Stantler (Unleashed UL 64) – Card of the Day

pokebeach.comHey guys, Captain here with yet another Card of the Day. So today’s card is Stantler from HS: Unleashed.

This is a very interesting card with high potential in the upcoming HGSS-on format. A lot of great 0 energy starter options are about to be rotated out (namely Sableye and Spritomb), and this could function as a new starter.

First are its stats. It’s a Basic Pokémon, which is pretty much a prerequisite for a good starter. It has no evolution, though popular starters of the past didn’t either. 70 HP is pretty solid, x2 weakness is a bit unfortunate but not a huge deal, no resistance is fairly standard, and Retreat Cost of 1 isn’t bad.

Delving a bit further into it’s weakness, the only realistic possibility that could Knock it Out before you can retreat it would be Donphan, and by then you should have been able to set up with it anyway. However, you could actually use this to your advantage by using Twins in your deck and then letting your opponent Knock Out your Stantler turn 2. Then you can grab any 2 cards you want with Twins, such as important evolution lines. Seeing as Donphan variants are predicted to be top tier next format, this could be something to certainly consider, and it could work very well in ReshiBoar, possibly allowing it to set up on turn 2, assuming it went second.

But enough about its weakness; it’s time for the attacks. The first one is the significant one: “Call for Family”. For 1 of any energy, you search your deck for 2 Basic Pokémon and bench them. It’s as simple as that. This is pretty similar to Pokémon Collector, but has a few pros and cons. For example, you only get 2 basics, you must bench them, and it uses up your attack for the turn. However, you can still use a Supporter that turn, and sometimes this is crucial for a very fast setup.

“Mystifying Horns”, its other attack, is basically terrible. For 3 of any energy, you deal 30 damage and confuse the Defending Pokémon. It’s better than nothing at all, but it should only be an absolute last resort attack.

Stantler can be a solid starter, and Stantler starts have generally gone very well in tests of my ReshiBoar build. The other significant starters to compare this to are Smeargle and Pichu.

pokebeach.comSmeargle has basically the same stats and a worse attack, but a Poké-Power that lets you see your opponent’s hand and also use a Supporter from it as the effect of that power. It’s more luck-based, but can sometimes work a lot more in your favor, as well as hopefully letting you know what deck your opponent is playing (which can affect the way you set up early on). Of course, since Smeargle still has a Retreat Cost of 1, it might as well be using your attack except maybe in a good Zekrom start or with Switch in your hand. Smeargle is also a lot more expensive than Stantler.

As for Pichu, it helps both you and your opponent set up by benched as many basics from your deck as you want. While this can be great for setting up Cinccino or Jumpluff, it could very well hurt you more than it helps you with other matchups.

So overall, it has its uses and I think it will certainly see play. There are a few other good starter possibilities, and out of them I think this is the most consistent one. Cleffa and Smeargle could both be very good, but are fairly luck based, and Stantler will always let you get 2 Basic Pokémon for 1 Energy. I give it a 3 out of 5.

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Reader Interactions

13 replies

  1. Junior

    To be honest, in terms of probability, your better off replacing stantler with a pokemon collector. This is an extremely horrible card.

    • Anonymous  → Junior

      I’d like to disagree for a few reasons. While Collector has a few upsides, which I discussed, a combination of both can be very effective. For one, if I go with 4 Collectors and 4 Stantler, that’s somewhat like having more than 4 Collectors. Additionally, if I start with Stantler, I could use a supporter other than Collector on my first turn. For example, I could use, say, Professor Elm’s New Theory to get an evolution card and evolve first thing next turn.

  2. Anonymous

    it turns every energy into call energy. Then doesn’t do anything else for the rest of the game.

  3. Anonymous

    Do not forget Minun. It’s attack is the same as Stantler. If you are just using a starter to set your bench and a sacrafice to use Twins, Minun is just as good.

    • Anonymous  → Anonymous

      Only thing is, ten less hp means any fighting type attack that does 30 will ko minun but not stantler. Also, they have the same retreat cost, so there’s not much of an advantage there. Lastly, Stantler is rather common too, so there’s no cost worries. I’m not quite sure what positives minun has over stantler, maybe people think he looks better?

      • Anonymous  → Anonymous

        Like Mike said, if you are intentionally sacrificing for Twins, less HP is better.

        Also, FYI, Stantler is $.49 on Troll and Toad, but Minun is “only” $.29. It is actually cheaper.

      • mike newman  → Anonymous

        Ten less HP is actually a pro, in the context of sacrificing for twins. Plenty of cards possess the capability to do 60 T1, meaning you won’t have to have the Minun clogging your active spot for two turns if you’re low on energy.

  4. Anonymous

    smeargle is really good in reshiram because emboar can easily pay retreat cost. and stantler getting 2 basics isnt that powerful. where as cleffa and smeargle are waaaay more versitile and can net you much needed t/s/s like rare candy.

  5. Garrett Williamson

    I like using this card, it gets around the absol/mandibuzz combo, it speed up stage 2 decks considering the rare candy erata. I will be playing this card … Until the little alien comes out ;)

  6. DrMime

    You mention Cleffa at the end, but you don’t compare it in the middle–might have been useful to group this in. (Regardless of whether you think it’s a good play or not, Cleffa probably gets as much testing time as Stantler, Smeargle, Pichu, and “no starter” right now.)

  7. nui wong

    currently reshiram/emboar like alot of other players are for the hgss on testing, stantler is great….

    how do u find it horrible? next to things like cleffa and smeargle it stands there as well’

    stantler is just to help with the starts. cleffa is general support and smeargle can also get you cards like judge or juniper which alot of times can be bad especially early game

  8. tim h

    A good thing to note is you can retreat smeargle to another smeargle to steal another supporter on turn 1 if you feel like it.

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