Drone Rotom- Vivid Voltage
Date Reviewed: December 16, 2020
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 2.00
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:
Otaku
Drone Rotom (SW – Vivid Voltage 151/185) is a Trainer-Item that forces your opponent to reveal their hand, and if they do, then you also get to look at the top card of their deck. Unless they rule you cannot reveal a zero-card hand, there isn’t a way for the first part to fail… but they went to the trouble as wording the two effects as if it could. You’re not generating any card advantage, damage, etc. with Drone Rotom, but you’re gaining information. How valuable that information proves will depend on exactly what it is, when you play it, the decks involved, etc.
Any deck benefits from the extra information, but not enough for it to be worth a Trainer, even the easy-to-spam Item cards. Control decks may be able to make excellent use of the information, as could certain kinds of beatdown decks. Basically, if an effect depends on the contents of your opponent’s hand and/or the top card of your deck, Drone Rotom is helpful. It isn’t available yet, but there is a Rotom card in Japan with a coming-into-play Ability that lets you search your deck for two cards with “Rotom” in their names, and add them to your hand. That should help Drone Rotom, at least a little.
The Expanded Format has more control decks, which can help because those are the most likely place you’d use Drone Rotom. Then again, some of those decks lock down Items for both players, you’ll have to face the ones that just lock down the opponent’s, and some of the other forms of hand control include looking at your opponent’s hand or the top card of their deck. In the Limited Format, however, you should have ample room for Drone Rotom in your deck, and even looking as seeing your opponent has nothing of substance is still important information… let alone if you do spot an important play before it can happen.
Ratings
- Standard: 2/5
- Expanded: 2/5
- Limited: 3/5
Drone Rotom doesn’t do a lot, but it only costs you the slot in your deck it takes to run it. The main issue is whether or not you have room in your deck, and then whether or not you can capitalize upon what Drone Rotom reveals. Technically, it works in any deck, but I’m thinking it will only be worth it in certain control decks. Definitely one of those little cards to remember, and an improvement over its predecessor, Hand Scope, which only forced your opponent to reveal their hand. Drone Rotom was our 31st-Place pick; only the bottom our the site list, but still to Drone Rotom’s credit. I didn’t have Drone Rotom on my own list, but as a long term prospect, I can understand why someone would include it low on their own list.
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