Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

2011-08-21 BWP Tropical Beach BW28

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waynegg

waynegg

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[gal=52217]2011-08-21 BWP Tropical Beach BW28[/gal]​
 
Ah, the much hyped and contested Tropical Beach Promo card, notable for its single copy inclusion in the famed "Ross Crazy Rogue" second place worlds deck for masters.

No score for limited, obviously, and in unlimited, it's trash.

However, in such a twins/catcher/vileplume based format as we seem to be developing, it has a niche use in turning a nromally horribly bad non-ideal basic start into an "ideal sacrifice" start.

7/10
 
Also, very decent for sitting a dragon active and letting it take damage for Outrage without wasting its spot.

Not to mention....complete lack of counterstadium. I actually really like this card in this format.

8/10
 
[FONT=&quot]We begin the week with [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Tropical[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Beach[/FONT][FONT=&quot], the exclusive Worlds 2011 Promo. This is a Stadium card that, once per turn, allows you to draw until you have seven cards in hand. Your turn then ends. This was part of the runner-up deck for the Masters division. So is it actually any good?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Yup, and I’ll explain why. First we just don’t have that many Stadiums right now, and here is one that gives us Supporter level draw-power, even if it has some huge drawbacks. There are plenty of openers that have as or more useful set-up attacks, but it is getting more and more dangerous to run them. We’ve got plenty of Big Basic Pokémon and strong Stage 1 Pokémon that can come out swinging on the player’s second turn. If your opponent goes first, you’re going to get one draw off of that opener and then either it’s going to be KOed, or (perhaps worse) something more important will be forced Active by Pokémon Catcher and you’ll either have to burn a card to get that opener out of play or have it waste space on your Bench until your opponent needs one last, easy Prize.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]So running this card gives all those Pokémon we’ve cited as suffering because they couldn’t do anything first turn a useful an option. Think of giving up your attack almost like using a Technical Machine. Now you can start with Tornadus, drop an Energy, restock your hand, and next turn drop a Double Colorless Energy and go on the offensive.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Are there downsides? You bet! Your opponent will have a whole turn to wreck your hand or your in game set-up (rendering what you drew useless). Your opponent will also have the option of using [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Tropical [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Beach[/FONT][FONT=&quot], but this is a mixed blessing: it means your opponent is going for a good set-up his or herself, and not attacking. You’ll have a turn to utilize your fresh draws before your opponent can do the same, and all the downsides you have in using the card apply to your opponent as well.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]So in the end, this card isn’t for everyone… well because it currently is rather rare. Hopefully TPC will actually re-release it (without the stamp) because this card seems fairly useful for some specific decks. A "clone" of this card (same effect, different name and art) would also be acceptable from a technical standpoint (though I still find the idea of making a legal-to-play-card this rare). Namely those that would have more or less wasted an attack anyway. Using this you might help your opponent as well, but you’ll know you’re running it so while your opponent might be running Judge and/or Copycat, you can guarantee those are in your own deck.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ratings[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Unlimited:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 1/10[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Modified:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 7.5/10
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Limited:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] N/A (would be 10/10)

Summary
Safer than running Cleffa at least. ;)
[/FONT]
 
well on thous turns your forced to pass this card take that place it looks great (the artwork) but is very expensive to play if you did not go to worlds.

overall i give it a:
8/10
 
As a collector, I think this card is great. A new card rather than a reprint of one of the old two, nice and rare seeing as it's from Worlds, some fantastic artwork....

Now, as a player. This card is decent. Not terrible, not great, but decent. There are only a few decks which would consider running one (for example, Ross' deck that he took 2nd place with), but it's not a card you're going to want to throw into everything.

One quote about the card which I heard going around a lot at Worlds (usually being attributed to Pooka) was "it's an unsearchable Cleffa that your opponent can use", which pretty much sums it up. Being unsearchable means you have to draw into it on pure luck alone. And if you just run one copy, this is going to be hard to do. On the other side though, it is better than Cleffa in that Cleffa can be easily donked if you open with it alone.

I think it is really really hyped now, and people are scrambling to get a hold of them, which is causing the price rise. Give it a month or two and the hype will die down, people will still want them for some decks, but not everyone will.

As for the price issue, even now, if you look hard enough and ask the right people, you should be able to get some for around the same price Luxray Lv X got up to in it's prime. So complaints about rarity and price are unfounded.

My tip to people selling: Sell Staff cards if you have them, but don't break up the set of 9 just to sell that English one. Find a collector, the set is worth more as a whole.

In summary:
As a collectable card: 9/10
As a playable card: 5/10

Don't believe the hype.
 
Today's COTD is Tropical Beach (Worlds Promo, BW28), a Stadium. It can help in a pinch, but other cards, such as Bianca & Professor Juniper are better, IMO. Its effect is: "Once during each players turn, that player may draw cards until he or she has 7 cards in their hand. If they do, their turn ends.". The draw power is nice, but the fact that you have to end your turn is not good at all. All in all, I think the scores should be:

Modified: 5/10. There are better cards out there, but this will do if you need draw power pronto. Keep it as binder candy, this is a hard card to get.
Limited: N/A.
 
Unlike Cleffa, it's not a liability in late-game. Even if you run multiple copies, you can just play any extra to replace the current Tropical Wind to reduce your handsize. Given how many advantages there are to keeping a small hand in this format (Yanmega, Magnezone, Bianca, this card), a card that won't be an easy target on your bench is a great thing.

9/10
 
Tash said:
Unlike Cleffa, it's not a liability in late-game. Even if you run multiple copies, you can just play any extra to replace the current Tropical Wind to reduce your handsize. Given how many advantages there are to keeping a small hand in this format (Yanmega, Magnezone, Bianca, this card), a card that won't be an easy target on your bench is a great thing.

9/10
Click to expand...

you cant play the same stadium over itself
 
Modified Legal: 7/10 It's like using a attack. Can be useful sometimes.
Collector Card: 10/10 What collector wouldn't want something like this from Worlds!?
 
Still playing catchup, here we have Tropical Beach from the Promo series, the new Worlds promo instead of the old...whatever lame card it was, Tropical Tidal Wave or whatever right? Anyways, Tropical Beach has a rather interesting effect for a Stadium; it mimics Uxie, but at the cost of ending your turn. Definitely a risky proposition...now granted, if it's a turn where you'd deal minimal damage as to not be important with an attack or you can't anyways, Tropical Beach is fairly powerful, and given the lack of any good Stadiums out there, makes it all more attractive. But, just remember your opponent also gets to enjoy its use as well.

Modified - 7/10 (I don't see it being a must-use, but if you have it it's definitely worth considering at the least)
Limited - 0/10 (Promo, though on an unrelated note, this marks the first Promo card from Worlds to see play at a high level)
Unlimited - 1/10 (Not much use here, much better options)
 
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