Shiinotic – Ultra Prism – Pokemon Card Review – COTD

aroramage

…okay, I’m a liiiiiittle upset with today’s card. Probably doesn’t help that it’s basically the same card as before, just a new Typing. Copy-paste is sometimes more powerful than actual…designing. Eh, what can I say? It’s just easier!

Shiinotic is a Stage 1 Fairy Pokemon, 100 HP, with a Metal Weakness, a Dark Resistance, and a Retreat Cost of 2. Its Ability is Illuminate, which does the same thing as the SM version except for Fairy Pokemon instead of Grass Pokemon, and its Flickering Spores attack is the EXACT same 2-for-30 that puts the opponent to Sleep.

So how does Shiinotic figure into Fairy decks? Probably the same way Shiinotic figured into Grass decks – it didn’t. Not because its Ability is bad or anything, but it’s just not needed to commit 2 cards to (Shiinotic and its Basic form Morelul) when you can just as easily commit 1 Ultra Ball for the same effect. Just as an example. Never mind Supporters like Bridgette that just straight-up search what you need.

Rating

Standard: 2/5 (good, but not necessary)

Expanded: 2/5 (at least it’s….well, something)

Limited: 3.5/5 (I’m sure it sees mileage in a smaller format

Arora Notealus: Sometimes a card is good for what it does, and sometimes the qualities of the card make it not worth the effect. It’s strange like that, how searching can be good on one card but bad on another. But I suppose that’s just part of the intricacies of the game.

Side Review: Super Boost Energy <Prism> – so some people have experimented with this card in certain builds. And as far as I’ve seen, it hasn’t worked out that well. Not to say it’s NEVER worked, but it either doesn’t show up often due to being a one-of, or when it does show up, it’s not providing its full effects because of the set-up required to get all 4 Energy. There are very few decks that can actually pull it off, and I don’t think the consistency is good enough for those decks to triumph.

Next Time: Throwing it back to a card that…wait, didn’t we review this card already? It’s like the same thing we just reviewed!

Vince

Shiinotic (SM Ultra Prism 93/156) is actually an alternate type based on Shiinotic (Sun & Moon 17/149). The original version is a Grass type while today’s card is a Fairy Type. Same 100 HP, same ability name (albeit with type difference), and same retreat cost of two. While the grass version is weak to fire, today’s card is weak to Metal and resists Dark. The ability, Illuminate, actually searches for a fairy Pokemon while the original one searches for a Grass Pokemon. And Flickering Spores costs YC instead of GC.

No matter which one you’ll use, you will find something better because this Pokémon is too specialized. It may be more economical to use Ultra Ball or draw based cards than to use a Bench space and 2 slots of your deck. Ability denial and it’s 100 HP would mean that it may not last long enough for your search to be worthwhile.

The review from the original Shiinotic has mixed feelings, and I can’t see this card being able to change things. Maybe I would miss something and someone can actually make effective use of this Pokémon. But until then, I’m not convinced yet.

Standard: 3/5
Expanded: 3/5
Limited: 3/5

21times
PokeDeck
Central

Shiinotic (UP 93) received an alternate typing in the Ultra Prism expansion set.  This card is a mirror image for the Shiinotic (SUM 17) out of the base set, except that it is a Fairy Type and its ability Illuminate also applies to only Fairy types, not Grass types.

Shiinotic SUM was GREAT a year ago and highlights why those six months between February 2017 and August 2017 were the golden age of Grass decks.  With the now obliterated Forest of Giant Plants (AOR 74), Shiinotic allowed you to continue the acceleration of your Grass decks by permitting you to select one of any Grass Pokemon out of your deck.

This was one of the first cards I reviewed, and I did an extensive analysis of it here.  There was no question that Grass decks performed better with Shiinotic – in the study I did, the win percentage increased from 64% without Shiinotic to 76% with it.  However, that was FoGP aided, and since FoGP’s expulsion from the game, Shiinotic SUM’s usage has virtually disappeared.

Shiinotic UP suffers the same fate as Shiinotic SUM.  You could perhaps use the new UP version in a Gardevoir GX or Xerneas Break decklist, and it will probably help somewhat, but not to the extent that SUM Shiinotic really made those Grass decks hum.  Moreover, those Grass decks were Tier 1 decks, while Gardy and Xerneas Break are not Tier 1 right now, and I don’t think that Sylveon would want to tech this into its archetype. So overall, this Fairy typing falls far short of the Grass Shiinotic.   Part of that is because of the meta it exists in, and part of it is just because we really don’t have any great Fairy decks that can use Shiinotic.

Rating

Standard: 2 out of 5

Conclusion

If I do try a Xerneas Break deck or Gardy GX deck in the near future, I’ll try Shiinotic UP out with that deck, but right now, to me, this is sitting in the binder.