Necrozma V – Battle Styles
Date Reviewed: May 14, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 3.0
Expanded: 3.0
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Vince
Necrozma-V from Sword & Shield Battle Styles is a Basic Psychic type with 220 HP, Darkness weakness, Fighting weakness, a retreat cost of CCC, and two attacks. Prismatic Ray costs a single Psychic energy for 20 damage and also does 20 damage to 2 of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon. Special Laser costs PPC for 100 damage, plus 120 more if it has a Special Energy attached to it.
This is similar to the other Necrozma card from Sun & Moon Unified Minds as it also has the Special Laser attack that costed three energies for 100 damage, but only doing 60 extra damage instead. Anyhow, to make the most of Special Laser, you need some good Special Energy cards. Aurora Energy or any of the niche Special Energy cards that provide “C” energy would trigger the damage bonus. There’s also other special energies for Psychic types, like Horror P Energy or Mystery Energy in Expanded. Horror P Energy’s effect works just like Rocky Helmet does, and you could even combine that energy card with your own Rocky Helmet, totaling 4 damage counters that you can place if your Pokémon is damaged by an attack. With 220 damage plus the effects of Horror P Energy and Rocky Helmet, that means 260 total damage, which can take care of most Basic Pokémon-V, though it falls short of TAG TEAMs and VMAX Pokemon.
Fueling from zero into attacking is hard on Standard (maybe Turbo Patch), but Expanded has Malamar from SM Forbidden Light which can accelerate Psychic Energies for you. Also add that it could keep both Urshifu cards in check. Overall, Necrozma-V is a pretty decent card.
Ratings:
Standard: 3/5
Expanded: 3/5
Otaku
Necrozma V has a lot going for it, but also some things going against it. It is a [P] type, which is decent for exploiting Weakness with new stuff like Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX and time tested decks like Mewtwo & Mew-GX variants. Not as impressive in terms of type support, at least in Standard. Being a Basic is still great, same as usual. Being a Pokémon V is a tradeoff, the same as usual; better HP, possibly better effects, but worth two Prizes when KO’d, excluded from some support but targeted by certain counters.
That 220 HP isn’t record setting, but it is enough for Necrozma V to survive 200 damage attacks, a good threshold to clear. [D] Weakness is dangerous, though Eternatus VMAX going all out would have a OHKO anyway. [F] Resistance might actually come in handy! A Retreat Cost of [CCC] is arguably the worst; it is barely any easier to use than Retreat Cost [CCCC], but doesn’t have access to tricks like Buff Padding… not that those tricks are always worth using. Just make sure to include some switching cards to get it out of the Active position unless you’re okay with it being stuck there.
“Prismatic Ray” costs [P] to do 20 damage to your opponent’s Active plus 20 to two of their Benched Pokémon. Good for the Energy if you’re interested in spreading damage, and decent fall back option when you can’t afford its big attack. The second attack is “Special Laser”, priced at [PPC]. That won’t be easy to pay, and if you don’t trigger its bonus effect, it only does 100 damage. That would be badly overpriced. Fortunately, its effect lets it do an extra 120, so long as there is a Special Energy attached to Necrozma V. 220 for three, even with such a requirement, is pretty nice. Most fellow Basic Pokémon V fall within OHKO range.
Barring extensive damage reduction or HP buffs, or more extensive forms of protection, you’re 2HKOing anything not in your OHKO range. That’s good! Is it enough to make Necrozma V worth running? Apparently not, at least, not yet. No signs of it at the Players Cup III Global Finals. I’m thinking it is mostly a question of how to supply the needed Energy. Ideally, you could attach two basic Psychic Energy quickly, plus a Special Energy you can make use of so it is doing more than just satisfying the attack’s effect requirement. Though, if you do attach a Special Energy that counts as [P], you could then do something crazy like use a basic Fighting Energy for the [C] requirement, and increase Necrozma V’s damage with Martial Arts Dojo.
Ratings
Standard: 3/5
Expanded: 3/5
Another abridged review, Necrozma V is one of those Pokémon with a lot going for it, but no deck that can use it well. We get some good, compatible Energy acceleration, or maybe just try it backed by Porygon-Z, and who knows?
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