Guzma & Hala – Cosmic Eclipse Pokemon Review

Vince

Guzma & Hala might be an odd pairing, but it will make sense on postgame of Sun & Moon, where you battle Guzma one more time and defeat him. Hala invites Guzma to train with him, just like the good old days.

Anyhow, this is an interesting Supporter as they fetch you more stuff. They can net you a Stadium card to be used right away, if you discard 2 cards from your hand, then you can also grab a Special Energy and a Pokémon Tool card. Some decks might benefit to the fullest extent; there are times where you would want to use a Stadium card, a Special Energy card, and a Pokémon Tool card in that same turn you’ve played Guzma & Hala.

It’s use depends on your deck. If you do use those three categories in a deck, then they can prove useful.

Ratings:

• Standard: 3/5
• Expanded: 3/5
• Limited: 3.5/5

Otaku

Guzma & Hala (SM – Cosmic Eclipse 193/236, 229/236) is one of the new TAG TEAM Supporters.  It’s primary effect is fetching a Stadium card from your deck.  It’s secondary effect requires you discard two cards from your hand, but you get to add a Tool and a Special Energy to your hand.  Given that both effects are search, I don’t think there’s any way you could use the secondary effect without using the primary one.  That shouldn’t be a problem as these are non-generic search effects, which can be failed if you wish or if you really cannot find any of the card specified in your deck.

Like with most (all?) TAG TEAM Supporters, the first effect is underpowered but the secondary effect is worth it… or at least, both effects together should be.  Yes, you’re giving up a Supporter and two cards from hand, but you’re getting the Special Energy, Stadium, and Tool (three total cards).  Special Energy cards tend to be difficult to search, and all three cards are handy to drop in a single turn.  Your preferred attacker can go from having nothing but itself to having three likely combo pieces.  This is already seeing play, including multiple decks that performed well at the Sao Paulo International Championship.  How well?  The 2nd place deck in the Masters, plus many more!

Ratings

Standard: 4/5

Expanded: 3.5/5

Limited: 3/5

Why did I score this as high as I did the best we saw from our Top 11?  Mostly based on what I’m seeing in tournament results.  Note that I haven’t seen the results from this past weekend, yet.  It is more specialized than Cynthia & Caitlin but where it matters, it should really matter.  Unlike Cynthia & Cailtin, Guzma & Hala has a good chance of proving useful in Expanded; Special Energy search isn’t that much easier there, but we have VS Seeker to recycle Supporters.  Only in the Limited Format, where you probably don’t have all three kinds of cards in your deck, and maybe won’t even have one (still run it to peak at your deck), is it average.