AOTW: Anger Point

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Abiliteers, I’m back after my unscheduled hiatus with another helping of passive pokémon powers! Before we get into it, friends, I feel I owe you something of an explanation for my absence. Apart from my usual full plate of work on The Redeemers, my day job, and so on, my social life has recently taken an upswing, which unfortunately has distracted me from my editorial duties, and I apologize for it. This particular upswing also came on the heels of an underwhelming response to my 100th Ability Rapid-Fire on Victory Star, Wonder Guard, and Swarm, and I’ll admit that I was a little put out by it. It’s not necessarily a good reason to skip a few weeks, but there it is. I guess every just has their breaking point, and that’s also what we’ll be discussing for today’s selection. Ladies, gentlemen, let’s get back to it. This is Ability of the Week: Anger Point!
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POTW: Cryogonal

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Remember this thing? Pokémon of the Week articles? It's been a while since we've had one, so I thought I'd give you all a holiday present by writing one. I know what you are thinking. "But, Travis! You are supposed to only write Rare Article!" Well, guess what? YOU CAN'T PUT ME IN A BOX. I CAN DO WHAT I WANT!

Woah. That got a little heated. Let's cool things down with Cyrogonal, shall we? 

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AOTW: Magic Guard

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Hoooo boy, we’ve got a fun one this week, boys and girls. Like a good murder mystery or episode of Doctor Who, the best Abilities always appear simple, but in practice go deeper into the realms of complexity and cleverness. Such is the case for today’s selected pokémon power. What happens when you negate the negative side effects of status alterations? Let’s dive in and find out! Requested by Max D., this is Ability of the Week: Magic Guard!
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AOTW: Rivalry

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You think you’re cool? You think you’re bad? You ain’t got nothin’! Nothin’, readers! Particularly those of you who happen to also have a Y chromosome! (Ladies.) Nothin’, says I! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that, I’m sure you all have copious amounts of things and are plenty “bad” and/or “cool”. But if you happened to be yelling at me in the future reading this (and I assume none of you are. No DeLoreans or TARDIS’s have materialized in my immediate vicinity so I guess that means you all have senses of humor. Or ran out of plutonium. But I digress) then you’d be channeling this week’s pick for our passive pokémon power! Prepare for the one-upsmanship- this is Ability of the Week: Rivalry!
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AOTW: Ice Body and Rain Dish

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What’s going on, boys and girls? Your Sherpa on the mountain of Ability-centric knowledge, here, finally settled into my new digs in Chicagoland. And while I might be getting comfortable and complacent, the weather sure isn’t. This past week the windy city’s ‘burbs have been subjected to heavy rain, and today we fell below the freezing mark. But hey, you guys aren’t here to get a weather report! You’re here to read up on some Abilities! Well, nothing like current events to create a topic, eh? This is Ability of the Week: Ice Body AND Rain Dish!

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AOTW: Friend Guard

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Alright, boys and girls. Settle in, and let’s get this thing started. Today’s Ability is all about being tough! It’s all about being manly! It’s all about hairy chests, crummy beer, ice hockey, and katanas! Join me, fellow men! Let us sing a manthem worthy of such a mighty pokémon power! Bring me your Charizards, your Machamps, your huddled Donphan aching to Rollout in the most furious of manners. It… it… it’s useable by only the most adorable freakin’ monsters available in the game. It fills me with a feeling of pure demasculinization to announce that this is Ability of the Week: Friend Guard!

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AOTW: Illusion

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A few weeks ago, I posted in the PokéTalk forums asking you for topics for AOTW. A few folks responded, and this week we’re analyzing the first of your requests! If you played Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions, then you probably hurried your way to a GameStop last year to snag yourself some certain lustrous legendaries in hopes of cashing them in in Black and White for a Zoroark of your very own. Well, the figment-forming fox pokémon is privy to an Ability of its very own, and today we’re picking apart his prestidigitation! This is Ability of the Week: Illusion!
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AOTW Rapid-Fire!! Mummy, Bad Dreams, and Cursed Body

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Purely for ambience, click here first.

Boys and girls of every age,
wouldn’t you like to see something strange?
Come with me and you will read,
 a Halloween Ability of the Week!
This is PKMNCast, this is PKMNCast,
We talk pokémon and never tire!
This is PKMNCast, this is PKMNCast,
This is Ability of the Week Rapid-Fire: Mummy, Bad Dreams, and Cursed Body!

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AOTW: Mold Breaker

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Hey guys! Your extraordinary eccentric editor of all things Ability, checking in! Folks, we’ve talked a lot about defensive Abilities since the debut of this article, and how you can use them to drive your opponents to enroll themselves into an insane asylum, and boy, did we have fun doing it. Heck, we still can’t get Kenny to come out from under the table ever since we set his Bayleef on fire! (Seriously, Ken, if you don’t stop holding yourself in the fetal position you’re gonna get stuck that way.) But that’s another story. Point is, fun as it is to be a conniving strategist with your Ability selection, it really sucks when you’re on the receiving end of such displays of skullduggery. So today, we’re going to turn the tables and talk about the Benedict Arnold of the Ability world! Ladies, gentlemen, ladies, Steve, this is Ability of the Week: Mold Breaker! Ladies.

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AOTW: Iron Barbs and Rough Skin

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Well guys, it’s that time again! Settle in, and let’s talk about some piercingly potent passive pokémon powers! If hindsight is 20/20, then I have Superman’s super vision right now. When Pokémon Black and White Versions dropped earlier this year, our illustrious editor-in-chief, SBJ, encouraged the editors (and by that I mean he shouted down the stairs one day into the dungeon where he keeps us chained to our laptops when he threw down our daily ration of stale bread and stagnant water) that upon the release of the new games, we should try to relate our individual columns to them. For me, that meant articles about Moxie, Regenerator, Sand Force, and so on. But had I known that a certain steel-plated pinecone and its big brother evolution would be as popular as they are, I would have known a lot earlier to say that this is Ability of the Week: Iron Barbs AND Rough Skin!

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