pokebeach.comHey all! It’s Celebi’, back with another Card of the Day! Today’s subject is Sunflora HS. While she’s been reviewed before, that was last format, and Sunflora is more widely played now.
Sunflora’s statistics are nothing special – Grass type is awful, as I’ve mentioned in pretty much every Grass Pokémon COTD I’ve written. 80 HP is rather low for a Stage 1 nowadays, and one Retreat Cost is average.
Sunflora just isn’t the kind of Pokémon that would be a mean, tough attacker. Look at that adorable smile! No, she’s more of the sweet, benevolent type, content to sit back and help out her teammates. Her attack reflects this attitude – for a nasty GGC cost, Blade Arms does a mere 40 damage.
So, Sunflora obviously isn’t cut out to be a main attacker – but her Poké-Power is great. Remember the deck called Speedrill from a few years ago, a variant of which ended up winning Worlds in 2009? It utilized Beedrill RR’s Poké-Power, Flutter Wings, which let you search your deck for a Grass Pokémon and put it into your hand. Being able to grab a Pokémon from your deck every turn meant that you could set up quickly, swarm, and use Beedrill GE’s “Band Attack” to do an insane amount of damage for just one Grass energy.
Sunflora’s Poké-Power, Sunshine Grace, is exactly like Flutter Wings. Beedrill was great because it both searched and provided fuel for Band Attack; Sunflora, while it doesn’t increase your damage output, is markedly better because it’s a Stage 1.
Ever since Rare Candy got nerfed, Stage 2’s have become a pain to set up, and Stage 1’s are preferred. Sunflora takes advantage of this speed. As soon as you get a Sunflora out (optimally on turn two or three), you give yourself not only a reliable way to set up, but also guaranteed support late in the game, once you’ve exhausted your Trainer and Supporter resources.
pokebeach.comSunflora’s main use in this format is in Mew Box, a lock deck that uses several Grass types, such as Vileplume, Yanmega, and Jumpluff. Vileplume decks sometimes have problems maintaining consistency, since they are unable to use staple Trainers such as Pokémon Communication. Sunflora gives that extra boost needed to keep streaming attackers for the entire game.
While Mew Box’s roguish popularity has been somewhat eclipsed by a newer variant, that is, Mew/Stage 1s, it’s still a pretty viable deck. Most notably, Mew Box has a favorable matchup against Zekrom, which seems to be the co-BDIF (along with ReshiPhlosion) right now.
Sunflora has main weaknesses: first of all, its basic form, Sunkern, is an awful starter. Second, it has that awful Fire weakness. Then, of course, it is an obvious Catcher Prize (provided Vileplume isn’t out yet). But she remains the best, most consistent Grass-type support in the format, and definitely merits a spot in any Grass deck.
What do you guys think? Have any interesting deck ideas including Sunflora? Feel free to leave a comment below. Thank you all for reading!
first to post and vote yay!
I liked this COTD because it told the truth and nobudy said anything that wasn’t true, like, it’s a Donphan counter or something. It was well written and more COTDs like this would be awesome.
Wait, what? Are you telling me Sunflora doesn’t counter Donphan!? I was wondering why my Sunflora rush deck always looses to Donphan…
NO WAY I THOUGHT THAT SUNFLORA COULD MAUL DONPHAN WITH ONE SHOT.
It’s uncommon to see a free-membership article, CotD or not, where there’s not a totally wrong statement/theory like that (ZPS matchup post was a mistake, as said in the comments). And the ones that are correct are usually cards played by no one, so it doesn’t matter.
I would say that no one’s said anything as bad as it being a Donphan counter but…. Lord I wouldn’t doubt anything.
Seriously bro, its time to move on from losing the Tornadus argument. It’s getting in the way of your comments. In this comment, you didn’t make a statement that would help the author and the readers of this cotd so much as try to get the last word on the argument that you already lost from an entirely unrelated article. When you comment, just talk about the article at hand.
“Most notably, MewBox has a favorable matchup against Zekrom”. How to Play Mewlock Like a Pro
says that Zekrom is favored against Mew. Which is right?
*facepalm* I can’t believe I wrote that… I was probably thinking something like “Zekrom has a favorable matchup against it” and just totally phased out and wrote it the opposite way. However, I don’t think the matchup is as bad as the “How to Play Mewlock like a Pro” article says…more like 60-40 or 65-35 in Zekrom’s favor.
With Catcher, sure, Sunflora seems like the typical Catcher-kill. BUT we’re forgetting something – A pure Supporter deck with Vileplume. If you’re lucky enough to evolve Sunkern, get out Oddish (if it’s not benched) and Rare Candy into Vileplume within 2 to 3 turns, you’re safe, and Gothitelle may not pose a problem to you (i.e. Gothitelle decks catchering out your benched pokemon). In this same deck, let Yanmega run wild with Copycats and Judges, snipe their bench, and you’re home free.
Nice article,
Keep it up!
Nice article,
Keep it up!
dude zpst rapes mewbox it kills anything it brings up