Heat Factory [Prism Star] – Pokemon Review

Vince

Heat Factory is a Prism Star Stadium Card that lets players discard a Fire energy from their hand in order to draw three cards. In isolation, drawing cards that doesn’t come from a Supporter card is good because it can let you use a Supporter card that can let you draw further cards or use a niche effect. This is an improved Scorched Earth, where it previously draw you two cards if you discarded a Fire or Fighting energy from your hand. The Fire energy discard can be a bit troublesome, but we got ways to recover basic energy cards, so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

As always, being a Prism Star means you can’t have more than one card of the same name, and that it gets put into the Lost Zone if it tries to get into the discard pile, rendering it outside from play until the match is over. As a Stadium, it can get removed by removal cards and other Stadiums. However, Heat Factory does get protected from being discarded by Field Blower or Bonnie, but still get replaced by other Stadium cards. Overall, this should be a staple in Fire decks by virtue of specialization.

• Standard: 3.5/5
• Expanded: 3.5/5
• Limited: 4.75/5

21times
PokeDeck
Central

Heat Factory Prism Star (LOT 178) cauterized the meta with its introduction in the Lost Thunder expansion set.  Very similar to Scorched Earth (Primal Clash 138), this Stadium gets you three cards instead of two but has the same cost of discarding a single Fire energy (sorry Fighting energy, Heat Factory doesn’t help you out this time).

A valuable method of supplemental draw support, this card pairs extremely well with Naganadel (LOT 108) because you can discard the Fire energy and then instantly reattach it with Naganadel’s Charging Up.  Getting a spif of three cards per turn can be extremely beneficial for as long as Heat Factory is in play, and as a Prism Star Stadium card, only other Stadiums can dislodge it.

Unfortunately, most decks today are either playing Shrine of Punishment (CES 143) or another stadium to dislodge Shrine of Punishment, so it’s fairly likely that you’ll only be able to use this card a single time.  It also seems a little underpowered to me.  I get focusing it on Fire types only, that’s fine, but why not four or even five cards?  Why not go select three cards from your deck?  THAT would REALLY make this card powerful, which Prism cards are supposed to be.  If they’re so good that you can only play one of them in your deck, shouldn’t they be significant cards?  I’ve actually cut this from some of my Fire archetypes because it’s just not that reliable.  I’d rather just insert another draw Supporter that I could potentially grab with Tapu Lele GX.  I don’t really have a consistent means for finding Stadiums in my deck right now, it’s not like I can pull out Skyla (BKT 148) and go grab one.

All in all, Heat Factory is ok but not the game changing card that we’d like Prism Stars to be.

Rating

Standard: 2.5 out of 5

Otaku

Hope you’re all fired up for today’s review. Once again, we’re (mostly) covering cards that were nominated for our recent Top 11 list but also managed to show up in some of the high-performing lists at recent events. Please note that this is based on results you can find at limitlesstcg.com, which usually posts up to the top 10% of placements at an event; some of these cards may have appeared in the deck of someone in the Top 8, but some are from decks that managed more like a Top 64 finish. In both cases, we’re talking events that had 600+ participants, so that’s still a good showing, even if a card was run as a single.

Finally cashing in on that opening wordplay, let’s look at Heat Factory {*} (SM – Lost Thunder 178/214). If it hasn’t been apparent from past usage, “{*}” just represents the Prism Star symbol; it is notation I took from a rulings document. As a Prism Star card, you may only run a single copy of Heat Factory {*} in your deck AND once something sends it to the discard pile, Heat Factory {*} sends itself to the Lost Zone. This means you should not rely too heavily on any Prism Star; it may be Prized or prematurely discarded. So far, there are no Prism Star counters which apply to anything but Abilities – see Wobbuffet (SM – Lost Thunder 93/214) – and there is one piece of support, a double search for Prism Star cards in the form of Lisia, a Supporter. Being a Trainer doesn’t mean much, especially in Standard; in Expanded it mostly means a Trainers’ Mail or Skyla can snag Heat Factory {*}. Being a Stadium means other Stadiums can discard Heat Factory {*}, though it has to be a Stadium with a different name. It also means you may be able to get multiple uses out of Heat Factory {*}; both in terms of activating its effect more than once should it remain in play multiple turns, and that you may also benefit from it discarding a previously played Stadium card.

The effect of Heat Factory {*} is twofold. On a player’s turn, he or she can discard a [R] Energy from hand to then draw three cards. This must be activated before your turn ends, or before you do something that ends your turn automatically once it resolves (like attacking). The second part of the effect is shared by all Prism Star Stadium cards; while in play, prevent the effects of Item or Supporter cards played from hand which would be done to Heat Factory {*}. This is why I didn’t bring up Faba, Field Blower, or any of the other Items and Supporter cards that can discard a player’s Stadium. Heat Factory {*} has to worry about Pokémon-based effects, however, including those that copy the effects of an Item or Supporter or use one from someplace other than the hand. As stated earlier, if either player plays another Stadium card with a different name, Heat Factory {*} is discarded as well. Drawing three cards isn’t good enough for Hau, but there’s a difference between using your once-per-turn Supporter on something and using your once-per-turn Stadium card… especially when that Stadium card has a decent chance of sticking around and isn’t too likely to also work for your opponent. Only basic Fire Energy cards count as [R] while in hand, and we have decks that can easily take advantage of those Fire Energy cards while they are in your discard pile as well.

Indeed, it wasn’t all that long ago that Scorched Earth was proved itself useful in decks that ran either basic Fighting Energy or Fire Energy cards, as its own effect let you discard one of either to draw just two cards. Even restricted to just decks that run some Fire Energy and can afford or even want it in the discard pile, Heat Factory {*} finds itself a staple… and that isn’t an unimportant niche at it includes Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel decks in the Standard Format. It will probably include them in the Expanded Format as well, and maybe something older like Volcanion-EX decks; I haven’t been able to test myself and we’d really want official tournament results anyway since I’m not a high-level player practicing against other high-level players. Definitely run this in the Limited Format. Yes, even if you aren’t running any [R] Energy; Stadium cards in the Limited Format aren’t just about accessing an effect, but playing your own Stadium to deny an opponent access to an even more helpful Stadium already in play. There are two other Stadium cards in SM – Lost Thunder and both are also Prism Star cards.

Ratings

Standard: 3.3/5

Expanded: 3.1/5

Limited: 4/5

Even if Heat Factory {*} doesn’t prove important in the long run, and even if you’re not inclined to run a Blacephalon-GX deck with it right away, this is definitely something to obtain sooner rather than later. Unless you’re also a collector or insist on building multiple full decks at once, you only ever need a single copy, and it is NOT an expensive card in either the PTCGO or the physical TCG. We’re talking 0.25 packs in the former and about $1.00 USD for the real-life card! Given that this is just a Scorched Earth that draws a bit more and is more difficult to discard from play in exchange for being pickier, seems like a safe bet.