Hello! It’s Celebi’ again. Today’s featured card is Cinccino from Emerging Powers. This one was a special request from baby_mario, who says, “I only want to see adorable cards on the FP.” Cinccino is certainly adorable. He even has bubbles in the background! OMG he’s so fluffy!
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Anyway, Cinccino EPO has a lot to live up to, considering his big brother from Black & White has been quite a competitor in our metagame. “Doing the Wave” on turn 2 for 100 damage, and for just a DCE? Yes please! Is Cinccino from Emerging Powers that good? Short answer: no. Long answer: noooooooooo.
Both share mediocre stats: 90 HP, Fighting weakness, and 1 retreat cost. But the EPO Cinccino’s attacks are much more “meh.” He caps at just 30 damage from Fluffy Tail, and while the effect of sleep is nice, there’s a 50% chance of having no effect whatsoever on your opponent.
Its first attack is the only reason it would ever deserve to be played. Captivate basically has the effect of Gust of Wind or Pokémon Catcher, for the cost of one colorless energy – you get to switch the Defending Pokémon with one of your opponent’s benched Pokémon. Last week I reviewed Bellsprout TM, which has the exact same attack. But Cinccino has one important advantage over Bellsprout: 50 more HP. And while the Fighting weakness means that Donphan Prime will OHKO Cinccino, chances are that since you can drag up a Pokémon of your choice, you’ll be able to bring up a card that won’t be able to attack you. Next turn, you can retreat Cinccino, and his HP is high enough that he’s not a Linear Attack liability like Bellsprout is.
Another gust-like card that’s been brought up a bit as a possible tech is Liepard from BW. It’s very similar to Cinccino – they’re both Fighting-weak Stage 1′s. But Cinccino has 90 HP, while Liepard only has 80. It’s not a very big difference, but since Cinccino is also cuter, it’s definitely the better play.
While it’s always nice to have the Pokémon Catcher effect, there are a few problems with Cinccino. The first is Switch. Your opponent can just switch out their heavy retreater that you dragged up for their main attacker and kill your poor little Cinccino.
In addition, there’s always the option for your opponent to retreat. Some decks really struggle when they have to get a bulky Pokémon, such as Magnezone, out of the active spot. But some decks, such as Stage 1′s, run mostly Pokémon with one or no retreat (except for Donphan, but it would be stupid to pull him up when they can just attach one energy and KO Cinccino). There’s also decks with Emboar, who can attach as many energy as they need in just one turn.
Cinccino has many cons, but he may be useful in decks that need extra help disrupting and pulling up bench sitters. With Pokémon Catcher in the format, however, you’ll almost always be able to gust a Pokémon up without wasting an attack. But who knows – if we see a surge in Trainer-lock, it may be time to pull out our Scarf Pokémon and dominate the game with cuteness!
That’s it, folks! I hope you liked my review! Any comments are appreciated!
