Otaku |
Our 14th place
finisher is Bronzong (XY: Phantom Forces
61/119; XY: Black Star Promos XY21). This
is a Stage 1 Metal Type Pokémon with 90 HP, Fire
Weakness, Metal Resistance, Retreat Cost [CCC], the
Ability “Metal Links”, and the attack “Hammer In”.
Changing up my usual review order because this
Bronzong was our
second place pick from XY: Phantom Forces and our
9th best card
of 2014. Still if you somehow missed it, this card
is used because Metal Links allows you to attach an [M]
Energy from your discard pile to one of your Benched
Pokémon. On its own this is a very good effect,
and multiple copies stack which is usually where it
becomes a great effect. Still the rest of
the card really needs to be viewed in relation to this.
Being a Metal Type matters most in how Metal Link
naturally works better with Metal Type attackers than
other Types… except Bronzong was often
used to fuel non-Metal Types. That doesn’t mean
there was no natural synergy, just that you had some
Dragon Types with [M] Energy requirements and plenty of
attackers with sufficient [C] Energy costs that
Bronzong was able to diversify. The multiple
solid Metal Type attackers still were useful to
Bronzong, even if as a secondary attacker.
Metal Type support was sometimes a bonus for Bronzong,
but as it hiding on the Bench ideally most of it
wouldn’t matter. It shouldn’t be attacking, so
Metal Weakness and Resistance weren’t directly relevant
(sometimes it mattered to the attackers being fueled).
Being a Stage 1
kept the card from being too good, and any Stage
other than Basic probably would have left the card too
weak; two cards per copy, just one turn of waiting to
Evolve meant it wasn’t too hard to get multiples into
play. 90 HP kept it Level Ball legal but
otherwise meant a Lysandre would often yield a
quick OHKO. It also meant the Fire Weakness was
often unimportant simply because with 90 HP, Fire Types
were already scoring a OHKO. It also meant that
Psychic Resistance was only useful on occasion, but
better to have some Resistance than none at all.
That Retreat Cost of [CCC] is both better and worse than
it looks thanks to the Ability; it meant you often had
multiple targets (because you would Bench multiple
Bronzong) your opponent could try to strand up
front, but Metal Links also meant you could get some of
the spent Energy back. Most of the time, you would
include multiple alternatives like Switch or
Float Stone to deal with it. As stated you
weren’t likely to attack with this card; Hammer In costs
[MMC] just to do 60 damage which is definitely
underpowered. Still for a vanilla filler attack it
isn’t the worst we’ve seen. Bad, but not the
worse.
Bronzong
Evolves from Bronzor, of which there are four to
consider: BW: Next Destinies 75/99, XY:
Phantom Forces 60/119, XY: BREAKthrough
95/162, and XY: Fates Collide 60/124. All
are Basic Metal Types with Fire Weakness, Psychic
Weakness, no Ancient Traits and no Abilities. BW:
Next Destinies 75/99 is Expanded legal, has 70 HP,
Retreat Cost [CCC], the attack “Knock Away” for [MC]
(does 10 damage and has you flip a coin; “heads” does 10
more damage), and the attack “Spinning Attack” for [MCC]
(does 40 damage). XY: Phantom Forces 60/119 is
also Expanded only but has just 50 HP, a Retreat Cost of
[C], and the lone attack “Tackle” for [M] to do 10
damage. XY: BREAKthrough 95/162 is Standard or
Expanded legal, has 60 HP, Retreat Cost [CC], and the
lone attack “Payback” which does 10 damage, or 10+60 if
your opponent is down to one Prize. XY: Fates
Collide 60/124 is both Standard and Expanded legal,
has 60 HP, Retreat Cost [CC], the attacks “Iron Defense”
for [M] (flip a coin and if “heads”, prevent all effects
of damage done to Bronzor during your opponent’s
next turn) and Hammer In (again), this time for [MC] and
doing 20 damage. BW: Next Destinies 75/99 has
the best HP, XY: Phantom Forces 60/119 has the
best Retreat Cost, and XY: Fates Collide 60/124
has the best attack because Iron Defense improves your
odds of surviving to Evolve. I’ve seen competitive
lists using XY: BREAKthrough 95/162, but Payback
has a very precise time when it can deliver a good hit,
and that time is when you either take your final KO or
your opponent KOs Bronzor next turn for a win.
There are three
other Bronzong from which to pick: BW: Next
Destinies 76/99, XY: BREAKthrough 96/162, and
XY: Fates Collide 61/124. All three are
Stage 1 Metal Type Pokémon with Fire Weakness, Psychic
Resistance and no Ancient Traits. BW: Next Destinies
76/99 is Expanded only, has 110 HP, Retreat Cost [CCCC],
the Ability “Heal Block” (which blocks healing damage
off of both players’ Pokémon), and the attack “Oracle
Inflict” for [MCC] (does 30 damage plus 10 more for each
card in your opponent’s hand). XY: BREAKthrough
96/162 is legal for Standard or Expanded play, has 110
HP, Retreat Cost [CCC], and two attacks: for [CC] it
places three damage counters on each of your opponent’s
Pokémon with any damage counters already present, while
for [MCC] its version of Knock Away does 70 damage, plus
another 20 on a successful coin flip. XY: Fates
Collide 61/124 has is both Standard and Expanded
legal, 100 HP, Retreat Cost [CCC], the Ability “Metal
Fortress” (prevents damage and all effects done to your
Benched Pokémon), and the attack “Guard Press” for [MCC]
(does 60 damage, and damage done to Bronzong is
reduced by 20 the next turn). All of these cards
have nice tricks, but only one might be worth playing,
and that is alongside today’s Bronzong, and that
is XY: Fates Collide 61/124: while the other
three Bronzong accelera Energy from the discard,
this one keeps them all safe (ideally). Some might
just prefer a fourth copy of the Metal Links version.
There is also
Bronzong BREAK to consider; the BREAK Evolution of a
Stage 1, it is a Metal Type with 130 HP and grants the
attack “Metal Rain” for [MC]. Metal Rain has you
discard as much [M] Energy from Bronzong BREAK
and you may place 30 damage on the Pokémon of one of
your opponent’s Pokémon; it’s your choice how much
Energy and which Pokémon, and you may select the same
Pokémon more than once. This has proven a handy
little finisher when paired with today’s Bronzong,
but I don’t think the others can really carry it. Bronzong
(XY: Fates Collide 61/124) was reviewed
here
while Bronzong BREAK was reviewed
the day after.
Bronzong (XY: Phantom Forces 61/119;
XY: Black Star Promos XY21) and the Energy
acceleration it provides are so valuable that it should
continue to back a variety of decks in Expanded.
So why will it be missed in Standard? Although
Garbodor (XY: BREAKpoint 57/122) and its “Garbotoxin”
and a few others can leave a Bronzong deck in a
lurch without Abilities, I still believe Bronzong
could support multiple, competitive decks. Indeed
in a deck that already relies on basic Metal Energy
or could work a few in, even as little as a 1-1 line of
Bronzong might slip into some decks for just a
little better Energy flow. Oh and for Limited
play? Yeah you’re only skipping this if you pull a
Basic Pokémon-EX worth running entirely solo.
Ratings
Standard:
N/A
Expanded:
4/5
Limited:
4.75/5
Summary:
The power source for various decks, losing Bronzong
means chunkier [M] and even [C] costs aren’t as easy to
meet. Bronzong will be missed, even if Abilities
might be threatened in the current format. It does
help that it was already being combined with Max
Elixir prior to rotation, which can help get an
attacker up and running and possibly take out whatever
is shutting down said Abilities.
Bronzong
earned 23 voting points, which means it tied with
yesterday’s
Head Ringer (and Jamming Net). On my
own list, Bronzong clocked in as the 8th place
pick. As such 14th place seems a bit low, but most
of what ranked higher on our list clearly deserves it,
so I won’t complain too much.
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