Tapu Koko VMAX – Battle Styles
Date Reviewed: May 3, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 2.5
Expanded: 3.0
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Vince
So, after having two appearances of Tapu Koko getting the V treatment, we have Tapu Koko VMAX!
Max Shock is Tapu Koko VMAX’s only attack, which costs LLC for 180 damage, and if you have more prize cards than your opponent, then your opponent’s Active Pokemon is Paralyzed. Auto-Paralysis might seem fun, preventing your opponent from attacking or retreating (unless they have Escape Board), letting you follow up with a KO, but your opponent can use switching related cards and/or bounce related cards like Scoop Up Net to get rid of the paralysis effect and then proceed to use a different attacker to damage Tapu Koko (or even outright OHKO it due to fighting weakness or can penetrate through its 320 HP). Or, your opponent can wait until their Pokémon is Knocked Out and send out another Pokémon to return fire. This attack can be readied by Tapu Koko (*), Welder, and manual basic Lightning energy attachment and the base damage alone is in 2HKO territory.
There are two versions of Tapu Koko-V, one from yesterday’s review (which I didn’t review), and the one from Sword & Shield. Based on what I read yesterday, I think the Sword & Shield version is the better one, due to having a very useful single energy attack that lets you draw 2 cards. Still, that suggests that players did start with Tapu Koko-V when they set up to play and chose to go second. That’s it for Standard; Expanded still retain all the Lightning based support such as Thunder Mountain (*) to lower attack costs and Electropower for boosting damage but there are also counters since there are some cards that prevent Special Conditions from happening.
Ratings:
Standard: 2.5
Expanded: 3
For the most part, Insta-Paralysis is common in the Pokémon TCG, but they tend to make players rely on luck (coin flips), deal with drawbacks/aftermaths (DEX Accelgor’s Deck & Cover making itself leave play and VIV Zekrom’s Wild Shock damaging itself), or fulfill certain conditions (like how Plasma Articuno-EX’s Frost Prison needs Plasma Energy to insta-paralyze them). Tapu Koko VMAX’s condition is actually pretty easy to fulfill, as being behind on prizes isn’t that hard to do. When your opponent is down to one prize, and you still have at least two…then Max Shock will definitely annoy your opponents if they don’t have an answer for it. Even if Special Conditions are prevented, Tapu Koko VMAX is still a solid 2HKO machine.
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