Slaking · Ruby & Sapphire (RS) #12

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Pokémon (Slaking) › Stage 2 : Evolves from Vigoroth

Poké-BODY ⇢ Lazy
As long as Slaking is your Active Pokémon, your opponent’s Pokémon can’t use any Poké-Powers.

{C}{C}{C}{C} → Critical Move : 100
Discard a basic Energy card attached to Slaking or this attack does nothing. Slaking can’t attack during your next turn.

weak: {F}×2 | resist: n/a | retreat: 3

illus. Ken Sugimori

EX › Ruby & Sapphire (RS, EX1) › #12/109 : Rare Holo · ↘ Jun 18, 2003

Formats: Modified: 2004, 2005

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Rating

Overall: 52.94% (9 wins, 8 losses)

Within Set & Formats:

Ruby & Sapphire: n/a (0 wins, 0 losses)
E-Card-on (Modified 2004): 67% (2 wins, 1 loss)
RS-on (Modified 2005): 50% (1 win, 1 loss)

Note: The rating system is currently disabled.

Ambassador

(2 years ago)

This card received a spiritual reprint as CES Slaking, alongside similar reprints like CES Steelix and CES Ludicolo, all coming from SM6b Champion Road, a set providing such reprints for cards – purporting to be the “best of the best” from the Neo, e-Card, ADV, and PCG eras of the Japanese TCG. In terms of whether Slaking earned a reprint – after checking the resources used to do writeups on N1 Steelix and RG Articuno ex… eh.

The Lazy Poké-Body is going to catch your eye. At the time, people called it a quasi-successor to Fossil Muk‘s Toxic Gas, except not really? Only your opponent’s Powers are shut off – that’s good! But it only works while Slaking is in the active spot – that’s bad! So you’re kind of mandated to get into position a card with a very costly attack with non-trivial drawbacks; energy discard AND getting locked out of using it the subsequent turn. (There are ways to circumvent this that will be discussed.)

Slaking would’ve been pretty hard to fire off in a JP Prerelease/Draft format – RS Slakoth 45 was an uncommon card for the JP set, Vigoroth was a rare, and obviously this card would’ve been a holo – but if you did happen to pull that line, I imagine it would’ve been a game winner for you? You’re shutting down several notable Poké-Powers in the set, such as Blaziken’s Firestarter [RS3] and Delcatty’s Energy Draw [RS5]. Blaziken also got a SM6b spiritual reprint (see DRM Blaziken), and all of Blaziken, Delcatty, and Slaking got reprints in EX Power Keepers/World Champions Pack, so it gives you an idea of how important these cards were for Draft, and the EX/ADV era in general, but I might be getting ahead of myself a bit?

OK, modified.

I’m not sure. Starting with what I think were its concerns;
(1) Warp Point was a fairly easy way your opponent could turn his Powers back on if he wanted to. Warp Point existed in e-Card on; as for ADV-on it would return in EX TMvTA.
(2) Lazy only shut down your opponent’s Powers, not their Bodies. A Body like EX Dragon Shedinja‘s Wonder Guard would remain active.
(3) Speaking of EX Dragon, Fossil Muk would get a better successor (though still not perfect) in Muk ex. Muk ex’s Toxic Gas shut down Powers AND Bodies …on both sides, and it too required Muk ex to be in the Active Spot. A concerning place for a 2-prize ex I might only have out for its Body to be in. (There’s actually a lot of drawbacks to that card, so… he’s more something to keep in mind in this context.)
(4) Later down the line, Pokémon Tool Cessation Crystal would come into existence. Muk-ex-as-a-tool was a better option than Muk ex no question, and though it’s not like-for-like, you’d probably rather have had that tool than try to make Slaking work in the PTCG era.
(5) Team Magma’s Groudon.

So what were its assets?
(1) If you were playing e-Card on, Memory Berry existed. If you were playing ADV/EX-on, Memory Berry would get a reprint in EXTMvTA, and Meteor Falls would exist as an option come EX Deoxys. Access to RS Vigoroth 47‘s Rage attack, in combination with Slaking’s bulk, created a scenario where you wanted Slaking in the Active Spot not *just* for Lazy, but also to actually attack!
(2) The above also let you access RS Slakoth‘s Slack Off attack.
(3) For a brief window of time, Slaking’s {F} weakness wasn’t going to be a big problem, which meant its 120 HP bulk really was 120 HP bulk.
(4) Being Colorless means it’s splashable… you have to design the deck around this card for its presence to make sense, but you can pick just about any other card to partner it up with.

Q. Did Slaking ever win Worlds?
It doesn’t really seem like it. The first Worlds was in 2004 and Team Magma’s Groudon had already been printed. It made 4th place alongside Ampharos ex in the Junior Division, apparently [ https://archive.ph/YFAcx ]. By 2005, you seem to have too many better options to build a deck around.

Q. What *did* Slaking win?
Gardevoir/Slaking achieved second place at the 2003 Japanese National Championships. https://archive.ph/l1zQG
Slaking made top cut in several decks at the 2004 Battle Road tournaments. https://archive.ph/Hbw8U
Gardevoir/Slaking again got to second place at the 2004 Japanese National Championships. https://archive.ph/oQPOp

Q. What are some of the decks Slaking was used in?
Those interested will have to do some copy/pasting and heavy cross-referencing to translate, but ポケカwiki provides full decklists for the first three I list here;
Blaziken/Slaking/Dunsparce: https://archive.ph/an3sk
Slaking/Jirachi/Dunsparce: https://archive.ph/Wd0aB
Slaking/Metagross/Jirachi/Dunsparce: https://archive.ph/mixrW
Slaking/Metagross/Deoxys ex: ???
Slaking/Ampharos ex: ???
Slaking/Gardevoir: ???

And one from Pokégym;
Slaking/Pidgeot/Grumpig: https://archive.ph/e8oaI

Q. Did Slaking deserve a Champion Road reprint?
There could be something I’m overlooking, but it that Slaking WAS good, but never the best, and only for brief window of time. Despite all of the above, there’s a lot of other cards I would’ve picked before I went with Slaking.

1 comment

Ambassador

(2 years ago)

This card received a spiritual reprint as CES Slaking, alongside similar reprints like CES Steelix and CES Ludicolo, all coming from SM6b Champion Road, a set providing such reprints for cards – purporting to be the “best of the best” from the Neo, e-Card, ADV, and PCG eras of the Japanese TCG. In terms of whether Slaking earned a reprint – after checking the resources used to do writeups on N1 Steelix and RG Articuno ex… eh.

The Lazy Poké-Body is going to catch your eye. At the time, people called it a quasi-successor to Fossil Muk‘s Toxic Gas, except not really? Only your opponent’s Powers are shut off – that’s good! But it only works while Slaking is in the active spot – that’s bad! So you’re kind of mandated to get into position a card with a very costly attack with non-trivial drawbacks; energy discard AND getting locked out of using it the subsequent turn. (There are ways to circumvent this that will be discussed.)

Slaking would’ve been pretty hard to fire off in a JP Prerelease/Draft format – RS Slakoth 45 was an uncommon card for the JP set, Vigoroth was a rare, and obviously this card would’ve been a holo – but if you did happen to pull that line, I imagine it would’ve been a game winner for you? You’re shutting down several notable Poké-Powers in the set, such as Blaziken’s Firestarter [RS3] and Delcatty’s Energy Draw [RS5]. Blaziken also got a SM6b spiritual reprint (see DRM Blaziken), and all of Blaziken, Delcatty, and Slaking got reprints in EX Power Keepers/World Champions Pack, so it gives you an idea of how important these cards were for Draft, and the EX/ADV era in general, but I might be getting ahead of myself a bit?

OK, modified.

I’m not sure. Starting with what I think were its concerns;
(1) Warp Point was a fairly easy way your opponent could turn his Powers back on if he wanted to. Warp Point existed in e-Card on; as for ADV-on it would return in EX TMvTA.
(2) Lazy only shut down your opponent’s Powers, not their Bodies. A Body like EX Dragon Shedinja‘s Wonder Guard would remain active.
(3) Speaking of EX Dragon, Fossil Muk would get a better successor (though still not perfect) in Muk ex. Muk ex’s Toxic Gas shut down Powers AND Bodies …on both sides, and it too required Muk ex to be in the Active Spot. A concerning place for a 2-prize ex I might only have out for its Body to be in. (There’s actually a lot of drawbacks to that card, so… he’s more something to keep in mind in this context.)
(4) Later down the line, Pokémon Tool Cessation Crystal would come into existence. Muk-ex-as-a-tool was a better option than Muk ex no question, and though it’s not like-for-like, you’d probably rather have had that tool than try to make Slaking work in the PTCG era.
(5) Team Magma’s Groudon.

So what were its assets?
(1) If you were playing e-Card on, Memory Berry existed. If you were playing ADV/EX-on, Memory Berry would get a reprint in EXTMvTA, and Meteor Falls would exist as an option come EX Deoxys. Access to RS Vigoroth 47‘s Rage attack, in combination with Slaking’s bulk, created a scenario where you wanted Slaking in the Active Spot not *just* for Lazy, but also to actually attack!
(2) The above also let you access RS Slakoth‘s Slack Off attack.
(3) For a brief window of time, Slaking’s {F} weakness wasn’t going to be a big problem, which meant its 120 HP bulk really was 120 HP bulk.
(4) Being Colorless means it’s splashable… you have to design the deck around this card for its presence to make sense, but you can pick just about any other card to partner it up with.

Q. Did Slaking ever win Worlds?
It doesn’t really seem like it. The first Worlds was in 2004 and Team Magma’s Groudon had already been printed. It made 4th place alongside Ampharos ex in the Junior Division, apparently [ https://archive.ph/YFAcx ]. By 2005, you seem to have too many better options to build a deck around.

Q. What *did* Slaking win?
Gardevoir/Slaking achieved second place at the 2003 Japanese National Championships. https://archive.ph/l1zQG
Slaking made top cut in several decks at the 2004 Battle Road tournaments. https://archive.ph/Hbw8U
Gardevoir/Slaking again got to second place at the 2004 Japanese National Championships. https://archive.ph/oQPOp

Q. What are some of the decks Slaking was used in?
Those interested will have to do some copy/pasting and heavy cross-referencing to translate, but ポケカwiki provides full decklists for the first three I list here;
Blaziken/Slaking/Dunsparce: https://archive.ph/an3sk
Slaking/Jirachi/Dunsparce: https://archive.ph/Wd0aB
Slaking/Metagross/Jirachi/Dunsparce: https://archive.ph/mixrW
Slaking/Metagross/Deoxys ex: ???
Slaking/Ampharos ex: ???
Slaking/Gardevoir: ???

And one from Pokégym;
Slaking/Pidgeot/Grumpig: https://archive.ph/e8oaI

Q. Did Slaking deserve a Champion Road reprint?
There could be something I’m overlooking, but it that Slaking WAS good, but never the best, and only for brief window of time. Despite all of the above, there’s a lot of other cards I would’ve picked before I went with Slaking.

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