COTD – 20th September 2011 – Weavile UD

Hey everybody, been badgering away on here making the new-look website today and I must say it’s coming along very nicely. There will be a load of new features along with huge updates to things like The Testing Zone and there may be something in there for those Video Game players as well, but you’ll have to wait and see until I can get it running perfectly and look how I like it. Back to the matter in question and we have our Card of the Day, Weavile from HS: Undaunted, waiting to be reviewed.

At first glance, we have a Stage 1 Darkness type Pokemon with 80HP, a single Poke Power and lone attack. You may also notice that this Pokemon has a really nice zero retreat cost, which works wonders in this format when going first since Sneasel also shares this great trait. Just something useful to note if deciding to play this card.

So, let’s have a look at Weavile’s Poke Power ‘Claw Snag’ and what it allows us to do is look at the opponent’s hand, select a card there and discard it whenever you play Weavile to evolve one of your Pokemon from the hand. This certainly reminds me of the Sableye SF + Cyrus’ Initiative combination used in the last format which allowed you to pluck important cards from the opponent’s hand and put them back on the bottom of their deck. The only thing that is different is that you can only select one card, but that card is discarded rather than just put back in the opponent’s deck.

I really like this Power and is a form of disruption which we severely lack in this kind of format. The only downside is that it can be a little slow to pull off multiple times per game, which is needed for it to be effective since you’ll need to pick up Weavile via Super Scoop Up or Seeker and then evolve it the turn after that. During that time your opponent could use a card like Judge to force you to shuffle away your Weavile that they know you are holding and leave you pretty high and dry.

Regardless of that downside, this is a very nice power if you have room in your deck to run a significant line of it. Recently and in the past it has been used in Stage 1s and can be very useful, but very hard to play well when presented with tricky situations. Those times when you discard a key draw Supporter or Pokemon from the opponent’s hand are really going to allow you to take a solid lead in the game which your opponent could struggle to come back from. It’s also nice to know what your opponent is holding to plan ahead during your turn depending on what you find. So we have a nice Poke Power, so let’s look at the attack.

Weavile’s attack ‘Feint Attack’ costs a Darkness energy and a Colourless to do 30 damage to any of your opponent’s Pokemon in play. This attack really isn’t that bad, but the likes of Yanmega really does outclass it since it can do 10 more for 2 less energy. Nevertheless, this attack could come in useful in those random little situations and can be used in conjunction with Rainbow if your deck already runs it. Decks that have Weavile usually won’t focus on using the attack, but if the option is there through Rainbow Energy, then it could come in useful to snipe of some lurking Babies for some cheap prizes. Altogether, it’s a pretty average attack.

Overall, we have ourselves a very nice disrupter with a limited attack, but a very appealing retreat cost. This Pokemon could see a nice spot in a successful rogue deck that focuses on disruption, such as the Weavile/Ambipom/Slowking deck we saw at Canadian Nationals, but otherwise it may just take up too much space to be truly effective. I’m going to give it a very solid 7/10. A great Poke Power that can be pulled off well in certain decks, but it is limited on how useful it can be in most decks.

Artwork: This card actually has pretty nice artwork. Weavile is already quite a cool looking Pokemon and the artist has really captured a sense of mischief in Weavile which bides well with the Poke Power it has. I really like the way it seems to be jumping out at the card and has a pretty intricate background with the maple leaves as a nice detail as well. You may also notice a claw-like image to Weavile’s left which could possibly be a Quick Claw from the games or some other item which I’m not quite familiar with. Either way, this art really does capture Weavile’s nature well and I’m going to give it a nice 8/10.

Thanks for reading today’s COTD and please rate what you think of the card below with the star rating system :D

Posted by at September 20, 2011
Filed in category: Card of the Day,