Adapted from my Pojo review, originally posted on 2/11/13
[FONT="]We follow up yesterday’s review of
Colress with
Colress Machine (
BW: Plasma Storm 119/135), which snagged the number five slot in the Top 10 Promising Picks of Plasma Storm countdown over on Pojo.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Stats[/FONT]
[FONT="]Colress Machine[/FONT][FONT="] is a Team Plasma card; this currently allows it to tap Team Plasma support but the generic support available isn't all that useful. [/FONT][FONT="][FONT="]Right now, it would only be significant for
Team Plasma Grunt, and thus isn’t a huge concern.[/FONT] I'll delve into this more in the Usage section.[/FONT][FONT="]
As a Trainer, specifically an Item,
Colress Machine is easy to play and can get away with a lesser effect than a Supporter. This combination of stats will become more important as we get more Team Plasma cards due to how they support each other.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
Effects[/FONT]
[FONT="]Colress Machine[/FONT][FONT="] joins the list of cards with one of the most potent effects in the game: Energy acceleration. In this case,
Colress Machine attaches a
Plasma Energy from your deck to one of your Team Plasma Pokémon. When it comes to Energy acceleration, from the deck is usually only second to from the discard pile in terms of overall potency; you only give up one resource from hand to add a resource into play, and your deck is thinned by one card.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Only being able to affect
Plasma Energy is a significant restriction: that means at most you can have four targets in your deck, and you’ll always need to run at least two more card than just
Colress Machine for real benefit (a
Plasma Energy and a Team Plasma Pokémon). It has no effect on
Plasma Energy in your hand, discard pile, in play, etc. so once your deck has no more
Plasma Energy it becomes nearly a dead card. The game allows you to fail a “search” effect, so as long as you have a Team Plasma Pokémon in play, you can use
Colress Machine to sneak a peak and then shuffle your deck, at least.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Only targeting Team Plasma Pokémon seems obvious, but is still a notable drawback, as there will be no:[/FONT]
- [FONT="]attaching to lower Stages of Team Plasma Evolutions (as the lower Stages are unaffiliated)[/FONT]
- [FONT="]improving your odds of a T1 Tornadus EX (BW: Dark Explorers 90/108, 108)[/FONT]
[FONT="]Plus the countless other would-be applications for a Colorless Energy like meeting attack and retreat Energy requirements. This turns the effect into a potentially powerful trick for Team Plasma Pokémon, provided they can make use of
Plasma Energy and you can fit it all into a suitable deck… but no where else.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
Usage[/FONT]
[FONT="]Card Family: [/FONT][FONT="]If you would like or need a list of all Team Plasma cards with some basic details, please PM me; I have a very simple, basic article listing them on another site. Normally I would include such details in my reviews, but this article is long enough already.[/FONT][FONT="]
The article lists the 35 different Team Plasma cards we have, and how certain effects that reference their status as Team Plasma cards play out. All Team Plasma Pokémon released so far have at least one attack that has Colorless Energy requirements and all with two attacks except
Beheeyem (
BW: Plasma Storm 70/135) can use
Plasma Energy to pay for at least part of both attacks. Many Team Plasma Pokémon can go from no Energy to using a significant attack with a manual Energy attachment and successful
Colress Machine, especially multiple uses of the latter.[/FONT][FONT="]
Colorless Machine is all but useless without
Plasma Energy, and I almost suggested the Pojo staff write a double review because
Plasma Energy… provides (C) and is a Team Plasma Card. That’s it; the effect text just states that it provides (C), which the Energy symbol in the upper right-hand corner indicates, though as mentioned earlier, you can use it to get a glimpse of and then shuffle your deck even if you don't have any
Plasma Energy left in your deck or even if you clearly have four copies in play or the discard pile.[/FONT][FONT="]
Five other cards have effects requiring or enhanced by
Plasma Energy. Three of the five are Team Plasma Pokémon that each have an attack with an effect triggered by
Plasma Energy:
Articuno EX (
BW: Plasma Storm 25/135, 132/135),
Moltres EX (
BW: Plasma Storm 14/135), and
Zapdos EX (
BW: Plasma Storm 48/135); if they prove to be any good, they’ll be natural partners for
Colress Machine. A fourth Team Plasma Pokémon actually requires
Plasma Energy in order to use its attack:
Lugia EX (
BW: Plasma Storm 108/135, 134/135);
Colress Machine could technically be left out, but that would be quite strange.[/FONT]
[FONT="]There is also some additional synergy with two other Trainers. The final card requiring
Plasma Energy is
Plasma Frigate, a Stadium with a Weakness neutralizing effect dependant upon a Pokémon having a
Plasma Energy attached: accelerating Energy while simultaneously nixing Weakness isn’t bad for a three card combo. Plus
Plasma Frigate itself works regardless of the affiliation of the Pokémon; you couldn’t use
Colress Machine but manually attaching a
Plasma Energy still provides protection with
Plasma Frigate.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Team Plasma Grunt[/FONT][FONT="] requires you discard a Team Plasma card in order to draw four cards. That is the entire effect, so with no discard fodder it is completely dead… but if you know you’ve got spare copies of
Colress Machine, you can get a quick burst of draw power with no other effects or restrictions. This is not a thrilling strategy, and was saved for last because it likely is the least.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Modified:[/FONT][FONT="]
Colress Machine will be the card that Team Plasma decks will always consider, but not necessarily run. Pure Team Plasma decks will rarely go without it, but with only 35 total, unique Team Plasma cards (and Evolutions not having affiliated lower Stages), for now a Team Plasma deck will realistically contain unaffiliated Pokémon if they wish to be competitive. If another form of acceleration is more appropriate, only those with large costs compatible with both (or with triggered effects) will also need
Colress Machine and
Plasma Energy.[/FONT][FONT="]
This is a combo that when maxed out is going to take eight total slots from your deck, and at minimum two, and that forces it to be important to the deck or skipped. You can choose to run less than the maximum and as you probably will draw into at least one
Plasma Energy, it may be worth running one less
Colress Machine than
Plasma Energy in your deck. There are ways to get a card from then hand back into the deck, like any shuffle-and-draw effect, and if you actually risk running
Recycle, a top-decked
Plasma Energy is still a legal target.[/FONT][FONT="]
Despite concerns, as stated you should always consider this card if your deck runs more than a few Team Plasma Pokémon. It allows several Team Plasma Pokémon to access an attack in a single turn that would normally require other acceleration, and if you do force it into a Team Plasma deck when you shouldn’t, you’ll just have an overall suboptimal build, able to do something useful in place of something
more useful.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Unlimited:[/FONT][FONT="] For now I don’t really see the use here; there are too many other Energy acceleration options that are general purpose, and of course you have to get by the First Turn Win decks. Once you get past those and the various lock decks, you might find some interesting tricks but only a few are really worth experimenting with... and that really reflects those cards more than
Colress Machine itself.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Limited:[/FONT][FONT="] This is a must run so long as you have a few Team Plasma Pokémon; it lets you see and shuffle your deck! Actually having
Plasma Energy just becomes a bonus. Only skip it is you have next-to-no or no Team Plasma Pokémon in your deck.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Ratings[/FONT]
[FONT="]Unlimited:[/FONT][FONT="] 1/10[/FONT]
[FONT="]Modified:[/FONT][FONT="] 6.6/10[/FONT]
[FONT="]Limited:[/FONT][FONT="] 8.88/10[/FONT]
[FONT="]
Summary[/FONT]
[FONT="]In the decks should that use it, [/FONT][FONT="]
[FONT="]Colress Machine[/FONT] would effectively have a perfect score. In decks that absolutely shouldn’t (or simply can’t) use
Colress Machine, it would receive a minimum score. Together with the decks that can run it but not well enough to be worth it,
Colress Machine receives an above average score that can be misleading.[/FONT]
[FONT="]I had
Colress Machine as my number four pick (the overall list is compiled from the lists of individual writers), and after writing a thorough review to help organize my thought and clarify my own results, I realize I overrated it and the number five slot is closer to if not the correct placement.
[/FONT]
