2013-02-14 PLS Bicycle 117

[waynegg]

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[gal=54231]2013-02-14 PLS Bicycle 117[/gal]​

 

[Vegeta ss4]

A very useful card imo.

Modified - 7/10

 

[Moothead2]

Draw support in item form is fantastic but it seems a bit hit or miss. 6 or 7/10 seems about right.

 

[Fox_Master51]

When this card was revealed everyone hyped it so hard. I don't think it's very useful at least not as a staple. And I've yet to see anyone play it. It is very situational cuz a lot of players always seem to have a full hand of 4 or more. And when they don't, they usually have a Juniper or Bianca to spare.

6/10. Just seems less accessible than Bianca or Juniper IMO.

 

[Prime]

Sableye says hi! Seems like it would be full of potential to part of an engine for a deck.

 

[Manifesto]

Sableye says hi! Seems like it would be full of potential to part of an engine for a deck.

When you junk hunt you have to grab 2 items then on your turn you draw one more. Bicycle for 1? And that's assuming you junk hunted with no cards in hand.

Very situational card. Good in decks that discard a lot but Bianca would be the better bet.

7/10

 

[fluttercraft]

only has great potential in decks running hypnotoxic beam and hammers (darkrai/sableye and a few red face paint decks ive seen). those have potential to empty a hand in a turn and get 3-4 cards. bianca is still better but in darkrai/sableye i would play this over random reciever.

7/10

 

[FSULugia]

Wow finally something worth reviewing even though theres not much to say about it.

Bicycle is a pretty good card. A lot better in most decks than Bianca since your not wasting your supporter for the turn on it. Many decks can dump their hand, play this, draw into N or Juniper and get even more cards. Plus you can play multiples in a turn so it can be very effective. It also works with Skyla if you cant wait a turn on Juniper or N.

Id say 7.5/10. Not for every deck but still a unique card that the game doesnt have and can make an impact.

 

[Eonic]

I really like the design of Bicycle, despite it's limited purposes. Currently, it works okay in Darkrai, but in most other decks Bicycle isn't worth using. In the future, I can defiantly see it being useful. I'd give it a 6/10 at the moment.

 

[LARRY891]

The thing that makes this better than Bianca is the fact that it's an Item. But that's still pretty significant; there hasn't been draw like that that was an Item since the old Bill from Base Set, I think (unless you count Oak). So...7/10, not necessary for every deck, but excellent in the decks that can make room for it.

 

[PokePharos]

10/10.

Pokedex + Bicycle
Recycle + Bicycle
No hand + Bicycle

There are so many situations where it is such a great card. I put it in nearly every deck now. Nothing bad to say about this card other than... What does a bike have to do with drawing cards? hahaha

 

[ShadowCard]

Pojo reviewers commented on this card back on February 22, 2002. The apparant default "No Review Today" for PokePop at the time summed up this card, in my opinion, but let's see if maybe it was too far ahead of its time 11 years ago.

Bicycle--formally Mail From Bill--now lives in a format where you can draw more and search more with less trade off. Juniper, N, and Bianca enable you to draw up to at least 6 (Juniper goes to 7) with the restriction that you cannot use anymmore Supporter cards that turn. From there, you play Hammers, Balls, Catcher, Rare Candy, Tools, and many more. It can be really easy to go from hand size 7 to hand size 1 in mid-turn, so on paper Bicycle looks pretty good. Its predessessor was around at a time where the massive draw we see now was paired with effects like "you cannot play anymore t/s/s cards this turn." Drawing Mail From Bill was useless after playing a card like Professor Elm which had that t/s/s denial effect. Playing a card like Bicycle after Professor Juniper seems do-able. But DOES IT REALLY DO THAT?!

We need to consider the review from 11 years ago,

"Draw up to 4? Normally in a game of pokemon, don't you have 4+ cards in your hand? I think so...".

For Mail From Bill, it sat in the shoe box during a time in Modified where hand sizes were generally big (the original review hints at greater than 4 at normal). It was also overshadowed by other cards, like Misty's Wrath and Professor Elm. Our Modified now enables you with big hands that can be easily reduced to smaller ones AND that is the difference.

Back when this card was Mail From Bill, there were playable tools like there are now, various cards with similar effects as the Balls there are now, a version of Pokemon Catcher, cards that shrink your hand, and playable Stadium cards like there are now. However, the current Modified allows those cards to flow together a lot easier. That's why you can go from hand size 7 to hand size 1 mid-turn. With Ultra Ball and now Dowsing Machine, it is easier to dump cards right out of your hand. Although discarding in such a way did exist when this card was Mail From Bill (Misty's Tears, Rocket's Sneak Attack, Secret Mission and Mary for net -1), those methods were not as efficient.

In this format, you can Skyla for Bicycle to get a partial recovery of your diminished hand size too where you would have had to hope to draw into it back in its first incarnation. Yes, there are times you will get stuck with Energy cards you cannot play and Supporters you can't use so I do not think this card is an instant 4 per deck to chain Bicycle. It is more like a 1 or 2 per deck for those cases you can Skyla for it when you don't draw Juniper instead or when you decide not to discard it when playing Ultra Ball.

In conclusion for this review, in this format, you'll be hearing more "You CAN use this item here."

 

[Otaku]

Adapted From My Pojo Review

Bicycle (BW: Plasma Storm 117/135) was the number eight choice for Pojo's Top 10 Promising Picks of Plasma Storm, reviewed February 6th of 2013. This card was originally expected by many (including myself) in BW: Boundaries Crossed due to when it was released in Japan. The nature of this card doesn’t lend itself to my more structured reviews, so this will be more free form.

Bicycle is an Item, a subdivision of Trainers. What makes it special is that it the only Item we currently have with a “draw” effect. Bicycle lets you draw until you have four cards in hand. A general rule of the game is you can’t play a card when you know it has no effect, so we already know you can’t play this card if you have four other cards in your hand.

As you can’t play it for zero cards, the draw range is technically one to four cards. It isn’t a good thing, but if you draw one card it is like you ran a 59 card deck legally. Drawing two cards from an Item is good… that is how Bill worked when it was first released in the Base Set and when it was re-released in the Legendary Collection (he wasn’t reprinted as a Supporter until much later).

Obviously, once you hit three cards you’re getting the kind of return you would from Cheren, and a full four is even better. Still, you have to be able to empty out your hand, and that isn’t always easy. Bianca sees play, but she isn’t one of the main Supporters in most competitive decks; Supporters like N and Professor Juniper are usually run in threes or fours, while Bianca is usually run at a two count or less, including not at all. It is easy for a hand to be clogged by cards you actually cannot play in one turn.

There is an older example to consider as well. The effect of this card appeared on the “ Normal” Trainer (Items before they were called “Items”) Mail From Bill. Mail From Bill had different text, but the same effect (I prefer the modern wording). So, was Mail From Bill widely run? In a word, “no”, but that is oversimplifying things. For anyone wondering, yes my original review of Bicycle referenced Mail From Bill and I am not just copying someone on this thread... that apparently doesn't like more recent reviews as Pojo's Bicycle CotD predates this thread.

Mail From Bill was released as part of Neo Destiny over 10 years ago. This put it in the first two Modified formats, when a deck with a 20-20-20 split for Pokémon, Trainers, and Energy was pretty common, perhaps even the norm. Getting your hand down to four cards was not easy as the format was big on Evolutions and about as slow paced as the TCG every has been. Dumping cards from your hand wasn’t an easy option, either.

The main draw power when Mail From Bill was released was Cleffa (Neo Genesis 20/111) and Professor Elm. Cleffa could attack for colorless to shuffle your hand into your deck and draw seven, and under the protection of "the Baby Rule" was a decent stalling option. Professor Elm predated Supporters, and infact functioned as a "proto-Supporter"; you shuffled your hand into your deck and drew seven... and you couldn't play any more Trainers the rest of the turn. Both led to larger hand sizes, and coupled with deck make-ups, meant Mail From Bill was dead far too often to matter.

Today, decks are structured differently, and can run Ultra Ball and Professor Juniper to discard cards from the hand. Many popular Items that can be played for less-than-optimal effect while still nabbing a decent return. Decks can run Skyla to fetch key Trainers, as opposed to having to rely only on big draws (that result in big hands you probably can’t play down). You can also use Skyla to fetch Bicycle, allowing Skyla to fake being a draw Supporter. It can even be a handy retrieval pick for the signature move of Sableye (BW: Dark Explorers 62/108), Junk Hunt.

If you are trying to build a donk deck, this isn’t a must-run card, but it is a must-try. If your donk deck runs low on cards that aren’t easy to play out or dump, it really is amazing when you pull off multiple copies of Bicycle, or even just one before or after a Supporter. Well, for Modified; for Unlimited, Mail From Bill still doesn’t see play so the same card by another name isn’t going to, either. In Limited, even though it can be hard to drop your hand size, it is a must run.

Ratings

Unlimited: 1/10

Modified:6/10

Limited: 10/10


Summary
Bicycle had me very worried when I first saw it, but then again that was as a translation from when it first released in Japan and our metagame was more different from now than I expected it to be. I haven’t tested this card a lot lately; most of it was when I was expected it in BW: Boundaries Crossed. I am thinking a single copy could be good in most decks running heavy Skyla, plus a few special cases here and there, but a lot of decks can leave it.

You should probably get a full play set, though; I am sure some deck will warrant it. Despite the recommendation, I was surprised to see it make the list; on my own list it clocked in at number 12, because I submitted a Top 20 list to help with tie breakers. That really shouldn’t shock anyone, given my obsessive streak.