This week, we’re looking at some colorless Pokémon that work well in many decks (but, as you’ll read below, not necessarily ALL decks).
Anyway, here’s this week’s list:
Neo Discovery 40
| Blaine10/10 |
| Every deck needs this baby. It provides free retreat and the “baby” effect, but most importantly it shuts off Pokémon-Powers on your opponent’s bench—the most notorious being Slowking which makes you flip a coin for each Trainer. |
| Jose7/10 |
| Great if you’re playing against Slowking, outclassed by every other Baby otherwise. Shutting off Slowking is REALLY good though so it still gets a good score. |
| Tony9/10 |
| Some Pokémon-Powers need to be stopped, and this is the only answer we have. |
Wizards Black Star Promo 36
| Blaine4/10 |
| Only run this if you need free retreat and/or “baby” effects. Usually decks run 1 baby and it is igglybuff that disables Pokemon-Powers. The other Igglybuff is better if you are running extra babies but not all. |
| Jose3/10 |
| Would only play in a stall deck that wanted more Baby Pokemon cards. |
| Tony6/10 |
| In an extremely dire situation, its attack has a very small chance of being useful, but usually, it’s just another Baby Pokemon with free retreat. |
Neo Genesis 20
| Blaine5/10 |
| Only run this if you need free retreat and/or “baby” effects. Usually decks run 1 baby and it is Igglybuff that disables Pokémon-Powers. |
| Jose8/10 |
| Baby with the only useful attack. |
| Tony6/10 |
| Baby Pokémon are pretty useful in general for decks that need time to set up. This one can help get you out of a bad hand in a pinch. |
Wizards Black Star Promo 31
| Blaine4/10 |
| Only run this if you need free retreat and/or “baby” effects. Usually decks run 1 baby and it is Igglybuff that disables Pokémon-Powers. The other Cleffa is better if you are running extra babies but not all. |
| Jose3/10 |
| Much worse version of the other Cleffa. Babies in general is good to have, but you don’t normally want more than maybe 2. |
| Tony6/10 |
| Same notes as the Cleffa above, but the card draw is not nearly as good. |
| Blaine1/10 |
| Not a staple, goes in very specific decks. You don’t want to run many Prism Star Pokémon so you don’t get “accidental Lost World”ed. |
| Jose6/10 |
| I think is card is pretty good if you play a lot of different evolution lines. |
| Tony6/10 |
| If you run any evolution Pokémon, this is probably a useful card. This is especially true if you have multiple different evolution lines, as it can help with any of them. |
Unseen Forces 34
| Blaine1/10 |
| I’ve never put this in a deck until recently and it was a very specific choice. Definitely not a staple. |
| Jose2/10 |
| Not worth taking up a slot in anything that isn’t a “win in 1 turn” deck. |
| Tony8/10 |
| Draw a card now, and probably another one later, and possibly another one after that. Theoretically infinite card draw. |
So that’s our list. What do you think?
Obviously, there is only 1 card in this article that deserves to be considered a staple, but we couldn’t very well just have a list of 1 card. The others are marginally useful in the right decks though, so consider them more like “Honorable Mentions”.
We’ll be taking a few weeks off while we figure out what we’re doing next with this series (we have a few different ideas). Check back on August 1st for the next “staples” article.
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