Phoebe – Battle Styles
Date Reviewed: April 6, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 3.00
Expanded: 2.50
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Phoebe (SW – Battle Styles 130/163, 161/163, 175/163) is a Trainer-Supporter, so right away, she needs a fairly good effect. Hers is that she lets the damage from attacks by your Pokémon VMAX ignore the effects on your opponent’s Active. Please note that Weakness and Resistance are not considered to be “effects” on your opponent’s Active. Instead, they are simply “game mechanics”, so Phoebe will not let you ignore them. Based on rulings for similar effects, if something is altering the Weakness or Resistance of your opponent’s Active, Phoebe will not let you bypass such an effect. While they tend to be rare, this also means effects on your opponent’s Active that increase how much damage are done to them will also be ignored the turn you use Phoebe, at least, if you attack them using a Pokémon VMAX.
Phoebe is one of those cards that are incredibly niche. Most of the time, she’s useless. However, she earns her keep when your attacking Pokémon VMAX needs to damage something like Zamazenta V or Decidueye (SW – Darkness Ablaze 013/189; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH035; Shining Fates 008/072, SV003/SV122) through their Abilities. There are other benefits as well, like bypassing the protection offered to Zacian V by an attached Metal Goggles. Or something using an attack like “Agility” successful. In some cases, you can switch to a different attacker to bypass an effect, but while Phoebe costs you your Supporter, she lets you keep using your Pokémon VMAX and lets you bypass anything.
Ratings
- Standard: 3/5
- Expanded: 3/5
Phoebe should at least be an occasional inclusion when your main attacker is a Pokémon VMAX, and it is possible it could achieve “staple” status in such decks. In Expanded, VS Seeker and better Supporter search makes it not only easier to include a single copy, even to spam that copy against a deck with several blockers to crush. The reason Phoebe doesn’t score higher here is that I no longer do partial points (out of five), and because there is more competition here. Both for decks in general, and for countering various protective effects. If our countdown had been a bit bigger, Phoebe would have been our 19th-Place finisher, as she was 12th-Place on my list.
Vince
Our 2nd Elite Four in Hoenn makes another appearance in the TCG, the first being Phoebe’s Stadium way back in the ex-era. She is a Supporter card that makes the damage output from VMAX Pokemon unaffected by any effects on your opponent’s Active Pokemon. This might seem underwhelming since this card doesn’t search or draw you cards, but she can be incredibly useful under the right circumstances. If your deck focuses on using Pokémon VMAX, then you would definitely have to make room for maybe a single copy of her. There are counters against Pokémon-V and Pokémon-VMAX, and getting past some shortcomings can save you a match.
Perhaps the most important thing Phoebe can do for your Pokémon VMAX is to actually bypass certain effects. The only notable effect that I can think of that would royally screw over Pokémon VMAX is when they have abilities that causes it to take no damage from Pokémon-V. Zamazenta-V, Altaria, and Decidueye has those abilities, and Phoebe bypasses them all! Other than that, I don’t think I see any other use in other decks that doesn’t use Pokémon VMAX.
Ratings:
Standard: 3
Expanded: 2
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