Did they mistake
Basculin for a
Magikarp? It'd be an awesome
Magikarp. As a stand alone Basic Water Pokemon? Not enough to bother. 70 HP
used to be great for a Basic Pokemon, but now even twice Evolving Basic Pokemon like
Tepig can hit that mark, and most decks can hit that hard turn after turn. It is still an okay score, since it makes it hard to OHKO
Basculin. Lightning Weakness is going to be a problem, because it makes this a OHKO even for a poorly set-up Lightning-Type deck. No Resistance is disappointing but common, so it doesn't really hurt
Basculin too bad. The single Energy Retreat Cost is good and easy to pay, but also desperately needed given the other stats.
Also desperately needed, but missing are an Ability or more attacks!
Basculin gets just one, Crunch. Crunch is an okay attack in a supporting role, but it isn't like the energy removal effect is reliable: it still only happens on a successful coin toss. Paying
water::water
for 30 points of damage with this effect on a Basic that can't Evolve is somewhat fair... if this isn't all it does. Energy removal is almost always useful, but factor in it is usually a Special Energy that is most vital to remove and you might as well just run
Lost Remover; works in any deck to boot, though does have some issues when you're running Trainer-lock strategies. :lol: Even with
Feraligatr Prime to power this up in one hit, it just doesn't do enough: you remove an Energy, but most competitive decks will still be capable of dropping a replacement and going for the OHKO.
Ratings
Unlimited: 2/10 - Better than other formats due to Trainer support, like
Focus Band and
Scoop Up.
Modified (MD-On): 1/10 - A format with crazy low Energy costs: why bother?
Modified (HGSS-On): 1.5/10 - Picking of a
Double Colorless Energy is useful, but it is too unreliable so you're giving up a Prize to
maybe do it.
Limited: 5.5/10 - A must if you're running a mostly or all Water deck, but it should be skipped otherwise; thus it gets an average score.
Summary
A Basic Pokemon that does the job of a Trainer, but unreliably and will cost you a Prize unless you have an entire control deck behind it, and there are better Actives for such decks.
