kn3ll_ here with a short message before the Card of the Day: I will no longer be giving numerical ratings for cards, since some people aren’t mature enough to realize that they are nothing but my humble opinion. If you feel that you could write better Cards of the Day, please do! I enjoy reading CotDs just as much as writing them.
With that out of the way, Muk from Undaunted! A Stage 1 with 100 HP, Muk’s Psychic typing and weakness should both be considered grey areas in the format. 3 Retreat cost isn’t my cup of tea; especially for a Stage-1. 100 HP, as you probably know by now, is not a fun place to be. But, with a bit of utility, Muk manages to be one of my favorite rogue options in the format.
For a single Psychic, “Sludge Drag” allows you to switch the Defending Pokemon with one of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon. The new Defending Pokemon enters play as Confused and Poisoned.
There’s a boatload of usefulness in this attack: Confusion makes it difficult to attack, and Poison adds insult to injury. Switching the Opponent’s Pokemon is always a nice benefit, nothing like dragging an Emboar out for your other Pokemon to snipe around (although I wouldn’t recommend this strategy for Muk).
It is unfortunate that there is nothing stopping your opponent from retreating, however, but you should be able to regulate this by making intelligent decisions on what Pokemon to Sludge Drag and when.
Muk’s second attack, “Pester”, for a Psychic and two Colorless Energy, deals 50 damage. If the Defending Pokemon is affected by a Special Condition, you make this 80 damage. Obviously, you use this in combination with Sludge Drag, you get the 80. But what if you don’t want to switch the opponent’s Pokemon? Roserade UL‘s Poke-Power should fix this, although it will take your energy attachment for the turn.
Unfortunately, Muk’s undoing is the fact that even with his two-turn combo, he won’t be able to KO most of the big threats. His plan is to not have to deal with them, instead preferring to pick on weaker foes and bench-sitters. But one day, Muk will be walking(?) on the wrong side of town and every big attacker in the game will knock the tar out of him.
Pros: Switches opponent’s Pokemon, good damage for decent cost.
Cons: Expensive retreat, OHKO’d by BW Legendaries, ‘good’ damage is not enough.
On an unrelated note: Check out the DJ mix I made for SixPrizes here!
