Will – Cosmic Eclipse Pokemon Review

Vince

Will is a Supporter which I find that is unique. It actually improves your chances of happening. This card states that whenever you flip any number of coins from an attack, ability, and trainer cards, you can choose heads or tails on only the first coin flip. Most of the time, you would obviously choose heads because that’s where you want the effect to happen, but there are very few instances where you wanted to flip tails. I don’t have much to say but to list examples where Will would be SUPER helpful in any situation.

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I was going to compile a list of cards that involves coin flips, but I ran out of time again, so I’ll just say that Will is useful under certain circumstances where you really the coin flips to matter…because you can control the outcome. Yes, he does take up your Supporter usage, but even then, there might be item or stadium cards whose effects could be similar to Supporter cards. Pokémon Catcher could fake being Boss’s Orders if you already used Will; Crushing Hammer could fake being Team Flare Grunt; and evening Life Herb could fake being Pokémon Center Lady. And these item cards can be used in conjunction of your same turn rather than use one Supporter in three separate turns. Even though it only works on the first coin flip, that’s still one guaranteed outcome, and the rest is up to chance.

Ratings:

Standard: 3/5

Expanded: 3/5

Limited: 4/5

Otaku

Will (208/236) is a Trainer-Supporter with an unusual effect.  After using Will, until the end of your turn, the next time you flip a coin for an attack, Ability, or Trainer effect, you can choose whether that coin flip will be “heads” or “tails”.  What if you’re flipping multiple coins at once, or have a flip-until-tails, etc. you still get to pick the result of the first flip (or one flip if they’re all at the same time).  Coin flips during your opponent’s turn, or during the Pokémon Checkup (between turns phase) aren’t affected.

I’ve been waiting for an effect like this for… 20 years?  The Pokémon TCG likes its coin flips, and while you cannot control them all with Will, you do get one guaranteed result you want.  You can technically combine it with “re-flip” effects such as that of Trick Coin, Victini (BW – Noble Victories 14/101, 98/101, BW – Black Star Promos BW32; BW – Legendary Treasures 23/113) or Victini (SM – Guardians Rising 10/145), but if you do, you’ll still have used up Will’s effect on your first attempt.

I haven’t seen Will in any winning deck lists, and I think I know why.  Yes, this is a good effect, but some of the most obvious uses for it are… thing you use specifically because they’re not a Supporter.  The best examples happen to all be Item cards: after Will, Crushing Hammer is Plumeria without the discard cost, Pokémon Catcher is Lysandre, and Super Scoop Up is Acerola without having to worry about damage counters.  Still, all of these are examples of Item cards faking Expanded-only Supporters, so there’s still some merit.  Will into a copy of Roller Stakes, faking a Hop… is really not impressive.

There’s also the one-and-done nature of the card; if you include a variety of coin flips to fudge, you have to figure out which ones to prioritize, while if you’re running only a few, you need the right on in hand the same turn you have Will and a Supporter to burn.  This kind of effect may just be too weak as a Supporter… but too strong as anything else.  Just imagine it as a Stadium, a reusable Ability, etc.  As is, enjoy it in the Limited Format, assuming you’ve got at least one half-decent coin-flip dependent effect; odds are great you’ve got a deck slot and Supporter-use to spare.

Ratings

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

I don’t have any killer combos for Will.  The beginnings of some?  Maybe.  He’s getting two-out-of-five because this kind of effect is the designers setting a trap for themselves.  Just think of all the stuff they have to be careful with in the future to avoid a potentially broken combo.  Though it is a painful combo to actually pull off, while Lt. Surge’s Strategy is legal, even other Supporters aren’t off limits.  It almost makes me want a Hooligans – Jim & Cas reprint/update just to see if someone actually could break it in Standard.