Pheromosa – Pokemon Forbidden Light

Vince

Well, this is a card that haven’t been previously reviewed…for over a year and a half! Pheromosa from Forbidden Light has two simple attacks. High Jump Kick does 20 damage for one energy. White Ray does 90 damage for 3 energy, plus 90 more damage if you have one prize card remaining.

I can’t think of any competitive use for this card even today. I guess since it’s useful for that free retreat, it was previously paired with Tapu Koko and Alolan Vulpix so that Arceus Prism Star can finally use its Trinity Star attack (that attack is similar to Ultimate Ray, but it needs Grass, Water, and Lightning Pokemon in play, or it’ll do nothing otherwise). Professor Oak’s Setup can easily bring three of the four Pokemon in play. While Tapu Koko – the one with that spread Flying Flip attack – has free retreat, Alolan Vulpix has a retreat cost of one, but can be shaved off by Escape Board.

Even if you save it as a finisher, 180 damage can only get you so far depending on the situation. It may be enough to OHKO any single prize Pokémon, but against beefier Pokémon that gives up multiple prizes, you might fall short of doing the job. Maybe the other reviewers might have something that I wasn’t aware of regarding this card. The only thing I know is that it fulfills one of the requirements of unleashing Arceus Prism Star Trinity Star attack.

Ratings:

• Standard: 2/5
• Expanded: 2/5
• Limited: 3.5/5 (If you also pulled Beast Energy Prism Star, then it becomes a good single energy attacker.)

Otaku

Pheromosa (SM – Forbidden Light 11/131; SM – Black Star Promos SM115; Shiny Vault SV5/SV94) officially released back May of 2018.  That is a little new to be a Throwback, but only a little.  It is an Ultra Beast, gaining access to some great support but making it vulnerable to some decent(ish) counters.  The [G] Typing sometimes comes in handy for exploiting Weakness, and gives you the option of using Type support like Net Ball.  Being a Basic is the best as it means minimal deck space and effort to field.  The 110 HP is on the low side, leaving itmore likely to be OHKO’d than not.  [R] Weakness is only a problem if an [R] Type does 60 to 100 damage.  No Resistance is typical, but that free Retreat Cost is perfect!

Pheromosa has two attacks.  For [C] it can use “High Jump Kick” for 20 damage.  This isn’t good, but it could come in handy from time to time.  Maybe.  The second attack is “White Ray” for [GGC], doing 90 damage plus another 90 if you have only one Prize card remaining.  With the effect, this would be an underwhelming attack, but with it, Pheromosa makes for a potent – but not overly powerful – closer.  Without help, she’ll fall short of OHKOing the fatties – and even no-so-fatties – of the competitive metagame, but there are plenty of Basic Pokémon-EX/GX to consider, plus the huge stuff that happens to be [G] Weak.

Going into this review, I assumed that White Ray was the reason Pheromosa was showing up in some Blacephalon (SM – Unbroken Bonds 32214) decks that had been doing well lately.  Nope!  It turns out the selling point is being an Ultra Beast with a free Retreat Cost!  The lists in question run on just basic Fire Energy and one Beast Energy {*}, so they can’t use White Ray.  In that regard, the only other option is Kartana (SM – Unbroken Bonds 19/214).  While it could use both of its attacks if swapped with Pheromosa in these decks, you’d have to burn the Beast Energy {*} to do it.  Also, what little I’ve read suggests that High Jump Kick actually does come in handy some of the time.

Theoretically, Pheromosa is still a solid option for a [G] Type, single-Prize cleaner in Ultra Beast decks, or anything that can pay for White Ray, but can’t use the same resources to pay for something better.  This goes for the Expanded Format as well.  As long as you don’t pull a big, Basic Pokémon-GX worth running solo, being a Basic free-retreater with 110 HP means you should be running Pheromosa.  If you an afford White Ray, even better.

Ratings

• Standard: 3/5
• Expanded: 3/5
• Limited: 4/5

Pheromosa ended up surprising me; I thought I knew how it was being used, but I was wrong.  To be fair, I could still be wrong.  I think Pheromosa may have seen a little success back when it was new, but whether it did or did not, I’m glad folks have a reason to run it now.