Wigglytuff ex · Hidden Legends (HL) #101

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1. 

   Ambassador

   (2 years ago)

   Not unlike how all of EX Ruby & Sapphire’s Pokémon-ex were kind-of-sort-of reprints of notable and/or notorious Base/Neo era cards, this is an upgrade of Jungle Wigglytuff. There are some other Pokémon-ex of the ADV era doing the same thing;
   · Kabutops 𝒆𝒙’s Spiral Drain is new for Kabutops, but Hydrocutter is straight from N2 Kabutops.
   · Ampharos 𝒆𝒙’s Conductivity is from Dark Ampharos, a card which definitely saw play for that Power. (Gigavolt is from N3 Ampharos, but I don’t think that card saw a ton of play?)
   · Muk 𝒆𝒙 has nothing in common with Fossil Muk except for Toxic Gas, but that’s all it needs to do make its point.
   · Similarly, all Vileplume 𝒆𝒙 needs to have in common with Dark Vileplume is a Power that locks Trainer cards.

   A couple are less overt and some are up for debate;
   · Aerodactyl 𝒆𝒙 seems to be a combination of Vending Aerodactyl (Supersonic) and Fossil Aerodactyl (Wing Attack). I’m going to baseless speculate that it might’ve originally been intended to be a more overt retrain of Fossil Aerodactyl, but Prehistoric Power would’ve been too disruptive for the format so they rijigged its Power into locking Tools instead. (c.f. SK Omastar, MA Cradily 𝒆𝒙, DS Hypno for some of the ways evolution lock did exist in the format, and the respective conditionals for the lock to remain active.)
   · Golem 𝒆𝒙 might be a retrain of Fossil Golem, but I don’t think that card ever saw much play, and it’s a very heavy rejig of the card if it is meant to be a callback to it.
   · Kingdra 𝒆𝒙’s Genetic Memory is a callback to N3 Kingdra’s Genetic Memory, but I don’t think you can put N3 Kingdra in the same league as Haymaker cards, Wigglytuff, or any of the other meta-defining cards some of the other Pokémon-ex allude to.
   · Magcargo 𝒆𝒙 looks like a rejigged and more powerful SK Magcargo, but again, I don’t know if that card ever saw notable amounts of play?
   · Ninetales 𝒆𝒙 is definitely a buffed BS Ninetales – compare Lure to Intense Glare – but.. same caveat as above.

   EX FRLG-and-on bring us into the PCG era of the TCG. Some Pokémon-ex continue to be overt retrains (Venusaur 𝒆𝒙 and Charizard 𝒆𝒙 bring back their Base Set Powers back in name, and Blastoise 𝒆𝒙 brings its Base Set Power back in spirit), some are subtler (Mr. Mime 𝒆𝒙’s Magic Odds and Mr. Mime 𝒆𝒙’s Magic Evens is a rejig of Jungle Mime’s Mysterious Barrier).

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   • 

     AmbassadorAmbassador

     (2 years ago)

     Actually, my use of “upgrade”/”buff” is questionable, since the context the cards are released in are very different, as well as the fact that the bigger numbers on the card are usually more than off-set by the 2 prize rule. This card can – and probably should – be argued as a downgrade of Jungle Wigglytuff. The same applies for most, if not all, of the other cards I’ve listed off. I don’t think any ever saw anywhere near the amount of play their original counterparts did.

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