aroramage |
...wait...we're...we're actually
looking at this?
...what deck is using this right
now? Did I miss something?
...I smell something fishy here...
Kangaskhan is a 120 HP Basic
non-evolving non-EX Pokemon with a 2-for-40 vanilla Tiny
Punch and a 4-for-100 vanilla Mega Punch.
...I mean...it's got...good
colorless costs? Its Retreat Cost is...heavy? It's weak
to Fighting...why are we reviewing this again?
Rating
Standard: 1/5 (...no)
Expanded: 1/5 (I don't care that
you can instantly "Tiny Punch" with 1 DCE)
Limited: 3/5 (or that you can Mega
Punch with 2!! There's no use running this in anything
outside Limited!)
Arora Notealus:...did you at least
get my mother pun? Cause Kangaskhan is-yeah okay.
Next Time: A steely bug!
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Otaku |
Kangaskhan
(XY: Fates Collide 75/124) is a Colorless
Pokémon; no Weakness or Resistance to deal with, only
two obscure counters, and a few pieces of Type specific
support. Colorless Types are generally good for
splashing into other decks as most (but not all) will
have Colorless Energy costs for attacks. It is a
Basic Pokémon which is the best. One copy in your
deck is one copy to play and there is no time waiting to
Evolve. More Basics in your deck also reduce your
chance of mulligans and several mechanics actually favor
them because again, one copy is one card. There
are anti-Basic effects but also Basic support and in the
end it all ends up heavily in the favor of Basic
Pokémon. Kangaskhan has 120 HP which is 20 less
than the max printed on a Basic Pokémon that lacks a
gimmick such a being a Pokémon-EX; this is pretty good
though it isn’t quite to the point where it is more
likely than not to survive a hit. Fighting
Weakness means that Type can still wreck things in one
shot, though at least it will require the typical
Fighting Type have two damage buffs instead of just one.
No Resistance is typical though a bit unfortunate as it
would have given one matchup where Kangaskhan was
just barely more likely to survive an attack than be
OHKO’d. The Retreat Cost of [CCC] is chunky and
you’ll need to include cards to either lower it, bypass
it entirely, tank while active, or some combination of
the three.
Kangaskhan
keeps it simple as it just has two vanilla attacks; no
effects, just damage. The first is “Tiny Punch”
which does 40 for [CC]. This isn’t brilliant but
it is a decent return for the Energy. For [CCCC]
you can use “Mega Punch” to do 100 damage; that is the
minimum I want to see for four Energy (for better or
worse). The attacks are priced so that any Energy
acceleration that isn’t Type restricted can benefit
them, which is good because you’ll need it to avoid a
dead turn. It is staggered appropriately so that
something as simple as a Double Colorless Energy
can get you ready to Tiny Punch on the first turn you
can attack while a second allows you to Mega Punch.
If you can work a little additional acceleration you
even have a chance of opening with Mega Punch.
Probably not as it would require something like two
(successful) Max Elixir, a Double Colorless
Energy, and a way to promote Kangaskhan.
Still in decks that have easier Energy acceleration
(even if it takes setting up a Stage 2 or the like),
Kangaskhan can go from zero to 100 in one turn.
Add in something like a Muscle Band or Silver
Bangle to threaten almost everything in the game
with either a OHKO or 2HKO, or Fighting Fury Belt
to still threaten most things with OHKOs or 2HKOs but
push Kangaskhan into an HP range that should
survive a hit.
The other
Kangaskhan to consider the Expanded Only option
BW: Plasma Blast 71/101. Still a Colorless
Type Basic Pokémon with Fighting Weakness, no Resistance
and two attacks, but this version has a 100 HP and
Retreat Cost of [CC]; less durable and just a little
easier to get out of the Active slot, but not by much.
Its first attack is “Call for Family” which requires [C]
to use and allows you to search your deck for up to two
Basic Pokémon and then Bench them. The second
attack is “Comet Punch” which requires [CC] to use.
It has you flip four coins and does 20 damage per
“heads”. Both attacks are easy to afford and any
Energy acceleration that works with this Kangaskhan
gets Comet Punch ready in one turn. Baby Mario
took a look at it with a CotD
here
and nailed it, though the shifting metagame and a few
rules revisions/errata mean this Kangaskhan is
just a bit better today. It favors a deck with a
slower setup while today’s is there to be an early
attacker. Neither do the job especially well, but
they do do the job.
Today’s
Kangaskhan looks like a good teaching card; it
avoids the pitfall of many of them by not being nerfed
to the point the damage is blatantly substandard or
containing coin flips (they may be fun but they
undermine lessons on reliability). I don’t think
it will likely ever be needed by a deck in Standard or
Expanded, but at least it isn’t laughably far from
qualifying. It is a great pull for Limited where
its size and relative speed and if you’re using Theme
Decks then the Sky Guardian Theme Deck contains two!
Its HP and damage output go from “maybe adequate” to
“great” here. In Limited (but not in the Theme
Deck) you have a chance of getting Double Colorless
Energy as it was reprinted in XY: Fates Collide.
The big concern here is that this set has a lot of good
Fighting Types (even more in Limited play) and also
Strong Energy. If the contents for the
Evolution Packs I saw are correct, it looks like two out
of three contain Fighting Types while the other Theme
Deck for this set (Battle Ruler) has a Fighting focus.
Ratings
Standard:
2.25/5
Expanded:
2/5
Limited:
4/5
Theme:
4/5
Summary:
Kangaskhan comes close to being what I have
wanted to see in more theme decks and the like; a
vanilla beatstick that is almost competitive. The
difference is I want it to actually be competitive.
That being said I am not sure if it can get better
without a risk of being too strong in Limited or Theme
Deck play. So it probably is what I have been
wanting, it is just that the game needs to dial things
back; all the places where you might want to use it,
there are already more specialized cards that have
secured the niche.
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