The upcoming expansion for the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG), Hot Wind Arena has been basking in general praise for its card reveals. Approval was at an all-time high as fans as the spotlight was shone over Cynthia, Ethan, and each of their respective Pokémon. Unfortunately, the latest reveal of Arvin and his roster of trainer-focused cards did not enjoy the same level of appraisal.
A Pokémon with Some Tricks
Arven’s Mabosstiff and Greedent, in comparison to Cynthia’s Garchomp and Ethan’s varied list of Pokémon, do look underwhelming at first look. It is also understandable why the Arvin-focused trainer cards look almost borderline unplayable.
Mabosstiff has a somewhat respectable body, but its attacks are tied down by its average power levels and restrictions. Hustle Tackle has a base output of only 30 damage and only gets an extra 120 damage if it’s at full health. Boss’s Headbutt can only be used every other turn. Add to the fact that neither Mabostiff nor its basic form, Maschiff, have any utility ability and Arvin’s Pokémon are off to a pretty slow showing.
Usually, decks topping tournaments vary regarding the overall health range of their Pokémon. Some would use cards like Noctowl or one of the various Ogerpons, which have a modest health of 100 or 210, respectively. Then, you could also have Pokémon like Dragapult who have a rather robust health pool of 320.
For the most part, the Pokémon doing battle will be the ones with higher health totals. Mabosstiff doesn't have enough power behind it to challenge these monstrosities, which makes it a tough sell competitively.
Unfortunately for Mabosstiff, their power levels are usually overshadowed by their rivals. The lack of other abilities makes the Pokémon unimpressive, other than being a somewhat versatile combat unit due to its attacks costing only colorless energy.
Perhaps There’s More to Come
Arven’s Greedent tries to remedy Mabostiff’s lack of non-combat related abilities by allowing its controlling player a way to recur two of their used Arven’s Sandwich. Arven’s Sandwich looks like a pretty substandard healing item, only healing about 30 health per use. That 30-health healing turns into a pretty substantial 100 health if the target is one of Arven’s Pokémon.
Items, especially healing items, are considered uncommon in the competitive scene. The closest we have to any form of a consistent healing item comes with the card, Switch Cart; a card that heals only for 30 health. But Switch Cart is mostly used for its ability to easily swap Pokémon in and out of the active slot.
Depending on the circumstances, Arven’s Sandwich can find better use than Switch Cart. Not only can it heal for more health, but you can get two copies of Arven's Sandwich back every time you evolve Arven’s Skwovet into a Greedent.
This line of play may be hampered by the fact that you’d have to target an Arven Pokémon to get its full value specifically. The only current viable target is Arven’s Mabosstiff.
There are too many unknowns at this time to say for sure if Arven’s Pokémon have viability in the competitive scene, but things look rather poor. We also have yet to see a complete list from Hot Wind Arena, so some players are hoping that Arven’s other Pokémon from the video games, like his Cloister and Garganacl, to name a few examples, may still make an appearance in this set.
If you’re curious about the exact capabilities of Arven’s Pokémon, you can check out Pokébeach for the translation.