It’s time to see if Nincada can stand the heat of battle!
Nincada is an interesting case when it comes to battle. While at first glance it doesn’t appear to be a very useful figure, with the right team and some patience, it can actually prove to be quite the irritating opponent.
Nincada is a bug/ground first stage UC ranked figure. It has 1 MP, two size 12 miss tiles, one size 36 purple tile, and one size 36 white tile. It evolves into Ninjask, and is unique in that while it has another possible evolution, Shedninja, no plans to make it available have been announced since the game’s initial release.
Nincada comes with the ability, Trainee. Similar in concept to Eevee’s ability, Trainee forces the Pokémon to gain Wait 10 at the start of the duel. However, this Pokémon faints in battle, you can evolve it without sending it to the P.C. If you do, move 1 of the Pokémon in your PC to the bench. This means that while it is rather difficult to get the figure into play, once you do, it’ll serve you well.
Nincada overall is a very weak Pokémon but its ability and purple move, Dig, can make it somewhat useful. Its white attack, Scratch, only has a hit power of 20, so it’s unlikely you’d knock something out with it. But if you do, don’t evolve Nincada, as that renders its ability useless. It functions as a budget Ho-Oh and can resurrect one Pokémon from your P.C, but it can also evolve into Ninjask at the same time, and unlike Ho-Oh, it doesn’t leave the field. Its drawback is rather huge though, only being 1MP, slow to enter the field and very weak.
Thus, while not the greatest figure, Nincada does has its niche uses. While arguably Ho-oh does the job better, Nincada provides a quick way to make use of its ability and is a lot easier to obtain. It is a great way for beginner players to learn this technique and later make use of it.
