Drizzile – Sword & Shield Pokemon Review

Otaku

The Card of the Day just got a little more literal.  For what I believe is the first time in the history of Pojo.com, we’re now reviewing cards seven days a week!  Simply put, TPCi has provided the card output on a regular basis that we won’t run out of cards to discuss.  We might run out of reviewers, though.  If you have any interest in joining in, drop us a line.  You do not need to review every day.  In fact, you can just write when it works for you.  Your review can be long like mine, or even just a single, explanatory sentence alongside your scores.

Drizzile (Sword & Shield 056/202) is a [W] Type Pokémon.  Looking ahead, this card is not meant to be an attacker, so running into Weakness or Resistance is irrelevant.  [W] counters exist, but few (if any) are going to matter to Drizzile, for similar reasons.  [W] support could come in handy, but less stuff like Aqua Patch or Archie’s Ace in the Hole and more stuff like Articuno (SM – Team Up 32/181) and Dive Ball.  Being a Stage 1 means Drizzile isn’t a simple inclusion like a Basic, but it shouldn’t require too much effort; probably a Sobble per Drizzile.  If a deck already runs Ditto {*} and can spare it, Drizzile could even be TecH.

90 HP is pretty typical of an evolving Stage 1, but that does not make it somehow sturdy.  An Active Drizzile should be an easy OHKO barring extenuating circumstances, though it is only a little vulnerable to Bench hits or heavy damage spread.  Slight chance that Level Ball compliance could help in Expanded.  The HP also means the [L] Weakness shouldn’t matter too much; anything swinging for 90 HP was already scoring a OHKO, anything doing 40 or less still needs at least one more attack.  Lack of Resistance is normal in the TCG, and even some were present, wouldn’t mean much due to the 90 HP (again).  The Retreat Cost of [C], and often easy to pay.

Drizzile has the Ability “Shady Dealings” and the attack “Water Drip”.  The latter costs [WC] and just does 30 damage; a filler attack that is better than nothing or something stupidly complicated.  The former is why we are reviewing Drizzile, however.  Shady Dealings triggers when you evolve one of your Pokémon in play into this Drizzile.  This gives you the option of searching your deck for a Trainer card!  Any kind of Trainer at that, be they specialty mechanics like Ace Specs or Prism Star cards, regardless of whether it is an Item, a Stadium, or a Supporter.  Whether you want that Trainer for what it does, or because it can get you another card or cards!  You have to reveal what you snagged to your opponent and shuffle your deck afterward, and Drizzile has served its purpose at this point… unless you plan on evolving into Inteleon.

Let us take a moment to briefly explore the rest of the line.  There are a few Sobble from which to pick, but none are particularly good.  If you’re going to use Professor Elm’s Lecture, go with one of the 60 HP versions, otherwise use Sobble (Sword & Shield 55/202) for its 70 HP.  You could use Drizzile (Sword & Shield 57/202) instead of today’s version.  It has the same stats, but slightly less bad attacks.  Do not run it unless you have to… like in a Theme Format match on the PTCGO.  There are two versions of Inteleon you could run.  There is enough to them that we should just give them their own reviews.  For now, know that Inteleon (Sword & Shield 58/202) also has Shady Dealings, but its version fetches two Trainer cards from your deck, while Inteleon (Sword & Shield 59/202)  has disruption based attacks.

Drizzile is a good example of making a Stage 2 Evolution line’s Stage 1 matter.  If your end goal is Inteleon (either version), you’ll still probably run some Rare Candy, but only for when speed is essential.  Shady Dealings is so good you’ll almost always want to get the exact Trainer card into your hand that you need at the moment, or that you think you may need later, even if you’re telegraphing the play to your opponent.  Trainer cards cover a whole host of effects, whether they’re for augmenting offense, buffing defense, disrupting your opponent’s side of the field, of improving your own.  Shady Dealings may be worth it as Ditto {*} TecH.

I don’t know why a deck would bother with Drizzile and not also include at least one Inteleon (Sword & Shield 58/202), but it could be done if required.  This Drizzile has already seen at least a little success in Japan, but from what little I know it was alongside Inteleon (Sword & Shield 58/202).  Unfortunately, Inteleon V and Inteleon VMAX are out in Japan, and performing well enough to muddy my search results, so the one actual deck list I found (source here) including Drizzile was a pretty crazy one.  It did win an event, but the deck ran three Stage 2 Pokémon (one being Inteleon) to back a Zacian V!  We’ll have to wait and see if that happened due to specifics with that event, or if you can try that approach and win over here as well.

How about in our Expanded Format, or their Expanded Format?  This is all Theorymon, but with all the potent Trainer cards – excluding those banned – in Expanded, it seems silly to not expect a deck using Inteleon (Sword & Shield 58/202) and Drizzile (Sword & Shield 056/202) to make good.  Yes, you will need to plan for Ability denial, but Shady Dealings can do even more here.  While Shady Dealings can only directly fetch Trainers from your deck, though them it can also get Pokémon and Energy… including some stuff from your discard pile.  It may happen right away, or it may take a while… and this is also where a Drizzile-only (or at least “mostly) approach could pay off.  As for the Limited Format, only skip Drizzile if you (for some reason) build a deck with no Trainers, have no Sobble, or are going for a Mulligan build around a big, Basic Pokémon V.

Ratings

• Standard: 3/5
• Expanded: 3/5
• Limited: 4/5

As a reminder, the above scores are for an evolving Stage 1.  Drizzile’s Shady Dealings may be a one-and-done trick, barring Pokémon recycling or bounce effects, but Trainer cards in general can do so much that Shady Dealings in turn can effectively do so much.  I don’t know if Drizzile will every truly be worth running apart from Inteleon, but even if it isn’t it is a card to snag sooner rather than later.  Drizzile didn’t make our countdown, but it was actually nominated alongside – you guessed it – Inteleon (Sword & Shield 58/202).

Vince

Drizzile

Ratings:

• Standard: 4/5
• Expanded: 4/5
• Limited: 4/5

Details: Well, are you surprised that we’re reviewing a card on the weekends? There’s just so much cards to cover but weekend reviews, hopefully, are going to be easy to review. But then again, I could have a lot to say, so no matter what day a certain card is about to be reviewed, I feel indifferent.

Anyhow, Drizzile is good for only one thing, and that is to grab a Trainer card for you via Shady Dealings Ability. If Alolan Ninetales-GX from SM Lost Thunder were to be an indication, it is that getting items, supporters, or stadiums, even if you’re fetching only one card, this is a very powerful effect by itself. You could grab your second Custom Catcher to grab a damaged Pokémon and finish it off. You could even grab Professor’s Research or Marnie for straight draw power. This indirectly makes Evolution Incense extremely useful. If you already have Sobble in play, you could perform the following actions:

Evolution Incense > Drizzile > Trainer card of choice (unless it’s prized, of course)!!!

Drizzile will see a significant amount of play and would probably be sufficient to run a 1-1 or a 2-2 line just for the ability. Even if it does nothing else afterwards, it could help fuel up the damage output of G-Max Fall from Snorlax V-Max as it does 60 damage plus 30 more damage for each Benched Pokemon you have in play.

As you may have realized, it evolves from a starter Pokémon, and like with all starters, they always have a Basic, Stage 1, and Stage 2 forms, and we’re going to look at its final form tomorrow and see if it’s going to be needed or to be redundant. Might as well tell you who that Pokémon is; Depending on the Build & Battle boxes that you’ve pulled, a Frosmoth group will have a guaranteed 3-2-2 Inteleon line. I know I have a handful of Drizziles.