If you prefer a shorter review, skip straight to the Scores
and Summary.
Name:
Zangoose
Set:
EX Holon Phantoms
Card#:
34/110
Rarity:
Rare
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Basic
HP:
70
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Scratch [10]
Attack#2:
(CC) Fury Cutter [10+]
Flip 2 coins. If 1 of them is heads, this attack does 10
damage plus 10 more damage. If 2 of them are heads, this
attack does 10 damage plus 20 more damage. If all of them
are heads, this attack does 10 damage plus 40 more damage.
Attributes:
Zangoose is an “isolated” Basic Pokémon; that is it has
no “pre-Evolution” (like Pikachu has Pichu) or a
Stage 1 form to Evolve into. This means that Zangoose
has to do whatever it does well as there is Evolution to drop
and make it bigger with better attacks. Still, as a Basic
Pokémon, it is quite easy to search out from your deck with
Pokémon and Trainer effects, and can be dropped into play on a
whim (some effects even automatically Bench the Pokémon for
you).
Zangoose
is a Colorless Pokémon. The upside is Colorless Resistance is
pretty rare while Colorless Weakness is more along the lines of
fairly uncommon, so most of the time using a Colorless Pokémon
feels “old school” (when it mostly existed as a “neutral”
Type). The downside is that anything can fake being a Colorless
Pokémon for a turn with a Crystal Shard, and many decks
use a Pidgeot from EX Fire Red/Leaf Green still (though
I’ve heard some talk that usage is down). Both eat at one of
this card's viable uses (more or less ignoring
Weakness/Resistance).
70 HP
appears to be the bare minimum for a Basic. In Unlimited, this
mainly just means that it takes a good, solid set up to trigger
your Focus Band. ;) In Modified, it means that it will
usually take a fully set up Stage 1 or 2 Pokémon (or mostly set
up Pokémon-ex) to nail you in one hit, while most lower Stages
will take two or three turns. Zangoose Fighting Weakness
isn’t as bad as it could be thanks to the HP: 30 points of
damage from a Fighting Pokémon first turn with a minimal set up
is doable, and almost easy by the players second turn. 40
points of damage (base) is usually going to take a turn longer:
either for a better set up or just accumulated damage. There is
sadly no Resistance, so I’ll move onto the Retreat Cost of one.
Good for Modified, passable for Unlimited (where free retreating
Basic Pokémon are a common sight). Retreating with Zangoose
should almost always be an option.
Abilities:
(C) Scratch is a bit disappointing, almost, doing only 10 points
of damage. It is a “fair” price at a glance, but with no Stage
1 form available, the attack really could be a bit more potent
and still be fair. Fury Cutter is a good example of how an
attack on a card like this should be. Speaking in terms of
possible out comes, one in eight times, it will give a sub-par
10 damage but also hit for 50 points of damage one in eight
times. Three out of eight times, you hit for 20 points of
damage, which is what you have paid for, and the remaining three
out of eight times, you hit for 30 points of damage, a slight
bonus. That means the attack averages (mathematically speaking)
25 points of damage. That’s five points over what was paid;
slight bonus in the long run before you remember that it should
hit for a little more than was paid.
Scratch
has the barest bit of synergy, being able to be used with a
single Energy while you need two for Fury Cutter. It is useless
once Fury Cutter is ready: Fury Cutter at worst hits for the
same amount of damage. Even an obscure added effect would have
been better for the first attack, though a supportive effect
(set up, protection, etc.) as an attack or Poké-Power/Poké-Body
would have been better. Fury Cutter isn’t that great either,
really needing to do base 20 damage since it is this cards only
big attack (and it isn’t that big most of the time).
Uses
and
Combinations:
If you want a decent sized, Basic Colorless Pokémon there are
probably better options. For example, Chansey form EX
Fire Red/Leaf Green has 20 more HP, automatic Sleep for (C) as
its supporting attack, and for (CCC) does 50-50 split: doing 50
damage on heads and removing 5 damage counters from itself (all
if there are less) on tails. It even has an Evolution
available; the only downside is it has two Energy Retreat Cost
(not a huge factor, for Modified).
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5 – I thought about using this as added support for a FTKO
style deck, but even then there are better choices. At least
Neo Discovery Tyrogue doesn’t OHKO it.
Modified:
2/5 – As a Basic beatstick, it isn’t that bad, it just isn’t
very good either. If you absolutely had to use it as an opener
or cleaner in a deck, it would do an okay job. It’s just so
many other cards can do it better (assuming it needs done at
all).
Limited:
3.65/5 – Here it can be a real terror. Unfortunately, it came
in a set with many Pokémon δ, and more importantly many support
cards for them. As such, this card is at something of a
disadvantage: most Trainers will favor Pokémon δ while only one
card in the set (a Holographic-Rare Stage 2) punishes their
use. Additionally, it is very flippy, so it averages out only
as a “decent” beatstick, occasionally being pathetic,
occasionally being quite good.
Summary
Zangoose
just doesn’t hit hard enough, at least reliably enough, for
serious use. I can’t say it’s even worth playing around with
that much. It needed a better first turn attack, or a Poké-Body/Poké-Power,
or just a little more damage on its second attack to be
worthwhile.
-Otaku
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