Jirachi Prism Star – Celestial Storm Pokemon Review

Vince

When I first looked at Jirachi Prism Star from almost two years ago, I thought this might be one of those cards that seems to be pretty powerful, but under the right circumstances. I still think that to this day. That’s not because of it’s 80 HP, Fire weakness, Psychic resistance, a retreat cost of one, or it’s Perish Dream attack, as it’s attack is very costly that actually prompts your opponent to switch their Active Pokemon (otherwise it will be Knocked Out at the end of their next turn). No, it has to do with it’s ability called Wish Upon a Star.

This ability only works when you take this Pokemon as a face-down Prize card. It has to be face down; if somehow you used Blacephalon’s Blazer attack and suddenly Jirachi becomes face up on the prizes, there’s goes your chance of trying to get that ability to work. Moving on, if you did take this Pokemon from the prizes, then you put that Pokemon on the Bench and take another prize card. That’s probably a good thing it had to be a Prism star card because if you were to use 4 of those Jirachi, and all 4 happen to be on the prizes (extremely unlikely), then you get to put one of them to the Bench and grab another prize. Repeat three more times, and you’ve just taken a total of five prizes! Again, this scenario is extremely unlikely as you won’t be having all of them in the prizes although there are much older cards which can somehow swap prize cards. The only card that can put Jirachi Prism Star from your hand onto your prizes would be Azelf from DP Legends Awakened, as it’s Time Walk Poke-Power let’s you do that (if you revealed a Pokemon from the prize pile).

Now, I don’t know which decks used Jirachi Prism Star, and there isn’t a way to find out since the results only show the deck lists, not a specific card used in a deck. Considering that this card is about to leave rotation this fall, and players might have tried to make the most out of this card before it leaves. So I think Jirachi was a useful card to try to finish the match sooner. And the best part of this ability is that there’s no way to disable abilities of Pokemon coming from the prizes, so Wish Upon a Star will guarantee to happen.

Ratings:

Standard: 3/5 (Soon to be N/A)
Expanded: 3/5
Limited: 3/5

Otaku

Jirachi {*} (SM – Celestial Storm 97/168) is today’s subject.  As a Prism Star card – the “{*}” is how I’ve seen the symbol typed out in rulings – you may only have one copy of Jirachi {*} in your deck, and if it would be end up in your discard pile for any reason, instead it goes to your Lost Zone.  Only a few effects mention Prism Star cards:

• Lisia is a Supporter that can add two of them from your deck to your hand.
• Wobuffet (SM – Lost Thunder 93/214) has the Ability “Shady Tail”, which only works while it is on a player’s Bench.  Shady Tail causes Prism Star Pokémon to be treated as if they have no Abilities while they are in play, and also prevents them from attacking.
• All instances of the “Lost March” attack state they do 20 damage per Pokémon in that player’s Lost Zone excluding Prism Star Pokémon.  An embarrassing bit of trivia for me is that, when I first saw translations for Lost March, I didn’t notice that exception.

Prism Star cards – they can also be Trainers or Energy – are at least intended to have better stats or effects than their baseline counterparts, relative to any other costs, conditions, etc. found on the card.

In this case, this is all about the card’s Ability, “Wish Upon a Star”.  This Ability only triggers when you take a facedown Prize card and that card is Jirachi {*}.  It will work if you take multiple Prize cards at once and Jirachi {*} is one of them, but not if Jirachi {*} is face up as a Prize card when taken.  Something like Blacephalon-GX’s “Burst-GX” attack, which discards (not “takes”) one of your Prize cards also won’t trigger it.  Your Bench also cannot be full if you want to use “Wish Upon a Star”; not only does the effect say it, but mechanically, it wouldn’t work…

…because Wish Upon a Star immediately Benches Jirachi {*}.  Jirachi {*} never hits your hand; again, the card’s own text states as much.  After you’ve met all those conditions, Wish Upon a Star let’s you take one more Prize card.  Let me stress that: you get to take an extra Prize card if all this works out!  You do have the option of not using Wish Upon a Star; it may sound crazy, but there may legitimately be situations where taking an extra Prize could backfire, or you need the Bench-space next turn to play something else to take the win, or Jirachi {*} being in play will let your opponent take the win the next turn, etc.  They just aren’t likely.

Now for rest of the card.  [M] Typing is good due to their support, but Jirachi {*} seems unlikely to need most of it.  Being a Basic is the best, but less so than normal.  It is vital that Quick Ball can fetch Jirachi {*}, but you only want to Bench it through its Ability, and do not want it to be your opening Active.  Alolan Muk (Sun & Moon 58/149) and Silent Lab also add to the list of anti-Ability effects to watch out for in Expanded.  80 HP is easy to OHKO, but makes Jirachi {*} Level Ball legal.  Jirachi {*} should rarely be Active, so the [R] Weakness, -20 [P] Resistance, and [C] Retreat Cost won’t really matter.  Otherwise, they’d be dangerous, slightly beneficial, and very good (respectively).

[CCC] pays for “Perish Dream”, which lets Jirachi {*} do 10 damage but put itself to Sleep.  Then, at the end of your opponent’s next turn, the Defending Pokémon (meaning the Pokémon you attacked) is Knocked Out.  The effect specifically targets the Pokémon hit by the attack, so – barring something like Ninja Boy – your opponent just needs to change out their current Active to avoid the KO.  Even if your opponent can’t or just doesn’t change out their Active, note that the KO happens at the end of your opponent’s next turn; that means it still gets to attack.  This would be bad for this price on a regular Jirachi, but making you risk a Prism Star Pokémon really hurts.

With all that out of the way, Jirachi {*} wasn’t reviewed when it first released because we lacked a worthwhile combo to affordably and reliably get Jirachi {*} into your Prizes, with you knowing exactly which Prize card it was.  This changed with the release of three cards:

• Mr. Mime (Detective Pikachu 11/18)
• Oranguru (Sword & Shield 148/202)
• Scoop Up Net

You’ll need to make sure you have enough open Bench spaces for the combo to work, and probably want something that can easily take a Prize.

You could already try to use and reuse Jirachi {*} before all three of these were available, but it was more costly and/or less reliable.  The combo requires you have space to Bench Mr. Mime and Jirachi {*}, Oranguru already in play, with Mr. Mime and Jirachi {*} in hand.

1. Use Oranguru’s “Primate Wisdom” Ability to swap Jirachi {*} with the top card of your deck; as a bonus, you’ll get another card in hand.
2. Bench Mr. Mime, so you can activate its “Pantomime” Ability.  This lets you swap the top card of your deck (Jirachi {*}) with one of your facedown Prize cards.
3. The next time you take a Prize, select the facedown Jirachi {*}, then use Wish Upon a Star to Bench it and take an extra Prize.
4. Use copies of Scoop Up Net to bounce Jirachi {*} – and anything else, if needed – to repeat the combo as needed!

If you’re messing with the Unlimited Format – even the PTCGO version of it – you can substitute Rotom (HS – Undaunted 20/90).  It’s “Mischievous Trick” Poké-Power has the same effect as Mr. Mime’s Pantomime except it is a regular, once-per-turn effect and not a coming-into-play effect.

If this is your first time hearing of this combo, it may be a lot to take in… but this is one of those reviews where it is not my crazy Theorymon, but me relaying what others have already done!  Check out the results from the fourth Limitless Online Qualifier Series tournament here.  It can be a bit tricky to search out, but if you’re on something where Ctrl+F works, do that and hunt for “1 Jirachi “.  Note the space after the “Jirachi”  You’ll still get some false hits from a handful of decks running only one copy of Jirachi (SM – Team Up 99/181; SM – Black Star Promos SM161).

I counted 22 decks using this combo: 20 Zacian V and two Blacephalon (SM – Unbroken Bonds 32/214).  This includes several that placed high in the top cut, such as the overall winner’s Zacian V deck!  So Jirachi {*} is earning its keep in Standard.  It seems to be an alternative to running Acreus & Dialga & Palkia-GX; you don’t get the damage bonus and you’ve got to recycle the combo (unless you’re taking enough Prizes using it just once), but you avoid a three-Prize TAG TEAM Pokémon.

I’ve no data on the combo in Expanded, whether first- or secondhand.  The same combo pieces are there, plus a few more that might (but probably won’t) lead to even crazier combos, but anti-Item and anti-Ability effects are much stronger here, potentially shutting the whole thing down.  If a deck every makes Jirachi {*} plays really strong, remember that Here Comes Team Rocket! is your Supporter TecH to counter it.  You may as well try your luck with Jirachi {*} in Limited; you may even be able to make its Preish Dream attack work, but getting it into your Prizes will purely be about luck.

Ratings

Standard: 3/5

Expanded: 3/5

Limited: 2/5

All of that and I’m only awarding Jirachi {*} a three-out-of-five in Standard?  Yes, because Jirachi {*} is power at a price, either extreme luck or a combo.  The good news is that unlike some such combos, when part of it is disabled, the rest can still be useful.  Mr. Mime is the least useful, but if you still have Oranguru, you can always Prize a card you don’t need and then take it as your last Prize.  Oranguru is already a reasonably common Bench-sitter, and Scoop Up Net is doing great things as well.  Now, Jirachi {*} is one of those cards you never want to forget about.  Power creep is a thing in this TCG, and so is the Expanded Format; it is possible X years later, we’ll get something that just breaks this card.

aroramage

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