Sableye Card Review

[Dark Zoroark]

Sableye Card Review​

Hello there readers and this is Dark Zoroark back with a Card of the Day and this time, I'm going to be reviewing Sableye from the latest set brought to us, Dark Explorers.

For those who have been keeping an eye out on Japan, they should know by now that their format is entirely different than ours. Just earlier this day, I received news that they just had their most recent tournament and the winning decks are finally pinned down. One of the winning decks, a dark deck that relied on Hydreigon and Darkrai supposedly finished 2nd place. I took a clear look at the deck and I found it running Sableye.

This gave me the heads up that Japan was actually in a BW-on format, completely throwing Junk Arm and bunch of powerful supporters like Pokemon Collector and PONT off the radar. How the rotation will affect us right now, I don't know. But one thing I do know is that dark decks are going to be much more powerful with Sableye after the format rotation and many players would even find a space in their decks for just a few of these little guys.

So before we go on and predict the future, let's get on and feed our hungry Sableye, shan't we?

HP​

70 HP in my opinion is quite low, in fact, it is a lot lower than the average HP. The average HP in a balanced format is going to be around 70-100 but in a fast, hard-hitting format where big EXs are just sweeping the whole field, I clearly don't expect this dark demon to last longer than a couple of turns.

What's more, as soon as you play down one of them, your opponent can just Catcher Sableye up and send it flying to the discard. Now you've just lost a valuable Junk Arm and a Prize card. So my tip for you, don't play this card until mid-late game where your resources are starting to drop. Keep track of the Pokemon Catchers your opponent used.

If they have used it all up, that's the time you play him so he can retrieve your crucial Item cards. But also be aware if your opponent has N or Judge. He can just take it out of your hand so play Sableye at the time you need something from the discard most.

Weakness and Resistance​

When I looked at his weakness, it kind of reminded me of Spiritomb. The Spiritomb we had in our last format didn't have a weaknesses to any Pokemon, making him last longer than an average Basic. To have no weakness, it's more than a fair trade to make up for his mediocre HP. Donphan can't OHKO it without a PlusPower. Terrakion can't KO it without losing at least 1 Pokemon or spending 3 PlusPowers. Seems like Fighting Pokemon are going to have a tough time knocking him out if their damage output is around 50-60!

As for his resistance, no resistance is fairly average but at least one could've been better.

Retreat Cost​

There is not much to say here but you could definitely take advantage of the bonus retreat Skyarrow Bridge uses and use him as you see it fit. Sableye works best in decks that have basics with one to two retreat costs only.

Attacks​

The one and only reason I'll even ever consider of running Sableye in my deck is for his second attack, Junk Hunt. His second attack, "Junk Hunt", costs one Dark and let's you put 2 Item cards from the discard pile to your hand.

Now in this case, the only suitable time to play our guy over here is when the game is starting to approach it's late stages. You know when a game is in it's late stages when you notice that your deck is starting to get thin, you have a large discard (hopefully not a lot of Pokemon) and your opponent has the same things too.

Note that before you play it, look out for potential threats first. Think twice and carefully asses your moves to see if your opponent can find a way to KO him, N, Judge or discard those valuable trainers out from your hands or if he can set-up you up in a trap that you have absolutely no way of getting out. However, once you're sure that there is nothing in your way, then it is safe to use him.

Final Thoughts​

After a review of this card, I think that Sableye has the potential to become one of the major staples in dark decks when the format rotation occurs.

When I first took a careful look at Sableye, honestly his HP threw me off a little. In this current format where Big Basics are dominating and sweeping the fields just guaranteed that he ain't gonna last around longer than a turn but if the player gets lucky, no more than two turns. But the fact his second attack makes up for that, I think that his weaknesses should be easy to cope with.


After the format rotation, I'm going to be sure that dark decks are going to be running at least 3 of this dark little creeper.

So overall, I'm going to give Sableye a rating of 8/10. His HP could've been better and there is no point in wasting your Eviolites on just a 70 HP Pokemon but with his Junk Hunt, he is just about to give dark decks a huge edge when the format rotates.

Thanks for reading this review and I bid you all a good day!

 

[AquaticWartortle]

It's a lot like Durant from Dragons Exalted (Can't use the DE abbreviation anymore), it's a good replacement since Junk Arm/Itemfinder will not be tourny legal anymore.

 

[Dark Zoroark]

Not really. Yes, Durant's Pick Up allows you to take any one card from the discard and put it on top of your deck but I don't really see the point of that attack. I would pretty much rather run 3 Sableyes in one deck than run a Durant. But what did you think of this article? It's one of my old ones I've written just for fun but seeing as how the TCG needs more articles drove me to post this. Hopefully you found it informative! :)

Oh yes, as a sidenote, I've got another card review article in the line and this time it's going to feature Ho-Oh EX! Hopefully it'll be out next week.

 

[AquaticWartortle]

I like Durant personally, Sableye can only obtain Item cards from the discard pile, not supporters, but it's still pretty good for hunting. Overall I like your reviews and activities, they're detailed and make the TCG section more popular, now where is the subscribe button? :P

 

[Dark Zoroark]

At the top of the thread, under Thread Tools. And thank you! Any thing that sort of bugged you as you read the article?

 

[AquaticWartortle]

Thanks! Nothing much bugs me, but here are some tips for your next review, i'd like to see you compare cards (such as Ho-oh compared to other EXs). But you did already compare in this review so, it's pretty much perfect. And do you have a link to the Japanese tournament? :)

 

[Dark Zoroark]

No, sorry. I read a news article somewhere but forgot the website. And thanks for the tips! :D