Howdy, folks, and welcome to HowWL! I’m not one for teasing y’all, so let’s just prop this spoiler up on this here screen for you!
Now just in case you’re not familiar with this article series, I won’t be focusing on this card’s applications in Standard. My passion is draft, and I can tell you already this is going to be a widely played card there. It’s low-committal, it’s strong at both applying pressure and stopping it, and it’s good at any point in the game. Because its cheap and has a powerful ETF, you really aren’t worried if it gets dealt with. Jumbo Flan isn’t a card you’re trying to gain a CP advantage with, its real power is in tempo. Compare it to a Summon like Ramuh or Glasya, a two part card that dull/freezes and deals 6k to something. Since both of its abilities are “single-use,” it isn’t good at constructing a board yourself, but rather in disrupting your opponent. Whether they’re trying to defend themselves or run you over, Jumbo Flan is a powerful wrench to throw into their plans.
When facing down an early rush, Jumbo Flan is good at locking one opposing Forward down for a turn and threatening to step in front of another. There are plenty of cheap, small Forwards that can’t attack into a Jumbo Flan and survive, like Palom, Rydia, Kytes, and Edge, and you are more than happy to trade off the Flan for as much CP as you can get. Early aggression can be a powerful strategy, and Jumbo Flan can be a key tool for surviving long enough to stabilize against things like two Turn 1 Forwards. Conversely, when you’re in the beatdown role, Jumbo Flan can help dismantle whatever defenses your opponent tries to stonewall you with, taking away a key blocker and providing an extra body to throw into the fray. Even in a neutral midgame, Jumbo can help turn the advantage in your favor. And lastly, when pushing for a late-game deck out, Flan can stall the opponent out long enough for their cards to run out. The times where Jumbo Flan isn’t at least useful will be few and far between, and while it may lack the raw power of a game winning bomb, it has enough of an impact on the game and enough broad applications that I don’t think I’ll be passing very many of these during the format.
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