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Klinklang
76/98 (Emerging Powers)
One of the weirder designs from Generation V, it’s
probably best not to even think about how
Klinklang can function as an
actual living thing. In the video game,
Klinklang is let down by a
pretty sad movepool with
very few, if any, competitive standard attacks. Let’s
hope they can think of some to put on the TCG card, eh?
The first thing you notice about
Klinklang is its excellent 150 HP. That puts it
right at the high end for Stage 2 Pokémon and together
with its ability to abuse the defensive qualities of
Special Metal Energy, it
should make
it something of a tank . . . if it wasn’t for the Fire
Weakness of course. Reshiram
really is doing a top job of keeping Metal out of the
format: even fully loaded with Special Energy, this
thing dies to a single Blue Flare. The Psychic
Resistance is only semi useful right now: this Pokémon
doesn’t really pose much of a threat to
Gothitelle, and Mew Prime
decks will have plenty of answers to it: copying
Muk’s Sludge Drag to bring
this thing active with Confusion and Poison will be
crippling – especially with that dreadful Retreat cost.
Klinklang’s
first attack, Charge Beam, is actually pretty decent.
For a single Metal Energy you do 30 damage (good value
in itself) and
you get to attach an Energy
from the discard pile to Klinklang.
Not the lack of restriction on the type of Energy: you
could use this to grab a Special Metal or (most likely)
a Double Colourless to power up
Klinklang’s second attack. For [M][C][C]
Zap Cannon does 80 damage (which is kind of
meh) and has a downside: if
you flip tails, Klinklang
can’t use Zap Cannon on your next turn. It’s not the
worst drawback in the game by any means (and you could
always run the forthcoming Victory Star
Victini I guess), but it
seems kind of unnecessary on what is a fairly mediocre
attack.
By now, Klinklang should be
reminding you strongly of another big,
tanky Metal Pokémon:
Steelix Prime. Like
Klinklang,
Steelix has an attack which
does 30 damage and charges it
up. It also has a more expensive (but harder hitting)
second attack which benefits from the Energy
acceleration. All things considered, the fact that
Steelix is a Stage 1 with a
very useful PokéBody (it
cannot be affected by Special Conditions), gives it a
bit of an edge on Klinklang.
Sadly, it’s a moot point right now as neither will be
competitively viable until Reshiram
decks lose their popularity.
Klinklang
isn’t the worst Stage 2 ever released, but it is
somewhat underpowered and unfortunately finds itself in
just about the worst possible
metagame. Even in a more favourable environment,
Metal has better Pokémon to offer, not least the
forthcoming Cobalion from
Noble Victories.
Rating
Modified: 2.25 (Not bad, but won’t ever be good enough)
Limited: 3 (Stage 2s aren’t the easiest things to pull
or get in play, but once out it will be very tough to
KO)
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