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Issue #48-Wooper: Woop There It Is
As I sat down today I had the full intention of writing an Analyst on Rocket's Zapdos, aka, "The Only Reason I Still Buy Gym Challenge Packs". But as I got through the article I immediately skipped to the section where I highlight what crushes the card I'm analyzing so that I could write about Wooper. Why was I so eager to write about the little blue freak? Well, it could be that I got no sleep last night and just came back from running a League for five hours… (Expect articles from me being posted on a Monday to be a little bit umm…interesting…)… Or it could be that I was kidnapped, tied up, and beaten severely by Woopers in an effort to get me to legitimize their kind with a complementary article.
*Tucks his hat down over a beaver-tail shaped bruise*
Ummm… But that's… absurd. I - I love Wooper! Oh…oh no… GOD, DON'T LET THEM FIND ME!
Wooper: Basic Pokemon : 50 HP : Water
Evolves into: Quagsire
W: Amnesia: Choose 1 of the Defending Pokemon's attacks. That Pokemon can't use this attack during your opponent's next turn.
CC: Slam: Flip 2 coins. This attack does 20 damage times the number of heads.
Weakness:  , Resistance:  , Retreat: 
Now obviously, Elekid has no attacks per se to evaluate.
Wooper's attacks and stats are interesting. Amnesia is a great staller, but it is of serious note to mention that the attack-limiting effect wears off if the Pokemon that was hit with it becomes benched. Slam is….well, Slam. Pretty typical, but it makes Wooper splashable in some sort of deck that requires anti-fire. He's like Gligar, except with 10 less HP, a retreat cost, a Type that barely ever sees a weakness on opposing cards, and big dumb-looking face.
*Gloom's head is struck with a broom handle*
Ahh! I mean… Wooper is cute, and definitely better than Gligar! Here's proof...
Rocket's Zapdos: Well, if there was ever a more ridiculous case of severe ownage, I haven't seen it. Rocket's Zapdos, the mighty Destroyer of Sneasels, Gligars, Hitmonchans, and many others is forced to bow out to Wooper. Wooper's Amnesia allows him to lock Plasma on an active un-charged Zapdos, preventing it from a three-turn build for Electroburn. Then, once your opponent has placed three electric and one "other" (usually a Metal) Wooper can Amnesia THAT. Since Plasma only does 20 damage and Wooper has resistance to electric attacks all the Zapdos can do is Plasma for more energy. Pretty humiliating.
Electabuzz: Ol' Buzz is in the same boat that Rocket's Zapdos is in when confronted with a Wooper. Except Buzz's boat is very slowly sinking. Amnesia Thundershock (or for our German friends in the audience, "Donnerschocken") to prevent paralysis, and then see if your opponent will spend turn after turn flipping a coin to see which Poke takes 10 damage. Odds are that he won't spend any turns doing that at all, and he'll just Gust something out and kill IT, but in theory, if your bench was just full of Woopers, and your active was a Wooper, they couldn't do that, could they? Hah! So there.
Chansey: Wooper works well against Chansey in a low-energy Steel Chansey deck. Since decks like these run eight to ten energy, they can't generally spend too much energy on retreating. So if you catch a Steel Chansey player at the right time with Amnesia, you should be able to delay the Chansey's attacks for a few turns. Of course, after that timeframe passes and your opponent manages to get a Switch, Balloon Berry, or Recycle Energy, little Wooper's gonna get eaten alive, but… hey… Is that really that bad? Seriously though, I've seen several Chansey players get rather annoyed at not being able to Double-edge at key moments.
Other Woopers: Well, this might not really be a killer advantage scenario or anything, but it IS always funny to see this:
"My Wooper uses Amnesia on your Wooper's Slam."
"My Wooper uses Amnesia on your Wooper's Amnesia."
"My Wooper uses Slam."
"My Wooper uses Amnesia on Slam."
"My Wooper uses Amnesia on your Wooper's Amnesia."
And so on. :D
Cleffa: If your opponent is in a situation where they cannot retreat and their only drawing/cycling is coming from an active Cleffa, try to Amnesia Eeeeeeek. If they were living on a single Cleffa, odds are they were pretty beat-up to begin with, but shutting off their last source of fresh cards will probably finish them off.
Elekid: Oooooh, Wooper! *shakes his fist in annoyance* This is probably the most frustrating situation in which Wooper can be used. If you're playing a deck like Chansey or Arcanine, where you rely on Elekid to keep you on the offense through the first two turns and to help you rebound from massive bombardments of Energy Removal in the mid to late game, Wooper is a PAIN. You're dealing nothing damage-wise, and that grinning little puke is very slowly slamming your Chansey or your babies to death while you watch and pray for some card drawing, a Switch, a Gust: ANYTING to make Wooper go away! Elekid, Electabuzz, and Rocket's Zapdos are the three primary reasons that Wooper is playable.
Feraligatr: Feraligatr has a big retreat. Feraligatr has one attack. Feraligatr doesn't play well with Woopers. In fact, anything that has no secondary attack and a big retreat, like Venusaur, Blastoise, Typhlosion, Meganium, and others gets nicely delayed by Wooper.
Now unfortunately, Wooper has his drawbacks as well as his advantages… The following cards tear a hole in our little blue friend:
Sneasel: You Amnesia Beat-up? Fine, I'll just retreat for a Cleffa, retreat that for the same Sneasel, and THEN I'll Beat-up. Simply put, Wooper is useless against a deck that features a large amount of free-retreating attackers. It's hurt by Gligar, Sneasel, Murkrow, Tyrogue, and a few other cards that see frequent play in Standard.
Scyther: Like Gligar, poor little Wooper gets whomped by a single Slash due to his weakness. Not only that, but since Scyther is a free-retreater Wooper usually can't Amnesia Slash to any degree of effectiveness. Other Grass-types, like Pinsir, also hurt Wooper's chances of being played in most decks, but no Grass Pokemon so thoroughly destroys Wooper as much as Scyther does.
Status Effects: That's right, any Pokemon that can get in a shot of paralysis, sleep, or confusion is probably going to a lay a Wooper low if they're the first one to attack. If you can keep Wooper immobilized and unable to use Amnesia you've neutralized him quite effectively.
So there ye have it, the good and the bad of my favorite little blue potato head. Wooper is the kind of card that is at one extreme end of the scale or the other: he either really works in your environment, or he's a constant liability that just gives away prizes. Personally, there's almost no electric in my area and A LOT of Scyther, so I've had a lot of experience in seeing Wooper's bite the dust. But he DOES have his uses, and when he works properly it's really, really frustrating for your opponent.
Uuuuupa!
-Gloom
Note to Modified Players: Alright, with Feraligatr still running rampant in Modified, and with all the anti-fire being splashed into grass decks like Crobat and VictreeKrow, Wooper is starting to make a lot of sense. I seriously believe he's sort of like a Giovanni's Nidoran that works to combat fire and delay Gatr, as opposed to just combating Gatr.
PS: Thanks to Poinko for the title.
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