Salazzle
– Ultra Prism
Date Reviewed:
April 20, 2018
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 2.0
Expanded: 2.5
Limited: 3.5
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
 aroramage You ever have one of those moments where you look at a card and think, “Man this seems like overkill.” I feel like that happens more with Status Conditions more than anything. Salazzle is a Stage 1 Fire Pokemon, 110 HP, with a Water Weakness, no Resistance, and a Retreat Cost of 1. Her Panic Poison costs 1 Energy and inflicts Burn, Confusion, and Poison on the opponent’s Pokemon, then Hunter’s Nails goes from a 2-for-60 move to a 2-for-120 if they’re affected by any Status Condition.
Panic Poison is the reason I think the card’s a bit overkill. Poison and even Burn on their own deal a fair amount of damage, dishing out 30 damage before flipping any coins for healing Burn, but then Confusion could potentially add on even more damage if your opponent fails another coin flip during the attack. Course they don’t have to attack. And they could Switch it out. That alone can ruin Salazzle’s day, as she really likes having Statuses to push Hunter’s Nails over the edge – 120 damage plus 30-60 can KO most Basic EX/GX.
Salazzle may see some success in casual play. But as for the effect in main competition, it’s unlikely that the Status effects will allow her to be smashing through with her Nails. Panic Poison could definitely see play, simply for inflicting so much damage between turns, but we’ve got a few tools in the format to counteract it. Keep that in mind while playing with and against Salazzle.
Rating
Standard: 2/5 (for now, I’m not expecting her to get too crazy)
Expanded: 2.5/5 (in Expanded, she’s got the benefit of things like HTL to help out with Nails)
Limited: 3.5/5 (and in a Limited environment, she becomes extremely powerful)
Arora Notealus: Salazzle certainly shows potential, but I think it’s a good example of a card that’s just not that good just because you stuffed a bunch of keywords onto it. Course Pokemon TCG is different from games like Magic or Yugioh and doesn’t really have that many keywords to spread around, but all the same, having the ability to put 3 Statuses on a Pokemon is fine – it’s just not something that by itself makes it good. Unless it’s Burn/Poison/Paralysis. Then it’s insane.
Side Review: Darkrai <Prism> – he hasn’t seen that much play overall – at least not in Standard, from what I can tell. Most of the Pokemon that could be partners with him have better partners available already, so Darkrai doesn’t get much. He could have a spot in Darkrai Turbo decks in Expanded, but I don’t see too many lists winning competition that much. Worthwhile to have? Maybe, but hard to find him if he’s in the meta.
Weekend Thought: What did you think of this week’s cards? See the potential? Think they might prove themselves to be reliable? Wondering when the time will come for 3 Status Effects to be absurd? I’m holding my breath for Burn/Poison/Paralysis. Won’t likely happen, which is why I’ll lose my own wager to myself, but in the meantime, I’m sure we’ll have fun!
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Salazzle (UP 26) burns its way into the meta from the Ultra Prism expansion set. This 110 HP Stage 1 Pokemon has two attacks, Panic Poison and Hunter’s Nails. Panic Poison isn’t a bad starter attack. To leave your opponent’s active Pokemon Burned, Confused, and Poisoned means that you’re doing a minimum of thirty damage upwards to 90 damage if they flip tails twice (once for Burn and once for attacking) and don’t retreat from the active. And the next turn you’re hitting them for 120 because Hunter’s Nails does base sixty but sixty more if your opponent’s active Pokemon is affected by a special condition… and yours could be carrying three of them! Unfortunately, I did not do as well as I thought I might with this deck. I went 1 W 4 L in five matches. The matches were all close, and I feel like it’s better than that one and four record, but it just didn’t do well as a feature Pokemon. It might be better as a one or two of, and there is the Delphox (FL 14… in case you don’t know the Forbidden Light English translations are out on Pokebeach) coming out in two weeks that Burns your opponent’s active, but overall this Pokemon just doesn’t have what it takes to be competitive in the current format. Rating Standard: 2 out of 5 Conclusion I want to give it more than a 2 out of 5, but the record is what the record is. Sorry Salazzle, but our meta today is just too tough. |
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