Sudowoodo – Triumphant Light
Date Reviewed: March 3, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
The fifth best card of is Sudowoodo (A2a 036, 079)! It’s a Basic, Fighting Type Pokémon with 80 HP, (G) Weakness, (C)(C) Retreat Cost, and one attack. “Fighting Headbutt” costs (F) to use, and normally does 20 damage. If you use Fighting Headbutt against a Pokémon ex, it does 50 damage. Sudowoodo is available at the ♦♦ and ★ rarities.
There’s no new (F) support in Triumphant Light, but we still have Lucario (A2 092, 170). Staraptor (P-A 047) and Abomasnow (A2a 021) join the anti-(F) cardpool; the former for its Ability, the latter because it might give Snover (A2 044)1 another shot at success. (F) Weakness is still a useful one to exploit; for Sudowoodo, it’s about improving 2HKOs, though small targets can be OHKO’d.
Basic Pokémon are still the best; nothing among the new releases changed that. Basics are still the fastest and most resource efficient Pokémon. No new anti-Basic cards were added, nor do I expect any of the existing ones to see more play. We actually received some new pieces of Basic support. The current anti-Basic effects don’t see much play, while at least one piece of the new support should see at least some success.
For a Basic, Sudowoodo 80 HP is decent, if not at least somewhat good. Just enough to survive a turn or two early game, but most main attackers score a OHKO. Which is why (G) Weakness isn’t too big of a threat; it makes Sudowoodo a more reliable OHKO, but it was already a OHKO most of the time. Sudowoodo’s Retreat Cost of (C)(C) is a mild concern; it isn’t abnormal, but it’s one more Energy than you need to attack.
When not attacking a Pokémon ex, Fighting Headbutt is slightly under-powered, compared to its peers. Good thing so many decks are built around one or more Pokémon ex! Are you scoring OHKOs with this? Technically it is possible, against the right target, with a big combo.2 Most of the time, though, it’s about the 2HKOs! Setting up for them, or completing them.
It requires some luck, but imagine going second against an opponent who opens with a Pokémon ex that cannot score a OHKO against Sudowoodo. Turn 2’s Energy goes to Sudowoodo, so it can use Fighting Headbutt. Turn 4’s Energy attachment goes to a Benched Marshadow (A1a 047, 074). Sudowoodo gets one more Fighting Headbutt off before it’s KO’d Turn 5. Turn 6, promote Marshadow, and use it’s Revenge attack for 100 damage. That’s 200 total damage, spread out over three turns, for two Basics, two points, and three Energy.
What about when your opponent doesn’t open with a Pokémon ex? Sudowoodo still has 80 HP, and can still swing for 20 damage. That is not impressive, but it’s pretty close to Hitmonchan (A1 155) numbers. Hitmonchan was not a major force in the metagame, but it was seeing some competitive success again. It has the same stats as Sudowoodo, except for the name (duh), Weakness, Retreat Cost, and doing a flat 30 damage for (G).
Which is why I think Sudowoodo is a solid alternative to, and perhaps even a replacement for, Hitmonchan. Yeah, the Weakness is a little more dangerous, the Retreat Cost a little worse, and again, 10 less damage to non-Pokémon ex… but 50 for one Energy against Pokémon ex can add up quick.
Rating: 3/5
I don’t expect Sudowoodo to be as useful as Marshadow, for example, but it should be at least a little useful, if not more. If your deck already runs on (F) Energy, see if you can sneak a copy in. The biggest thing going against it is also one of its strengths; there are a lot of good, low cost, Fighting Type, Basic attackers who swing for one (F) Energy already doing their thing.
1Snover’s attack does extra damage against (F) Pokémon. If the new Abomasnow proves worthwhile, it’s the Snover I’d run with it.
2There are probably others, but I’m thinking attacking a Pachirisu ex (A2 061, 183, 198) or Pikachu ex (A1 096, 259, 281, 285) after using a Giovanni (A1 223, 270), and with two copies of Lucario on your Bench.
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