Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Hariyama
(Plasma Freeze)
Hello and welcome to another week of reviews here on
Pojo’s
CotD. There’s still plenty of stuff to cover from
the Plasma Freeze set, so let’s get going.
We kick off with
Hariyama,
a Pokémon that feels like it hasn’t had a card in ages –
certainly not a good one anyway. This one has 120 HP,
which is pretty solid for a Stage 1 Pokémon (though of
course we have non-EX Basics that have more!), Weakness
to Psychic (not a disaster), and a heavy Retreat cost of
three. Nothing there that will
either make or break the card.
Hariyama’s
first attack is Fake Out. For a Fighting and a
Colourless Energy, you get 30 damage and
a coin flip for Paralysis.
Now Paralysis is a very nice Status Condition as it will
lock an opponent who doesn’t have a Switching card or a
Keldeo-EX handy, but
combined with a coin flip and a low damage output, it
isn’t anything more than a means of hopefully buying a
turn when you don’t have anything better to use. Add
another Fighting Energy, and you get to use Pivot Throw.
This is slightly more impressive as it does 90 damage:
enough to OHKO a Darkrai-EX
or a Thundurus-EX due to
Weakness, and two-shot most other EX Pokémon.
Unfortunately, it comes with an unnecessary drawback:
during your opponent’s next turn, damage to
Hariyama is increased by 20.
This card really didn’t need that downside. It’s not as
if it is particularly difficult to KO anyway for most
decks, and that’s really the problem. A three Energy
Stage 1 is a relatively big investment these days, and
if it can’t stay on the Field more than a turn, it is
not really a very efficient use of those resources. It’s
not as if Hariyama is an
especially bad card, both of its attacks can do
something decent . . . it’s just pretty mediocre and a
lot less viable than other Fighting Pokémon such as
Landorus-EX and
Terrakion NVI. When better
Pokémon exist, then there is no reason to be playing a
card like this.
Rating
Modified: 2 (a very ordinary Stage 1)
Limited: 3.25 (solid enough, and Fake Out is worth
taking a chance on)
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