Seeing as how the previous article about comparing the Basic Tynamo wasn’t hated by the masses, we’re trying again, this time with a suggestion from Cabd. Lilligant has a print in every released BW set (Black & White, Emerging Powers, and Noble Victories), but none of them are widely played; in fact it’s rare to even see them outside of something fun. If you’re going to put Lilligant into any deck, you’re going to make sure it has a Basic to back it up, because it won’t likely last too long on its own when evolved, either.
Much like Lilligant, each set contains one Petilil. All three are Grass type, are weak to Fire, resist Water, and have one Retreat Cost. BW and EP Petilil have 50 HP, while NV has 60. These stats are pretty standard for a Basic, and it’s possible that the Fire weakness won’t hurt as badly as it used to. Resistance doesn’t mean much on an Basic that hasn’t fully evolved unless you predict you’ll often run into Petilil vs Squirtle for more than two turns, but with Vanilluxe and Kyurem being the most predominant Water-types around, it doesn’t matter too much. (Vanilluxe may or may not 1HKO it, but you need to evolve out of that Paralysis quickly; it stands no chance against Kyurem unless it evolves.) And as is said in almost every article that mentions a Basic, one Retreat Cost is average.
Already gave their HP. BW = 50, EP = 50, NV = 60. On the first stat that all don’t share equally, NV is in the lead. If it remains on the bench, that 10 HP difference won’t save it as it’s a 2HKO from Kyurem, a 1HKO from Mandibuzz BW, and a 1HKO from most anything that would Catcher it up as an easy prize. If it’s an early active, it’s possible that the extra 10 may save you a turn or two.
Before we go any further, let’s look back at what we’re preparing ourselves for. No deck but Green Tornado would ever play Petilil without Lilligant, and we know to never follow the construction patterns of theme decks. (Conclusion: Stop playing Professor Juniper, Pokémon Communication, and Durant NV, because the theme decks liked them.) Lilligant BW and NV have 80 HP, while the EP one has 90. Neither stat is remarkable and should not affect the Petilil discussion at all.
pokemon-paradijs.comLilligant BW’s first attack costs only one G Energy: flip three coins, and for each heads, it does 30 damage. This would be okay, but afterward, Lilligant is confused. This is terrible and will not be brought up again, as it shouldn’t be played. (Not to mention this is shaping up to be pretty long and I’d rather not lose your interest.) EP has arguably the best Lilligant of the three: again for one Grass, it only does 20 damage, but it guarantees a Status Condition.
On another coin flip, if heads, the Defending Pokémon if Paralyzed and Poisoned, but if tails, it’s Confused. For GCC, it does a vanilla 60, so this attack will likely never be used. NV is neat, but not considered usable so far. For one G Energy (noticing a pattern?), you heal all damage from one of your Benched Pokémon. For GC, it does 30 damage, and Lilligant is switched out of the Active Spot.
So far, Lilligant has shaped up to be possibly fun, but mediocre. But more importantly for this, we have the Petilil. From BW, we get one attack with a cost of one G Energy. It does 10 damage, and if you flip heads on a coin flip, it does 10 more damage and heals 10 from itself. In the first few turns, an attack that heals damage from yourself is a valuable asset as long as you aren’t facing Reshiram, Cobalion, or anything else stronger than the average Basic. But unfortunately for this card, these are common now, so it’s not a great bonus anymore.
Of note, if you’re using the EP Lilligant, it’s a good idea to play Fliptini. With this combination, Petilil has a 75% chance of doing 20 damage and healing 10 from itself. If you’re playing in a game where your opponent’s deck equals yours in strength, things are looking up for this little guy. When paired with the NV Lilligant, this might be enough to keep it alive longer, but not a guarantee now that it’s a 50% chance.
pokemon-paradijs.comOur second Petilil, EP, also has a first attack that costs one G Energy. I think I’ve just about run out of ways to say that. It does no damage, but on yet another coin flip (another phrase I can no longer say in a different way), your opponent is Paralyzed if you get heads. The second attack is GC for a vanilla 20, your average Basic’s second attack.
Remembering from above that Lilligant EP should use Fliptini, this is a 75% chance that you can Paralyze your opponent. And since the card is already inflicting Status like an anthrax outbreak, it goes together rather well, possibly an intentional move on Nintendo’s part. As for NV Lilligant, unless you can stall on that 50% chance, it doesn’t seem to cut it.
Our last showcase is Petilil NV, the star with 60 HP and the most bland first attack of all. Finally we get one with a single Colorless cost, but it does a vanilla 10. Nothing to say about it other than “standard.” Its second attack costs GC and also does only 10 damage, but now you can heal 10 damage from it. Hopefully it won’t be on the field long enough to have to use that, but it’s a secure backup.
Lilligant EP gains almost no use from this card, except maybe the 10 extra HP as a tiny insurance boost. However, NV likes the both the extra HP and the boost from the second attack, not to mention it costing the same as its only attack that does any damage.
Based on the above, it looks like if you want to play Lilligant NV and not place chances of survival on a 50/50 coin flip, Petilil NV is a solid play. For Lilligant NV, your best bet is to decide between BW and EP and whether healing yourself or Paralyzing your opponent is more appealing, unless you 100% think you need that extra HP boost. (My preference lies in Petilil EP for the sake of this.) Surprise, surprise, it just may be true that the best Basic form for each Lilligant lies in its own set.
Without looking, I guess that this was requested by baby_mario.
EDIT: ????
Surprisingly no.
It’s a good review and all, but I think there should have been some pics of Petilil’s evolution. Y’know, just so people are clear.
It was a request from Cabd, but he did it for baby_mario. So not quite, but he was thought of when this was picked, haha.
time to revolt. These card are crap…………they suck………………….you suck for reviewing them.
Okay those things needed to be said.
Usually everybody revolts when you review basic cards. Plus if one card has 10 HP more than the other and the retreats are the same, you need to play the one with more HP.
“Usually everybody revolts when you review basic cards.”
Uhh… no. They’re a nice change of pace IMO.
Thank you for your opinion and it’s been duly noted =)
Haha no, at least try a more clever insult than, “you suck.” Request a card on the forums if you want somebody else to take a CotD, or just write one yourself. Complaining in the Disqus won’t get you anywhere; others before you have tried. (But seriously, I don’t recall any “revolts” in the CotDs for Tynamo, Axew, Volbeat/Illumise, or anything like them. Almost every CotD has been requested before being written, including this one.)
https://sixprizes.com/forums/leave-feedback/1051-card-day-request-thread.html Here’s it is, if you’re that passionate about it. Have a nice day.
Guys, I was just joking, and making up for all the haters that usually come on here whenever you review a sucky card.
If I offended you, I apologize, because that was not my intent. It was all made with a lighthearted tone, but you don’t have tone online, so it is understandable that you got confused.
Nah, if I was offended that easily, I wouldn’t be on the internet and I wouldn’t concrit at all. I was half-amused at such an over-the-top reaction and mostly put it out of my mind after that.
Too easy to take that seriously since comments like that do happen. (Heck, you could’ve told me to die in a fire and I’d have believed it was real.) Most of the comments on CotD have been pretty tame lately, but yeah, internet + tone does not exist, sadly. Least this got cleared up, haha.
You should leave the jokes to Pedro.
It’s just a fun review of a prettyful LILLIGANT-related card is all. Why does anything need to be said about that?
Lighten up.
It’s better than the nothing new I see most days on 6p.
It’s a good thing you’re above reviewing cards that most people ignore.
I mean, you’d never review stuff like potion
http://www.onehitko.com/2011/10/05/pikkdogs-pikks-three-pokegear-3-0-potion-and-ultra-ball/
or “crap” like metapod hgss
http://www.onehitko.com/2011/07/30/pikkdogs-pikks-three-zekrom-metapod-hgss-and-recycle/
or random trainers found in theme decks like great ball
http://www.onehitko.com/2011/09/04/pikkdogs-pikks-three-vileplume-ud-great-ball-ep-and-hydreigon-red-collection/
or ditto. Definately not ditto.
http://www.onehitko.com/2011/05/15/pikkdogs-pikks-three-ditto-triumphant-plus-power-and-relicanth-cl/
Oh, wait.
I play Potion in my Steelix Prime variant, Metapod in Accelgor/Jumpluff, and Ditto was a tech in my Shiftry RR rogue deck last format. And they weren’t there to evolve. Those are all cards that Pikkdogs felt were underrated.
I personally don’t play Liligant in anything (or Petill for that matter)(Don’t cry, baby_mario), but I can see why people play it. You get a pretty good one-energy attack that causes status on both sides of a coin flip. Metapod removes weakness from all your grass pokemon, which is key because that means they don’t have weaqkness to Reshiram anymore, meaning Reshiram will need a PlusPower to OHKO any Serperior or Leavanny catchered up, and Vileplume won’t be OHKOed by all Mew Prime attacks if for some reason it is active. Typhlosion will need 2 PlusPowers to OHKO any 90 HP grass pokemon, such as Accelgor, Jumpluff, Leafeon, or even (you guessed it) Liligant. Virizion NV will be OHKOed by a Reshiram with 9 damage counters on it instead of 4. It may not seem like much, but it wins games. Potion, even though not played, can win games. Ditto can get you the win against BenchTini, and Great Ball can get you a Pokemon to Communicate back in. Just because you can’t see everything about a card doesn’t mean they suck.
And if Metapod is crap, so is Eelektrik.
Any card that Metapod could help would get OHKO’d with or without weakness; it’s pretty crap compared to other support. Maybe if we still had Shaymin Lvl X it would be a whole lot better (still not tier 1 or 2, but better).
If Metapod is good, then I dread the incoming Leavanny NV swarm =p
I just gave you a few great examples of cards Metapod could help, next time make sure to read the whole thing instead of getting bored and thinking you understand what I’m saying. Metapod isn’t the BCIF, but it can help in some situations.
Heh, I like your reasoning here. You’re coming up with basically impossible (or at least extremely unlikely) situations where Metapod would help, and then calling them “great”. While criticizing I_S for “not reading the whole thing” when she brings up a very solid counter-point. Who’s not read whose comment thoroughly enough, again?
Okay, let’s analyze your post since you apparently don’t understand/haven’t read I_S’s comment which responded with a single, well-thought out point to your comment with several, illogical reasons for Metapod’s usefulness in this format.
To start with, your argument that Reshiram needs a PlusPower to OHKO a Catcher-ed Serperior or Leavanny: Assuming you for some reason run these without Vileplume, why would the Reshiram player choose to Catcher Serperior when they could OHKO Metapod with Blue Flare instead and on the following turn start hitting other Grass-types for Weakness?
(I’m not even going to include Leavanny in that argument, because frankly if you run both Metapod (cancels weakness for Grass-types) and Leavanny (cancels weakness for all Pokémon with Energy attached) you don’t deserve to live.)
Also, how and why would Vileplume be in the Active spot when it can’t be Catchered?
Then you talk about Typhlosion needing a double PlusPower drop to OHKO attackers like Jumpluff and Leafeon. As attackers like these are generally not run with Vileplume, Typhlosion can Catcher the Metapod, OHKO it and then start KOing the attackers. And even if the TyRam player should encounter for example a Jumpluff/Vileplume deck, Reshiram with Blue Flare will still OHKO just about everything in the deck regardless of Metapod.
You also bring up Virizion, which “would require 9 damage counters on Reshiram instead of 4”, but you fail to see that there’s absolutely no reason for the Reshiram player to use Outrage when they can Blue Flare for the OHKO instead. See where I’m coming from?
Lastly (of the points concerning Metapod), you state that “if Metapod is crap, so is Eelektrik”. I’m sorry, but this reasoning confuses me in so many ways it’s not even funny. The only features Eelektrik and Metapod share are their Retreat cost and that they both have effects (Poké-BODY vs Ability) that are used best on the Bench. Other that that, they’re completely different even if (as it looks like you are doing) you focus on just the Poké-BODY/Ability. Metapod’s Poké-BODY is constant and cancels Weakness, while Eelektrik’s Ability is a one-use-per-turn effect that concerns Energy and the Discard pile. I fail to see the similarities of these cards, could you please enlighten me on what you meant with that last sentence?
I hope you understand where I’m coming from with this!
~Akane