pokegym.netHi there! I’m back with another Card of the Day. This time’s we’ll be taking a look at Gloom from Undaunted requested by coolestman22.
Most people probably aren’t too familiar with what Gloom does, but at the same time, most of us have seen it a ton and not paid attention. That’s because unsightly Gloom evolves into the deadly Vileplume UD, a card that’s been amazing since it was first released.
Gloom isn’t that bad of a Pokémon, considering it isn’t intended to be out on the field for that long, but rather to evolve into a stronger form. Gloom has a rather low 80 HP, one Retreat Cost, and a good Psychic weakness (No weakness is ever really good, but Psychic is better than Fire).
While Gloom’s main use is obviously as a stepping-stone to get to Vileplume, its attack, Miracle Powder, isn’t that bad. For one Grass energy and one Colorless, it does a vanilla thirty damage. But then, you get to flip a coin; if heads, you may choose a Special Condition to inflict upon the Defending Pokémon.
This can be decent as a first attack to start a lock on the opponent – you can then bring in a stronger Pokémon to finish them off. The thing is, Gloom’s pre-evolution Oddish UD is an awful starter with only 40 HP. It’s tough for Oddish to survive the turn before you can evolve it, as so many things can 1-shot it (besides obvious attackers like Zekrom and Yanmega, it can also be taken down by techs like Pachirisu or Tyrogue with a PlusPower). Having an active Oddish, while it is pretty much the only way to get off a turn 2 Gloom attack, is a huge liability.
Miracle Powder is decent, but it’s often just not good enough. Its downsides include the obvious flippiness (which, while it can be fixed by Fliptini, still isn’t great) as well as its cost. Two energy isn’t bad for a main attacker, but Gloom doesn’t exactly fall into that category. He’s more of an opener for a deck like Leafeon UD. The fact is, it’s costly, and usually not worth it, to devote two attachments to a card that’s going to end up KO’d or stuck on the bench after a couple turns.
Conclusion
I really don’t have that much to say about Gloom – its cons outweigh its pros. A much better option is Lilligant EP, which can inflict a special condition regardless of the flip, and only needs one energy to attack.
So, I’ll give a Gloom a 5.5/10 (Mediocre/Decent). Coincidentally, that’s about what it’s rated on TcgScans. Gloom just doesn’t have any sort of niche, other than being there to get to Vileplume. Even then, it’s better to use Rare Candy.
I guess Gloom is a bit sentimental for me just because it was one of the first cards I ever had (I basically got into the game via the Espeon Prime theme deck). But it simply isn’t that great.
What do you guys think of Gloom? Have you ever used it in a deck on its own? Feel free go to the forums and request the cards you want to see reviewed! And lastly, thanks for reading!
barryfken
“I guess Gloom is a bit sentimental for me just because it was one of the first cards I ever had (I basically got into the game via the Espeon UD theme deck).”
You just started playing last year? Lol, you sound more experienced than that personally.
I’d take Lilligant/Leafeon over Gloom anyday, especially since you can Leafeon/Espeon Prime instead of using an Oddish (at least Eevee can’t get OHKO’d from the bench easily.)
nilay patel
Yea thought you were much more experienced than just one years worth. Guess your just pro at the game
panfish
I love gloom!…I used to use Jungle gloom as my main attacker with the promo venusuar that healed all special conditions on the bench, confusion was such a pain back in the day :)
barryfken
It still is, lol.
Curtis
Back the it was worse. You had to flip to retreat, and if tails, you still discarded energy but stayed active. The only thing about it now is that they’ve upped the self-damage from 20 to 30.
theo Seeds
Switch was legal back then, I’m assuming?
It still would be a pain.
barryfken
Should be, Switch isn’t retreating ;)
theo Seeds
i know, that’s why i was asking about switch.
barryfken
Just making sure.
barryfken
Wow, really? At least we can retreat with Confusion now-a-days…I had no idea about that, thanks.
Ricky Turrietta
i made a pro move when i started with only an oddish going 2nd against donchamp when i was playing ross. i had a rainbow and a juniper and a rare candy and other useless junk i played rainbow on oddish and got the vileplume and the next turn i drew a collector and played it retreated to a pichu rare candied the oddish to a vileplume and got everything i need. this was against nick schutte. gloom isnt really needed in my opinion
theo Seeds
I think Gloom is needed because you’ll be playing less trainers because of Vileplume.
Anonymous
but there is always at least 3 candy and 1 or 2 communication, though
CalebM
its helpfull against goth and if you cant draw a candy
Will E
Interesting CotD. I like how you review “in-betweener” Stage 1s in addition to powerful cards.
Andrew Adams
I’ve played Vileplume before and have honestly never read this attack. And it’s pretty interesting! Although I agree that it’s probably not great, it was a good pick for a review.
theo Seeds
That’s MEEEEEEEEE!
Yeah, I was thinking this card would be interesting with Fliptini because it would be a good swarm deck with Sunflora and you could pretty easily get a trainerlock going. I was probably wrong about that, but you have to admit it’s interesting.
As for with Leafeon, I think you’re right that Liligant’s better, but I think swarming Hypnos and Houndoom Primes would top that. That is harder to set up, but the result is better for the latter.
Mekkah
I’ve seen a lot of Basic/Stage 1 attacks out of desperation (from my own hand or from others), and they can work out. But I can’t see I’ve ever seen Miracle Powder being used, mostly because most decks just don’t play Grass Energy. Maybe someone with Mewlock (which sometimes has Grass for Mass Attack and Linear Attack) will use it, someday…
Andres Cantillo
I once used its Miracle Aroma attack to slowly knock out a friend’s Blastoise… it was a very slow and painful death. xD