Poliwrath · Unbroken Bonds (UNB) #39

8 comments

1. 

   Charmaster

   (1 year ago)

   I wonder if the guy or guys designing this card remembered that the Poliwrath they had printed at the literal start of the Sun and Moon era did 80 damage plus 80 more if you had something like Ariados from Ancient Origins in play. 80+80 versus 90+90, same HP and same retreat cost… the similarities between these Poliwrath are kind of unsettling. Were the ever-so-slightly higher damage output and the more achievable board requirements a subtle case of power creep? Or is this all mere coincidence?
   Obviously neither of these Poliwrath ever became relevant, which doesn’t come as a surprise when you consider that even stage 2’s designed to potentially OHKO Tag Teams, such as Nidoqueen from Team Up and Chandelure from Unified Minds, were too setup-heavy to perform reliably at events. (Or perhaps I should say they were too deck-space heavy… a Tag Team deck might feature only four to twelve Pokémon total, giving them lots of space to play around with useful Items, Stadiums and Tools). I just found the similarities between these two Poliwrath interesting.

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     SquidSystemCharmaster

     (1 year ago)

     I think this might be a kind of mountain out of molehill situation–Swirly Rush is honestly a way more annoying condition than Wake-Up Slap. Sure it’s technically easier in terms of not requiring you to build for it, but if you’re trying to make a Poliwrath deck, you will eventually be in a situation where you don’t have a Poliwag or a Poliwhirl, because you keep having to promote and evolve the ones you have to keep attacking. Wake-Up Slap is significantly better because with the right build (Ariados, Koga’s Trap, even more options if you consider Expanded with Hypnotoxic Laser), you can have Wake-Up Slap’s condition fulfilled so much easier, including by your own, much better first attack! You forgot to compare the first attacks! While this Poliwrath has a mostly useless first attack, the other one confuses the active for 1 water, and then you’re ready to swing next turn with just a DCE attachment! Neither of these cards were designed to be competitive, but the beauty of them both is that they have pros and cons that make for an interesting decision.

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       CharmasterSquidSystem

       (1 year ago)

       Yeah, I forgot about Koga’s Trap as a potential Supporter option, and also about the increasing difficulty of keeping a Poliwhirl and Poliwag in play as the game continues and you keep evolving your frogs. I guess it WOULD be a lot easier to just use Ariados. And also I guess I forgot how much more powerful Confusion would probably be at a kitchen table level than in a format with lots of Energy acceleration and perhaps also more ways to find switching effects. (That being said, confusion will probably never be as powerful as it was in the first two generations of the game. https://jklaczpokemon.com/pokemon-wotc-rules/ )

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         SquidSystemCharmaster

         (1 year ago)

         Another thing I realized that we both kind of forgot is that even without Ariados, this card shared a format with Mareep LOT, which could function very well as a card to have in the active while you Aqua Patch + DCE a benched Poliwrath, attach a Rescue Board, boom-boom bap, 160 damage with only a basic Pokemon supporting you. Actually seems like a fun deck that I wanna try now…

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           CharmasterSquidSystem

           (1 year ago)

           Ooh, yes! And then you could run Slumbering Forest for a little extra protection against your foe hitting back! Or not, as the case might be, as we were weird and rotated 2017 BEFORE Worlds 2019 to make our standard even LESS like Japan’s standard, so Slumbering Forest and that Poliwrath weren’t legal in the same format. You would probably be better off running a deck like this in SUM-LOT anyways, since after that you had the Jirachi engine, which means Escape Board and lots of switching effects, not to mention hyper-efficient Tag Teams like Pikachu & Zekrom GX.

2. 

   SquidSystem

   (1 year ago)

   Honestly, I would argue this deck might have been at its best (still extremely rogue) at the very end of its lifespan, as it actually has a fairly favorable matchup into the Unbroken Bonds meta, OHKOing Reshizards, 2HKOing and trading favorably with all other TAG TEAMs, naturally OHKOing Dedennes, I genuinely want to test this deck now because it sounds quite fun to play around with…

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     CharmasterSquidSystem

     (1 year ago)

     Yeaaaaaah, I thought about Reshiram & Charizard GX. I guess I thought the other good Tag Teams and especially PikaRom would make SUM-LOT a better fit, but that format’s full of Control now. Sure, you’d OHKO basic GX’s with Choice Band, but even discounting Zoroark GX, we see bulkier stage 2 GX decks like Decidueye GX/Zoroark GX/Alolan Ninetales GX and Gardevoir GX/Alolan Ninetales GX.
     Also, I find it funny that we’ve co-authored a two page essay on Sun and Moon Poliwrath and published it under Unbroken Bonds Poliwrath. I’m gonna need to leave a comment under Sun and Moon Poliwrath redirecting people here.

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     • 

       CharmasterCharmaster

       (1 year ago)

       (Also, wake up slap takes the status condition away, so I guess Slumbering Forest wouldn’t be useful except for stalling.)

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