Speed L Energy – Top 15 Pokemon Cards in Rebel Clash #5

Vince

I remember an older Special Energy card that only works for Lightning Pokémon. Flash Energy from XY Ancient Origins provided one lightning energy as well as removing the weakness from Lightning Pokémon (which was mostly Fighting and Lightning weakness) which could help Lightning Pokémon survive a bit longer. Now, couple years later, we have another Special Energy card that is made for Lightning Pokémon. This time, Speed Lightning Energy not only provides one lightning energy, it also lets you draw 2 cards if it was attached to a Lightning Pokémon.

And that effect is definitely worthy of being the 5th best card of this set!

Granted, this special energy is better suited for Lightning based decks. Dedenne-GX already provided very good draw power, but imagine that you attached Speed Lightning Energy to Dedenne-GX just after you discarded your hand and draw six cards; you get to draw even more cards. Also, I believe that Speed Lightning Energy is counted as a Lightning energy in your hand, so Magnezone’s Magnetic Circuit lets you attach as many Speed Lightning Energy from your hand as you like, and you could be drawing a whooping EIGHT cards if you manage to attach FOUR Speed Lightning Energy from your hand when backed by Magnezone! Expanded related cards can make Speed L Energy ridiculously powerful; Super Scoop Up can scoop up any Lightning Pokémon with 4 Speed L Energies back into your hand, ready to be put back into play and attach 4 of those energies (due to Magnezone) to draw EIGHT more cards!!!

Even though some of lightning based support is about to leave rotation – with some examples mentioned on my previous review of Boltund-V – there’s still Tapu Koko Prism Star left to support lightning based decks on Team Up-on, and Speed L Energy is still good on it’s own.

Ratings:

Standard: 3.5/5 (next season would be 3/5)
Expanded: 4/5
Limited: 4/5

Afterthought: After reading an email regarding ruling errors, I was told that Speed Lightning Energy DOES NOT count as Lightning energy in your hand, deck, or discard pile. Magnezone’s Magnetic Circuit and Eelectrik’s Dynamotor does not do anything for Speed Lightning energy. I changed my scores to reflect on something I thought works when it actually doesn’t. Not by much, though, Porygon-Z’s Crazy Code can still do wonders.

aroramage

Just when you thought there weren’t gonna be any good Special Energies after seeing Horror Psychic Energy, now we get SPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED LIGHTNING Energy!

Speed L Energy is pretty much just Lightning Energy, but it comes with the handy effect that you draw 2 cards when you attach it to a Pokemon. Doesn’t matter if it’s normal, EX, GX, V, VMAX, heck it could be Dual-X-calibur Alpha Omega Max for all we care! The point is, you play this on a Lightning Pokemon, you’re getting 2 more cards to your hand.

Naturally, this is the big Energy to combine with any Lightning Pokemon, like Pikachu & Zekrom-GX or the new Boltund-V. I think it’s really nice that you basically get a basic Supporter level of effect with attaching an Energy – in a way, you could almost see it as one of those “draw 2” Supporters that lets you draw 2 cards and then does something. Only this time, it’s in reverse! And instead of a Supporter, it’s your Energy attachment for the turn, so there’s pros and cons either way.

What makes a bigger difference is that this is direct support to a group of decks that have really needed something to make up for their losses. Pikachu & Zekrom-GX still might be in a contentious spot, but at least they’ll be consistent with their plays! Meanwhile, Boltund-V looks to maximize on the draw power with its own power plays. Needless to say, Speed L Energy is looking big!

It might not be seen much if Lightning decks aren’t at the top of the charts, but for the next couple of years, I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find a Lightning deck that’s lacking four copies of this!

Rating

Standard: 4/5 (absolutely a must-have for Lightning decks)

Expanded: 4/5 (of any kind, really!)

Limited: 5/5 (if you get it with a Lightning Pokemon, there’s nothing you can’t do!)

Arora Notealus: Speed L Energy brings a new edge to Lightning decks that the previous Lightning-themed Special Energy really didn’t bring. Flash Energy just removed Weakness, which, while it is still a very useful effect to have, isn’t very useful against a lot of decks. Fighting mattered because of Strong Energy being so absurdly powerful, but otherwise, it wasn’t that big a deal. At least Speed L Energy works for greater benefit!

Next Time: What’s a Bug Catcher’s favorite item?

Otaku

Speed Energy… no, wait, Speed L Energy… no, still not quite right… Speed [L] Energy?  Speed [L] Energy (SSH – Rebel Clash 173/192) finishes in 5th-place for our top picks from the latest expansion.  It is a Special Energy card that counts as [L], but only while attached to a Pokémon.  When you attach Speed [L] Energy from your hand to one of your [L] Pokémon, you may draw two cards.  If this reminds you of Flash Energy, you’re not wrong, but Speed [L] Energy suggests they’ve learned from their mistakes.

Most Energy support (Energy Spinner, Ordinary Rod, etc.) doesn’t work with Special Energy.  Even effects that don’t specify “basic Energy” often won’t work with Special Energy for logistical reasons.  Don’t get what I mean?  Pikachu & Zekrom-GX’s “Full Blitz” attack, Tapu Koko {*}’s “Dance of the Ancients”, and Magnezone’s (SM – Forbidden Light 36/131) “Magnetic Circuit” Ability cannot attach Speed [L] Energy, even though they do not specify “basic Energy”.  That’s because they do specify “[L] Energy” and Speed [L] Energy states it only counts as [L] while attached to a Pokémon.  There are few-to-no basic Energy “counters”, but a decent amount of cards like Enhanced Hammer that punish Special Energy use.

If an effect works with Energy already attached to Pokémon, unless it specifically says it needs to be “basic Energy”, then Speed [L] Energy is fine.  For example, Speed [L] Energy can feed the damage for Boltund V’s “Bolt Storm” attack, work for both aspects of Eelektross’s (SM – Unified Minds 66/236) “Electric Swamp” Ability, etc.  So, is it worth having one to four [L] Energy that don’t work with Full Blitz, Dance of the Ancients, or Volkner in Pikarom decks?  Yeah, yeah it is.  Drawing two cards isn’t huge, but for the tiny bit you’re sacrificing it is a good deal.  Its good Turn 1 when you cannot use a Supporter, and its good on other turns even when you can play a Supporter.

I said they – that is, the game’s designers – have learned from Flash Energy.  Flash Energy also provided [L], but its effect merely caused the Pokémon with it attached to have no Weakness.  It was Weakness Guard Energy but exclusively for [L] Types, and providing [L] Energy.  Which wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t overly good, either.  Not only did it only cancel out Weakness and provide [L] Energy for Lightning Types, but it stated you could only attach it to [L] Types and had to be discarded if Flash Energy somehow ended up on a non-Lightning Pokémon!  That may not sound like a huge deal, but even Pikarom decks are likely to include one or two off-Type supporting Pokémon…

…and that isn’t a problem for Speed [L] Energy.  You won’t get to draw two cards, but at least you can still supply an Energy.  Unless something causes modern Lightning decks to eschew Special Energy entirely, Speed [L] Energy seems like an automatic inclusion.  A full four?  Maybe.  I’m thinking you’d at least want to run two.  Do be careful late game, or when facing actual mill decks; if you attach Speed [L] Energy from your hand, drawing two cards is mandatory.  The only way you can get out of it is if you have fewer than two cards in your deck, which means you need to win or replenish to avoid decking out!  Oh, and there are a handful of effects that will let you attach Speed [L] Energy from your hand without it being your manual Energy attachment for the turn; its drawing effect should still trigger if you do.

Speed [L] Energy isn’t as good in the Expanded Format, but that is mostly because – at least at the time of writing this – the single tournament’s results I have to go by didn’t feature any [L] decks in the 70-deck top cut.  Not only is it a pre-Rebel Clash tournament, but its from the end of February, so this could easily have changed by now, assuming it wasn’t an anomaly in the first place.  For the Limited Format, run it if you have some [L] Pokémon, otherwise skip it.  Yes, it can work for non-[L] Types, but unless you need to buff, what is the point?

Ratings

Standard: 4/5

Expanded: 3/5

Limited: 3/5

Speed [L] Energy is going to be a staple for Lightning Type decks… so why was it only my 8th-place pick?  Because it is only for [L]-focused decks and I favor more general cards over deck-specific ones.  Plus the two deck-specific cards I had ahead of Speed [L] Energy were Ninetales V (works with Welder) and Falinks/Falinks V (hits most [L] Pokémon for Weakness).  All that being said, there is a sound argument behind Speed [L] Energy being this high, especially if more of the new [L] Pokémon in this set pan out.