Vending Set Review - Fighting

Credit for the English-translated images goes to tcgone.net.

They really didn't seem like they knew what they wanted to do with the fighting types in the Vending series, aside from keeping it simple. The majority of these cards have pretty generic effects. They got a little creative with some of the coin flips, but nothing outlandish.

This is where we see the rest of the Mysterious Fossil archetype, though, which is shaping up to be a pretty interesting deck. Pity that it was exclusive to Japan.

Vending Sandshrew's Swift is remarkably efficient. For some reason they decided that it should hit for 20 damage and ignore resistance, allowing it to smack all those pesky birds and bats for full damage. I would choose this over Base Sandshrew in a heartbeat.

Note that it can't hit for weakness either, though, so it can't donk a weak lightning or colorless-type. That's probably for the best, in terms of game balance. Sadly, both Sandslash cards in the game are a little underwhelming.

Grade: 5/10

Vending Sandslash's Rolling Needle does an average of 55 damage (accounting for coin flips) and deals an average of 15 recoil back to the user. If it had high enough HP to soak up that recoil safely that'd be great, but 70 HP is only "good" for a Stage 1, not great.

It does have a 1-energy defensive attack as a buffer against Super Energy Removal, though, so that's nice. Neither Sandslash in the format is great, but at least this one's stylish.

Grade: 5/10

Vending Machop is bad. Its best-case scenario, if you get heads on Focused Strike and don't get hit by Energy Removal, is that it's a worse Scyther. Its worst-case scenario is that it wastes its first attack and locks itself out of its second attack all in one God-awful coin flip.

Just use Base Machop. I'm convinced they didn't do the math on this one.

Grade: 2/10

Vending Machoke (#71) is also bad. While Agonizing Thrust is fine, having 60 HP on an evolution card is not fine. And Focus Blast is a joke, but at least it's a funny joke. It's almost as accurate as the real move that got added later, having a 50/50 chance of doing...20 damage to a benched 'mon?

Hitmonlee can do that without a coin flip, so what was the point of this? I suppose the one saving grace is that Focus Blast actually does apply weakness, even on a benched target.

Grade: 2/10

But we do get a much better Machoke (#72) in the same set. 30 damage for 2 energy is great, and the damage output on One-Two Punch isn't awful. At face value, it looks better than or equal to Base Machoke.

Until you get better at the game and learn that being able to one-shot all of the fighting-weak cards in the format is kind of a big deal. Also, Base Hitmonchan has the same HP as this card and can do 20 damage on the first turn. That's far better than 30 for 2 energy.

Grade: 4/10

Vending Machamp is a little odd. Seething Anger can be a very efficient attack, but only when Machamp is one hit away from getting knocked out. These Rage/Flail style attacks are great on basics and decent on Stage 1 'mons, but a lot more questionable on a Stage 2. That's a big investment to throw away for some extra damage.

Fling is fine, but I think I'd much rather have Base Machamp with his extra HP, relevant Power, and raw 60 damage.

Grade: 4/10

Vending Geodude might not look like much, but this was (sadly) the best Geodude available at the time. The only other option was...well, let's say he was a hard worker and move on.

This guy just has decent HP, a weak colorless attack, and a damage prevention attack, but that's fair enough for an evolving basic. Not interesting, but it does the job it's meant to do.

Grade: 4/10

Vending Graveler (#74) does not get the same half-hearted praise. It has the same low HP that I mocked on Fossil Graveler, the same annoying retreat cost, and now it can't even attack on turn 2.

The bench damage is cute, don't get me wrong, but nothing about this card screams "deck-worthy" to me. It doesn't even have a lightning resistance, since they arbitrarily decided not to treat the Geodude line with any respect in the TCG.

Grade: 2/10

Vending Graveler (#75) is at least better. Not good, but better. Stone Barrage doing 20 damage per coin flip until you get tails (for one energy) is a fun gimmick, and much more usable than it was on Fossil Geodude.

Earthquake probably should've done a little more damage to compensate for the annoying drawback, though. Chipping your own bench adds up quickly. And why were they so dedicated to giving Graveler 60 HP!?

Grade: 3/10

Vending Golem is trying his best. His best isn't good enough, but he's trying. 80 HP for a Stage 2 is bad, a retreat cost of 3 is bad, and evolutions should be able to do better than 20 damage for 2 energy.

The ONE side-note here is Rock Blast. There is a hypothetical timeline where you discard dozens of energy cards off of this Golem and knock out your opponent's entire team. It'll probably happen right after Hell freezes over.

Grade: 2/10

Vending Onix is (thankfully) a decent card. Think of it like a less bulky Lickitung with a less relevant weakness, a fighting typing, and the potential to do higher damage as needed. Not bad.

It does have the Hitmonchan problem, though, where it's walled by several good fighting-resists. Aside from that, it's a pretty solid upgrade over the original Onix, aside from the questionable art.

Grade: 5/10

Vending Cubone's Bone Toss isn't bad, honestly. Think of this card like a slightly better Nidoran (male). It gets to do 30 damage on heads, but also gets to snipe the bench for 10 if it gets tails. For one energy, that's a steal.

But it does only have 40 HP. And none of the Marowak cards at this time were super great. Jungle Cubone was in a similar situation, where it's an okay basic in a vacuum, but the metagame just doesn't work for it.

Grade: 3/10

Vending Marowak retains the low HP of the Jungle version. Hooray. Bone Club would be an impressive attack...if you could actually use it on turn 2 as the energy cost would imply. Instead, this is one of the Vending set's hit-or-miss "marker" cards.

In order to use Bone Club, you first have to waste a turn putting a Bone Marker on this card with its first attack. This makes Bone Club a turn 3 attack, and by then it's a lot less impressive.

Grade: 3/10

Fossil Hitmonlee never saw play because it's less efficient and less bulky than Base Hitmonchan. So naturally they decided to reduce its HP even further when designing this card.

The attacks are solid, if somewhat generic, but I just want a little more out of a basic that can't evolve. It also can't one-shot Lickitung, which is the one thing Fossil Hitmonlee absolutely can do.

Grade: 4/10

Vending Hitmonchan has a fate no 'mon would envy: It has to compete with Base Hitmonchan directly for a slot. It actually almost gets there, though. Mach Punch is even stronger than Jab, hitting for 20 while potentially sniping the bench as a bonus.

But the 70 HP boasted by the big haymakers is extremely important in a format where most attacks cap out at 60 damage. This guy really did shoot for the stars, but he landed face-first.

Grade: 5/10

Vending Rhydon can theoretically smooth out your energy draws by digging for some extra fighting energy. Too bad he only has 80 HP and existed at a time when milling yourself was actually pretty bad.

Double Stab is okay, doing an average of 40 damage for 3 energy, but is certainly not an attack worth playing an evolution for. At least Jungle Rhydon can charge up his Horn Attack with a DCE on turn 2. This guy is just too slow and too frail.

Grade: 2/10

Vending Kabuto has a similar premise to the Vending Omanyte cards, where it mainly wants to support the Mysterious Fossil theme. Being able to Super Scoop Up one of your 'mons for free is actually pretty powerful, so this is clearly an upgrade over Fossil Kabuto.

Its attack is okay, but definitely isn't the coolest part of the card. The support ability alone brings it up quite a bit, though.

Grade: 5/10

Vending Aerodactyl is all about damage. If you wanted to make a fossil-themed deck with the vending set, you'd probably want to just play all the Stage 1 cards together. It's even a colorless package that you can splash into any deck.

Taking the whole engine into context, I'd actually say this card is pretty solid. You can use Kabuto to keep scooping your damaged 'mons and Omanyte to retrieve Mysterious Fossil from the discard. Add in a Jungle Dodrio to make every retreat free and we're in business!

Grade: 6/10

The new fossils are easily the most interesting additions to the fighting-type, alongside the matching Omanyte cards. They were pretty serious about turning the fossils into a cohesive strategy at this point, and it's great to see!

It's just a shame that the whole deck relies on coin flips for everything. That's where it falls just shy of being meta-relevant, since consistency is key when competing.