Porygon2 is BROKEN. If you think he doesn't help setup... then gosh. That's just =\
You guys just aren't seeing the combos this guy can offer.
You run an engine with 4 scott, 3 castaway, some roseanne's and some lake boundary. Every single turn you should be able to get the desired energy (via castaway or roseanne's or plusle[I'd use plusle with it so that if you get knocked out you get back 2 energy cards for free. With this setup you can also desrease your energy count to something like 10 energy because you're fetching them so easily with roseanne's and castaways allowing more slots to be freed up) and have a lake boundary to get crucial KOs.
87.5% of the time is pretty darn good. With this engine, you're doing 80+ for CC a turn. 50% of the time you get a guaranteed knockout on anyone.
Not to mention your insane speed with Porygon2. He's only a stage 1 and very easy to bring out if you're running a lot of supporters. He should be up t3 every game.
Now, you may say "what about cessation crystal? you can't guarantee the use of powers every turn! And your pokemon is so weak to the best type out!"
To cessation I say: Pachirisu. He'll both set up AND remove problematic cessations. With the PZX coming out, unless they both cess AND wager, you should be able to put windstorms on top of your deck to guarantee removal of cessations and to help ensure the proper energy, etc. gets into your hand.
To the weakness I say: With the energy requirements of CC I'll be using this card like Blissey. One Holon FF and a fire means I can attack (providing my CC perfectly) and be void of weakness. It's not that difficult to get out. Even if I don't- it's not a big deal.
You guys can't just look at good cards and think of them in a limited sense. Sure, the way most people run decks now it wouldn't work. Good players have been saying this card rocks throughout the thread because they think outside of the box and can see ways to MAKE it work. And easily make it work.
Porygon2 is MUCH better than delcatty. Why is this? Delcatty is a poor TVR every turn. Porygon2 is a much more universal, precise power. You can choose exactly what supporter you want to use. Instead of hitting in the dark with Energy Draw you can use a Celio's, or a wager, etc.
I can see this card being used as a HUGELY disruptive card.
Run 4 mars and 4 wager and in one turn you can literally CRIPPLE your opponent. I will use my turn's supporter to use a Scott. I'll then get 3 Mars. I can run dual balls and even run an Umbreon*. I just drew 6 cards, possibly used an Umbreon* and dropped your hand 4 cards. If I'm running Absol as a starter you just lost the game. Did I mention I'll now lay down my PZX and discard almost ALL your energy in play? God help you if I have a lake boundary in play and the energy I need from a previous turn's castaway or Plusle. I can do 80 or knockout your main attacker, after having discarded all of your special energy, and guaranteeing my consistency for the rest of the game.
This deck's mid-game potential is sickening. You may be able to take a prize or two early, but once I have 2-3 Porygon2s up (you want to leave them as P2s until you attack) I'll be doing some wacky tricks and setting up like you can only dream.
I can easily see a:
4/4/4 Porygon line
3 Absol
2 Pachirisu
1 Plusle
1 Umbreon*
^19 pokes
10 Energy
(if fighting is even big at this point you can run 3 FF, 3 fire (you can get them so easily with this engine and with plusle), and 4-5 psychic/lightning, whatever. Run 2-3 night maintenance and your plusle to get back your energy, and you shouldn't have problems.
You now have 31 slots for trainers with a stage 2 deck.
4 scott
3 castaway
3 roseanne's
3 windstorm
3 mars
2 wager
3 TVR
2 Birch
3 celio's
2 night maintenance
3 lake boundary
You get the idea. This is just something off the top of my head to show the general idea. You can drop the umby* and the absols and run pachirisu for a super speed setup. Maybe a fione too.
The difference between this guy and garchomp is that this guy has WAYYY more options. He's also more consistent. His stage 1s set up much better, and he has a cheaper attack. You could use him as a disrupter with 4 absol, 4 wager, umby*, 4 mars. Or you can use him as strictly setup with tons of draw, pluspowers, etc. You can run 4 SSU (and once you DO get the PZX out and use his power, you can put them right on top of your deck to get off multiple SSUs and avoid dying while killing any special energy your opponent does manage to get up. If you slim the deck down to just pachi, plusle, and PZ you can probably run er2 as well and stop your opponent in his tracks mid-game by not being able to attach energy.
Are you guys starting to get it? Porygon has so many diverse options. OPTIONS are what this game is about. The best and most sickening decks have always been the ones with more options. More options opens more doors to outplay, and outskill your opponent. More options means less luck controlling you.
Sure, his attack isn't a guarantee- but if you're using this guy right missing an attack 1/10 times or so isn't that bad. You should be doing circles around your opponent.
Now you guys can't complain about good players never divulging strategy or discussing cards. It's pretty sad that when we say a card is good, no one believes us. Take our word for it, this card is gooooood.