Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Mega Kangaskhan EX
I was at Worlds when they showed footage of Mega
Kangaskhan for the first
time. It was awesome seeing the baby come out and
attack. It’s probably because of that that I was happy
to see Mega Kangaskhan
become a pretty decent card – easily the best Mega we’ve
had so far – though you really should enjoy it while you
can as its playability will likely take a big hit soon.
To be honest though, Mega
Kangaskhan’s playability even now is just one of
those happy accidents that a format will occasionally
throw up. That massive 230 HP, combined with Colourless
Typing, means that Mega Kangaskhan
can abuse Aromatisse XY’s
Fairy Transfer Ability and Max Potion to keep on healing
itself while still having the necessary Energy to
attack. Combine that with a decent attack in the shape
of Wham Bam Punch (fantastic name, by the way), which
will at least two-hit KO other EXs, and you have the
makings of a very decent tanking/healing style deck,
similar in principle to the old
Darkrai/Hydreigon and
Klinklang decks we saw a
couple of years ago.
The whole reason this strategy can work is that Mega
Kangaskhan is
extremely
difficult to OHKO for most playable Pokémon.
Rayquaza EX can do it at the
cost of a quadruple Energy discard (and the risk of a
revenge KO from Druddigon
FLF); Yveltal EX and
Mewtwo EX could do it if
they attached a massive amount of Energy (which would
then be lost when they were KO’d by a
Yveltal or a
Mewtwo in return); both of
the Mega Charizards could do
it but . . . wait. I said
playable
Pokémon. Aside from this, even the mighty Black
Kyurem EX falls short, and
the Darkrais and
Genesects of this world
can’t manage it either.
Even the go-to techs for Fighting Weak Pokémon struggle.
A Terrakion NVI/LTR with
Muscle Band can’t get the job done, and
Landorus EX needs
four Energy, and has no
viable acceleration to get it. This, however, is where
the future starts looking bleak for Mega
Kangaskhan: the next set,
Furious Fists, is full of very powerful Fighting
Pokémon, and their own damage-boosting Special Energy.
If the likes of Lucario EX
turn out to be half as good as they appear, then Mega
Kangaskhan’s days are surely
numbered.
Rating
Modified: 3.5 (you can take a point off that when the
next set is released)
Limited: 4.75 (in the unlikely event you pull both this
and the EX, you will probably win)
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