Elspeth for the Win

  Klawf isn ’ t just a retread of the first-generation Krabby for Generation 9 and the Scarlet and Violet video games, but is instead a Rock-type Pokemon with a unique ability. The in-game sprite is much better looking than the cartoonish representation on the official Pokemon Company website, and among the early looks at the Paldea region, it appears to be an early fan-favorite.   It ’ s a bit of a shame that Klawf is a mono Rock-type and not a dual Rock/Water type, like Omastar. What it does have in abundance is a great deal of early lore to sift through in order to get an idea what you can expect from this Ambush Pokemon.   One of the neater aspects of Klawf ’ s design is its “ spinning eyes that leave no blind spots .” It can rotate its protruding eyeballs to see everything around it. Klawf often clings to cliffs upside-down in order to ambush prey from above. However, it can ’ t stay upside-down too long, as the blood rushing to its head can make it dizzy. Th...

  Illusions of Grandeur is one of the more interesting cards on Magic the Gathering ’ s Reserved List that will never again be reprinted. Not only is it one of the best combo pieces of all time, and saw play in top competitive play as recently as 2003, it ’ s also one of the more memorable cards from my early days of playing the Commander format. Recently, I decided to finally add a copy of this Ice Age rare to my collection, not so much as an investment, but as a piece of Magic the Gathering history I feel it necessary to own.   Most of the time when people say someone has “ illusions of grandeur,” they really mean “ delusions of grandeur,” except when people are actually referring to the Magic the Gathering card from 1995. When it was first printed, it wasn ’ t necessarily a “ good” card, but it wasn ’ t horrible, either. For four mana, this Blue enchantment gives you a whopping 20 life when it enters play. Who wouldn ’ t play this card to literally double your starti...

  In Pokemon Legends Arceus, Kleavor is the new regional Hisuian evolution for Scyther. It's a Bug/Rock type Pokemon, in a similar vein to Dwebble and Crustle. As it stands, Crustle has been a good Shell Smash-powered Pokemon in playthroughs and is passable in the lowest tiers of competitive play. Sure, Bug/Rock isn’t a great defensive type, as it’s still 2x weak to Rock-type attacks, as well as 2x to Water and Steel. However, this type combination takes neutral damage from many of each type’s weaknesses. While its not the powerhouse Bug/Steel Pokemon of Scizor, Kleavor has a chance to be a good competitive Pokemon.   Kleavor VS Scizor   Notably, Kleavor is a definite defensive upgrade from Bug/Flying type Scyther, shedding its weakness to Fire, Flying, and Electric attacks, while also cutting its quad-weakness to Rock in half. In exchange, Kleavor gains weakness to Rock, Steel, and Water type moves, but also gains resistance to Normal and Poison moves. Stat w...

  When Hydra Broodmaster was first revealed during Journey into Nyx spoiler season, Magic the Gathering Hydra fans were quick to salivate over her. It's hard not to like a 7/7 for 4GG (6 mana), which is already above average. However, the Monstrosity ability in a Mono-Green Devotion deck or Kruphix, God of Horizons ramp deck looked like it could be extremely deadly.   Not only can Hydra Broodmaster create a lot of tokens, but those tokens become larger the more mana you invest into it. It is a double X cost, which means you need to have quite an available investment to pump into her. But pouring even 8G into the ability, a reasonable sum for a Green deck in the late game, gives you 4 4/4 Hydra tokens, plus an 11/11 Broodmaster. That's quite an end-game weapon.   Obviously, some players saw the Broodmaster as a big target for all of the colorless mana that Kruphix, God of Horizons can help to collect for you.   At the time, it was still certainly one of t...

 Komala is a particularly fascinating case to study for its inclusion as a returning Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet. The cute koala-like Pokemon is only making its second ever appearance in the franchise for Generation 9. It debuted in Generation 7 with Sun & Moon, appearing after that only in the upgraded Gen 7 games Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.   The Normal-type Komala is a tiny bugger, standing only one-foot-four and weighing roughly 44 pounds. Komala is only weak to Fighting-type moves and is immune to Ghost-type moves. However, despite its uninteresting defensive typing, it does have above-average Attack and Special Defense stats and a decent move pool. Also, the Drowsing Pokemon has a unique ability called Comatose.   Serebii.net gives this description of the Comatose ability :   “ It acts as if it is affected by the Sleep status condition. All special effects of moves based on the Sleep status condition affect this Pok é mon such as Snore & Sl...

  Did Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch Make a Myr Tribal Commander Deck Competitive in Magic the Gathering?   Magic the Gathering is famous as being a very flexible trading card game in terms of deck building, with so many different strategies and creature tribes to build around. One of these creature tribes, however, has long been in need of a true leader. That tribe is the artifact Myr from the now-corrupted plane once known as Mirrodin, but now known as New Phyrexia.   In the Phyrexia: All Will Be One set, Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch has risen to become the five-color leader of the Myr tribe. While not found in the set proper, and is featured in a separate reconstructed Commander deck, Urtet can be found in All Be One Set Boosters and Collector Boosters.   While Urtet itself is a three-mana colorless artifact, thanks to the rules of the Commander format, Urtet has a five-color identity. This is because of its powerful tap ability which costs one of each col...

  It may seem odd that we ’ re asking if a mediocre Pokemon like Kricketune is a good Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet. But, for real, Kricketune does have potential to be a low-tier competitive Pokemon thanks to having one move in particular; that move is Perish Song.   Thanks to Pikalytics, we know that in the first week plus of play on Pokemon Showdown ’ s Generation 9 ladder, Perish Song Kricketune has indeed been played . The most common moveset includes Sticky Web, Perish Song, Sing, and Taunt, so it ’ s purely utility. While it ’ s certainly not the best Sticky Web setter, lowering opponent ’ s Speed by one stage is a decent entry hazard; the problem is only having 65 speed means you really have to pick your spots to get Sticky Web set.   Sing is probably your best bet for Kricketune to do anything, and while sleep is a very powerful status, Sing is only 55 percent accurate. But, if you can get your opponent to Sleep, you ’ ll have at least one turn to set ...

  Green and White tokens has long been a popular deck-building strategy in Magic the Gathering. In fact, one of my first ever decks in EDH was Rhys the Redeemed, a Green and White Elf who was perfect to lead a swarming token army to victory. In the Kaldheim set, token lovers gained a new toy to play with the Saga card called Battle for Bretagard.   This Saga is an Enchantment card that only sticks around for its “chapters” to play out. This mechanic works by putting a Lore counter on it when it enters play, then placing another one on it at the beginning of each of your upkeep steps on your turn. The Saga creates a 1/1 white Human Warrior creature token when it gains its first Lore counter, then a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token with the second counter. On the third chapter, it creates a copy of each artifact and/or creature token you control with different names before sacrificing itself.   Creating tokens and being able to copy them is a good deal for 3 m...