Pokemon of the Week 14: Toxtricity, the Punk Pokemon
By Corey Rausch
Welcome to Pokemon of the Week, the 14th installment in a recurring series that looks at the impact of some of our favorite Pokemon on the anime, TCG and VGC. Taking a trip down memory lane to see the impact these Pokemon have had on the series and our lives is what makes Pokemon the magical thing it is.
As we jump back in to the Galar Region we are featuring a Pokemon that already has multiple forms and a Gigantamax after only being around since last November. Toxtricity is known as the Punk Pokemon and it comes in either an Amped Form or Low Key Form.
The difference in the forms comes in a Pokemons nature. If the Toxel that is evolving has a Hardy, Brace, Adamant, Naughty, Docile, Impish, Lax, Hasty, Jolly, Naïve, Rash, Sassy or Quirky Nature it will evolve in the yellow-aura, mohawked Toxtricity that is called Amped. It looks more confident and aggressive. The mild-mannered Low Key form is a pale blue-aura and almost sleepy and results from a Toxel with a Lonely, Bold, Relaxed Timid, Serious, Modest, Mild, Quiet, Bashful, Calm, Gentle or Careful nature.
The Gigantamax form is doubled over and displays a mixture of both auras and boasts a guitar-shaped electric current. Toxtricity has yet to appear in the early stages of the new Pokemon anime but has still gained popularity for its uniqueness. Being a Poison- and Electric type this evolutionary line is the first Pokemon to present this combination. Other than being excessively weak to Ground-type attacks it is so different from anything we have seen before.
TCG
Toxtricity had an inauspicious release in the TCG, coming out in a set in the midst of a pandemic. It saw mild play in the Limitless Online Series Qualifiers upon release, piloted to three Day 2 finishes.
Two of those came from former (reigning?) North American International Championship Runner-Up Emery Taylor. Both he and Sam Duchow made it to the second day of the first even it was legal for, finishing in 119th and 67th out of 1158 players respectively.
The core of this strategy is Toxtricity VMAX and Garbodor Rebel Clash. The VMAX uses the attack G-Max Riot which does 160 damage plus 80 if the defending Pokemon is Poisoned. Garbodor allows the player to poison their opponents Pokemon if there is a stadium in play. This combined with the ever present Electropower allowed Toxtricity VMAX to knock out even Tag Team GXs and defending VMAXs in one shot. Taylor used the Amped Toxtricity V exclusively to evolve into the VMAX while Duchow mixed the Amped and the Low Key V.
Two weeks later Taylor would return to the second day of competition and finished in 79th place out of 1303 players. He adopted the split of Toxtricity V and saw more success for it. Toxtricity VMAX is seeing a further decline in play with the rotation of lots of Electric-type support in the TCG but there is a new Toxtricity being toyed with from the new Darkness Ablaze Expansion.
This normal, one prize Pokemon uses the Risk Taker attack. The attacking player flips a coin. If the result is heads the top 5 cards of the opponent’s deck are discarded. If tails, the attacking player loses the top 5 cards of their desk. Risk taker indeed.
VGC
Unlike the previously featured behemoth that was Dragapult, Toxtricity is slowly making its impact on the competitive VGC scene. The Gigantamax was not yet available when the tournament scene was suspended and by the time sanctioned online events were resumed additional, more dominant options had been added to the field.
All that being said, there are two notable finishes in sanctioned events for the Punk Pokemon, both for the Amped Form. First, at the Bochum Regional Championships Daniel Hernandez Espinosa brought this unique Pokemon all the way to a 73rd place finish. The rest of the team was pretty standard for the time, featuring the now-banned duo of Dragapult and Whimsicott along with early format staples Duraludon, Conkeldurr and Gyarados.
Seven weeks later Bingjie Wang took things a step further. At the Collinsville Regional Championship he would finished sixth overall with a few outlier Pokemon on his team. Not only did he bring Toxtricity to the table but the team also featured Chandelure and Seismitoad in addition to more common choices in Grimmsnarl, Conkelldur and Togekiss.
It will be interesting to see how things progress with the announcement of the upcoming Players Cup II. Now that some of the more oppressive Pokemon have been barred from competition Toxtricity has a chance to benefit again from a limited pool of Pokemon. The typing combination and stats are too unique to ignore and the G-Max attack, G-Max Stun, is a powerful Electric-type attack that will either paralyze or poison the opposing Pokemon (both in the standard Double Battle). Guaranteed status condition is strong, especially attached to a move with STAB (same type attack bonus) damage. The Punk Pokemon could be ready to rock out.