Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Honchkrow (Undaunted #16)
For some reason we get two Honchkrow in Unduanted,
and neither of them are even Primes. Usually when this
happens I differentiate between them by calling one of
them ‘the good one’. Sadly, that won’t work with these
Honchkrow, both of which are best described as
‘mediocre’.
Stat-wise, they are identical. Low-ish 90 HP,
dreaded Lightning Weakness, useful Fighting Resistance,
and a totally unnecessary Retreat cost of two (starts
usual rant about how bird Pokémon shouldn’t have a high
Retreat cost).
Attack-wise, there is nothing that makes this card
stand out from the crowd either. For the cost of
[D][C], Shadow Bind does a slightly less than acceptable
30 damage and prevents the Defending Pokémon from
Retreating next turn. The effect is so easily worked
around with Poke Turn, Warp Point, or Evolution, that it
is never going to be anything more than slightly
inconvenient for your opponent. The strategy can be a
somewhat effective stall tactic against Spiritomb AR
(which prevents switching Trainers and can’t evolve),
but even then Chatot MD or Azelf LA will do the
job better as well as being extremely useful in other
ways.
For another Colourless Energy, you get to use
Honchkrow’s second attack offering, Vengeance. This
manages to do 10 damage, plus another 10 for each Dark
Pokémon in your Discard Pile. Obvious ways to use this
attack would be late game when you had plenty of Dark
Pokémon Knocked Out, or with cards like Regice to
discard the Pokémon early to boost the attack. Both of
these are a waste though. Even with six Dark Pokémon in
the Discard, you only have a base damage of 70 for three
Energy which is really not al all special. Any more than
six Pokémon in there and you will either a)
already be losing badly, or b) have spent multiple turns
discarding most of your remaining deck. Your reward for
these efforts? 80-100 damage? It really is not worth it.
On balance, the other Honchkrow from Undaunted
probably is better than this woefully
underpowered card. But I still can’t call either of them
‘good’.
Rating:
Modified: 1.5 (low on attack, Weak to Luxray . . .
what else do you need to know?)
Limited: 2 (Trapping can work better here, but still
not up to much)
|
Otaku |
Our first Pokémon of the week is
Honchkrow (HS
– Undaunted 16/90 Rare).
This is a Stage 1 Darkness-Type Pokémon, allowing
it to utilize the ever useful special Energy version of
Darkness Energy
for some bonus damage.
90 HP is as low as I tend to tolerate in a Stage
1, barring some fantastic abilities on the card.
The Lightning Weakness x2 is a major downer,
turning this into a guaranteed OHKO for any serious
Lightning-Type attacker.
The Fighting -20 Resistance is just enough to
frustrate the fast-but-strong Fighting Types I’ve either
seen or heard of being run, but remember even with it
most main-hitter Fighting-Type Pokémon will still down
you in two hits without the countermeasures they are
likely to run.
Seems almost silly that a Pokémon who is half
Flying-Type in the video games has a Retreat Cost, and
it is a hefty two Energy!
This is kind of a surprise, and while “average”
means you have to run something to change out your
Pokémon due to the normal concerns.
So all in all,
Honchkrow
won’t be played because of its attributes, but they
won’t keep it from being played if the rest of the card
is good.
This card has two attacks, which is a bad sign on a
Stage 1 Pokémon.
Usually they need a Poké-Power or Poké-Body to
stand a chance.
The first attack has some promise, and harkens
back to the first
Murkrow released.
Like Mean Look before it, Shadow Bind will
prevent the Defending Pokémon from retreating during
your opponent’s next turn.
It even does a respectable 30 points of damage,
base.
That’s just about right: with the right support, you
should be able to lock something vulnerable that can’t
really fight back up front.
From there, determine if it is better to just
Shadow Bind it until it is KO’d or to load it with
damage and then force it back, trying to set up for a
string of rapid fire KOs mid-to-late game.
The worst drawback is that it requires (DC), so
without an overly elaborate combo, you aren’t getting it
off on your first turn.
The second drawback is that
Honchkrow is
going to be vulnerable to retaliation and doesn’t have
the HP or other protection to try and tank out.
The third drawback is that unlike Mean Look, you
have to use it each turn (instead of relying on a Bench
sniping move to win the game after an initial Mean
Look). The
least problematic but still worth mentioning is that
unless you lock something that is able to shrug off 30
damage a turn, you have no choice but to break your own
lock.
That’s four serious things to consider, but at the same
time, even with the standard ways of ditching an attack
effect (retreating, assisted switch out, evolving); it
can be a brutally effective strategy.
The final attack is the big one.
Fortunately, it only costs (DCC), so a single
Darkness Energy (either version) and a
Double Colorless
Energy and you’re good to go, by your second turn in
a well made deck.
This attack is called Vengeance and it does… just
10 points of damage.
Well, unless you have some Darkness Pokémon in
your discard pile.
Then you get an extra 10 per.
Still pretty
weak, but with special
Darkness Energy
and the right set-up, you could generate some big hits
fast and cheap, and should have them mid-to-late game.
Again, an alright attack.
There is mild synergy between the two attacks: if your
deck “goes off” well, just jump to Vengeance and start
racking up KOs.
Most of the time, I suspect you’ll want to use
Shadow Bind coupled with strategic support cards to
build your discard pile to the point where
Honchkrow is
scoring OHKOs.
It takes some doing, but is certainly possible.
Pokémon G tend to be Darkness Types, and this
might be an unpleasant surprise for an opponent
expecting the normal Team Galactic deck.
Stormfront
Tyranitar has a Poké-Body that attached Darkness
Energy from your discard pile to itself when your
opponent uses a Poké-Power.
Since you want a deck that can discard a lot of
its own cards, this keeps Energy you are forced to
discard from being wasted, helps cover Weakness, and the
big attack on
Tyranitar does a 30 damage spread to your entire
opponent’s Pokémon (which would help Shadow Bind).
Tyranitar
Prime can also be used, or used in conjunction with its
cousin. It
can spread damage around quickly with its first attack,
and its big attack discards from your deck.
Both allow
Honchkrow to function as a powerful cleaner.
Or you can focus on useful Basic Darkness-Type Pokémon
and use Trainers and Supporters to achieve the discard.
Sage’s
Training can help set big hits up a lot faster.
The downside is you’ll want to use it at least
twice and it only adds two cards to your hand.
With a good build and solid luck, you’ll discard
two or three Pokémon with it at the same time.
Unfortunately, there aren’t that many good
options besides it.
I really like this card, but seems like all the good
discarding cards I can think of have left Modified (to
be fair, some quite a while ago).
I think it is something to keep an eye on,
because it feels like we are missing just one piece of a
nice deck.
At least you can enjoy it in Limited play: Undaunted has
a good amount of Darkness-Type Pokémon, even when
limiting yourself to commons.
If you can get Shadow Bind out at the right time,
it too can be devastating.
Ratings
Modified:
2.5/5
Limited:
3.5/5
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. I usually add new stuff on Wednesdays
and Saturdays. Just a reminder, Pojo is in no way
responsible for any transactions and was merely kind
enough to let me mention the auctions here. ;)
|
