New Feature: If you think this review is too long to read, just skip straight to the scores and then read the summary for a concise overview!  Yes, the summary now lives up to its name.

 

MegaMan is still a relatively new game.  As such, some of my terminology may be confusing, as I plan on using the game specific terms to refer to cards.  For example, Energy refers to cards in your deck, but Power refers to cards in your Power Gauge.  Confused?  You can download the current rule book here, from Decipher’s MegaMan TCG site.  If something doesn’t make sense, make sure the game meaning is being applied to the word.

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Name   : PharaohMan

Title     : Ultimate NetNavi

Set       : Grand-Prix (as part of the PharaohMan Starter Deck)

ID         : 2 St 78

Type    : NetNavi

Emblem: PharaohMan

Strength: 3

Defense: 2

Blast    : 4

Effect   : None

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Please note that I have neither played nor faced PharaohMan – there is a lot of guesswork here.

 

Stats: Ultimate NetNavi?  Well, according to the cartoon he is.  Does this PharaohMan live up to his title?  He is part of the “S3 Club”, meaning he has the top unaided Strength score in the game right now.  Five other NetNavis have a Strength score this high: GutsMan, Body Strength; MegaMan X, Invincible; ProtoMan, Grand Prix Champ; ProtoMan, Unbeatable; and Zero, Maverick Hunter.  For those wondering what I am smoking, the MegaMan X promo is already out and Decipher themselves put Zero in an official spoiler.  Eventually, they should have their own set-it was going to be the next set, but there were some production issues.  As for the stat comparison, only two of the Navis I listed have a Defense 2-the others have D1 to offset their high Strength.  Needless to say, a Defense of 1 is a disadvantage, but two is the norm.  Almost one third of available NetNavis have S2.  Seven have just S1!  So a D2 is solid.  How did they balance out the high Strength score then?  Blast.  PharaohMan has the second highest Blast score in the game: B4.  All though not official, one suggested “pricing” system for NetNavi stats indicates that a point of Strength is equal to a point of Defense.  If one goes up, the other can be brought down by the same amount to balance out a Navi.  The Blast score, on the other hand, works a bit differently.  The simple method I favor, and that does end up working with all the NetNavis released so far, is that each “point” of Blast is worth “half” a point of Strength or Defense.  So, in order for PharaohMan to be balanced, he either needed a negative effect (as of yet unseen in this game) or a Blast score two points higher than the “base” score of two.  Two points extra of Blast would offset one extra point of Strength.  B4 is definitely a draw back-without outside aide, the most you could blast would be once every 4 turns.  Of course, most decks don’t Blast all too often anyway, as one has to allow time for their Power to build up to play some of the more potent cards.  PharaohMan’s Navi-specific cards often burn his Power, so it’s safe to say you have to go out of your way to make him a Blast Happy Navi.  On the bright side, this makes lower Destiny Number cards less of a risk, since he flips four Power at once.  Interestingly, aside from which emblem is provided, Zero, Maverick Hunter has the same stats as PharaohMan, Ultimate NetNavi.

 

Card Effect: This card has no inherent effects.  This is only here to maintain form and to re-assure people reading this I did not forget an effect. ;)

 

Uses/Combos: PharaohMan has six Navi-specific cards: Anubis, Falling Object, Liberation, Permanent Results, Petrify, and Sacred Kingdom.  Now, you can ignore these when you build your PharaohMan deck, but most combos for him naturally involve his cards.  Let’s look at them quickly:

 

Anubis, PharaohMan’s custom BattleChip, is pretty requirement heavy. The two Yellow Resources, and three Power in your gauge (at least one PharaohMan Emblem should be a given since we are talking his cards) in play aren’t that bad, but tack on discarding a PharaohMan card from hand makes it pricey.  However, it gives PharaohMan S+2 for each Resource in play.  That means both players.  So you are looking at roughly an average bonus of eight to your strength.  The minimum it can give is plus four, due to its requirements.  It can max out at a beefy +16 to your Strength.  It has a solid Destiny Number of three.  I would advise running two or three; more if you find yourself consistently filling your resource slots fast.  Its discard requirement also means you may have to max out on even the less desirable PharaohMan cards, which is a mixed blessing in and of itself.

 

Falling Object is a Red Resource with a low Destiny of two, but with your big Blast, it’s not going to hurt you as bad.  Unlike our last card, this requires only a single PharaohMan emblem in play to put into play.  To spend it for its effect will also require your Burn a Power though.  Since this lets you place two cards from your discard pile on top of your deck, I think it’s worth it.  At the very least, you traded two cards (Resource and Power) to make your opponent work a little harder to deck you out.  If they don’t do any damage after you activate this, then on your next turn you’ll know the last card in your Power Gauge (useful for those instances when you do Blast) and know exactly what your are going to draw.  Very nice for setting up combos.  I am trying to figure out how hard it would be to create a loop with these: Spend Falling Object and top deck two copies of it.  If you take no damage, on your next turn you draw it again, and the Power you burn for it (which hit’s the discard in time to be a legal target) plus the one you used the previous turn can be top decked again.  See what this would do?  The bad news is you would not be making any progress with your deck or Power Gauge.  Not making progress with your deck is also the good news.  At the beginning of your turn, you’d have X cards in deck, and that’s how many there are at the beginning of the next turn, and the next turn.  I’d at least run two copies, and if said combo proves workable, four would be an excellent idea.

 

Liberation is an Event with a solid Destiny Number of three, but a tad pricey requirement of three PharaohMan Emblems.  Not impossible, but that means having two PharaohMan resources in play.  Since its effect adds to your Blast Destiny, you also have to Blast before playing it: that’s a minimum of four Power in your gauge to be able to use it!  Finally, since its effect gives you a bonus of three to your Blast Destiny for each Power you burn, you have to combo this card pretty heavily for it to be much good.  Fortunately, PharaohMan is a Red/Yellow Navi, and one of Yellow’s specialties is just that: filling your Power Gauge.  I’d only run two copies, unless you prove quite adapt at “getting them off”.

 

Permanent Results is PharaohMan’s other Red Resource.  This gives PharaohMan some personal Burn qualities.  Again, given his Red/Yellow color combination, this is a very valid tactic for him and a useful bonus even if it is the only Burn card you run.  Its requirements aren’t too high-again a lone PharaohMan Emblem is a requirement to be a PharaohMan resource.  The two Power is pretty basic.  Having to Burn one of your own Power to spend it matters, but as stated, PharaohMan doesn’t Blast a lot.  I’d run three copies, maybe four.

 

Petrify is one of PharaohMan’s Yellow Resources.  Another low Destiny of two, but at least it has the same reasonable requirement as Permanent Results to get it into play.  This one requires a big Power spending on your part: three!  On the bright side, it nails all of your opponent’s Power.  Not a huge advantage, but you still come out a little ahead.  Like most resources in general, I’d say run two to three copies.  Remember you superior Strength-against many Navis, doing nothing still gives you the lead.

 

Finally, we come to something a bit special: Sacred Kingdom.  This Yellow Resource is very expensive to get into play.  It requires five Power!  Again, good thing it’s Yellow.   It also requires PharaohMan be in play, due to its single Emblem requirement.  Again, this is pretty obvious, but if I leave it out it looks like I don’t know.  Its effect works in a way such that when you are bout to lose Energy during battle, you get to Power-Up instead!  That helps with a lot of the earlier cards’ costs.  Now, there is a provision-it is one energy per PharaohMan card in you have in play, other than this one.  So on it’s own, it is still good for changing one card of pure damage into an extra time Powering-Up.  If all your resources are PharaohMan cards, then you could be getting as much as four extra Power for your turn.  Note that since this takes place only during battle, it will only work against damage done by your opponent’s Navi’s Strength (since Blasting and BattleChips add to Strength).  You are also still losing cards, and if you take more damage (initially) than you have slots in your Power Gauge, you only come out ahead if the new cards have higher Destiny Numbers.  Now, I said this card was special.  Why?  PharaohMan is a solo NetNavi in both the first video game (MegaMan: Battle Network) and the cartoon.  So he has no NetOp to aid him.  Sacred Kingdom is essentially filling in for a NetOp.  Whether this is better or worse than a “real” NetOp will depend upon future releases.  Since it acts like a NetOp (and has a very nice Destiny of five), I recommend maxing out on it, or at least running three copies.

 

Ratings

 

Casual             : 4/5-First, this Navi has his own Starter Deck, which contains three of his Navi-specific cards.  This makes it a lot easier to assemble a “basic” PharaohMan deck.  Also benefiting him is his “weak” stat is Blasting, something that can be compensated for in Red/Yellow decks.  A high Strength and solid Defense can take him far.

 

Tournament     : 3.75/5-Now, any NetNavi can be good with a proper deck build and competent player.  The big difference is you must “work” at being good with PharaohMan more than you would with someone else.  Simply put, he’s not the hardest to build an advanced deck with, but he is not the easiest either.

 

Limited                        : 3.5/5 in general, but if you get his Starter deck, don’t fret, he looks at least as solid as the other Starters.  Still, even in a normal Limited event, on his own, an “average” Defense and good Strength means most other Navis face an uphill battle.

 

Summary

Is PharaohMan the Ultimate NetNavi?  His superior Strength is backed by a reliable Defense.  His high Blast just means you’ll focus on using your Power Gauge to fuel devastating BattleChips, Events, and Resources.  His own Navi-specific cards follow this strategy, and give him appropriately authoritative abilities: drawing strength from his surroundings, moving cards from his Discard to the top of his deck, directly lashing out at the opposing deck, using your excess Power to obliterate all of the opponent’s, and converting the damage he takes into Power for his use.  Should you wish to Blast with him, his weak point, one of his cards lets you use copious amounts of Power to make ElecMan look like a little static shock.  PharaohMan is not the Ultimate Navi, but if you want to win with him, that’s how you have to play.