If you can’t tell, I am much busier than I used to
be, or else much worse at planning my time (probably
both), so it should be no surprise that I won’t have
time for a full-fledged review at all this week.
Probably for quite some time, actually, given that
to be as in-depth as I used to, I need to be current
on all cards (so past, present, and whatever we know
is around the bend) as well as have time to test
them out.
Still, I hope I can at least help people explore the
fundamentals of the card and be a decent read, so
let’s take a look at today’s CotD: Mamoswine
Lv.56! I will warn you, I have a soft spot for
pigs and am interested in many prehistoric creatures
(dinosaurs mostly, but also things such as mammoths)
so… I really like this card. I am planning on
trying to build a deck around it. That doesn’t mean
it is good, though, just that I am weird.
Mamoswine
a Stage 2 Pokémon, so it really needs to be the
focus of the deck, since you really should be
running at least a 3-2-2 line (along with Rare
Candy) for the least stable build one can get
away with (or should I say, could have gotten
away with) for a main attacker. Mamoswine
has 140 HP, which is as the best for Stage 2
Pokémon… that came out before this set and are
Modified Legal and of course, aren’t Pokémon Lv.X
(thank you Poképedia). It is a Fighting Type
Pokémon, and this is where my ignorance of the
current metagame hurts the most. I can’t tell you
whether or not this is good, bad, or average. To
figure it out, ask yourself
a)
Is there a lot of Fighting Weakness running around?
Obviously that would be helpful to it.
b)
Is there a lot of Fighting Resistance running
around? Obviously that would hurt it.
c)
Is there a lot of its Weakness running around?
Again, obviously that hurts it.
It is Grass Weak at the +30 Level, which hurts: even
small Grass Pokémon score big hits. Monday’s
Vespiquen, for example, could slap you for 50
with one Grass Energy or 80 with two, and that is
bad before factoring the bonus effects of the
attacks or it’s Poké-Body that boosts its damage.
At least it isn’t any worse. I like -20
Resistance to Electric
Type Pokémon. If that seems like a double standard
compared to some of the last few cards I’ve weighed
in on, it is: at one time the most common Resistance
in the game was Psychic… then they started dropping
that and it became Fighting, which lasted for years
and only recently, with the DP series, has
Resistance slowly started to even out. Electric
Resistance was pretty rare in the game for most of
those years, so while they are probably equally
useful, I found myself having to think it through to
realize it. -20 Resistance isn’t useless, but I
would have preferred -30. Given that all three
Pokémon I’ve reviewed since returning have -20 for
Resistance, I am assuming that is the norm for end
Stage Pokémon. Mamoswine has a massive five
Energy Retreat Cost: pack something to get this big
one out of the Active slot or you’ll regret it:
manually Retreating will be almost impossible and
always too costly.
Mamoswine
Evolves from Piloswine which in turn Evolves
from Swinub, all cute piggy Pokémon. More
importantly, both the new versions have at least as
solid of, if not better, attacks than the other
currently legal versions. Of note, I like how Rouse
lets Piloswine payback an opponent for a
pounding, then remove 4 damage counters from it.
There is also a previous Mamoswine available
from the Legends Awakened set. Although it is a
Water Type Pokémon, both cards use Fighting and
Water Energy in small amounts, so it should easily
fit into a deck with today’s CotD. That could be
helpful, diversifying your strategy and adding more
type-matching opportunities.
Mamoswine
has two attacks itself: Ramming Strike and Parade.
Both attacks use familiar mechanics for the Pokémon
game, but seemingly “Evolved”. Ramming Strike is
perhaps the “flip until you get tails” kind of
attack. You have a pretty hefty Energy investment
for it: (FCC). For that much Energy on a Stage 2
Pokémon, one would expect something like
60 damage, flat or more likely
40 or 50 damage with a pretty solid effect.
Half the time, this attack will do zero damage, and
half the time, at least 30… that doesn’t seem very
good. I mean, sure its “flip until tails”, but
you’re only getting more than 30 points of damage
one in four times. Fortunately, there is a
“restart” option: you can void the previous results
and try again. In fact, you can try again and again
and again… but each time you restart it places 2
damage counters on Piloswine. There is one
restriction to restarting; you can’t use this option
if it would knock Mamoswine out. I like this
change to the “flip until tails” attacks, except
there is a definite problem here: Either the damage
per flip needed to be higher (and another Energy
requirement added to the cost for game balance) and
this functions as the cards “big attack”, or it
needed to be one Energy less, and probably left as
is. Mamoswine really needs an inexpensive
attack to start out with while building for its big
attack, but it has one “medium” attack and a big
attack.
The second and “big” attack, Parade, lets you hit
for 60 damage plus 10 more for each Swinub on
your Bench, 20 more for each Piloswine, and
40 more for each fellow Mamoswine. This
attack is also an update for the classic “swarm =
more damage” formula. With an Energy cost of (WFCC),
a lone Swinub would mean you’re barely
getting your Energy’s worth. A Bench with three
Piloswine would yield a solid 120 damage. If
you have three more Mamoswine on your Bench,
you’re hitting for a fantastic 180 damage. If you
can keep at least one Mamoswine on the Bench
while another is attacking, anything after that is
gravy. This is the attack to build the deck around,
I’d say.
So Mamoswine looks to be a “swarming Fighting
Type” that could work with some Water Pokémon as
well (including a copy or two of the other currently
legal version). If you can keep two or three copies
in play at one time and of course power it up for
the big attack, you’ll be scoring a nice string of
knock outs that will put the hurt on the opponent.
The main concern will be type-matching after that, I
think: if you pair it with other Water or Fighting
Pokémon, try to avoid overlapping the Weakness found
on this and the other Mamoswine (it had an
even more severe +40 Weakness to Metal-Type
Pokémon). I believe the main thing standing in the
way of this card is speed: without some energy
acceleration, it can’t reliably swing for four
turns! It definitely needs something to mess with
the opponent in the meantime.
To close, let me say this thing would probably be a
blast in Modified… if you are lucky. Not only on
the flips, but on your pack pulls: the normal
restriction of “four of a card” don’t apply here, so
if you managed to pull a lot of these, you could do
crazy things like have a Bench full of Swinub,
Piloswine, or even Mamoswine (the
latter of which would make everyone think you
cheated). ;)
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5
Modified:
3/5
Limited:
3.5/5
-Otaku
