Card Analysis: Pokemon Catcher

[Overlord Drakow]

Introduction​

Howdy Pokemon TCG battlers of Pokecommunity. Today the effects on the metagame caused by Pokemon Catcher - a card released in the recent Emerging Powers booster set - will be discussed. It is the new Gust of Wind and it was an incredibly good card back then and that has not changed over the years the metagame evolved without Gust of Wind. In fact the card is stronger than ever before but more on that later. The purpose of this article is to break down and evaluate the many different impacts this card will cause in competitive play and how players should adapt their game play to minimize the potential damage this card can cause.

Going back in time - Gust of Wind

A bit of a brief history lesson for those of you who were not around when the first few sets of Pokemon cards were released. A deck known as Haymaker was running rampant. It was a deck which focused on using basic Pokemon like Hitmonchan, Syther and Electabuzz to quickly put the hurt on the opposition. Gust of Wind was storming the field, a staple in all decks back then but it was especially effective in Haymaker for the vast disruptive potential the card could create. More recently in the metagame, Pokemon Reversal - Gust of Wind on a coin flip - was commonly used in multiple copies (usually three to four) in most decks and even Pokemon Circulator - Gust of Wind but your opponent gets to choose which Pokemon to send in - was sometimes used over Reversal as it didn't require a coin flip and in some scenarios, Circulator can be just as good as Gust of Wind anyway. This just goes to show how powerful a card Gust of Wind was as even inferior versions of the card were used by many top players.

The disruption of Catcher

Pokemon Catcher has a very basic and simplistic effect however the potential disruption the card can cause is rather broad and includes these two main possibilities;

-Capturing a vulnerable benched Pokemon to score a swift knock out.

This is easily the most common use of Pokemon Catcher. If your opponent has a weak Pokemon on the bench, drag it out and KO it. This is especially devastating if you are facing an opponent who runs evolution Pokemon as this metagame demands that all Basic Pokemon must survive on the bench for one turn before being allowed to evolve. There are no longer any cards to get around this as they have all been rotated out (Broken Time Space and Spiritomb AR) or errata'd (Rare Candy). It is for this reason that Pokemon Catcher is even more deadly in this metagame than Gust of Wind was ten years ago.

-Capturing a Pokemon which has a high retreat cost but has insufficient energy to attack.

This is a more defensive minded approach to Pokemon Catcher. You create a scenario where you attempt to stall for a few turns by dragging a Pokemon which is incapable of harming yours. This gives you valuable time to set up your own Pokemon while you damage their helpless Pokemon and eventually net a free KO.

There are probably a few other nifty uses this card has but those are the main two.

How the metagame will adjust to handle Catcher

There are a couple of trends which will change – either by seeing more or less play - due to the release of Catcher. These will be discussed below.

-Baby Pokemon will see less play.

Below is an article summarising the use of Baby Pokemon. Not necessary but taking a quick glance will bring you up to speed with this area of discussion.

https://www.pokecommunity.com/posts/6788577/

One of the main selling points of Baby Pokemon like Cleffa and Tyrogue is that they had a 50% chance of being invincible to all forms of damage during the opponent's turn. Pokemon Catcher gives people two reasons to reduce the number of Baby Pokemon that they run. Firstly, it can force the invulnerable Baby back to the bench and drag something else to attack. Secondly, Baby Pokemon themselves only have 30 HP, making them prime targets for Catcher to drag out for a cheap KO. Even before Catcher was released, there were people who ran Pokemon Circulator specifically to force Baby Pokemon to the bench. The more general purpose Pokemon Reversal was usually the preferred card in mainstream decks though. Tyrogue used to be a staple tech choice in Pokemon decks to counter Cleffa but with the release of Catcher, there is a strong notion that Tyrogue won't see any play as most people will opt to run zero to two Cleffa as opposed to two to four before Catcher was released. Expect most decks not to run any Baby Pokemon at all though with only a few slow strategies teching a single copy or two of Cleffa.

-Basic Pokemon with high HP will see more play.

Pokemon like Zekrom and Reshiram for example should see an increase in play as they generally won't mind being dragged out to the front line because they are difficult to KO. They also have a relatively low energy cost for one of their attacks which aids in preventing the enemy from stalling for time. Decks which pack lots of copies of high HP Basic Pokemon are expected to be the safest from the clutches of Catcher. The old school Haymaker strategy could rise once more with the return of Gust of Wind and quick aggressive decks running attackers like Donphan or Cinccino also benefit greatly from Catcher. They will be using Catcher to disrupt the opponent from getting out their evolution lines and this is a very viable tactic to win matches. While Pokemon Catcher primarily favours fast attacking decks, evolution based decks can still be a real threat.

-Evolution lines need to be thicker to survive.

This is especially true for techs. It is no longer a sound idea to run a 1-0-1 line of an evolution tech because should your one basic Pokemon be dragged out by Catcher and taken out of the picture, unless you run recovery like Flower Shop Lady or Revive, you will be unable to get your evolution tech onto the bench. Even mainstream evolution lines should consider becoming thicker in order to boost the probability of getting your evolution in to play against Pokemon Catcher. Since Catcher is capable of dragging out your Basic Pokemon to be KO'd before they can evolve, the best way to mitigate this problem is to simultaneously bench two of the same Basic Pokemon. Only in extreme circumstances will your opponent be able to knock them both out. In other words, even if your opponent does KO one of your Basic Pokemon, you will have one left to evolve next turn. When using cards like Pokemon Collector or Dual Ball, it is advisable to search two copies of the same Basic Pokemon for an evolution deck. Evolution decks have it even tougher than before with Pokemon Catcher interfering with the evolution process. That being said, Catcher does provide these slower decks with the means to stall for time, by potentially dragging out a helpless Pokemon that the opponent has benched. A trainer lock strategy focusing on Vileploom Undaunted could be a devastating response to counter Pokemon Catcher. Vileploom may also see an increase in play as a tech choice in a 2-1-2 line in some decks too.

-Switch will see more play.

Back when Gust of Wind was around, most people ran a minimum of two Switch as a counter measure. More recently a lot of decks just teched a single copy while some opted to run two or even zero. With the return of Gust of Wind however, expect Switch to see a rise in play, especially in decks which have Pokemon with high retreat costs. Most will end up using two Switch again unless they have a dedicated heavy item line up with multiple Junk Arms, in which case some may still opt to run a single Switch. Like Gust of Wind, switch has a very simple effect but it also has a fairly wide range of applications. Switch prevents the opponent from trying to stall you out when they drag a helpless Pokemon to the active spot but it can also rid your active Pokemon from status and other negative effects that the opponent may have placed. Beartic from Emerging Powers has a very deadly attack Sheer Cold which automatically prevents the opponent's active Pokemon from declaring an attack during their next turn. Switch is the best card to thwart that kind of attack lock down strategy without having to resort to retreating your Pokemon and burning away your precious energy cards. It is advisable to pack a few copies of Switch into your deck in anticipation of Pokemon Catcher.

Conclusion​

That's it for this article. The main points on Pokemon Catcher and its influence on the metagame have been covered. Ideally, you have found this information valuable and perhaps this will aid you in the process of building your Pokemon deck. It is not my intention to write these articles on a regular basis so do not expect to see any new articles from me in the future. Good day to you all and happy battling.

 

[athiestnoob]

oh wow , very well done guide in depth.

 

[donavannj]

Thank you for doing this!

We've already seen a diminished usage of babies due to both Tyrogue and Yanmega, so do you think that we'll be seeing little to no babies in the field at the upcoming Battle Roads events? Personally, I think so.

 

[Overlord Drakow]

I expect a couple of decks to tech a single Cleffa but that's about it. Supporter lineups will probably be more draw heavy to accomodate the lack of Cleffa though.

 

[donavannj]

Supporter lineups will have to be more heavy to accommodate for increased Trainer Lock deck attempts.

 

[Overlord Drakow]

That too man. I do think Vileploom will see an increase in play so the increase in supporters naturally accomodates for this expected change.

 

[donavannj]

I do think Reshiram and Zekrom won't really see anymore play than they already do, however.

 

[Overlord Drakow]

I mentioned those two because they were the first to spring to mind. Stuff like Stantler and Bouffalant (sp?) and other good high HP basics could see a boost in play.

 

[donavannj]

Well that makes sense. Bouffalant should be seeing more play anyway simply because it's an awesome Revenge-killer.

 

[Tanaki]

Considering the deck list I posted about a month ago, you already know my feelings about catcher and running Vileplume as the anti-catcher.

Realistically the impact of catcher on the metagame prevents low amounts of evolutionary lines, especially techs and support systems as they can easily be dragged out and eliminated before they can make use of their effects. It also allows for locking high retreat pokes like Emboar and Magnezone in a very bad position since their only chance of surviving very long is to waste a ton of energy, either by IF'ing Emboar to retreat him onto the bench where he's an easy sniper target, or by LB'ing Magnezone to grab a prize before he gets pwned and now having some energies that cannot be recovered.

Realistically the only thing you can do to avoid Catcher is run high HP pokes, use some yourself, run Switch, or run Vileplume. Gothitelle is somewhat viable, but it isn't quite capable of being a stand-alone attacker without the Gardevoir coming out way down the line. I personally prefer Vileplume because with the right combos, if anything, you can actually manage to stall your opponents to death, and it can make short work of Yanmegas if you can manage to have a hand size that is hard for your opponent to replicate without Judge or Copycat. I just can't see too many people using Vileplume because of how it affects how the user plays as well, and it can limit how effectively your pokemon attack, and therefore Catcher will have good metagame usage until good Trainer-Locks emerge.

It's also in one of the worst sets of all time. 23 packs and I only pulled one. ONE! Which means that just buying 4 copies online is a better venture than attempting to pack-pull.