Serperior (Black & White BW 6)

pokebeach.comAh, Serperior 6. How excited I was when you were first announced! My starter from White, in a Tank-style TCG form! I thought it was smooth sailing for a HGSS-on format!

…Until the rest of the set was announced.

Serperior 6, or Ability Serperior, is a Grass-type with 130 HP. Grass typing does it no favors, and a Fire weakness seals a grim fate against Reshiram and Emboar. A Water resistance is not necessarily a bad thing, allowing you to better wall Samurott 32 and Blastoise.

Serperior’s Ability, “Royal Heal”, lets you heal each of your Pokémon for 10 damage at any time between turns, similar to Nidoqueen RR. However, Serperior’s Ability is stackable. Feel free to remove 40 damage before your opponent’s turn.

“Leaf Tornado”, for a Grass and a Colorless, does 60 damage and allows you to reposition Grass energy among your Pokémon. It’s a very mediocre attack and shouldn’t be used. You’re better off using Meganium Prime.

The biggest problems with Serperior are its position as a Stage-2 Pokémon, requiring a large commitment of cards to put in a deck, and its mediocre attack. If Leaf Tornado did 80 damage, Serperior and I might be able to sit down and talk about career possibilities. But as it stands, Serperior is nothing more than a great benchwarmer.

pokebeach.comThe other problem that limits Serperior is not having a deck to fit into. My two favorite tank decks are Steelix and Wailord. Both of them can tank large amounts of damage and insignificant heals like Serperior’s will only add to your opponent’s frustration.

However, both Wailord and Steelix can be frequently 1-shot in the current format. Donphan might be played more tanky with Serperior, but it’s really not efficient compared to Machamp Prime. So there’s not a big point putting Serperior into decks that don’t get an opportunity to use its ability, or there’s better cards that work with its partners.

Because Leaf Tornado is such a poor attack, you won’t be able to use Serperior on his own. having “only” 130 HP is also a problem, considering his ability will make no difference against Reshiram or Zekrom. It does help against Donphan, but if Donphan attacks first you won’t be able to KO it before it KOs you.

I’m honestly conflicted as how to rate Serperior. Because it doesn’t fit particularly well in any deck, and it can’t fend for itself, I’ll give an unfortunate 2/5. I wish it was better, though.

Reader Interactions

11 replies

  1. tim h

    I’ve been thinking, Wailord/Serperior/Donphan. 

    5-6 water energy
    2-3 fighting energy
    4 rainbow energy

    Both donphan and Wailord deal with reshiram
    donphan deals with zekrom fairly well
    wailord works vs donchamp… sort of

    The sad thing is, that Samurott/Donphan without serperior is probably better. 

    I give serperior a 4/5 for ‘bad’ deck play. If you are playing vs friends who don’t play reshiram/zekrom or stuff, it won’t die.

    Otherwise, I give it 1.5/5. Apart from looking cool, it’s healing ability doesn’t make up for the fact that it’s attack is pitiful.

    • Colby Bennardo  → tim

      I used to run a kingdra/donphan speed deck with 111 superior for late game. With dodrios to retreat, and everyone able to deal consistent 60(with rainbow energy) serperior was a great way to maintain momentum.

  2. the sidewalk

    This card is actually not bad in this format when paired with Vileplume and Spiritomb. It’s super annoying when you have to play through trainer lock and your opponent healing on average 40-60 before you get to attack again… Unless you’re playing something that hits hard, or you have a type advantage, it’s a super uphill battle. But hey, I have to say that I’m grateful for this card’s existence, for the simple fact that I’ll be able to essentially play DonQueen in the next format… though it may not be necessary with Pokemon Center being reprinted.

  3. Emil lumen

    Cool art. Too bad the other serperior also has the same mediocre 60 damage output while the other starters have 80+ damage output. Also the other serperior has a free retreat cost but this one don’t, what a let down.

    Maybe serperior can work in a donphan/wailord deck. Donphan against zekroms and wailord against everything else.

    Good article by the way. 

  4. Cam Graybill

    i saw a deck like this including reuniclus, to move the damage around, and absorb 60 in between turns, or 120 if you get 2 out. I’ve seen it with wailord too.

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