[FONT="] Ultra Ball, does it live up to the hype? Maybe not...[/FONT]
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Stats[/FONT]
[FONT="]The downside of being a Trainer is in a sense, you’re superfluous. While Trainers are usually the driving force behind a deck, few Trainers actually directly win you the game. There's only a handful that directly contribute to a “win” condition, though there are a few more that can function as Pokémon or otherwise directly keep you from losing for the turn. However, it is Pokémon and Energy to fuel Pokémon that ultimately wins games the vast majority of the time.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Fortunately Trainers really are what get a deck going and keep it flowing most of the time, though sometimes Pokémon do a good job of that as well. Trainers are also a little easier to block than Pokémon or Energy, and Ultra Ball is an Item, which makes it even easier to block. Still, when there are no outside effects interfering, Items are the easiest cards to play in the game; weak effects can become amazing through stacking them, and potent cards border on or crossover into being unbalancing.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Effects[/FONT]
[FONT="]Ultra Ball[/FONT][FONT="] has a built in cost, which tells you the designers thought the effect would be potent. They were right; while it costs you three cards from hand (Ultra Ball and two discards) Ultra Ball let’s you search your deck for any Pokémon and add it to hand. No worrying about Stage or coin flips. No worrying about Retreat Cost. No worrying about printed HP. It may be costly, but you’re getting what you pay for.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Usage[/FONT]
[FONT="]Here is where things finally get a bit interesting. Ultra Ball can function in any deck, like two of our previous entries on the top 10; Enhanced Hammer (BW: Dark Explorers 94/108) at number nine and Tornadus EX (BW: Dark Explorers 90/108, 108/108). Besides running into Gothitelle (BW: Emerging Powers 47/98) and Vileplume(HS: Undaunted 24/90) (which of course would block all Item cards and are quite deck specific) you have only to concern yourself with what your own deck is doing; on the other hand the usefulness of Enhanced Hammer varies according to how much Special Energy your opponent is running and Tornadus EX is less useful if your opponent isn’t running Fighting-Type Pokémon and can even become a liability against the usual Lightning-Type decks.[/FONT]
[FONT="]In many decks right now, Ultra Ball can function quite well indeed; the two card discard cost can be a bonus when it combos with a major part of a deck. As you are well aware by now, Lightning-Type decks are still going to focus on Eelektrik (BW: Noble Victories 40/101) and its Dynamotor Ability and Darkness-Type decks are going to focus on using Dark Patch in a similar set-up. Other decks will still have discard friendly options, such as Pokémon and basic Energy that aren’t needed at the moment and that Super Rod or Flower Shop Lady can throw back in if needed for later.[/FONT]
[FONT="]In fact, there is a single thing that hurts this card and I’ve found many players have either overlooked or (in my opinion) undervalued; Junk Arm. Decks rely heavily on Junk Arm right now. In some ways this sets the stage for Ultra Ball; we have already learned how to utilize and build decks with an eye towards meeting discard requirements. Mostly though this becomes direct competition for discarding resources; if you can’t meet the discard costs of both Junk Arm and Ultra Ball you’ll feel it pretty bad. As such, it really is possible for some, perhaps many decks to still rely on the other “Ball” Items instead. We do have several, and honestly all have their uses.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Dual Ball[/FONT][FONT="] was never really competition for Ultra Ball anyway; if you really need Basic Pokémon that bad you’re just going to make use of all copies you run of Pokémon Collector, instead of just trying to run as few as you need to open with it. Poké Ball wasn’t ever viewed as a “real” choice either, though given how well players adapted to Pokémon Reversal backed by Junk Arm, I do wonder if Evolution cards had been more important to decks at large if we’d have seen it run. Level Ball and Heavy Ball, on the other hand, have proven useful in prominent, tournament caliber decks. Even running a mix of both can sometimes be safer than trying to get by with Ultra Ball, if you just can’t afford the discard costs.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Of course the card is pretty pointless for Unlimited. Yes it can help with Sabledonk and other first turn nasty decks, but you’ve already got Computer Search (you know, the better version of Ultra Ball), Luxury Ball, and non-Supporter draw cards; you shouldn’t have room or need of Ultra Ball. So what about Limited? It is search power in Trainer form; unless there’s some bizarre restriction that’s an automatic must run.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Ratings[/FONT]
[FONT="]Unlimited:[/FONT][FONT="] 1/10[/FONT]
[FONT="]Modified:[/FONT][FONT="] 7.3/10[/FONT]
[FONT="]Limited:[/FONT][FONT="] 10/10[/FONT]
[FONT="]Summary[/FONT]
[FONT="]Almost everything I have against this card boils down to finding it hard to afford both it and Junk Arm, and if I’ve got to choose Junk Arm wins. If you need just one or two universal search Items, it isn’t a problem, but if you were trying to replace several Level Ball and/or Heavy Ball, the savings in deck space may not be worth the difficulty in paying the discard cost. Don’t let a few tenths of a point scare you off of snagging a play set and testing it out thoroughly. In many decks it is a perfect fit. It may even be the best card of this set.
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