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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Chesnaught 

- XY

Date Reviewed:
March 31, 2014

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Standard: 2.00
Limited: 2.75

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale.
1 being the worst. 
3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating.

Back to the main COTD Page

Baby Mario
2010 UK National
Seniors
Champion

Chesnaught (XY) 

Hello, and welcome to some more XY reviews here on Pojo’s CotD. We kick off the week with a look at Chesnaught, the final form of the Generation VI Grass starter Chespin. I kind of wanted this to be good as Chespin is the most appealing of the three starters (I’m not that keen on frogs and Fennekin is just another one of those obvious Eevee/Vulpix/Zorua things that people seem to love for whatever reason). Unfortunately, it’s little more than a bad gimmick. 

The best thing you can say about Chesnaught is that it has 160 HP, which is big, even for a Stage 2. Probably the worst thing you can say about Chesnaught is that it is a Stage 2. Instead of having the kind of awesome Ability that would make it playable, it has the somewhat ineffective novelty that is Spiky Shield to put three damage counters on any Pokémon that damages it. I guess the idea is to use this in combination with Rocky Helmet or the Rock Guard ACE SPEC to try and punish anything that attacks it, but Tool Scrapper is a thing, and this kind of damage would only be worthwhile if Chesnaught could be a real wall and stay on the Field for long enough for the counters to pile up. 

To be fair, Chesnaught tries to do this with the high HP and an attack which can heal damage from itself, but I’m afraid that even 160 is well within range of most decks nowadays, especially with Muscle Band and Hypnotoxic Laser in the format. It doesn’t help that Touchdown needs four Energy either, making it very difficult to power up. If you want Chesnaught to attack before it gets KO’d  . . . well, good luck with that. 

Slow, clunky, and lacking the big pay-off that would justify investing in it, Chesnaught joins the ever growing list of Stage 2s which just aren’t competitive in our current format. 

Rating 

Modified: 1.5 (you could build a deck around him, but it won’t work)

Limited: 2.75 (slightly better here, due to the bulk and lower damage environment)


HEZ
Intro to
Unlimited 150

Chesnaught.

Unlimited 150.

Chesnaught joins the ranks of other incredibly bulky Grass Pokémon like Torterra and Venusaur this generation, but what makes it stand out from its fellow starter Pokémon though? For a start, it’s the only Stage 2 out of them with 160 HP, Torterra LV.X hits this huge number and Venusaur exceeds it with its Mega Evolution but both of them are essentially Stage 3 Pokémon. Combining nicely with this incredible bulk is Touchdown, a decent 90 damage with some fairly useful healing power, it could easily have been a bit more for 4 Energy though but even the small heal for 20 can turn a 2 hit KO into a 3 hit KO.
Spiky Shield combines quite well with the tanking theme of the card, the best plan will be to force your opponent to hit it several times before they can KO it a thus rank up lots of free residual damage. Rocky Helmet increases the damage they receive or better still, Heavy Charm improves Chesnaught’s longevity. I’d say don’t be tempted to play Rock Guard Ace Spec though, it’s not worth using your Ace Spec slot up on a card that can get Windstormed/Tool Scrapped before it has any use.

It does have downsides of course. The obvious one being it only has one, expensive attack. You could get around this with Celebi EX to access its previous evolution’s cheaper attacks or use it with some acceleration like Sceptile (Great Encounters). It’s currently the only useable Chasnaught available and being such a “build around” card means a 1-1-1 line isn’t really viable. We’ve already seen an alternate Type Greninja promo in Japan so hopefully Chesnaught will get a good Fighting Type version to back it up.

Out of the 3 new starter Pokémon, Chesnaught is the least viable to slip into existing U150 decks as a 1-1-1 line, but as more cards get released for it we’ll have a better understanding of how this new Pokémon can fit into the game.

Rating: 2.5 (Currently lacking support in its Evolution line, respectable 160 HP gives it potential)


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