While 0 cost attacks used to be printed on all kinds of Pokémon, the current iteration of this mechanic is exclusively and frequently printed on Alolan and Hisuian form cards (two of the regional forms). The other two regional forms, Galarian and Paldean don't feature this mechanic on any of the cards. There seems to be a deliberate internal design guide for 0 cost attacks to appear on only some types of regional forms, which I think is kinda weird. Strange TCG lore moment.
On the point of Pichu/Tyrogue/Cleffa - the effects of their respective attacks and the Sweet Sleeping Face PokéBody found on all the other Baby Pokémon of this era are essentially more balanced takes on the original Neo Genesis/Neo Discovery prints of these Pokemon. They all originally had a Baby Rule that prevented them from being damaged by attacks on a coin flip fail, to which Sweet Sleeping Face refers. The fact that these 3 mons were still so useful in the HGSS era even after being somewhat nerfed from their original appearances shows how powerful the originals truly were.
Kind of a nitpick, but Pichu got a pretty hefty buff. It originally had Zzzap, which deals a static 20 damage to Pokemon with Pokemon Powers. Filling up your bench with Basics is definitely a stronger attack than Zzzap. Also, Tyrogue's reprinted version doesn't even need a separate coin flip to deal the 30 damage unlike its original counterpart. Although it can't deal 60 damage anymore, 30 damage guaranteed without energy is still stronger than 30/60 damage with a coin flip imo. Oh, but Cleffa definitely got nerfed.
Another thing that could be mentioned about chatot is that sometimes it just... won you the game. If the opponent used spiritomb you could drop chatot, dce, and lock the spiritomb in the active permanently. Then you wait until time is called and defeat one of their pokemon for an instant win due to the rules of the time.
isnt Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX kinda breaking the game in extended cheating out vileplume? i enjoy your top 10vids, especially since you cover all my 3 favorite tcg's
I love how you provide extra info that someone who knows about pokemon wouldn't need, but makes a big difference for those who don't know. I know very little about yugioh (aside from the anime and basic rules) but that extra info makes your DuelLogs' videos very enjoyable! I guess it's the same for yugioh folks watching the DexLogs
Another good free attack pokemon was a Sentrent from the DP era(I don't remember the set). It's free attack let you search for any two cards. Back then there wasn't really any hand disruption so it was a very solid attack for the time.
My favourite took time to set up but it was fun, Rotom with the ability Roto Motor that ignored energy cost of attacks if there was 9 tools in the discard pile.
I'm sure there are enough "bad" abilities or attacks to fill up a 10 but hard part is there isnt really like bad abilities or attacks. Mainly just bad by comparison. Like for example all the draw 3 rival/friend supporters arent bad effects but they're bad when you compare it to the professor cards where they all do discard hand and draw 7.
Would love for y’all to do a comprehensive list of all Pokémon cards with 4 attacks, and another list of Pokémon with no attacks only pokebodies and / or poke powers
Alolan Ninetales from Cosmic Eclipse is literally THE BEST Pokemon with 0 energy attack, I'm flabbergasted you haven't even mentioned it in the Alolan Vulpix segment, although it deserves its own spot on the list
I would greatly disagree with this statement - I had fun playing that deck when it was standard legal, but it was nowhere near the level of success that any other cards on this last had (unless you can link me to successful placements it had in tournaments, which I don't recall seeing). Is it a fun, unique card? Absolutely! Is it the best from a strength standpoint? Not even close.
@@darko-hexarIt is still the only zero attack Pokemon you can build a deck around. I play it in Expanded. With all the Expanded tricks like Battle Compressor, Lucky Egg, Ultra Ball, Dedenne GX/Zebstrika as well as self-discarding tools (Bursting baloon, Giant Bomb, Metal Core Barrier, Sitrus Berry and Lum Berry) it is super easy to go up to 280 damage, which is enough to OHKO Tag Team or VStar. This deck isn't afraid of energy denial, basic block, rule box block and many other control deck shenanigans. The only problem is quick self-milling, but Karen, VS Seeker and Rescue Stretcher help to recover Pokemon. I won many 8-person tournaments using it in Pokemon TCG Online, and won even more when I swapped 4 Dedenne-GX for 2-2 line of Zebstrika (dead brain opponents loved to use Boss's Orders on Dedenne GX to ruin my prize race, and Island Challenge Amulet is banned for some reason)
@@darko-hexar I agree with that take, mainly because it's attack needs multiple tools in the discard pile to work, and at 10 damage per tool, you needed at least 24 before knocking out a tag team. Decks that play a large tool card count as a gimmick have always been pretty inconsistent from what I've seen recently, and this Alolan Ninetales card is a good example of this, seeing as you need to devote almost half your deck to cards that don't do anything unless attached to your Pokemon in play
I loved that alolan ninetales deck. Just running heavy discard hand draw × card(s) cards like research and ingo and emmitt and rescue stretcher etc. You need NO energy at all. I remember mahones video on it and it seemed fairly consistent for being so rogue
Surprised Spirit Smash from Alolan Merowak isn’t on here XD The pairing of that with Chip Chip Ice Axe is another one of the many reasons they banned that card
I think another good one is the new bonsly, it’s a very simple ability, but getting a free confusion can cause some real havoc, especially since it has no retreat cost, so it can pivot to any card it wants too
A future video I'd like to see is a single deck list/breakdown/matchup video. I love when you describe combos, but sometimes I don't know what the entire deck or the deck's meta looked like. Featuring one decklist per video and explaining its meta and its evolution would be an awesome series.
A little thing about Sableye. In the time where it actually used its no-Energy attack, Impersonate, it was seen as a very solid card, but not quite broken, simply because the player going first couldn't use Trainers (later called Items), Supporters, or Stadiums back then. Going first was obviously good, enough to make Sableye a staple opener in decks like Gyarados and Sableye/Honchkrow/Garchomp (commonly called Sablelock), and it did get some donks here and there (especially against Gengar decks unlucky enough to start with a lone Gastly), but that's not quite what caused an emergency rotation. No, when Sableye went from a good card to an outright broken one, Impersonate wasn't even a factor anymore. This is because the Black & White set changed the first-turn rule to remove the aforementioned restrictions on the player going first and replace them with... nothing. Yeah, the first turn became completely unrestricted, and that rule change caught a lot of backlash for a variety of reasons, but the biggest one at the time was Sableye, which went on to justify all the concerns it raised with the infamous Sabledonk deck (not to be confused with Sablelock). The deck's goal was to go first with Overeager, wipe out the opponent's Bench by spamming Crobat G's Flash Bite with Super Scoop Up and Poké Turn (basically a guaranteed Super Scoop Up for SP 'mons like Crobat G) and then using Seeker to clear their last Benched 'mon, and finally KO their Active 'mon with Overconfident (Crobat G was again used to soften their Active 'mon for the KO if needed), all before the opponent could even get a turn. THAT's the nonsense that caused an unprecedented emergency rotation, and again, Impersonate (the no-Energy attack) didn't even play a part in it.
While 0 cost attacks used to be printed on all kinds of Pokémon, the current iteration of this mechanic is exclusively and frequently printed on Alolan and Hisuian form cards (two of the regional forms). The other two regional forms, Galarian and Paldean don't feature this mechanic on any of the cards.
There seems to be a deliberate internal design guide for 0 cost attacks to appear on only some types of regional forms, which I think is kinda weird. Strange TCG lore moment.
Today, I learned that there are Pokémon with 0-cost attacks that saw more competitive play than Donphan Prime.
8:35 The Logs saying "Eeeeeek" caught me off guard XD
On the point of Pichu/Tyrogue/Cleffa - the effects of their respective attacks and the Sweet Sleeping Face PokéBody found on all the other Baby Pokémon of this era are essentially more balanced takes on the original Neo Genesis/Neo Discovery prints of these Pokemon. They all originally had a Baby Rule that prevented them from being damaged by attacks on a coin flip fail, to which Sweet Sleeping Face refers. The fact that these 3 mons were still so useful in the HGSS era even after being somewhat nerfed from their original appearances shows how powerful the originals truly were.
Kind of a nitpick, but Pichu got a pretty hefty buff. It originally had Zzzap, which deals a static 20 damage to Pokemon with Pokemon Powers. Filling up your bench with Basics is definitely a stronger attack than Zzzap.
Also, Tyrogue's reprinted version doesn't even need a separate coin flip to deal the 30 damage unlike its original counterpart. Although it can't deal 60 damage anymore, 30 damage guaranteed without energy is still stronger than 30/60 damage with a coin flip imo.
Oh, but Cleffa definitely got nerfed.
Another thing that could be mentioned about chatot is that sometimes it just... won you the game. If the opponent used spiritomb you could drop chatot, dce, and lock the spiritomb in the active permanently. Then you wait until time is called and defeat one of their pokemon for an instant win due to the rules of the time.
isnt Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX kinda breaking the game in extended cheating out vileplume?
i enjoy your top 10vids, especially since you cover all my 3 favorite tcg's
Throwback to one of the only times I entered an in-person TCG tournament and my fossil deck got shut down turn one by Spiritomb
I love how you provide extra info that someone who knows about pokemon wouldn't need, but makes a big difference for those who don't know. I know very little about yugioh (aside from the anime and basic rules) but that extra info makes your DuelLogs' videos very enjoyable! I guess it's the same for yugioh folks watching the DexLogs
Hearing Mr. Logs saying the Cleffa's Eeeek is priceless
I'm glad someone else enjoyed it as much as I did
Another good free attack pokemon was a Sentrent from the DP era(I don't remember the set). It's free attack let you search for any two cards. Back then there wasn't really any hand disruption so it was a very solid attack for the time.
My favourite took time to set up but it was fun, Rotom with the ability Roto Motor that ignored energy cost of attacks if there was 9 tools in the discard pile.
Surprised you didn't have Rhyperrior LvX, which was used by Mew Prime.
We haven't seen a worst of list on this channel before. I'm genuinely curious if there are enough mediocre or subpar abilities to fill up a top 10
I'm sure there are enough "bad" abilities or attacks to fill up a 10 but hard part is there isnt really like bad abilities or attacks. Mainly just bad by comparison. Like for example all the draw 3 rival/friend supporters arent bad effects but they're bad when you compare it to the professor cards where they all do discard hand and draw 7.
Latios-GX and similar abilities are pretty darn bad. (Yes, I'm super late)@@DJones1048
Would be cool if more cards had free attacks.
Just make them crappy like that one Ratatta. Balance.
I’m about to start buying storefront packs lol
nice video idea ! I wanna see one on or about donking 😮 ZPST will live on forever
What about rowlet & a. Exeggutor gx, super growth is really good for grass decks, a 2 stage version of your no. 2.
Also, IIRC, Poke-Bodies are passive so Vileplume's Allergy Flower activates as soon as you play it.
Hisuian arcanine from lost origin and twilight masquerade both have very strong no energy attacks
Would love for y’all to do a comprehensive list of all Pokémon cards with 4 attacks, and another list of Pokémon with no attacks only pokebodies and / or poke powers
Alolan Ninetales from Cosmic Eclipse is literally THE BEST Pokemon with 0 energy attack, I'm flabbergasted you haven't even mentioned it in the Alolan Vulpix segment, although it deserves its own spot on the list
I would greatly disagree with this statement - I had fun playing that deck when it was standard legal, but it was nowhere near the level of success that any other cards on this last had (unless you can link me to successful placements it had in tournaments, which I don't recall seeing). Is it a fun, unique card? Absolutely! Is it the best from a strength standpoint? Not even close.
@@darko-hexarIt is still the only zero attack Pokemon you can build a deck around. I play it in Expanded. With all the Expanded tricks like Battle Compressor, Lucky Egg, Ultra Ball, Dedenne GX/Zebstrika as well as self-discarding tools (Bursting baloon, Giant Bomb, Metal Core Barrier, Sitrus Berry and Lum Berry) it is super easy to go up to 280 damage, which is enough to OHKO Tag Team or VStar. This deck isn't afraid of energy denial, basic block, rule box block and many other control deck shenanigans. The only problem is quick self-milling, but Karen, VS Seeker and Rescue Stretcher help to recover Pokemon.
I won many 8-person tournaments using it in Pokemon TCG Online, and won even more when I swapped 4 Dedenne-GX for 2-2 line of Zebstrika (dead brain opponents loved to use Boss's Orders on Dedenne GX to ruin my prize race, and Island Challenge Amulet is banned for some reason)
@@darko-hexar I agree with that take, mainly because it's attack needs multiple tools in the discard pile to work, and at 10 damage per tool, you needed at least 24 before knocking out a tag team. Decks that play a large tool card count as a gimmick have always been pretty inconsistent from what I've seen recently, and this Alolan Ninetales card is a good example of this, seeing as you need to devote almost half your deck to cards that don't do anything unless attached to your Pokemon in play
Lmao
I loved that alolan ninetales deck. Just running heavy discard hand draw × card(s) cards like research and ingo and emmitt and rescue stretcher etc. You need NO energy at all. I remember mahones video on it and it seemed fairly consistent for being so rogue
Inshallah 🕋
Why tho?
@@Laaks Inshallah
Inshallah
Understandable have a nice day
Happy Ramadan brother
17:52 What's the other card that lets you go first?
First Ticket
17:23: JWittz approved.
Surprised Spirit Smash from Alolan Merowak isn’t on here XD The pairing of that with Chip Chip Ice Axe is another one of the many reasons they banned that card
I think another good one is the new bonsly, it’s a very simple ability, but getting a free confusion can cause some real havoc, especially since it has no retreat cost, so it can pivot to any card it wants too
A future video I'd like to see is a single deck list/breakdown/matchup video. I love when you describe combos, but sometimes I don't know what the entire deck or the deck's meta looked like. Featuring one decklist per video and explaining its meta and its evolution would be an awesome series.
Love the content
heres a video idea: top ten item tools.
items that just made decks possible
Great video, this is @paraspectre level insight
A little thing about Sableye. In the time where it actually used its no-Energy attack, Impersonate, it was seen as a very solid card, but not quite broken, simply because the player going first couldn't use Trainers (later called Items), Supporters, or Stadiums back then. Going first was obviously good, enough to make Sableye a staple opener in decks like Gyarados and Sableye/Honchkrow/Garchomp (commonly called Sablelock), and it did get some donks here and there (especially against Gengar decks unlucky enough to start with a lone Gastly), but that's not quite what caused an emergency rotation.
No, when Sableye went from a good card to an outright broken one, Impersonate wasn't even a factor anymore. This is because the Black & White set changed the first-turn rule to remove the aforementioned restrictions on the player going first and replace them with... nothing. Yeah, the first turn became completely unrestricted, and that rule change caught a lot of backlash for a variety of reasons, but the biggest one at the time was Sableye, which went on to justify all the concerns it raised with the infamous Sabledonk deck (not to be confused with Sablelock). The deck's goal was to go first with Overeager, wipe out the opponent's Bench by spamming Crobat G's Flash Bite with Super Scoop Up and Poké Turn (basically a guaranteed Super Scoop Up for SP 'mons like Crobat G) and then using Seeker to clear their last Benched 'mon, and finally KO their Active 'mon with Overconfident (Crobat G was again used to soften their Active 'mon for the KO if needed), all before the opponent could even get a turn. THAT's the nonsense that caused an unprecedented emergency rotation, and again, Impersonate (the no-Energy attack) didn't even play a part in it.