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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Hitmonchan (Undaunted)  Our last card this week is another of the ‘Hitmons’. Apparently they are called after martial arts legends Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Not sure what was going on when they named Hitmontop . . . I suppose the fact that it spins round was seen as more important . . .  Hitmonchan is an unevolving Basic with only 70  HP, Psychic Weakness and a Retreat cost of one. Certainly nothing to get excited about there.   The first attack, Detect, is a coin flip for protection from all damage and effects and costs a reasonable one energy of any Colour. In the video games hax moves like Detect and Protect can be incredibly annoying (or useful, depending on which side of things you are on). In the TCG they are really only a minor inconvenience, thanks to the many ways of simply sniping the Bench, or switching out the Defending Pokémon, that a lot of the top decks have. Presumably, the intention is to protect Hitmonchan long enough to use its second attack . . . except that doesn’t make sense as Sky Uppercut doesn’t take much Energy to use – just [F][C] – and is pretty ineffectual anyway. It may be able to ignore Resistance, but when it can only do 30 damage, it’s not exactly causing a lot of pain anyway.  Like its cousin, Hitmonchan doesn’t seem designed for competitive play. The low damage output and the poor synergy between attacks (why put a purely Defensive move on a reasonably fast unevolving Basic?) make it a bad choice for a tournament deck. In Limited play, it’s not too bad due to its ability to wall somewhat, but still . . . that attack is close to pointless.  Rating  Modified: 1.25 (useless) Limited: 1.75 (could be annoying, but underpowered even here)
virusyosh	Happy Friday, Pojo viewers! Today we are ending our COTD week by reviewing Hitmonchan from the Undaunted expansion. Hitmonchan is a Basic Fighting Pokemon that doesn't evolve. In order to be used in today's metagame, most things either need a very good evolution or amazing abilities. Does Hitmonchan stack up? 70 HP is rather so-so for a non-evolving Basic, maybe even a bit on the low side. Psychic Weakness isn't very good, given the amount of Psychic support and a few random decks that can be seen. No Resistance is unfortunate. Finally, a Retreat Cost of 1 is totally payable if necessary. Hitmonchan has two attacks. The first, Detect, costs [C] prevents all effects of attacks including damage done to Hitmonchan during your opponent's next turn if you flip heads. This attack is really just a stall tactic, and not a very good one at that, considering that it doesn't do any damage and only has a 50% chance of working. The second attack, Sky Uppercut, deals 30 damage that isn't affected by Resistance for [FC]. This is a fairly average attack, and is definitely a bit disappointing for the strongest attack of a non-evolving Pokemon. Modified: 1/5 Low HP and bad attacks mean that Hitmonchan won't see play here. This is a perfect example of a filler card in a set. Limited: 2/5 Detect can actually work for a bit here if you're feeling lucky, and Sky Uppercut's bypassing can be helpful at times. Still nothing spectacular, however if you are running Fighting anyway, you might as well use it.
Mad Mattezhion  Professor Bathurst League Australia	Hitmonchan (HS Undaunted)   Here is the brother to Hitmonlee, with about the same level of playability.   Hitmonchan gets 70 HP, Psychic weakness (not as bad as it once was, but the low HP might let a Psychic tech take a KO if you aren’t careful) and a retreat cost of 1. The stats say Hitmonchan must be a quick cheap attacker or tech to stand any chance of making it since survivability is not his strong point.   Sadly, the attacks don’t fit that bill. Detect is the first attack and cost C for a coin flip. On Heads, you are completely immune to all effects of attacks (Tails means the attack does nothing) which is nice, but too easy to play around. Stalling is rarely a viable strategy in Pokemon, and the ability to stall is a minor plus rather than a deal maker.   Sky Uppercut is the second attack, and at 30 damage for FC you just know it is a bad idea. Even the fact that the attack ignores resistance is a useless gimmick, the damage is just too low.   Modified: 1.5 (nowhere near as good as the reprint from Platinum) Limited: 2 (stalling is good here, and it will take out Dark Pokemon nicely) Combos with: The binder
RocketProf	10/8 Happy Friday all!! We'll be closing out the COTDs this week with Hitmonchan, a Fighting Basic from Undaunted with 70HP (eh), a 2X Psychic Weakness (ouch) and a Retreat Cost of one (eh).  The top and bottom stats are all ok for a non-evolving Basic, but just ok.  For C you can attack with Detect which offers a 50/50 chance to be immune to attacks the next turn and for FC you can use Sky Uppercut, which hits for 30 and ignores Resistance.  Both attacks are meh at best and I'm sorry to say it but this card just doesn't carry its weight. I'm not going to pull any punches (HaHa!! Get it?? Hitmonchan... Punches!! Lol!), so much is left to be desired from this card... Sorry Hitmonchan... Modified-1/5 Limited-1.5/5 It could be a decent wall if you're lucky with your coin flips.
Conical	10/8/10: Hitmonchan(Undaunted)  Well, it's Friday. Cool.  To be honest, I like Hitmonchan the best of the 3 Hitmon-s. Possibly because it's the most straightforward; Hitmonlee has stretchy limbs, and Hitmontop spins on its head, but Hitmonchan's like, forget that, punch that fool!*Mr. T impression* This Hitmonchan, though, is pretty weak, as they have been since its Base Set glory days. Detect does 1 for attack prevention on a coin flip, which is...decent, I guess. It's not going to hold back anything terribly significant, though. The other attack is Sky Uppercut, which is 1F for 30, and no resistance. All in all, it's pretty weak, and was clearly not intended for Modified play.  In contrast, this card might as well scream that it was created purely for Limited play. In that format, it's a solid choice; Detect is a good defensive option, and Sky Uppercut is cheap damage. Plus, it's a common, has above-average HP for the set, and it doesn't need an evolution to be effective. In that sense, it resembles Hitmonlee UD, reviewed earlier this week. In fact, I'd say it's fair to give them the same grade.  Modified:1.2/5 Limited:2.5/5 Combos With: Hitmonlee UD, because why not.
Otaku	Friday’s CotD will be short but not sweet, sadly.  This version of Hitmonchan has a passable 70 HP, painful but expected Psychic Weakness, and good Retreat Cost of just one Energy.  It also has the potential to stall via Detect, but that’s only if you get “heads” on a coin toss.  Sky Uppercut is just a sad version of a decent attack: this time around it only does 30 points of damage while still bypassing Resistance.  Even requiring just (FC) to use, that’s not enough: this is the only big attack on the card and since it doesn’t evolve it should see a much better return on Energy investment.  Due to being a big Basic and easy on Energy, you should still run it in Limited events to exploit Fighting Weakness unless you have something better or simply no room for it.  I guess this time around Hitmonlee was the lucky one this time around.  Ratings  Modified: 1.5/5  Limited: 3.75/5  I am still selling my former collectables on eBay.  I’ve had a lot of hobbies over the years, so at various times I’ll have comic books, manga, action figures, and video games on the auction block.  You can take a look at what’s up for bids here.  Just a reminder, Pojo is in no way responsible for any transactions and was merely kind enough to let me mention the auctions here. ;)