Types in Base-Fossil: Colorless

The Colorless type in Base-Fossil is full of some of the most broken, most degenerate cards in the format. And Rattata. In some ways, this makes sense. A lot of rare and powerful Pokémon just happen to fall under this type, like Chansey and Dragonite.

This actually works out fine, though, since it means every deck inherently has a powerful backbone to work from. One could argue that it lends itself too much to homogeneous builds and omnipresent staples, but that was going to be hard to avoid with such a small card pool anyway.

It would genuinely be hard to make Pidgey a worse card. 40 HP with a Lightning weakness is painful, and Whirlwind is a miserable attack.

You might wonder why an attack that deals 10 damage costs an extra energy. Well, presumably they thought that shuffling the opponent's 'mons around was an upside. In reality, you'd usually rather pile damage onto the 'mon in front of you. So it has a downside after you pay the bloated energy cost. Easily one of the worst basics in the format.

Grade: 1/10

The good news for Pidgeotto is that the Whirlwind attack is now on-curve. But that shuffling effect is still miserable to play with. It also only has 60 HP on an evolved 'mon. Great.

If you're wondering about Mirror Move, stop wondering. It's an objectively worse version of Clefairy's Metronome, and that's not even the best Metronome in the game. As an added bonus, Pidgeotto is rare. Your one rare card per pack might be Pidgeotto. Let that sink in.

Grade: 1/10

Pidgeot is mediocre, but we've already passed the point of no return for this line anyway. If this card had been amazing, it still could have been unplayable when accounting for its prior forms.

Hurricane is an interesting control effect. Theoretically you could win with Pidgeot by just using Hurricane when your opponent only has one 'mon in play. But there isn't a solid "bounce deck" in the format, so Pidgeot doesn't have any tangible home.

Grade: 5/10

Rattata sees competitive play. And without Raticate. Yes, really. Despite the 30 HP stat that normally dooms a 'mon to benchwarmer, Rattata is a decent little anti-meta pick.

With a resistance to Psychic (one of the most prominent types), a free retreat cost, and a super-efficient attack, Rattata is arguably the best Mr. Mime assassin in the format, and can be a nuisance for Psychic decks to deal with in general. It's not a staple, but it's doing damn well for a route 1 rodent.

Grade: 6/10

Raticate, on the other hand, only appears in one extremely gimmicky deck centered around the synergy between Super Fang and Meditate.

That deck gets slightly better in later formats when a better Raticate is released, but isn't even good in those formats. But in Base-Fossil? Hardly even qualifies as a gimmick deck, really. Leave this one in your binder.

Grade: 3/10

Spearow is one of those cards where there's nothing wrong with it, but also nothing exciting about it. Free retreat is nice, but there's a much better pivot we'll be discussing soon enough.

Mirror Move is too expensive and too unreliable. Spearow needs to be hit by a move, and survive the move, and that move needs to be a threat to the opposing Pokémon. The odds of all that being true are quite low, and you certainly don't want a move that expensive to be so gimmicky.

Grade: 4/10

Fearow is fine, but it is luck-reliant. If you can get heads with Agility, it can be a pretty annoying card. And Drill Peck is a reliable finishing move. Its HP isn't awful, and it even has free retreat.

All in all, I mostly like Fearow. The issue is that it's extremely weak to Energy Removal. In order to bridge the gap between Spearow's Peck and Fearow's Agility, you're heavily incentivized to play a Double Colorless Energy. Your opponent uses Super Energy Removal, and then Fearow is dead on arrival.

Grade: 5/10

Clefairy is a bad Basic. It can be snapped up by a single Jab, Sing only has a 25% chance of actually doing something due to how sleep works, and Metronome is just too expensive for what it offers.

This card, on its own merits, has no redeeming qualities. Luckily, it does evolve into one of the most powerful Evolution Cards in the game. So I'll at least be lenient and give it a 2/10 instead of a 1/10.

Grade: 2/10

Clefable just about makes up for Clefairy's incompetence. All of its power is concentrated in Metronome, which lets you copy any attack in the game for a single energy of any type.

This does mean you have to fish for good match-ups, though. There are plenty of situations where Metronome won't benefit you, or won't even work properly. It's a powerful card, but I wouldn't be surprised if it falls off over time as the metagame slowly shifts towards consistency and reliability.

Grade: 6/10

Jungle Jigglypuff is surprisingly good compared to other evolving Basics of the era. 60 HP feels pretty solid for the time and both attacks are good.

Lullaby can potentially steal a turn, making evolution more reliable. Pound requires a Double Colorless Energy, but it does do 20 damage as early as the first turn. Just keep in mind that blowing your DCE early could incite the wrath of Energy Removal. It's sometimes worth the risk, but don't assume Pound is always a better option than Lullaby. It depends on the board state.

Grade: 7/10

Promo Jigglypuff is not worth using, in my opinion. It's only ever a single Pluspower Jab away from death, for starters. It also can't actually do anything on the first turn unless you go second, since First Aid only heals a damage counter off of it.

Double-Edge does do impressive damage, but there's a much more powerful move on Wigglytuff that you could be using on turn 2 with the same exact energy cost. Not a terrible basic, but there's just no incentive to use it.

Grade: 3/10

Wigglytuff might be the most powerful aggro card in the format. Scratch that; Wigglytuff IS the most powerful attacker, and would dominate the format if it weren't for Super Energy Removal. This card is borderline broken.

The nutty draw engine of Base-Fossil ensures that you'll be able to vomit a bunch of Basics onto the board within the first few turns. Then you just attach a DCE and start swinging for 60 damage. Even if you do get hit with Removal, Lullaby can buy time while you recharge.

Grade: 10/10

Meowth's Pay Day is puzzling. Sometimes you just look at an attack's cost and think, "But why?" This is one of those times. You can play 4 copies of Bill, 4 copies of Professor Oak, and 4 copies of Computer Search all in one turn if you really want to. Minimal drawback. No energy cost. It's just free.

But then when card draw was printed on Pay Day, it suddenly needed to cost 2 energy and require a coin flip? I can't say I really understand the logic here. Everything else about the card is bog standard, but that attack is just bad.

Grade: 2/10

For most Base-Fossil tournaments, Promo Meowth just barely misses the cut, being promo #10 when only #1-9 are universally accepted. But every now and then an expanded version of the format is played.

And in that expanded version of the format...this is just as bad as the other Meowth. Yeah, sorry for the build-up. Not being allowed to choose where your damage is going is a massive drawback. At least it does 20 damage to the target instead of 10, I guess?

Grade: 2/10

I really want to like Persian. Free retreat is awesome, and the damage reduction effect from Pounce could be really useful against all of the 'mons that like to spam low-damage stalling attacks like Thundershock and Smokescreen. It even comes with a nice Psychic resistance.

But needing to play Meowth to get here really kills any momentum it could have had. It's also just a tiny bit underwhelming for an Evolution Card. I do think it's still worth experimenting with, though. It might be underrated.

Grade: 5/10

Before the Jungle set came out, Farfetch'd enjoyed a brief time as a staple in Haymaker decks, as one of the best counters to Hitmonchan.

Unfortunately, there are much better options for a Fighting resistance in the full Base-Fossil format, including Scyther, Fossil Gastly and Dodrio. And Farfetch'd was already competing with the free retreat cost of Doduo before that. This is by no means a bad card, but you're objectively making your deck sub-optimal if you choose to use it.

Grade: 5/10

Doduo's Fury Attack is an inefficient attack, but that's fine. You're usually just going to open with Doduo in your active spot to scout out the situation and then immediately retreat it out for free after you've seen what your opponent's board looks like.

It also evolves into the metagame-defining Dodrio, so this is a rare case where the attack has no impact on the usefulness of the card itself.

Grade: 6/10

Dodrio has been one of the two great shifts in the Base-Fossil metagame. Scyther is no longer considered a default pivot in every deck, and any deck with high retreat costs will look to Dodrio's Retreat Aid for support.

Players always knew it was good, but seeing it as an upgrade over Scyther is a relatively recent development. Rage is also a solid attack, if you ever need a backup attacker. I do personally find that some decks function better with Scyther and a few copies of Switch, but Dodrio is always insanely good.

Grade: 10/10

Lickitung was the other great shift in the Base-Fossil metagame. Players have come to appreciate that Tongue Wrap's low cost and paralysis chance, combined with this thing's obnoxious 90 HP, make this one of the absolute best cards in the format.

There are tournament records suggesting that some players caught on to the value of Lickitung early, but not to the extent of basing entire decks around stalling with it. This thing currently rules the format with an iron tongue.

Grade: 10/10

Chansey is the one card out there that might be better than Lickitung. It has even more bulk and an inexplicably low retreat cost, at the cost of having less energy-efficient attacks. Entire deck archetypes rely on this card's existence.

As for the attacks, Scrunch can help it stall for turns and Double-Edge can be used to take a surprise KO. You have to respect a Chansey with 2 energy on it because of the constant threat of Double-Edge. But this card could have had no text in the attack box and it still would have been a staple.

Grade: 10/10

Kangaskhan is an underrated gem. It doesn't fit cleanly into most stall or aggro variants, but it absolutely shines in grindy mid-range decks.

The main downsides are that it gets off to a painfully passive start and that it's a bit tricky to get it out of the active position. Any deck that uses Kangaskhan needs to be able to play around one or both of these downsides, but those decks that can afford to deal with its shortcomings end up finding roles for Kangaskhan that no other card can fill.

Grade: 8/10

Tauros was so close to joining the many haymakers of the format. Stomp is technically stronger than Hitmonchan's Jab, if you can consistently get a Double Colorless Energy into play.

Unfortunately Tauros just barely falls short of the other haymakers in terms of quality, especially since Energy Removal makes short work of anything reliant on DCE to thrive. It does have a forever home in the seldom-seen Rage decks, so at least it's not missing from the format entirely.

Grade: 6/10

Much like Mew, Ditto's job is to snipe Mewtwo. By transforming into Mewtwo and attaching a Double Colorless Energy, Ditto is able to remove the threat a little faster than many other possible solutions.

It can also go toe to toe with many of the most powerful cards out there, but it is heavily dependent on Double Colorless Energy, since you need the acceleration in order to be a "better version" of the opponent. As such, it doesn't fit cleanly into builds that need DCE for other 'mons.

Grade: 6/10

There's certainly nothing wrong with Jungle Eevee, as far as evolving Basics go. Tail Wag might be a little underwhelming, but we've seen much worse.

The real issue is just that there's not much incentive to run the Eeveelutions over their competition. You could try to make a multitype deck that spams Quick Attack in three different types work, but the original Eevee card just doesn't do anything to facilitate that strategy.

Grade: 4/10

Promo Eevee is rarely allowed in the Base-Fossil metagame. Even some tournaments that allow the full range of promos #1-15 have an extra clause saying "except #11."

But really, it's a moot point. The EeveeTron deck, which takes advantage of Chain Evolution to quickly load your bench with Eeveelutions, is rogue tier at best. This Eevee gets more interesting in generation 2, when Espeon and Umbreon are released, but is only an overhyped rogue card in this meta.

Grade: 6/10

Base Porygon reads like a puzzle box. It just dares you to find that one niche use that makes it into a powerhouse. Whispers of pairing it with Dodrio's Retreat Aid and using it to set up easy knockouts might tempt you, like a succubus in the dead of night.

I'll save you some time and effort. Don't use it. Every set up that theoretically makes Porygon powerful ends up being worse than just playing the off-meta donk deck that can already switch between types at the drop of a hat.

Grade: 1/10

Cool Porygon is much more interesting, when promos #10-15 are allowed. It's not exactly bad or good. Just kind of weird. In theory, it should be pretty good. Resist the opponent and always do double damage? Sign me up!

But...then you realize that it needs 3 energy to even use Texture Magic. And Super Energy Removal exists. And you could've just attached 3 energy to Wigglytuff to do 60 damage without wasting a turn on a set up move. Cool Porygon theoretically does things. But in practice, it's pretty clunky.

Grade: 4/10

I want Snorlax to be good so badly. It really does LOOK like a great card. Massive HP, immunity to status, and an attack that inflicts paralysis.

But nope. It has all the downsides of Kangaskhan without drawing an extra card every turn. The status immunity is not enough to give it any sort of genuine niche in this particular metagame. It does see a renaissance in later metagames though, where some cards from the Team Rocket set can take advantage of its status immunity to pull off some really annoying tricks.

Grade: 5/10

Dratini is a terrible basic that you play strictly because its Evolutions are good. At least it has no weakness and a Psychic resistance.

I suppose you could somehow end up in an embarrassing situation where Dratini is the only answer on your board to an opponent's Mr. Mime, but at that point I have other reasons to be concerned about you.

Grade: 2/10

Dragonair is a solid Stage 1, though I don't love that you need Double Colorless Energy for both of its attacks. It would've been nice if it had at least one attack that costs 1-2 energy.

Still, 80 HP and averaging 30 damage on turn 2 are both above-rate qualities. There are much worse Stage 1 cards in the format. It sometimes sees play without Dragonite in decks dedicated to removing energy from the opponent repeatedly with Hyper Beam. Overall, it's a solid card with some minor issues.

Grade: 7/10

Dragonite is a good card in a vacuum and an even better card when paired with the right partners. The most popular partners for Dragonite are Kangaskhan or Vileplume, often with a Dodrio to give Dragonite free retreat on top of its free entry due to Step In.

Being able to switch in at any time can negate an ally's retreat costs and cure their status ailments in one elegant motion, which makes this Barney lookalike a deceptively great team player.

Grade: 8/10

Promo Dragonite is much less impressive. Putting a weak draw engine on a Stage 2 is just asking for trouble. Compared to the draw engines from later metagames, this guy is a joke.

Hell, I'd honestly rather use Kangaskhan as my draw engine. At least Kangaskhan is a Basic! You could maybe include a few of these in a Hyper Beam deck, so that your extra copies of Dragonair have something to do. But that's the only use I can think of for it.

Grade: 4/10

So that's the Colorless type. Half of the best cards in the game are all consolidated in the Colorless type, which is kind of a double-edged sword. The good news is that every type in the format can splash in some of these powerful cards. The bad news is that every type will splash in some of these powerful cards.

As a result, even two decks using completely different energy can end up looking like a mirror match if both players draw into their Colorless 'mons first. Cards like Lickitung, Dodrio, and Chansey are so powerful that they pop up everywhere. It's not necessarily bad to have staples, but Base-Fossil is notorious for having a few too many, and this is the type that really exemplifies that issue.