COTD – 6th July 2011 – Stantler HS
Today’s pick is Stantler from the HeartGold SoulSilver Base Set. This card is a Basic featuring a better than average 70HP, a single retreat cost and 2 attacks.
The first of the attacks is where Stantler makes its mark in competitive play. ‘Call for Family’ does exactly what it says on the tin by letting you grab two of your Basics from the deck and place them onto the bench for a single Colourless energy. This makes Stantler into one of the many optional starters for this format by being able to get you a head start in grabbing what you need if you just don’t draw the Collector early enough. The attack is cheap and the cost can be used for the single retreat cost, making it easy to get out of the active spot after you’ve used it.The only problem I’m finding with this attack is that it can be severely underwhelming if you can’t draw the energy early on, or you manage to hit a Collector turn one anyway. I am currently building most of my decks with 4 Collector so hitting this turn one is very likely, making Stantler somewhat less useful than it could be. I know it does let you grab some more Basics, but filling up your bench straight away doesn’t always help when you need that free bench space later on. Another downside could be that you must bench the Pokemon you choose rather than putting them into the hand, obviously not good for decks like ZPS.
On the other hand, this card can come in fairly useful when you desperately need those Basics from the deck to either avoid getting benched, or be able to evolve straight away the next turn. Either way, it really isn’t bad of an attack.
Unfortunately for Stantler, the Baby Pokemon ruling the format so far really do do a better job. Being able to have free retreat and a possible immunity next turn is too good to pass up, even though you aren’t guaranteed a basic.
Overall, I don’t really know what deck Stantler would be best run in, simply because it has a very basic attack with the second one not being too great for committing three energy. The Fighting weakness means it gets OHKO’d by Donphan so I wouldn’t suggest it if you expect a lot of that.
It has a lot going for it, but it is inferior to the array of other starters we have available to us at the moment. I’m going to give Stantler a 5/10. Not bad, not good, but one too try out if you aren’t a fan of the babies.
Thanks for reading the first COTD of the new site and I hope you check back tomorrow for the next one!
Dan
