Image courtesy of TCGdex.net
When Nostalgia Becomes a Card-Collecting Compass
In the world of Pokémon TCG, memory is a powerful currency. A card like Greedent from Darkness Ablaze flickers not just with its battle-ready stats, but with echoes of earlier journeys—the thrill of discovering a new expansion, the joy of opening a pack with friends, and the chintzy, comforting rhythm of drawing into a familiar evolution line. Nostalgia isn’t merely about retrieving old favorites; it’s about re-reading the story of your own collection as you add a new chapter. Greedent’s rarity, its stage-one arc from Skwovet, and its playful lore about stashing berries all tap into that warmth, turning a simple card into a memory trigger that nudges collectors toward purchase—even when the metagame might not demand it. ⚡🔥
Greedent: A Snapshot of the Dark Blaze Era
Wrapped in the colorless theme of its type, Greedent stands at 120 HP as a Stage 1 evolution that hops up from Skwovet. Illustrated by Kouki Saitou, the artwork carries a playful, almost cartoonish charm that fans remember from earlier Rogue’s Gallery-style days. The card’s rarity is Rare, a status that often signals a collector’s pull beyond raw power on the table. In-game, Greedent is not about flashy one-shot finishes; it’s a strategic tool with two distinct attacks that reward careful planning: - Scrape Off (Cost: Colorless): Before dealing damage, you discard all Pokémon Tools from your opponent’s Active Pokémon, potentially crippling a Tool-heavy build and shifting tempo in your favor. - Smack and Run (Cost: Colorless, Colorless): Deals 100 damage and then returns Greedent and all attached cards to your hand, offering a clean reset that can surprise an opponent who stumbles into a stalemate. Its weakness is Fighting ×2, a familiar liability for colorless creatures that often rely on clever play to avoid straight-up slugfests. The Retreat cost sits at 1, a modest burden for a creature with a bouncy, reposition-friendly move set. Regulation-wise, Greedent’s D marker places it outside modern Standard play but within Expanded, a niche where nostalgia-driven decks thrive. These mechanics—tool disruption paired with a retreat-and-replay engine—invite players to craft fast, midrange discs-and-retreat strategies that rely on timing rather than brute force. 🎴
- HP: 120
- Type: Colorless
- Stage: Stage 1
- Evolves From: Skwovet
- Attacks: Scrape Off (20) and Smack and Run (100)
- Weakness: Fighting ×2
- Illustrator: Kouki Saitou
- Set: Darkness Ablaze (swsh3)
The berry-centric flavor text—“It stashes berries in its tail—so many berries that they fall out constantly. But this Pokémon is a bit slow-witted, so it doesn't notice the loss.”—further roots Greedent in a homespun, almost nostalgic vibe. It reads like a chapter from a vintage trainer journal, where the small, endearing quirks of a pocket monster become a shared memory for the community. That warmth is a magnet for collectors who want a tangible piece of the era, not just a functional card in a deck. 💎
Strategy Now: How Nostalgia Aligns with Play
Even for players who aren’t chasing the most explosive meta, Greedent’s tools-to-disrupt mechanic is a clever fit in partner-oriented builds. Scrape Off can strip away crucial tools from the opponent’s Active, setting up your next swing while denying the setup of their own tech cards. It’s a subtle, tempo-centric interaction: you withdraw the tools, you gain the initiative, and you weather the fragile moments between turns with Smack and Run offering a built-in escape hatch. In practical terms, this means Greedent shines in decks that value scrappy, midrange settlements—where a single turn can swing the momentum by removing a Tool-based threat or stalling a player who depends on item accelerants. Because Greedent is Colorless, it maintains flexibility in attack and energy requirements, letting you slot it into more diverse lineups without being pinned to a specific energy type. Its two attacks also encourage careful sequencing: you can hold back Scrape Off to force a late-game disruption when your opponent is just about to finish you off, or you can leverage Smack and Run to reset a board state when facing a heavy pressure turn. And in a nostalgia-driven meta, the card’s art, lore, and entry point from the Dark Blaze era offer a familiar, comforting rhythm that players often seek when they imagine their next collection milestone. ⚡🎨
Market Pulse: Value, Rarity, and the Collector’s Mind
Greedent’s price picture mirrors the balance collectors weigh between function and memory. The card is non-holo in this reprint window, with CardMarket showing an average around €0.26 and a modest trend around +0.29. TCGPlayer’s data paints a similar landscape for non-holo copies: low around $0.05, mid near $0.24, and a high reading of up to $4.99 for standout listings. Market price sits in a comfortable range that doesn’t break the bank, but the emotional value—the sense of owning a piece of Darkness Ablaze’s era—often outweighs the sticker price for many fans. The holo variants (where available) trend higher, as is typical, but the key for nostalgia buyers is the card’s identity, a rare print with a distinctive, cheerful vibe that speaks to years of collecting memories. And because Greedent is Expanded-legal but not Standard-legal, it remains a time capsule, a reminder of a specific dawn in the Pokémon TCG timeline when shaping a deck around midrange disruption felt both approachable and satisfying. 🔥
Collectors often chase the story as much as the stat line. Greedent’s description about berry storage, its gentle art style, and its place in Darkness Ablaze contribute to a well-rounded nostalgia package—one that makes a card feel like a friend you’ve waited to reunite with in a new season of play. The numbers back this intuition with accessible entry points, a clear path for new collectors to begin, and enough rarity to preserve long-term desirability for those who want to stand out in a display with other nostalgic pieces. 🎴
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