Hypnotoxic Laser (Plasma Storm # 123) {12/25/12}

[Bo$$_89]

That awkward moment when you went to the tournament that Fluffychomp won at...

 

[PumpedAaron]

Gasp... this card is horrifically strong.


I had to check Bulbapedia just to be sure it was 2 additional rather than 2 instead of 1. Its the former, and that's so aggressive!

Dealing 150 damage and using Hypnotoxic Beam + Virbank Gym= 180 damage to KO even the toughest Pokemon-EX! I so so love how we're starting to rake in primo Stadium cards that do great and terrible things. Its quite a step up from HGSS-On's Burned Tower!

Add in Pluspowers, and Dark Claw, if you're Darkrai EX, and you'll be getting OHKO's sooner than you think!

Wow wow woooow.

9/10. I'm so excited AND worried. Gush gosh.

Edit: Also quite notably, Tornadus EX can now deal 90 damage T1!

 

[Slowbro]

Way to underestimate the Japanese bro.

According to data from Top Cut, FluffyChomp also won an American Cities, so what's your point, DarkVoid?

That Battle Carnivals mean no more than a single American Cities, which is very, very little.

While there have been Japanese decks that have fallen flat on their face in the U.S., the number of Japanese decks that have actually done well far outweighs that.

Sure, but it means that doing well in a Battle Carnival does not mean its all that good a deck.

Nope, actually Japanese players get worlds invites through these carnivals. And it actually means that aside from a few exceptions, that carnivals give us a good idea of what's to come.

 

[Dork Void]

They're a hint of what's to come because the Japanese are playing in the Battle Carnival before anyone else has that format. Therefore, the rest of the world interprets the Battle Carnival's results as the new meta and begins playing the decks seen there; that's how Garchomp Altaria became popular and how anyone ever thought it was good in the first place. However, as the rest of the world begins to actually test the meta for themselves they may find the Japanese completely off, but it will take them some time. Therefore while the Battle Carnival may sometimes be an accurate meta prediction, its also often just a self-fulfilling prophecy.

My point is that because the Japanese meta is a totally different environment from the rest of the world's playing field, the Battle Carnival may or may not accurately represent the rest of the world's meta once it catches up. This is what makes doing well in a Battle Carnival not mean very much as to the viability to the rest of the world. Garchomp Altaria is simply a recent example of this.

 

[Slowbro]

They're a hint of what's to come because the Japanese are playing in the Battle Carnival before anyone else has that format. Therefore, the rest of the world interprets the Battle Carnival's results as the new meta and begins playing the decks seen there; that's how Garchomp Altaria became popular and how anyone ever thought it was good in the first place. However, as the rest of the world begins to actually test the meta for themselves they may find the Japanese completely off, but it will take them some time. Therefore while the Battle Carnival may sometimes be an accurate meta prediction, its also often just a self-fulfilling prophecy.

My point is that because the Japanese meta is a totally different environment from the rest of the world's playing field, the Battle Carnival may or may not accurately represent the rest of the world's meta once it catches up. This is what makes doing well in a Battle Carnival not mean very much as to the viability to the rest of the world. Garchomp Altaria is simply a recent example of this.

The reason why I think Tornadus/Landorus/PHB will do so well is not because it won a battle carnival, that's just another reason why I think it's good. It has a huge amount of early game pressure and PHB solves the damage cap problem. Also, you keep bringing up Garchomp/Altaria, but that's one example. Most of the other decks that won end up doing well in the rest of the world also.

 

[blargh257]

Does anyone think that a Flygon + Hypnotic Laser could be a good combo?
Idea: Run mono-Flygon with no energies using Virbank and Hypnotic Laser. That is 40 damage to the active and 10 to the bench in between turns. The only problem is that you could only use Hypnotic Laser 4 times. I think that maybe Sableye but that would ruin having Flygon active.

I think the Sableye idea would work very well. You could use Darkrai for retreating and KOs in an emergency.
Would a deck like that be able to run the 1-0-1 Dusknoir and a Ditto? It makes some sense to me.

The introduction of Hypnotoxic Laser reminds me of the little I know about Haymaker. It's powerful basics in both cases with Pluspowers that do the same relative amount as the attacks. If I'm not mistaken, Haymaker destroyed the format it was in. PHB will not make Lando do the same, but it will certainly expand the deck's horizons as far as donking goes.
Decks will run at least 1 if not 2 of this card as staple even if they're not Virbank-based just to troll the ones that are.
The only real danger in my opinion is that Mewtwo is amplified to a ridiculous extent, being able to KO almost any EX if there are 7 energy between them. This may lead to the Flygon idea mentioned above or other low energy decks such as Empoleon making a run at some larger tournaments.