75/5

Expanded: 2.5/5

Limited: 3/5

Vince

Today, we’re looking at Devoured Field from SM Crimson Invasion. This Stadium card enables Darkness and Dragon Pokemon to do 10 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokemon (before applying Weakness and Resistance). A damage boost, even a small one like this card, can prove helpful in situations where an attack that would’ve been a 3HKO turns into 2HKOs or 2HKOs turn into OHKOs.

In the perspective of Dark type Pokemon, Dark types still have to deal with Fairy Pokemon’s own -20 resistance from dark types, which will become -10 instead. Any Pokemon who is weak to Dark gets to take 20 more damage due to the stadium plus weakness. There is another Stadium card called Reverse Valley, in which one side has dark Pokemon do 10 more damage while the other side makes metal Pokemon take 10 less damage from attacks. So, those two Stadium cards can make you decide whether or not you are worried about Metal Pokemon taking 10 less damage (the two effects clash together if a dark deck is facing a metal deck, rendering both sides useless) or opposing Dragon or Dark Pokemon doing 10 more against you. If you are running just Dark Pokemon and you are stuck choosing between Reverse Valley and Devoured Field, I would recommend you to continue using Reverse Valley. For the perspective of Dragon Pokemon, every little bonus damage helps, since these Pokemon won’t hit any Pokemon for weakness, except for BW-era Dragon types. Even Ultra Uppercut GX from a Kommo-o GX falls short of an OHKO, and Devoured Field secures that OHKO. Noivern-GX just got more threatening while locking down your opponent’s actions!

So while not a revolutionary card, Devoured Field has its place in Standard and Expanded. It’s not a bad idea to run a full four because you can take advantage in the turn Devoured Field was played; the only time this stadium’s effect kicks in is when you declare your attack. Sure, Field Blower and other anti-stadium cards can get rid of it, but doesn’t change the fact that you’ve already left a dent in your opposing Defending Pokemon. In Limited, this is definitely a must run unless you don’t have any worthwhile Dark or Dragon Pokemon to use. Guzzlord-GX will love this stadium!

Standard: 3.5/5
Expanded: 3.5/5
Limited: 5/5

Conclusion: Devoured Field is pretty specialized, but the range of cards that are being helped by this Stadium is expansive. Providing damage boosts is always useful for allowing easier Knock Outs when they fall short without it. Specialized cards like these are why I don’t give Devoured Field less than a three-out-of-five but not higher than a four-out-of-five. I’m a little uncomfortable that I did not consider this card as my personal top 10 or even the runner ups.