Hey y’all! Celebi’ here to proudly present…the first ever CotD Triple Feature! Today we’ll be going over all three Victinis from Noble Victories.
Victini is obviously the star of the set. It has three (technically four) cards in NV, it’s on the pack art, and, well, the set is named Noble Victories. Victini is the Victory Pokémon. So…yeah. Victini gets lots of love. Let’s get to the reviews!
Victini 14 & 98 – “Fliptini”
First off we have a card that’s received tons of hype – not necessarily extreme hype like Beartic, but people have been theorymon-ing and providing huge lists of combos for it ever since it was revealed in Japan. Fliptini (as I’ll refer to it from now on) is obviously special, ’cause it’s the one that gets the awesome-looking FA version.
As always, let’s check out the stats first. Fliptini has an average 60 HP, which is OK for a basic, but considering it does not evolve into a stronger form, having a permanently fragile Pokémon like that can be a liability.
Fliptini’s Water weakness could be bad with Water types like Kyurem becoming popular, but it will (hopefully) always be on the bench, meaning weakness and resistance won’t be applied to it. Its one Retreat Cost is just average.
Well, Fliptini’s attack is nothing special. For a RC cost, Stored Power does an overpriced 30 damage, and you must move all energy on it to one of your benched Pokémon. Hopefully you’ll never have to use this attack in a game, as it’s ineffective and can’t even be used on consecutive turns without energy acceleration.
So, why is Fliptini so special, and how did it get its name? The answer is in its Ability, Victory Star. If your active Pokémon uses an attack that requires flipping coins, you may choose to re-flip those coins once. This is a game-changing ability; it makes any card that was previously useless because it was unreliable suddenly very good.
pokebeach.comSo many Pokémon have been glanced at and shelved because their flippiness has made them subpar. But Fliptini is a simple answer: you already have the tools (Pokémon Collector) to get it out, and it’s not a slow evolved Pokémon so it doesn’t require lots of time or resources to set up. Of course, the fact already remains that it’s an easy Catcher prize, but often its usefulness outweighs its downsides.
I’m not going to elaborate too much on Fliptini’s uses in certain decks – go on any Pokémon TCG forum and you’ll find plenty of threads and decklists pairing it with cards like:
Sharpedo TM
Magmortar TM
Lilligant EP
Vanilluxe NV
You get the idea. NV has just come out, but come Cities Fliptini will have a chance to prove its worth. Tons of possible combinations=tons of potential, and that potential leads me to rate Fliptini at 7.5/10 (Good/Very Good).
Victini 15 – “Benchtini” or “V-create-tini”
Next up we have another Fire-type Victini. This one, though, has 10 more HP, which helps, if only the slightest bit. “Benchtini” does not have an Ability, but does have one attack.
“V-create,” for RC, does 100 damage – quite impressive for two energy, and on a Basic Pokémon. However, V-create fails if you don’t have a full bench.
This is very similar to “Do the Wave” on Cinccino BW. Cinccino is great because it’s DCE compatible, meaning it can be charged up with just one energy, and it has 20 more HP than Victini.
In addition, Cinccino is actually able to attack with a smaller bench. So even if you can’t fill your bench on turn two, Cinccino can still attack, if only for 60 or 80 damage. On the other hand, Victini is stuck unable to do anything unless you have all 5 bench spots full.
Sure, Victini is a basic Pokémon, which makes it easier to set up, but it isn’t any quicker, since it requires two energy attachments instead of one. And one of those energy must be Fire, which can be troublesome. Cinccino is good in part because it’s so splashable – it only requires a DCE, a card that’s already played in many decks. Victini, on the other hand, isn’t worth adding to any deck without Fire energy.
I guess this Victini could be used if you wanted to create some sort of “cute and mildly powerful” league deck, but otherwise, Cinccino outclasses it. “Benchtini” gets a 6/10 – Decent.
Victini 43
Last up is Victini NV #43, which was also the prerelease promo. This Victini, unlike its two other pals, is a Psychic type. This means it’s weak to other Psychics like Mew Prime and Gothitelle; however, these two would likely 1HKO it anyway. It also has the average 60 HP and manageable one Retreat Cost.
Victini 43 has a single attack, V-blast. For one Psychic energy, it does an incredible 120 damage. However, it requires its user to flip two coins. If even one of them is tails, the attack does nothing.
This Victini is the epitome of flippiness. But if that drawback did not exist, the card would break the format. As is, he’ll only do damage 1 in every 4 tries, meaning your opponent will probably score a KO before you can make a dent in one of their Pokémon.
So this little dude may not be the BDIF. But that doesn’t mean you can’t play with him for fun! He pairs very well with its cousin, Fliptini. With a turn one Collector or Dual Ball, it’s not hard to get a Victini 43 active with one Psychic energy and a Fliptini on the bench.
Having the ability to re-flip vastly increases your chances of being able to do damage. While the probability is a bit under 50% (I haven’t done the exact math), it’s better than 25%, and could make for an interesting league deck.
So, to sum up, Victini 43 is too flippy to really work, but can combo with Fliptini for a fun deck. Like Victini 15, it is another card that’s good but not great, and also like the other Victini, I think it’s Decent – 6/10.
That’s all, folks! How did you like my triple feature? At over 1100 words, it’s more of a mini-article than a Card of the Day, but…well…all it does is review cards, so it still falls under that category. As a whole, the Victinis aren’t too shabby, with an average rating of 6.5 (Decent/Good).
Fliptini especially has the potential to become part of a new archetype. Cities gives us several medium-sized tournaments that provide some Championship Points while also offering a fairly low-key environment in which to test out new decks. It is during Cities, I think, that the best partner for Fliptini is likely to be found. But we’ll just have to wait and see.
Feel free to comment below on any uses you’ve found for any of the three Victinis! As always, thanks for reading!
*Thumbs up*
Your math is correct, btw; using fliptini to attempt a redo offers an additional 1/4 chance to get 2 heads. “additional” means add, so unless I am incredibly mistaken, adds up to to a 50% chance.
Victini is awesome. In fact, it says it on the card that you’re going to win.
*Thumbs up*
Your math is correct, btw; using fliptini to attempt a redo offers an additional 1/4 chance to get 2 heads. “additional” means add, so unless I am incredibly mistaken, adds up to to a 50% chance.
Victini is awesome. In fact, it says it on the card that you’re going to win.
By your logic, if you flipped 2 coins 4 times you would be guaranteed a double heads. This is clearly not true. Sorry.
The other guys were right, it’s 43.75% :D (Which, for the record, is good enough for me!)
I honestly don’t get all this complex math :(
But it is pokemon, so by playtime you throw all the math out the window and hope that you’re lucky.
By far the most sensible thing said on this post (except for Baby Mario’s comment :p )
It is just 43.75%. Let’s just stop this debate unless you don’t understand and want to know how it works, but if you want that, just read the above comments. Spam and Rodrick Pierce do a good job explaining this.
I wish there was a way to delete this… :-/
I realized 5 seconds after I posted it that I was just fooling around… Just woke up, hadn’t had that cup of coffee… Hell, I was even on the wrong e-mail account…
ADMIN PLEASE DELETE PREVIOUS
You should probably log in to the account that the comment was posted on, and edit it and tell an admin to delete.
You are mistaken. Assuming you wouldn’t be silly enough to reflip when you got two heads the first time, there’s a 1/4 chance (25%) of getting heads the first time, and a 1/4 (25%) chance of getting heads the second time. The second two flips only occur 75% of the time, when you miss the 25% chance of two heads the first time, so the actual odds are 25% + 75%*25%, or 43.75%.
except the odds for getting heads are ALWAYS 50% for a single flip, assuming you are using a coin with 2 sides, 1 heads and 1 tails.
” there’s a 1/4 chance (25%) of getting heads the first time, ” yeah no, sorry. and you also used the probability formula for when the result is affected by the previous result, which is wrong when talking about flipping coins. (i.e. you are just as likely to flip tails if you just flipped a heads (or a tails).)
Let’s try to clarify this. What I said was in reference to two coin flips, where both need to be heads, as referenced in the article: “Having the ability to re-flip vastly increases your chances of being able to do damage. While the probability is a bit under 50% (I haven’t done the exact math), it’s better than 25%, and could make for an interesting league deck.”
i know what you ment, and sorry if i came off in the wrong way, all im saying is that the odds of flipping heads is always going to be .5 if you use a fair coin/dice. it doesnt matter if you got a heads before that, or a tails before that, its still a .5 chance of heads. and a .25 for HH.
i dont wanna argue, i was just tired of people using the wrong forumula
Of course it will be heads 50% of the time, and two heads 25% of the time. The thing to keep in mind is that the second set of flips does depend on the first. As I said, if you got two heads the first time, are you going to try and reflip to get two heads the second time? Not if you’re smart. So, 25% of the time, you’ll stop at two heads, which leaves 75% of the time where you don’t. Of that remaining 75% of the time, you will get two heads after that 25% of the time. That is why it is 25% + 75%(25%), or 43.75%.
To make it a bit more clear, imagine if it was only one coin flip. You would get one heads 75% of the time with Victory Star: 50% of the time, you’d get heads the first time, and of the remaining 50%, you’d get heads 50% of the time, for 50% + 50%(50%), or 75%.
It’s not a matter of arguing, it’s a matter of me trying to make sure I’m getting my point across clearly.
i understand your point, i just disagree with the math. but like i said, i dont want to be a jerk about it
LOL @ DISAGREE WITH MATH
fyi: math isn’t an opinion
yeah, but you CAN disagree with someone’s answer. especially if they are wrong, but stop trolling, i already said that i was dropping it because i don’t want to let this become a big deal.
OK, you claim everyone else is trolling, but you’re trolling the most. And that’s saying something. I’m commenting on this post.
LOL @ TROLL
Nice.
using a coin with 1 tails, 1 heads side?
do you not use dice?
In terms of fractions, 1/4th of the time you would succeed on the first attempt and and the other 3/4th of the time you would have a second 1/4th chance of success. 1/4 + (3/4 * 1/4) = 4/16 + 3/16 = 7/16. On average you would be dealing 7/16 * 120 = 52.5 damage per turn. So if you are considering to run V-blast Victini ask your self if you want to set up a 2 weak pokemon combo for the ability to do approximately 50 damage for one energy.
except you are using the wrong kind of probability. coin flips arent dependant on the previous result, so the chance of getting heads is always 50%, same as tails. so you can either get HH (1/2*1/ = 25%), HT/TH ([1/2*1/2]+[1/2*1/2] = 50%), or TT (1/2*1/2 = 25%).
and then if you dont get it the first time, the odds are still the same, you just have another 25% chance.
Except he is using the right kind of probability. Coin flips aren’t dependent on the previous result, but the success of the attack is. The probability of HH is 25%, HT or TH or TT 75%. So far, the attack has a 25% chance of succeeding.
If you don’t get it the first time (75% chance), the odds of getting HH is still the same, at 25%. However, the need to do this depends on the first two flips not being HH (75%). Therefore, there is a 25% chance of getting HH after a 75% chance of not getting HH, seeing as having to flip two more times is dependent on not getting HH. The sum of the chance of success is 25% + 25%*75%, or 43.75%.
i still dont agree, but ill let bygons be bygons
And Bagons be Bagons. Until they evolve.
hold on to your everstone, ;P
Leave the math to the big kids now.
coming from someone who said they don’t understand the math even slightly.
seriously, dude i’m literally a math genius, with perfect scores to prove it.
if you don’t believe me, then go ahead and flip two coins, if you don’t get two heads, yell “VICTORY STAR” as loud as you can. see how much it helps you.
p.s. stop trolling. no one likes it.
Thank you. The intensity of my yelling “VICTORY STAR” was enough to knock the two randomizer dice I was using over onto both being even sides. After re-rolling them, because that’s what the ability does.
I said I don’t understand the complex math. I understand some math. And that’s why I said leave the math to the big kids. I was letting the people who were the best at math do the math. I never once posted the number 50 or 43.75 in the comments below this article.
If you were a math genius, you would have thought this through. If you flip one coin, and try again with Victory Star, your odds of succeeding are 75%, not 100%. Even I know that. People like Rodrick Pierce and Spam are taking that to the next level.
How will that help?
I’m not trolling. In the past, at times, I have been trolling. Those days are over.
good to hear
Great article! It was probably tough to sum up key points from three cards in a CotD, especially since the FA one in particular has been at the center of lots of discussion. However, you managed it well. I also pretty much agree with your ratings.
It says on the card I can’t lose if I use it. But this wasn’t the case when I played StripTini online. Those liars.
Spam’s maths is correct. I know cos I went through the pain of getting this explained to me when I first saw the Fliptini spoilers.
As for the review . . . how could you possibly make a review of all 3 Victinis even more awesome? By including a picture of Vanilluxe, that’s how.
Like.
For those who don’t scroll down. It comes to 43.75% chance to flip double heads with one retry.
benchtini is quicker than cinccino , it abuses the pachi+shaymin combo and other combos that allow it to hit on turn 1
Yeah, if you want to play a 70HP basic and two different types of basic energy to have less of a chance of attacking and when you do, get less damage from it when you could just play ZPS.
fact: cinccino can´t hit on t1 , victini is able to hit on t1.
fact: cinccino is ohkoed by donphan, victini is not.
fact: cinccino can´t use eviolite, victini can use it.
i m not compairing victini with zekrom btw
I am. And Cinccino has upsides. Sure, Victini can hit on T1… If you really want to use that many resources. Victini is OHKOed by Yanmega, who is more popular than donphan. Cinccino can OHKO RDL. Cinccino doesn’t fail if your bench isn’t full, you don’t need to play a zillion basics.
I agree with you on the last two points. Victini won´t be ohkoed by yanmega because of eviolite,tough.
That is if you attach Eviolite. You won’t always. It’s probable, but the T2 70 from Yanmega means you just might not get the Eviolite in time. Plus Zoroark OHKOes it with an Eviolite.
Zoroark and a lot of things that also ko Cinccino. In my opinion Victini does not make you mulligan,it s searchable under trainer lock,it can hit on T1, and can use eviolite.
Cinccino has 20 more hp but cant use eviolite, it can hit without a full bench,and abuses DCE.So I think its a 50/50 thing.
I think it depends on whether you’re running fire energy.
This article has some of the mathiest comments on the site. Victini comes out and suddenly everyone is a math genius, except for the people who insist that Sharpedo’s coin flips are any number but 43.75%.
That’s what happens when a bunch of people start playing a game as children, grow up and get engineering degrees. At leas that’s what happened in my case. Personally I would never use V-blast victini since I could replicate the effect of doing roughly that much damage just by using a different attacker. Strip Bare on the other hand is a unique strategy that needed that extra chance at success to make it viable. I like having an almost 50% chance of having discarded my opponents hand on T2. If I go first it means the opponent only had a single turn of having a hand. Throw in Slowking and Vileplume for even more bench sitters and suddenly you have a deck that makes everyone hate you, but won’t actually win you any games fast enough to be viable. :)
43,75%
Silly people thinking otherwise.
Nice review :D Awesome that they made a psychic one, V-blast makes me want to try it.
I usually don’t do good with coin flips, but I really just gotta use this one.
I didn’t build the deck because I recalled on a time at BRs when I got donked by Zekrom after I missed 4 Dual Ball flips. I wasn’t going through with that with damage.
100tini is a better name than Benchtini btw.
Centini?