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Evolves into: Blissey
Weakness:
Standard nowadays is dominated by SneaselKingKrow. More power to the archetype, it takes A LOT of skill to play at a high level. But there IS one thing that can beat it reliably, and that's Chansey. Maybe some day I'll write an Analyst about the Steel Chansey deck type, but for now I'll just focus on the single card itself. Otherwise Ech'll beat me. *cowers*
Scrunch is mainly just a last-ditch safeguard. I really don't think you'll ever be in a situation like this: "Hah! I play a single DCE on Chansey, and retreat my Cleffa to make Chansey the active. Now, I'll hope and pray that Scrunch saves me from damage next turn." *coin flip* "Oh for the love of…" You simply will NEVER, EVER use this attack unless it's part of a desperation tactic because you've either been a) Energy Removaled, or b) you simply have no other options. But even then, it's a very nice last-ditch effort when your opponent surprises you. Double-edge on the other hand is really, really great. The self-damage hurts, but this is of course overcome by Unown N (minus 30 from the original 80 damage self-inflicted), Metal Energy (minus 20 from the original 80 damage self-inflicted, as well as knocking Chansey's damage to the Defending Pokemon to 70 damage per Metal used), and to a lesser extent Sprout Tower (I don't really suggest using this…easier to use Metal and Unown N, so as to not nerf Double Edge's base damage by 30). Generally, if you're using Chansey you'll probably have an Unown N in play, and one or two Metal on the Chansey, meaning he's dealing 60-70 damage, and only taking 30-10 himself. Oh, and Chansey evolves into Blissey. This allows him to heal 40-80 hp a turn, if you use Hyper-Devolution Spray! So you could run three Blissey, and four Hyper Devos, and…. Oh screw it, use Gold Berry. ; )
So, what does Chansey rock against? Let's take a look, shall we? Sneasel: A Chansey with two Metal is dishing out 60 a turn and only taking 10. This is enough to whomp a Sneasel in a single turn. Also, a Chansey with two Metal attached needs to take 140 damage to KO in one shot, so if someone's going to use Beat Up on the big dancing egg, they'd better get six heads with two Darks, or be packing a whoooole lot of Pluspowers. Murkrow: Chansey slams ol' Birdo in one hit. He has the disadvantage that his Metal will not protect him if he's Feint Attacked and he's defending, but if he's benched that Metal Energy WILL cut down Feint Attacks measly 20 damage a turn. So Chansey is not going to be going anywhere if he's riding the pine. Generally, if a 'Krow player is going up against a Chansey player, he has two options: 1 &endash; Mean Look the Chansey, deal 20 damage (more if he has darks attached), and then get brutalized by Double-edge next turn. 2 &endash; Try to Mean Look a baby (which is generally all that a Chansey deck runs other than the Chansey), and then go on Feint Attacking from there. This goes to two more possibilities: 2a &endash; Feint Attack the defending baby Pokemon and KO it, allowing the opponent to bring up the Chansey and whomp on 'Krow. 2b &endash; Feint Attack the bench (having to flip for the baby rule), dealing either 20, 10, or 0 damage to Chansey, but hopefully picking off babies. And hopefully not getting whacked by a Playful Punch too often. As you can see, none of these possible courses of action have particularly happy endings for the Murkrow. ;D Clefable: Alright, let's see… The best possible outcome is that Clefable Metronomes Double-edge…deals itself 80 damage, promptly knocking itself out… The Chansey, without any colorless defense will take 80 damage and live to fight another turn. Realistically though, you're probably not going up against a naked Chansey: it's probably got an Unown N backing it up, and at least one Metal. So it's only really going to take 30-50 damage. Not good for the Clefable. This is the kind of scenario where Clefable players start relying on their Gligars or Tyrogues. Wigglytuff: Chansey KOs Wiggly in one hit, assuming he's not augmented with Metal. Wiggly on the other hand deals only 60 damage to Chansey if he's got a full posse backing him up: this again assumes that the Chansey player has no Unown N or Metal Energy. Which I emphasize once more, is not a good bet. Electabuzz: One hit KO to a 'Buzz, assuming one or no Metal Energy attached. Ouch. The Buzz on the other hand can only paralyze or do 30-40 damage (with a chance of damaging itself). Not a good situation. Rocket's Zapdos: "What's that Rocket's Zappy? You're dealing 60 damage a turn, and doing ten to yourself?" *whack* "That taught ya', didn't it?" :D Six words: "Where's your Gold Berry now, Sucka?"
Now, Chansey does have some problems, namely his fighting weakness and his energy requirements. A Chansey deck simply doesn't run very much energy… usually just 4 DCE, 4 Metal, and a few Recycles if you REALLY feel you'll be retreating a lot (or if you like Cleffa…Which you should). So this creates some complications: Gligar: He can be KO'd quite nicely by a Chansey with two Metal, who'll only be taking 20 damage from a Slash even WITH the weakness. The problem here is Poison Sting: if you get poisoned, you're going to want to retreat the Big Egg, and you can only waste so much energy to rehab Chansey and get the toxins out of his cuddly internal organs. Also, an early-game Gligar and some bad luck can REALLY mess up your ability to compete. Tyrogue: Somewhat of a gray area: early game, he hurts. Badly. Later on in the game though, he doesn't create the pressure that a Gligar can with its Poison Sting. Though if you get a run of good luck, Tyrogue can kick the poop out of Chansey. Hitmonchan: If a Chansey player can deprive a Hitmonchan of its energy, the Chansey'll be ok. If the Hitmonchan somehow gets fully powered though, it becomes a serious threat. In an early-game situation, Hitmonchan can also mean major trouble with its obnoxious little 40-for-one Jab. Just like Gligar, three unblocked shots in the first three turns of a game will cripple you. Feraligatr: Gatr might be a lot rarer in Standard than it is in Modified, but it does have a presence. If a Chansey player isn't using Lass to remove your Wraths and Oaks, you've got a pretty good chance of Riptiding the poor thing for 120-140 damage. Gatr can stand up to a couple of Double-edge shots before going down too. Nasty combination. Unown N: Great if it's on your side, horrible if it's being used against you. Better Gust it and whack it as soon as possible. Sprout Tower: Not as bad as Unown N, since at least this reduces Chansey's self-damage by 30 as well. Strategically, dropping one of these on the table when playing against a Chansey deck can be a very good or very bad idea. Though as long as you can keep a Chansey player from using trainers (Slowking, Lass, RSA), pinning them down under a Sprout Tower is generally pretty smart.
So there we go. The pros and cons of Chansey. He builds fast, uses Metal Energy effectively, has a great retreat cost, and 'Krow can't touch him. On the other hand, he needs his energy protected, doesn't "play well with others" due to the low energy count of most Chansey decks, and his fighting weakness is a major chink in his fluffy white armor. But if you're sick and tired of SneaselKingKrow dominating you in every game, Chansey is DEFINITELY the way to go.
Note to Modified Players: You guys can't even play this one. You've got Blissey though… I guess that counts for something…
Long Live Standard! -Gloom |
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Resistance:
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Retreat: