#shining legends

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Pokemon Card of the Day #2620: Warp Energy (Shining Legends)

Warp Energy was a Special Energy card that was returning from a long time away from the game. Its first print was in Aquapolis back in 2003, and had seen several reprints that, while not keeping it legal in the game the entire time, made it available for the majority of formats until Stormfront was rotated out in 2011. It took 6 more years for Warp Energy to return in Shining Legends, finding a much different game than when it was last available.

The Special Energy provided a Colorless Energy, meaning the effect was what mattered. Then attached from the hand to the Active Pokemon, that Pokemon was switched with a Benched Pokemon. This could provide a bit of Energy as well as a way to pivot to something that was ready to go. The downside, of course, was that it used an Energy attachment to do so, and there was no lack of Trainers (Warp Point, Switch, Float Stone, Escape Board) and Pokemon (Zeraora-GX) to help with that. Warp Energy was very rarely used in any of the more recent formats due to all the other priorities to cover this need as well as many decks preferring other Energy to help with attacking needs.

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Pokemon Card of the Day #2617: Pokemon Breeder (Shining Legends)

Pokemon Breeder, in the Shining Legends set, was completely different than the Base Set card from 18 years before it. The new one was a Supporter, which had you draw 2 cards and heal 20 damage from your Active Pokemon. There were potentially some minor scenarios where pure stall decks might want to have that tiny bit of healing to help something survive an extra turn while getting cards in the process, but it really wasn’t very potent at doing either drawing or healing and probably wasn’t worth the use.

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Pokemon Card of the Day #2616: Damage Mover (Shining Legends)

Damage Mover was a very simple Item that let you move 3 damage counters from 1 of your Pokemon to another. This could technically move something important out of KO range, but using deck space for this instead of something more likely to make a deck function better was pretty rare. This did have some intrigue alongside the Spiritomb from Unbroken Bonds, as that Pokemon got stronger as it got damaged and, after a Rainbow Energy damage counter and a use of Anguish Cry, was just a Damage Mover away from reaching the maximum of 160 damage before any extra modifiers. There was some argument for using Damage Mover in that deck. If using Spiritomb in the SUM-On format (it didn’t peak until later, after Damage Mover had already rotated out), this was a pretty good choice. Outside of that it was only going to matter every once in a while.

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Pokemon Card of the Day #2614: Hoopa (Shining Legends)

Hoopa was a strange Pokemon. It was pretty weak for the standards of its time, but also blocked attacks from all sorts of popular Pokemon. Being able to block so many things made it very tempting for stall decks, which weren’t the most popular by any means but were just good enough that you’d get people that were able to make the idea work. There was no lack of interesting cards to try to focus on forcing the opponent to run out of cards before taking 6 Prizes, so a Pokemon that could help reach that goal would obviously see play from people who really liked to focus on that sort of strategy.

120 HP wasn’t the highest by any means, but it really helped that it was both on a Basic Pokemon and on something that only had to worry about Pokemon-GX if its Ability was shut off. There were decks that could get really desperate against Hoopa, with some even relying on Oranguru to hit it, and that took 2 hits if Hoopa didn’t have Energy on it for example. It was a lot more sturdy than the 120 made it look. The Fighting Weakness was quite a pain in the BKT-On format with Gallade and Buzzwole being able to take advantage of it, but it was much less important in SUM-On with how the game shifted. A Psychic Resistance was a bit more notable on something that sometimes just had to block weak attackers. Some Malamar decks could struggle even more with that, and it was a bit of a buffer against the strong Garbodor as well. Naganadel was also set back a little by it. Hoopa was rarely going to retreat on its own, as 2 Energy was a lot in decks that almost always ran very little Energy. Sometimes you’d save Hoopa with Acerola, but usually you’d just let it fall or heal it with a Max Potion.

Scoundrel Guard gave Hoopa its entire reason to be used. It prevented all effects of attacks, including damage, done to Hoopa by the opponent’s Pokemon-GX and Pokemon-EX. With most decks relying heavily on said Pokemon, Hoopa could block entire decks sometimes and that could be very hard to play around. Backup was generally needed to handle any normal attackers, of course, so Hoopa was just a piece of the puzzle when it came to stall.

Super Psy Bolt was somewhat weak for 3 Energy. 80 damage was below what was expected and could take 3 hits to deal with the bigger Pokemon it blocked and typically 2 for anything that was a threat to Hoopa. There were a lot of times where Hoopa wasn’t going to attack, instead just sitting up front to block attacks. Gaining access to powerful Trainers and Energy when behind was important for these decks as well, so attacking wasn’t too important.

Hoopa wasn’t going to make much progress on its own, leaving it for dedicated stall decks. Those decks just wanted to stop the opponent from getting 6 Prizes until cards ran out, and Hoopa blocking the majority of common Pokemon was a big deal. The most famous deck here was with Regigigas, which existed simply to soak up hits with its huge HP stat. Such decks weren’t at the top of the game by any means but managed to get some solid results here and there, especially since many players didn’t build with it in mind. While Hoopa could get overwhelmed sometimes against reasonably strong single-Prize attackers, it was going to be a huge pain often enough to keep in mind,

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Pokemon Card of the Day #2611: Yveltal (Shining Legends)

Yveltal certainly looks like a Pokemon that would have been good in an earlier format. Not even that much earlier, either, as 90 took out the old Pokemon-EX in 2 hits, and the Energy attachment on top of that would have been quite impressive. 90 wasn’t as impressive by 2017-2018, though Choice Band did help and Yveltal BREAK was still available to work with it in the BKT-On format. The main competition was much better as a quick source of Energy but also didn’t hit as hard while doing so, and there was a potential role for this as well as long as Yveltal BREAK was good enough to use in its last year.

120 HP was solid for a Basic Pokemon. Stronger attacks could still get a KO, but for something that gave up a single Prize it was still good enough to avoid falling to some weaker attacks. The Lightning Weakness wasn’t too bad in the BKT-On format (the only one you’d ever use Yveltal in because of how far the game outpaced it afterward), though a few Rayquaza-GX partners such as Xurkitree-GX and Jolteon-EX could still hit it. A Fighting Resistance made Yveltal just a bit more likely to take hits from the Buzzwole/Lycanroc/Zygarde trio, helping counteract a bit of the many damage boosts the type could access. 2 Energy was a bit to retreat, but Yveltal was a Pokemon that probably wouldn’t mind getting attacks in until it fell with giving up 1 Prize and possibly accelerating Energy in the process.

While Yveltal could be used with its BREAK (a good option, with the 120 damage with 30 to the Bench for 3 Energy along with a boost to 150 HP), it had its own uses as well. Strafe was weak, at 30 damage for 2 Colorless Energy, but at least it let Yveltal switch out on its own. It could be paired with something like Hoopa that could block certain Pokemon from getting a hit in, so there was some use for it in spots. Oblivion Wing’s damage was only okay, but 90 could get to a decent spot with a Choice Band. Letting a Darkness Energy card from your hand get attached to a Benched Pokemon was indeed useful, and the main reason to use Yveltal on its own. This could help more Yveltal or whatever else might pair with the Energy. It was more expensive than what the other Yveltal could do to get Energy into play but made more progress in damage as well.

Yveltal was really only there for decks running both Yveltal along with the BREAK, and the quicker acceleration from the Steam Siege version was usually better. This Yveltal did a better job of combining damage with extra Energy, though, so if you wanted a middle ground between the BREAK and the other one this was worth including. Yveltal BREAK wasn’t a top-tier option by that point but could still have solid results, even making top 8 at an International in 2018.

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Pokemon Card of the Day #2609: Spiritomb (Shining Legends)

Spiritomb was all about denying progress. Getting a helpless Pokemon stuck up from could be quite useful. There were obviously issues here, with Spiritomb being unable to do much on its own and having such low HP that even a small break in a lock was enough to likely give up a Prize. Still, with enough support, Pokemon like this have worked out before, so Spiritomb had a chance.

60 HP was really low. Low enough that anything even marginally ready that managed to find its way into play could easily get a KO. There was no Weakness or Resistance to affect things, either. Spiritomb did need 2 Energy to retreat, though it was almost never actually going to do so. It would keep locking a Pokemon in place or fall in almost every case.

Cursed Whirlpool was the only use for Spiritomb. When Spiritomb was the Active Pokemon, the opponent’s Active Pokemon couldn’t retreat. That meant even Float Stone or Escape Board wasn’t going to help here. Switch would, as would Escape Rope or even Guzma. In a lot of cases, though, it was hard to get out of that. Spiritomb really needed to be paired with all sorts of Trainers that slowed the opponent down, with any card that could get rid of Energy (Team Flare Grunt, Crushing Hammer, Enhanced Hammer) being important. The goal would be to make the opponent run out of cards before getting 6 Prizes, with Spiritomb making it that much harder to get to a Pokemon that could do so.

Cursed Drop was really weak. A Darkness and a Colorless Energy let you place 3 damage counters on the opponent’s Pokemon however you wanted, but with HP numbers being so high it took forever to deal enough damage. While it could add up with a good enough lock, this wasn’t the main focus of using Spiritomb.

Spiritomb was a pain to face if already set back by all sorts of disruption from elsewhere. Its low HP made it vulnerable to anything going wrong, though, and even most control decks tended to skip it. If locking a Pokemon in place was really important, though, Spiritomb was available, and was capable of doing the job if everything else went right.

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Pokemon Card of the Day #2608: Marshadow (Shining Legends)

Marshadow wasn’t going to be attacking once it reached the Bench. It wasn’t going to be doing anything, really. Marshadow’s entire job was to disrupt the opponent’s hand without using a Supporter, something that could be quite useful with all of the ways to search for Pokemon out there. It also could disrupt the player’s hand if they weren’t careful, so there was some skill involved. This could be a pretty good role, though one where there was decent potential to not help too much. There was a wide range of predictions of how it would do before it was actually released, but it was definitely the kind of Pokemon people would try to include in decks.

70 HP was rather low, and if someone wanted to target Marshadow for a KO after the first turn or two it probably wouldn’t be hard to do so. It would be unlikely to be a top priority since it did nothing when actually sitting in play, however. The Weakness to Darkness was notable for making Zoroark-GX’s job even easier, with anything on the Bench being enough for a KO there. The Fighting Resistance would have meant more on something with better HP, and a Retreat Cost, at 1, was low enough to let Marshadow switch out if it was stuck as the only Pokemon at the start of a game.

Let Loose was a really nice Ability in some spots. Playing Marshadow from your hand onto your Bench let you make each player shuffle their hand into their deck to draw just 4 cards. This was best used once set up, especially if the opponent had a reasonably large hand or was likely to be holding a useful card there. The timing was important since 4 cards was in that middle ground of being pretty low and being enough to have a solid chance of drawing something to work with. The chance of being disruptive was good enough that including a Marshadow was a solid option in a lot of decks, even if it wasn’t going to be amazing all the time.

Shadow Punch was atrocious. 30 damage that wasn’t affected by Resistance was far too weak for 2 Energy.

Marshadow was the type of Pokemon that could pretty much fit into any deck if there was room for it there, and being a Basic Pokemon made that easy to do. Pokemon search could turn into disruption rather easily, and getting the opponent down to 4 cards could raise the chances of them not being able to respond to a good set-up but not completely get rid of their chances. Marshadow was a reasonably popular card in Standard formats as a result.

It should be noted that Marshadow is banned in Expanded as part of a wide range of cards that were banned at the same time to get rid of some hand disruption strategies that were dominating in Japan in 2019. Marshadow was one of the options that could help get rid of most of the opponent’s, but was not the only card that did so and was just one piece of that puzzle. The solution they came up with was to just ban anything that might be able to get toward that goal, and Marshadow has been unavailable for Expanded ever since.

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Pokemon Card of the Day #2603: Latios (Shining Legends)

Latios certainly seemed like a filler card. Low damage output without any big effects would do that. Despite this, it seemed to show up in a decent number of deck lists. Weak damage to the Bench could still be useful, though only in the right scenario. Luckily for Latios, Double Colorless Energy, the Energy it would most likely use, was a staple in some top decks for a decent amount of the time it was available, and that tiny use was at least interesting to consider when that was the case despite everything else here.

The stats weren’t that bad in general. 110 HP wasn’t incredible at this point in the game, but Latios was a Basic Pokemon and seeing a number that required a good attack to get through in a hit was nice. The Psychic Weakness did mean that Malamar decks and Garbodor were issues, as well as the later Mewtwo & Mew-GX even though the decks Latios fit into were less common by that point. Being able to retreat for an Energy was reasonable.

Break Through was the only real reason to use Latios. 2 Colorless Energy did 30 damage plus 30 to 1 of the opponent’s Benched Pokemon. This got a bit of chip damage on the board and could target a heavily weakened Pokemon on the Bench without using up a Guzma. There weren’t a lot of scenarios where this was going to make a big difference, but they came up from time to time.

Lagoon Flight was pretty bad, as 70 damage wasn’t nearly enough for a Psychic and 2 Colorless Energy when compared to all the strong attackers available.

Latios was one of those Pokemon that only helped in a few spots, but was so easy to fit into some decks that adding a single copy was a reasonable choice. This typically meant Zoroark-GX decks, since they were already running Double Colorless Energy and Latios just fit in without any other help being needed. Its actual worth was still pretty questionable as it only provided some minor Bench damage and maybe an early KO on an Inkay, so a lot of people still skipped it. Still, it was something, and Latios was a bit better than it seemed.