Suicune V – Evolving Skies
Date Reviewed: December 23, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 4.00
Expanded: 3.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
7th-Place in our countdown goes to Suicune V… which is some course correction, as Suicune V just missed our countdown of the Top 15 Cards of SW – Evolving Skies! It did get a review, at least. I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about the card but guess who was wrong? yeah, me, again. I saw Suicune V as just a draw card you’d need to promote (usually when something was KO’d) and then retreat for your real attacker. That was my mistake. Suicune V is the star of its own deck, with Ludicolo (SW – Evolving Skies 034/203) backing it. Suicune V is a pretty typical Basic Pokémon V apart from its effects; the [W] typing doesn’t make too much of a difference, though there is the occasional bit of Weakness to exploit. What makes it Suicune V good are its effects.
Suicune V has the Ability “Fleet-Footed”, letting you draw a card once during your turn if it is your Active Pokémon at the time. If you can do that with more than one Suicune V in a turn, then each may use its Fleet-Footed. While not the main reason to run Suicune V, if you’re already attacking with it then it is a very nice bonus! Suicune V’s attack is “Blizzard Rondo”. Priced at [WC], this attack does 20 damage plus another 20 for each Benched Pokémon. So this attack can do from 20 damage (no one with a Bench) to 220 damage (both players with full five Pokémon Benches). That’s enough to OHKO most (but not all) Basic Pokémon V and smaller targets. At least, before Resistance and defensive buffs. If some of you were wondering why I didn’t mention Capacious Bucket and/or Melony when I said Suicune V didn’t do much with its [W] typing… those card work with basic Water Energy cards. So Suicune V’s own typing isn’t a factor.
Suicune V just loooooves proving me wrong. Not only did it prove to be a good main attacker, not only is backed up by a Stage 2 I originally dismissed as Johnny-Bait, but the deck works in a second Stage 2! That’s right, yet another deck running Inteleon (SW – Chilling Reign 043/198; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH113; SW – Evolving Skies 227/203) paired with Inteleon (Sword & Shield 058/202; Shining Fates SV027/SV122)! After all, your opponent is most likely going to try and keep their Bench small, so you’re missing key KO’s. Ludicolo’s “Enthusiastic Dance” Ability only works the turn you put it into play via Evolution… but it adds +100 damage to the attacks of your Basic Pokémon. Well, as usual the damage boost is only against your opponent’s Active Pokémon, and the attack has to be one that does damage in the first place but… that’s still fantastic! Tricky, given that it is on a Stage 2 and is a coming-into-play Ability, but this is a great way to compensate if your opponent is keeping their Bench lite… or if you want Suicune V to step up and OHKO a Pokémon VMAX! When you need a little more damage, there’s Inteleon’s “Quick Shooting” to place two damage counters… while the other Inteleon helps by searching the deck for two Trainers with its “Shady Dealings”.
Yes sirree… I never anticipated such a deck, but I am so happy I was wrong! At the time of this writing, it is ranked 6th for metagame share over at LimitlessTCG. When Suicune V first released, it only clocked in at 20th-place; it made the jump post-rotation. I’m seeing zero results for it in Expanded, which kind of strikes me as odd. Guess I’ve swung too far in the other direction, from skepticism to optimism. Suicune V does face a lot of issues here, like like more disruption, Ability denial, and Sudowoodo (SM – Guardians Rising 66/145; Shiny Vault SV20/SV94). That last one has an Ability that forces the opposing player to run with a 4 Pokémon Bench (max). Of course, this is also the metagame with Sky Field. Being able to have up to 8 Pokémon on your Bench means Blizzard Rondo can hit for up to 180 damage before factoring in your opponent’s side of the field. If they also need to fill that newly extended Bench, then that’s 340 damage! Plus, we have Float Stone if you want to try it as a pivot Pokémon who provides extra draw.
Ratings
- Standard: 4/5
- Expanded: 3/5
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