art by Hajime Kusajima
A new set is coming and there is going to be a rumble in the jungle. The forest is alive and if you are not careful then you will find yourself more then just lost. A lot of new threats could come out soon and you could find yourself entangled in their vines if you are not familiar with what they can do. The worst part is that some of these new threats could be things that are already at our fingertips. This time we will feature a card that you may want to consider when you are deck building for the new rotation and Ancient Origins in mind. You may see your forest of enlarged greenery grow quite fast with this card in your deck. This week the spotlight is on Sceptile from Primal Clash!
Sceptile is a Grass Stage Two Pokemon from Primal Clash with 130 HP. It has a weakness to Fire type Pokemon. It takes two energy to retreat Sceptile from the active position. Sceptile has the ability, Nurture and Heal. This ability allows you to attach an additional Grass energy from your hand to any of your Pokemon and heal 30 damage from it. Lastly, Sceptile can use Jungle Edge for a Grass and two other energy to do 70 damage.
The Pros
Sceptile has an interesting ability where it allows you to attach an additional energy from your hand before you attack. That is pretty good as any kind of energy acceleration is always a plus. Even better, this type of energy acceleration provides healing to your Pokemon. It may not be much but 30 HP can be the difference between a knockout and another chance to attack. This ability is only limited to Grass type energy but there are plenty of Grass type Pokemon who would love an extra energy attachment to get into battle faster.
To make things even better, you can use Sceptile’s Nurture and Heal on any Pokemon.
The fact that Sceptile is a Grass type Pokemon is another plus. It may not mean much right now but that will all change on August 12th when a new Stadium card is officially released.
The Cons
Sceptile is a Stage 2 which means it is difficult to get on the field. If you want this Pokemon out in two turns then you will need to use Rare Candy or evolve into Grovyle and then use Wally in the same turn. The Wally method will use up your Supporter for the turn but it is a quick way to get Sceptile on the field under an Item Lock.
This card also has a bulky retreat cost with two energy. If it gets stuck in the active then it will cost some energy to get it out. You will be either wasting two energy or a Double Colorless Energy to pay for that retreat cost. That is energy that could be used on another Pokemon. So make sure to keep a Switch in your hand in case Sceptile gets in a position where it doesn’t want to be.
Lastly, Sceptile has a pretty bad attack. It costs three energy and it only does 70 damage. There are better Pokemon you want to use Sceptile’s ability on in order to get attacking and Sceptile isn’t one of them.
How to Play It
Sceptile is a Pokemon that you do not want to play for attacking. You will want to play Sceptile for it’s ability to attach an extra Grass energy to your Pokemon.
The question that now pops up is how do you get this ability going? After all, Sceptile is a Stage Two Pokemon which are difficult to set up. You could use Rare Candy to get Sceptile on the field in two turns. Though next set may prove a new way that is quicker in the form of Forest of Broken Plants, I mean, Broken Plant Space, Forest of Giant Plants.
If Forest of Giant Plants is in play then that means all Grass type Pokemon can evolve the same turn that they are place on the field. It will be possible to have a turn one Sceptile if you have the right cards in your hand. If you have a Level Ball or two and an Ultra Ball with Forest of Giant Plants then you can be looking at two energy attachments with Sceptile’s Nurture and Heal.
Just make sure to run a few Professor’s Letters so you can have energy in your hand when you want to use Nurture and Heal to power up a Pokemon quickly. The two energies you grab using Professor’s Letter is perfect as you have one for a normal attachment and a second one to use with Sceptile’s ability.
So who will you want to attach Grass energy using Sceptile’s Nurture and Heal ability? To be honest, there are not many in the current format due to how little Sceptile is being played. You could use it to get a quick M Rayquaza EX ready but that Pokemon doesn’t need Sceptile thanks to all the other ways to power it up. Trevenant EX could be a recipient of Sceptile’s ability. Trevenant EX’s Wood Blast attack becomes stronger with each Grass energy attached to it. The problem is that it will take two turns to get him power up if you are using only one Sceptile.
The magic of Sceptile will be seen next set with Ancient Origins. There are plenty of Grass type Pokemon who would love to get a first turn attack off. One of them may be Sceptile EX who only needs two energy to attack for big damage. Sceptile can help do this, especially once Virizon EX leaves the format along with it’s method to accelerate Grass energy.
Ancient Origins will do plenty to help grow the Grass arsenal as it expands the forest. This Sceptile may be one of those that will come out of the Forest of Giant Plants thanks to it’s ability. So be prepare to hack and slash to though all the overgrow as Sceptile proves that it can help quickly grow the plant life that is ready to strike back.
