Genesect V – Fusion Strike
Date Reviewed: November 17, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 5.00
Expanded: 4.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
11th-Place in our countdown of the top 15 cards from SW – Fusion Strike is… Genesect V (SW – Fusion Strike 185/264, 254/264, 255/264)! This is a Pokémon with a Rule Box and, (peeking ahead) yeah that is going to matter because it has an Ability Path to the Peak can shut off. As a Pokémon V, Genesect V is excluded from certain beneficial effects (like Scoop Up Net), and has to deal with anti-Pokémon V effects like the “Deep Forest Camo” Ability found on Decidueye (SW – Darkness Ablaze 013/189; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH035; Shining Fate 008/072, SV003/SV003). This also means Genesect V gives up an extra Prize when it is KO’d, but will have more HP than a baseline Genesect V and potentially better effects.
Genesect V is a Metal type, which seems solid. Not all that useful for exploiting Weakness, it means access to Metal Saucer, plus a few other less significant tricks in Standard. Expanded adds back in some useful bits, like Metal Goggles and Metal Frying Pan. Genesect V is a Basic Pokémon, so you can snag it with Quick Ball and won’t need extra turns or cards to put it into play. Genesect V is a Fusion Strike Pokémon, and that’s definitely a good thing. You may recall I listed several bits of Fusion Strike support when we reviewed Toxtricity and Genesect V was part of that list. I’ll explain its own way of supporting the Battle Style later, but access to goodies like Fusion Energy and Power Tablet are a real bonus!
Genesect V has 190 HP, which is actually small for a Basic Pokémon V. Not the smallest, but most Basic Pokémon V have more like 210 to 230 HP; this does make it relatively easy to OHKO. Fire types will have an even easier time, as [R] Weakness means just 100 damage will do the dead. At least its [G] Resistance lets Genesect V endure about as well as a regular (non-Resistance) Basic Pokémon in against Grass attackers. The Retreat Cost of [CC] is neither low nor high. If you can spare your Tool slot, Air Balloon can zero it out.
Genesect V has one Ability and one attack. “Fusion Strike System” is an Ability that may be used once, during your turn, per instance. So, if you have three copies of this card in play, each may use its Fusion Strike System once during your turn. You can do anything that doesn’t end your turn before or between each of them using that Ability either. Why am I stressing this so much? Fusion Strike System lets you draw until you have a number of cards in your hand equal to how many Fusion Strike Pokémon are in play. Build a Fusion Strike deck around Genesect V, with nothing except Fusion Strike Pokémon in play, and Fusion Strike System lets you draw until you have six cards when your Bench is full (nine cards if it is Expanded and you use Sky Field!). Even in mixed company, Genesect V can match Kricketune V with just two or three other Fusion Strike Pokémon. If those additional Fusion Strike Pokémon are more copies of Genesect V, they outperform Kricketune V since they don’t need to be Active and each can use its Fusion Strike System.
Genesect V’s attack is “Techno Blast”. Priced at [MMC], it lets this Pokémon do 210 damage to your opponent’s Active, but places an effect on itself so that it cannot attack. Three Energy is no small matter, but Metal Saucer (and maybe Elesa’s Sparkle) makes it reasonable. Shaking the “cannot attack” effect isn’t too difficult, either. Switching or retreating into an alternate attacker, or double switching/switch-and-retreating to attack with the same Pokémon is a proven workaround. 210 is enough to OHKO some Basic Pokémon V, and most single-Prize targets. Disregarding defensive buffs, of course. Fusion Tablet grants up to 30 damage per copy used; dropping all four at once means nothing is safe… okay, only when we go by just HP scores. Even spreading them out, Genesect V should be a dangerous foe with which to trade blows.
So yeah, that is why some people expect Quad Genesect V to become one of the new top decks, and I can definitely see that happening. Path to the Peak remains an somewhat easy (depends on what you run), somewhat common counter, however. Notice how I’ve been mentioning a lot of cards when explaining what Genesect V can do. It needs Fusion Strike System to get the right cards into hand. Even if Quad Genesect V isn’t a thing, only Fusion Strike decks that refuse to run multi-Prize Pokémon will lack Genesect V. Everything else will want at least one on their Bench, and preferably as many as they can fit into a deck. In Expanded, I think Genesect V has a real shot there as well, though it faces more counters (Silent Lab). I had Genesect V as my my 5th-Place pick, so covering it already seems a bit too soon. In fact, I’m thinking it should have been higher on my list as well.
Ratings
- Standard: 5/5
- Expanded: 4/5
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