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Ponchi
Punch
Strike
Type:
Guardian
Cost:
2/0/0
Stats:
4/1
Effect:
When you counterattack with Ponchi Punch
your opponent loses a red furyoku.
Flavor:
"... and that Punchi's a nut. Well I hear
you, but..."
I'd like
to start by thanking AndysIslands for
picking this weeks cards, I think he did a
good job of capturing the april fools day
theme. We start the week with a card that
about a week ago I probably would have given
a really bleh review too, I'd never really
run them and didn't think they were all that
great. However recently I've been testing
them out and I must say my view of this card
has completely changed. What changed my
mind, lets take a look.
Pros:
- Cheap
-
intercept isn't horrible
- your
opponent potentially loses a red
Cons:
-
Absurdely weak force just begging to be
punished
-
Intercept won't block much more then opening
attacks and the occasional weird effect/high
intercept
- Effect
is useless if your opponent has no red
- Only
guardians can use it
Overview:
Well this card is ecopower pure and simple.
Any time you can return an attack with only
2 green your helping out your economy, 4
intercept can return some things, and most
importantly your opponent is losing a red.
In many ways you could argue that this card
is better then free. In general 1 red is
worth more then 2 green. So you could argue
that every time you play ponchi punch and
get the effect to go off (meaning you
opponent had a red to lose) your helping win
the economy war. After all if your opponent
pays alot of send that 4 at you, you return
with a cost thats practically free and then
they return with some expensive again you
find yourself with plenty of furyoku while
your opponent is on the verge of collapse.
Of course the card isn't with out its flaws,
aside from the barely usable intercept the
force is completely horrendous. 1 force can
not only be punished by punisher cards like
furious response, rebuking blade, and
oppression, but any of the number of cards
that gain extra effect by lowering intercept
of their strikes (such as most ranged and a
number of x-law teamwork effects) have a
field day with this card. Not everyone uses
said punisher cards or int lowering effects
but most decks have some way of punishing
you for sending something that small at them
so its defiantly a significant draw back.
Deeper
Analysis: For a long time I felt the cons
out weighed the pros, 4 intercept was a
liability, 1 force was punishment waiting to
happen, 2 green wasn't always that cheap,
and if you they didn't have a red the card
was pretty horrible. However I've since had
a change of heart. Why? It has to do
partially with the meta game of my area. I
can't vouch for all areas but I've begun to
notice that many of the top deck types in my
area really need their red to work. With
red heavy costs like viatcum, ultra calvary
charge, eon crush, and even to a lesser
extent Spirit of Fire/Captivate appearing
about destroying my opponents red suddenly
became quite a powerful tool. I think I
really first realize ponchi punch was better
then I gave it credit for when my opponent
cursed me after I played it on him during a
tournament. People really like their red,
people work hard to get their red and keep
their red. When they lose red they see
often see red. And even decks that aren't
red heavy still rely on having that red for
over payments and they are even more likely
to have a few spare red lying around for
ponchi to punch. It should also be
mentioned that whether they are running
punishers or not, its no guarentee they will
actually get to use one during the turn you
play your ponchi punch. I've had a couple
times where its been punished but guardian
in particular are well equipped to stop
punisher effects with their high intercept
strikes and I've also had many times where
my opponent was forced to play something
expensive to block it. Theres also few
things more enjoyable then using ponchi
punch to destroy your opponents last red and
then watching them flip furious response, a
punisher that could crush your punch but
requires a red to cast.
Combos/Uses: Well obviously he works great
for furyoku control decks. He's
significantly cheaper then say Triumph of
Will and has almost an identical effect.
Many of the control decks in my area however
are using ranged not guardian so I can't say
for sure how well guardian could do at a
control deck. However he can be used in
pretty much any type of deck that isn't
already using too many 4 intercepts as a
nice economical annoyance to your opponents.
Constructed: 3.9/5
(I can't
bring myself to give this card a 4 because
of its many downsides but its REALLY close)
Sealed:
3.5/5
(Your
less likely to see the huge red cost strikes
but its still a solid eco strike and that
red destruction could still prove useful,
you never know in sealed)
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