Types in Base-Fossil: Fighting

I'll be blunt. Most of the Fighting types in this format are completely forgettable. The goal seems to have been to keep the type simple and streamlined, but that didn't pan out well for the vast majority of the type. At least they hit Colorless-types for double damage.

It doesn't help that a certain member of the type overshadows every other option by a country mile. We'll get there when we get there.

Sandshrew is a respectable place to start. It's roughly as good as Squirtle, with a Lightning resistance as a fringe benefit.

This would be a good Basic as long as it's moving toward a solid Evolution. Sandslash isn't terrible, exactly. But this just isn't a line that offers anything unique or awe-inspiring.

Grade: 4/10

I can't find anything to dislike about this Sandslash, but it manages to feel extremely underwhelming in practice. Its best quality is being able to do an average of 30 damage for 2 energy, which does theoretically knock out a lot of important 'mons in two hits.

But the reliance on luck just doesn't feel good to play with. Especially since that damage output is only slightly more than what other Fighting-types can do for a single energy.

Grade: 5/10

I don't want to call Diglett pointless, but Diglett is kind of pointless. Switching into an Electabuzz and knocking it out with a Pluspower Mud Slap does sound cool, but then Diglett just dies to a stiff breeze.

Free retreat is very nice, as always, but this is one of the few instances where it's just not enough to carry a 'mon into the limelight.

Grade: 2/10

Dugtrio has comically over-the-top energy costs for something that evolves from a 30 HP Basic. It pretty much gets deleted by Super Energy Removal.

It feels like they tried to go for a Gyarados thing here, where the Evolution is crazy powerful to make up for the bad basic, but it didn't land. They forgot the part where you have to actually make the Evolution crazy powerful.

Grade: 3/10

Mankey is a neat little card. The main utility is to Peek at your prizes in order to choose the best ones, but not many decks actually have the time to Peek and the horsepower to follow up afterward. Still, the free retreat means Mankey can usually get out of the danger zone pretty easily.

There are some decks where it can work, though, and I've found some success sprinkling it into tanky decks like VenuCenter and KangaNite, since you mostly spend the first few turns setting up anyway.

Grade: 6/10

Primeape is a lot better than you probably realize. Fury Swipes is a respectable turn 2 attack and Tantrum is efficient for the damage output. Most importantly, this guy can take down a Lickitung or Kangaskhan in a single blow.

I actually might like Primeape better for Step In builds than Vileplume, but the number of Fighting-resistant 'mons in the format is always going to make that a questionable trade. Try him out if you want to do something a little more eccentric with your Dragonite decks.

Grade: 7/10

If Hitmonchan is a bastion of the oldest kingdoms, then Machop is a spunky little rebel leader that's been gaining ground lately.

While he's usually considered inferior to Hitmonchan, being able to hit the same benchmarks with a lower retreat cost is a pretty big deal. It's especially noteworthy that Machop can retreat for free if you get just one Dodrio in play, a feat that Hitmonchan can't replicate. I'd consider it a worthy side-grade, personally, but you will feel the lower HP.

Grade: 8/10

Machoke is the antithesis to the standard noob trap. While Victreebel lures you in with empty promises of synergy, Machoke screams anti-synergy at you, only to then suplex a Chansey into the shadow realm.

Still, it's held back by those extravagant attack costs. While Machoke isn't nearly as bad as it looks on paper, it really doesn't appreciate the prevalence of Super Energy Removal and is even harder to get out of the active spot than the more popular Hitmonchan.

Grade: 5/10

Machamp is one of those not-quite-good cards that pops up infrequently as players try it out for a stint before accepting that it just doesn't quite get across the finish line.

Seismic Toss is just begging for Electrode support, but the fact that Machamp's damage gets cut in half by any stray Scyther, Gastly, or Dodrio is a constant problem. Strikes Back is a really fun way to insult Lickitung players, though, so there's that.

Grade: 5/10

Geodude whispers the sweetest promises into your ear. "Flip my coins and ye shall be rewarded with all the damage ye could e'er want."

Then you flip tails on the first coin and realize that it's a bad card. Honestly if Stone Barrage were a single energy, or even if Geodude just had Tackle or something, then this could have been a decent card. But none of that happened, so instead it's just a pretty bad card.

Grade: 3/10

Graveler must have pissed someone off to be given a card this bad. Add it to the list of weirdly frail Stage 1 pokémon with expensive attacks, I guess.

As an added insult, Graveler's Rock Throw has the same cost as Kadabra's Super Psy but does 10 less damage, for no particular reason. I swear they had to have made this card bad on purpose, right?

Grade: 2/10

Golem is almost as bad as Victreebel. BOTH of its attacks cost four energy. Neither one is compatible with Double Colorless Energy. One of them just straight up knocks Golem out, because of course it does. Seriously, what kind of sick joke is this?

In his defense, Selfdestruct probably will KO the defending 'mon. And you might as well blow up, because the alternative is paying four energy to retreat. This card is just a living checklist of bad qualities.

Grade: 2/10

Onix. Man, don't you love it when you can't damage the most common pivots, have a massive retreat cost, and have so much HP that the opponent gets several turns to set up while you accomplish nothing?

It's funny because Onix looks close to Lickitung on paper. But Lickitung never has to deal with opponents that resists its attacks, and paralysis is an extremely debilitating status. There have been attempts at making an Onix and Mr. Mime combo work, alternating between the two walls, but it never does.

Grade: 2/10

Cubone is a deceptively good card, but it sadly never evolves into anything worth the slots. Snivel is a really obnoxious move though, and can help you control the damage coming in to set up Rage properly.

Unfortunately, Cubone's Rage caps out at 40 damage, and only if it's about to kick the bucket. It would be a perfectly serviceable Basic for a good evolutionary line, but the card it evolves into is a joke.

Grade: 3/10

Marowak is awful. I guess it has a low retreat cost, so that's nice. But in exchange you get a pathetic HP stat, a damaging attack that relies on coin flips, and the most hilariously over-costed Call effect I've ever seen.

Even if you're desperate to include a Lightning-resist in your deck, there are still better options than this.

Grade: 2/10

Hitmonlee is mostly pointless. I have heard whispers of a Hitmonlee-centered deck that uses Stretch Kick to pick off your opponent's bench while controlling and annoying the defending 'mon with Trainer Cards, but I just don't see it.

Nothing about the card is egregiously awful, though. Its HP, retreat cost, and damage output are all fine, but they're only fine. It's just unfortunate that it's constantly being compared to the best Fighting-type in the format, and definitely comes up a bit short.

Grade: 5/10

Hitmonchan is the man every Fighting-type aspires to be. Sandshrews and Digletts gleefully tell their mothers that they're going to grow up to be the next Hitmonchan. Hitmonlee lives in constant shame because he's always compared to his celebrity brother. Machop trains for hours on end, hoping to someday overthrow the king of the ring.

His clunky retreat cost and the prevalence of Fighting-resistant pivots do both hold him back, though, so I can't give him the 10/10 that he almost deserves.

Grade: 9/10

Rhyhorn looks like a haymaker card. 70 HP. First attack that stalls the opponent. Second attack that hits hard. You could easily be deceived by this card if you didn't know better.

Sadly, the massive retreat cost speaks for itself, and Leer stalls without doing damage, which is not what haymakers are all about. Still, this is probably the best Lightning-resist in Base-Fossil, for whatever that's worth.

Grade: 5/10

Rhydon might be a usable card if Ram didn't have any text next to it. Ram expects you to pay four energy for an attack that does below-rate damage AND recoil damage to the user AND switches out the 'mon that you were probably trying to pile damage on.

It's like they set out to make the ultimate bad attack. And since Horn Attack is just the same exact attack that's already on Rhyhorn, you went through the trouble of including an Evolution that gives you 30 more HP and nothing else.

Grade: 3/10

Kabuto Armor is one of the best Pokémon Powers in the format, but it just had to be printed on one of the worst possible candidates.

Why would you ever give a Stage 1 'mon 30 HP? But hey, at least it can do a whopping 10 damage with Scratch. The whole package put together is easily one of the worst Stage 1 cards ever printed, but at least it's immune to some of the bench-damaging effects due to a technicality.

Grade: 1/10

And of course, Kabuto has the "privilege" of evolving into the single worst Stage 2 card ever printed, no contest. 60 HP on a Stage 2.

I suppose the idea here was that Absorb would restore enough health over several turns to make up for the low HP? But we're talking about a 'mon that gets one-shot by Blastoise, Wigglytuff, and Scyther. And even if you wanted to get that Absorb up and running, Energy Removal says no. Truly this card was some evil troll's magnum opus.

Grade: 1/10

Aerodactyl is the one thing keeping Mysterious Fossil out of the trash. Once this thing is in play, evolutions are disabled. Period. No Blastoise or Wigglytuff or Venusaur. No Pokémon Breeder. Nothing.

It does affect both players, though, so you can't add Aerodactyl to every conceivable deck. It doesn't even let you play another copy of itself, funnily enough. Sadly the absolute best decks in this format don't feature many Evolution Cards, but having a one-card shutoff valve for Rain Dance is nifty.

Grade: 7/10

To summarize the Fighting type in just a few sentences: Hitmonchan and Machop are the Fighting type. Aerodactyl exists as a control option. Feel free to forget that the rest of this type exists.

If the premise of a type is that it's the beginner-friendly simple attacking type, then it needs to at least have above-rate attacks or higher HP than comparable cards. The original Fighting-type cards totally missed the mark and the few that are usable are mostly held up by the prevalence of powerful Colorless 'mons like Wigglytuff and Lickitung. Oh well. At least they have nice artwork.