Eviolite is a Trainer, specifically a Pokemon Tool. The upside should be obvious: barring effects that specifically block Trainers it is quite easy to play, and it can be recycled with
Junk Arm. All Tools basically eat up a "Tool slot" for a Pokemon (just as playing a Supporter "costs" you your once-per-turn Supporter usage).
I must correct a mistake Megavelocibot pointed out (thank you): this card can be attached to any Pokemon, but the effect
only applies when attached to a
Basic Pokemon. So Evolutions and Pokemon
LEGEND can have it equipped, the card just does nothing in that case. I originally thought you could not attach to such Pokemon. Whoops! >.>
The effect Basic Pokemon equipped with this will enjoy is one that has met with mixed results in the past: damage done to the equipped Pokemon by an attack (yours or your opponent's) is reduced by 20 (of course
after applying Weakness and Resistance).
Defender has done something similar since the game began, though it should be noted the printing I linked to received an errata to bring it in line with the effects of the original version. There are three key differences between
Defender and
Eviolite:
- Defender can be played on any Pokemon (not just Basic Pokemon).
- Defender is merely an Item, so you can stack as many as you can play in a turn and still equip a Pokemon Tool to the same Pokemon.
- The effect of Defender remains until the end of your opponent's next turn and then is gone, while Eviolite will remain as long as nothing discards the Pokemon Tool or KOs the Pokemon.
The latter is why
Eviolite will likely be played over
Defender in the decks that would use either. The most obvious candidate to use it,
Zekrom. As has been stated, equipping this will not only make
Zekrom just a bit harder to KO (let alone OHKO), but it will reduce its self-damage to a more manageable level.
What about other decks? Well if a deck has room to run Pokemon Tools, I must confess I would think
Rocky Helmet more useful, since it places damage counters on a Pokemon that attacks yours: no additional restrictions, and if your opponent OHKOs the equipped Pokemon, you still gain an effect. Historically, offense beats defense in Pokemon and even if they were equal the restrictions on
Eviolite usage gives
Rocky Helmet the edge for decks not needing to cope with self-damage, at least in Modified play.
In Unlimited play, last I knew there were vicious decks that won first turn, or at least rendered you all but helpless if they went first. Even ignoring those, this is Unlimited. You have all the past Tools that have ever been legal. So
Cessation Crystal,
Energy Root,
Expert Belt,
Focus Band,
Leftovers, and
Solid Rage are as good or better an option than
Eviolite in general decks, and to be honest
Focus Band is regularly the best option. Even in deck's that do self-damage
Energy Root,
Focus Band,
Leftovers, and
Solid Rage are going to be just as handy if not more so. As such I can't rate this too highly.
It was stated earlier that
Jungle Mr. Mime can make good use of this card. I just asked over on Ask The Masters, and the proposed combo works just like
Defender and special
Metal Energy (with its originaly effect) used to work:
http://compendium.pokegym.net/compendium.html said:
Q. Scenario: Mr. Mime with Defender receives an attack that does 40 damage. The online rulebook says that Trainers are figured before Pokémon Powers; so the Defender would reduce the damage from 40 down to 20, and this would slip under the Invisible Wall, right?
A. Right! (Jul 6, 2000 WotC Chat, Q17)
http://compendium.pokegym.net/compendium.html said:
Q. If I attached 2 Metal energies to Mr. Mime, would he be invincible with his Pokemon Power?
A. No that would not work as you apply the effects of the metal energy BEFORE you apply the Pokemon power. (Feb 1, 2001 WotC Chat, Q65)
These ancient rulings however predate the change in special
Metal Energy; back then a Pokemon that wasn't a :metal: Type Pokemon could still use it to absorb damage (but their own damage output was reduced by 10 per special
Metal Energy).
You apply the effects of Trainers and Energy cards attached to the Defending Pokemon first, then apply Powers and Abilities on the Defending Pokemon. So the best you can do is shift
Mr. Mime's window of vulnerability, and I'd rather use that slot for
Leftovers. For reference, here is the topic:
http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?t=158248
After all that, at least Limited play is easy. Simply put, it jumps every Basic Pokemon up a half-step. Something with 30 HP and horrible attacks (presumably only played out of desperate or the desire to Evolve it) will a little sturdier, usually buying time. Something "poor" becomes "average", something "average" becomes "above average", and something "above average" becomes "good" etc. If you get something "very good" or "great",
Eviolite can make it a game winner.
Scores
Unlimited: 5/10
Modified: 8/10
Limited: 9.5/10
Summary
In Unlimited this card is out-classed by many cards, but in Modified there is currently only one piece of competition. That piece (
Rocky Helmet) is ever-so-slightly more useful, and some decks won't have anything they'd really want to use
Eviolite on. In fact some decks might not bother with either, hence the score. In Limited there is reasonable chance it won't be useful in a particular match, so I couldn't bring myself to give it a perfect score.
lol it's a good card for most of the top decks in this format (ZPST, Tyram, Kyurem, Cobalion etc.) shame soon basics will rule all :O
