Otaku
Active Member
Alright, time to review Unown Q, a risque production that lampoons... no, wait, that's not right.
Unown Q is Basic Psychic Pokemon with 30 HP.
That is scary bad, the lowest HP any actual Pokemon has in the TCG. Being a Basic is good, and Psychic is useful but not as good as it would be if it was even a little bigger. The Psychic Weakness still matters despite the low HP, because adding +10 will allow an Uxie to OHKO; you don't even need the Lv.X! Lack of Resistance is sad but at least the pathetic HP means that it wouldn't have done much good anyway, and the free Retreat Cost is great but also well deserved looking at the other stats.
The Poke-Power is why it gets played so I'll jump to the attack: its a solid attack, (C) hitting for 20, but it is suicide to use and thus not even worthy trying to exploit Weakness. I suppose you could hope your opponent started with, say, their own Unown Q, but if you're hoping for that you also ran Speed Stadium as your default deck when it was legal and ran Gambler in Unlimited. Actually, I did both of those and I still wouldn't count on it.
The Poke-Power, Quick, allows you to discard all cards attached to it, attach it to one of your Pokemon as if it were a Pokemon Tool, and the "equipped" Pokemon pays (C) less to Retreat.
...
That's it? Well, that sounds handy but is it worth risking starting with this thing? Can't you just burn a Switch if it is a one time deal, and if you need to Retreat over and over again at a discount, why not run a 1-1 of HS-Undaunted Dodrio? Two slots in the deck and one on the Bench, but everything gets to knock (CC) off retreating.
Of course, everyone on this thread has indicated I am flat wrong in dismissing this card. Part of the perils of reviewing without paying attention to deck TecHs. I have to swallow my pride and admit I skipped a good card. As I think on it, I realize that the point is it is a Basic Pokemon, making it easy to recycle if you did need it more than once. You run it in decks where the Pokemon it is intended for have single Energy Retreat Costs and hey, Dodrio begging to be KO'd while on the Bench, while unless you get a bad open, Unown Q hits play for just a few seconds before becoming a Pokemon Tool. Plus Trainer-lock is still a common enough occurrence. So, I am wrong. I removed my anterior from my posterior and had to admit I misjudged the card.
I'll have to start play-testing it, though I note most of what I've been experimenting with have Pokemon with sizable Retreat Costs and/or low Basic counts.
In Limited play, I'd actually risk it. Here retreating is frequent and it isn't like you can add anything else to really aid in retreating. Even if you're just making a hefty Retreat Cost a little more manageable, it is worth it. Your Basic count tends to be a lot higher in this format, so that should drop the number of suicidal starts.
Ratings
Modified: 7/10 - I still can't see it being as great as a lot of the scores I am seeing, so I'll chance being low rather than high.
Limited: 10/10 - Well, here it looks like a must, as it is basically a Trainer.
Unown Q is Basic Psychic Pokemon with 30 HP.
That is scary bad, the lowest HP any actual Pokemon has in the TCG. Being a Basic is good, and Psychic is useful but not as good as it would be if it was even a little bigger. The Psychic Weakness still matters despite the low HP, because adding +10 will allow an Uxie to OHKO; you don't even need the Lv.X! Lack of Resistance is sad but at least the pathetic HP means that it wouldn't have done much good anyway, and the free Retreat Cost is great but also well deserved looking at the other stats.
The Poke-Power is why it gets played so I'll jump to the attack: its a solid attack, (C) hitting for 20, but it is suicide to use and thus not even worthy trying to exploit Weakness. I suppose you could hope your opponent started with, say, their own Unown Q, but if you're hoping for that you also ran Speed Stadium as your default deck when it was legal and ran Gambler in Unlimited. Actually, I did both of those and I still wouldn't count on it.
The Poke-Power, Quick, allows you to discard all cards attached to it, attach it to one of your Pokemon as if it were a Pokemon Tool, and the "equipped" Pokemon pays (C) less to Retreat.
...
That's it? Well, that sounds handy but is it worth risking starting with this thing? Can't you just burn a Switch if it is a one time deal, and if you need to Retreat over and over again at a discount, why not run a 1-1 of HS-Undaunted Dodrio? Two slots in the deck and one on the Bench, but everything gets to knock (CC) off retreating.
Of course, everyone on this thread has indicated I am flat wrong in dismissing this card. Part of the perils of reviewing without paying attention to deck TecHs. I have to swallow my pride and admit I skipped a good card. As I think on it, I realize that the point is it is a Basic Pokemon, making it easy to recycle if you did need it more than once. You run it in decks where the Pokemon it is intended for have single Energy Retreat Costs and hey, Dodrio begging to be KO'd while on the Bench, while unless you get a bad open, Unown Q hits play for just a few seconds before becoming a Pokemon Tool. Plus Trainer-lock is still a common enough occurrence. So, I am wrong. I removed my anterior from my posterior and had to admit I misjudged the card.
I'll have to start play-testing it, though I note most of what I've been experimenting with have Pokemon with sizable Retreat Costs and/or low Basic counts.
In Limited play, I'd actually risk it. Here retreating is frequent and it isn't like you can add anything else to really aid in retreating. Even if you're just making a hefty Retreat Cost a little more manageable, it is worth it. Your Basic count tends to be a lot higher in this format, so that should drop the number of suicidal starts.
Ratings
Modified: 7/10 - I still can't see it being as great as a lot of the scores I am seeing, so I'll chance being low rather than high.
Limited: 10/10 - Well, here it looks like a must, as it is basically a Trainer.
