Weezing – Cosmic Eclipse Pokemon Review

Otaku

Weezing (SM – Cosmic Eclipse 77/236) is our third review today.  It is so closely tied to our other two Card of the Days (Cards of the Day?) that we would have to half-review it while reviewing our main focus (Roxie).  So, why not just give it its own review to keep things relatively neat, and allow it its own score?

“Blow-Away Bomb” is the same Ability that Koffing (SM – Cosmic Eclipse 76/236, 234/236) has, and both card’s claim to fame.  When the Pokémon with Blow-Away Bomb is discarded from your hand through Roxie, you place a damage counter on each of your opponent’s Pokémon.  Roxie’s lets you discard up to two Pokémon from your hand, then draw three cards per Pokémon discarded. Blow-Away Bomb’s effect happens after you finish drawing for Roxie, but before you can do anything else.  If you discard two Pokémon with Blow-Away Bomb, both will trigger and place damage counters.  This is great damage counter spread, but only working with Roxie can be a real hurdle.

I’m going to continue deviating from my usual review order by covering Weezing’s attack.  [PC] pays for “Balloon Burst”, which lets Weezing do 90 damage and then discard itself (plus anything attached) from play.  Though Weezing is still hitting the discard pile, it was not KO’d and so your opponent does not take a Prize.  You still lose if you Weezing was your only Pokémon in play, though!  The effect isn’t optional, but it is interesting, and the damage is okay for the Energy.  It is a long shot, but Weezing might be able to work in a variant of the hit-and-run strategy we sometimes see.  Weezing attacks, gets out of the way (via discarding itself), then you promote something that can take a hit.

The [P] Typing means access to good Type support, and could come in handy for exploiting [P] Weakness: that sweet x2 damage means Balloon Burst could do a quick 180, and then Weezing gets itself out of the way (for better or worse).  [P] Resistance is also relatively common, but -20 you can avoid by switching to a non-[P] attacker is far less important.  Normally, being a Stage 1 is inferior to being a Basic, but if you’re just using Weezing for its Ability, it can’t accidentally get stuck as your opening Active.  Weezing would probably still be better as a Basic, but that’s because of what that means for Balloon Burst.

Weezing’s 100 HP is an easy OHKO, but too high for the likes of Professor Elm’s Lecture… which matters for its Standard Format usage.  [P] Weakness and a lack of Resistance doesn’t help, though with the HP it probably won’t change much.  A Retreat Cost of [CC] is low enough you can pay it, but high enough you usually won’t want to.  If you’re just using Weezing for Blow-Away Bomb, the bottom stats won’t matter at all.

I’ve not seen any Balloon Burst decks: maybe such a thing could be competitive, but probably not.  Decks using Roxie and Blow-Away Bomb, though, have enjoyed some success in Standard.  You can read more about it in the main review, but you’ll usually see two Koffing and one Weezing in those decks.  Sometimes you’ll see just Weezing, especially in Expanded.  To my surprise, this past weekend a Garchomp & Giratina-GX deck variant used Roxie and Weezing to help it win the Regional Championship held in Dallas, TX.  I don’t know if that means it is now the deck to beat, or if this will be Roxie and Weezing’s only major win, but its enough.

As for the Limited Format, Weezing is a solid addition to your deck but if you’re using it as a Stage 1, remember that discarding itself is not optional.  Ideally, you can soak one attack before using Balloon Burst.

Ratings

• Standard: 2/5
• Expanded: 3/5
• Limited: 3/5

Koffing seems slightly preferred to Weezing in Standard, probably due to the increased use of Professor Elm’s Lecture.  In Expanded, though, Weezing is what I’m seeing in deck lists.  In both cases, the card’s strength is really that of the entire combo; if/when Roxie’s use declines, so too will Koffing’s and Weezing’s.

Vince

Coming Soon