Credit for the English-translated images goes to tcgone.net.
As with many of the vending cards, these Japanese-exclusives were more "interesting" than good. There are a few cards mixed in here that could have been their own archetypes, though, so it's a shame that they didn't pop up overseas in boosters or something.
Of particular note, not many of these cards feature Water Gun. This is a huge plus, in my opinion, since the whole gimmick of doing 10 damage per energy was woefully inefficient.
Vending Squirtle makes an unusual trade-off. You're not stuck with 40 HP anymore, but you're also encouraged to keep Squirtle in play for an extra turn in order to benefit from Water Power.
Overall I'd probably just stick with the original for the chance of paralysis. I want to be evolving on my second turn, not attacking with Squirtle. Wartortle and Blastoise both have ways to do more than 30 damage on turn 2 anyway.
Grade: 4/10
Vending Golduck is essentially just a side-grade to the original, focused on doing damage instead of control. But Golduck cards thrive on control, especially since the best Psyduck card can lock down trainers.
And if you really want damage, then Dark Golduck can do 50 damage for the same amount of energy that this one needs to do 40. This looks like a roughly average Stage 1, but it's actually pretty bad when you compare it to the competition.
Grade: 4/10
Vending Poliwag deserves to be loved. Both because it's Poliwag, one of the cutest 'mons ever, and also because 50 HP and paralysis is the gold standard for evolving basics.
This obviously isn't enough to make Poliwrath a meta threat when compared to Blastoise, but it is an improvement to an above-average evolution line.
Grade: 5/10
Vending Poliwhirl is serviceable, but certainly not ideal. It has a solid 70 HP and Twiddle is an obnoxious attack, guaranteeing either sleep or confusion. The damage output from Body Slam isn't awe-inspiring, but at least it's compatible with Double Colorless Energy.
I'd call this an upgrade over Base Poliwhirl, even if it does lose the admittedly cool niche that Amnesia gave it.
Grade: 4/10
Vending Poliwrath has my least favorite art for any vending card. I understand it was drawn by a child, but...were there really no better entries? It also has low HP for a Stage 2.
Megaton Punch is efficient, but not above-curve. And Hydro Pump just reads like a joke to me, since Base Blastoise can do that while being one of the most broken cards in the game. I'd much, much rather run Base Poliwrath over this.
Grade: 3/10
Vending Seel is theoretically a better attacker on turn 2 than Base Seel. Normally I wouldn't care about a 2-energy attack on a basic, but the only Dewgong in the game requires a minimum of three energy to attack.
Still, if you're running Dewgong then you're probably playing Rain Dance. At that point, I do think the higher HP of Base Seel just barely wins out.
Grade: 4/10
So yeah. Turns out that in order for a healing attack to be good, you have to be able to actually SURVIVE an attack. Its attacks aren't bad but that HP kills this card's potential completely.
Grade: 3/10
Vending Shellder almost gets a point just for not being Base Shellder. Water Spout is just Water Gun wearing a trench coat. I actually prefer the attacks on the original Shellder, but 50 HP is a lot more tolerable than 30 HP.
They both suck, though. Fun fact: The only Cloyster in the game at the time had the same HP as this Shellder! As a bad basic with nothing good to evolve into, this little guy deserves nothing.
Grade: 1/10
Vending Krabby vs Fossil Krabby is a genuinely tough call. This one has 10 less HP and can't summon more crabs, but in exchange it gets Bubble, which might make it easier to turn into Kingler without dying.
You might look at the two colorless symbols in Guillotine's cost and get excited, but it's a trap. None of the Kingler cards available were able to capitalize on DCE.
Grade: 4/10
Vending Kingler is hilarious. For a single energy, you get to flip a coin and potentially charge up your meaty claws in a single turn with up to three energy cards. But do keep in mind that this is an evolution card, meaning Salt Water can't be used on your first turn.
Your second turn could be a fully charged Blastoise, Wigglytuff, Scyther, Mewtwo, or any card equipped with a Base Electrode. Without flipping a coin. In the grand scheme of things, this card is more fun than good.
Grade: 5/10
Vending Horsea has the same HP and free retreat cost of the original, but now we've lost Smokescreen in favor of...Water Gun. Remember when I complained about that attack being inefficient?
Well, this certainly isn't going to be the card that changes my mind. There's nothing really wrong with it, exactly, but use Fossil Horsea. It's ultimately a better card in most situations.
Grade: 4/10
Vending Seadra is fascinating. It has higher HP than Fossil Seadra, which is already a big deal since 70 is an important benchmark, and it can snipe the bench for up to 20 damage distributed however you like.
This can be a valid way to pick apart a weakened bench. I can't think of any deck this actually fits into, but I do think I'd rather use this than Fossil Seadra, if only for the HP.
Grade: 4/10
Vending Staryu has the distinction of being able to turn off the weaknesses of all your water-type 'mons during your opponent's turn, but at the cost of using up its attack for this one effect.
This is a neat little trick, but I'm not convinced it's worth missing out on the flat 20 damage that Base Staryu could do on the first turn. Even with higher HP, I think this is pretty clearly a worse card.
Grade: 4/10
Vending Lapras doesn't fit smoothly into any deck. It has less HP than Fossil Lapras, for starters. If you want to play it outside of Rain Dance then the monotype cost of its main attack, Surf, is a little uncomfortable to work with.
But then if you want to play it in Rain Dance, Fossil Lapras fits better with that archetype since the higher energy cost to use Water Gun at full power becomes irrelevant. This is a good card when taken at face value, but it's completely homeless.
Grade: 5/10
Omanyte's job is to boost the damage output of your fossils. It may not be a big boost, but this is a huge step up from the 40 HP and lackluster Clairvoyance of the Fossil Omanyte. (Too bad it's still a Stage 1 with 50 HP...)
Grade: 4/10
Sadly both of these Omanyte cards rely on coin flips to use their best effects and 50 HP for a Stage 1 is still shameful, even if it's higher than the original Omanyte's HP.
Grade: 4/10
Meanwhile Corrosive Acid...is awkward. If you flip tails you don't get the paralysis AND you get locked out of Corrosive Acid on your next turn. I think the idea was to force players to use Tentacle Grip, but what a heavy-handed way to do it.
Grade: 2/10
Ice Beam is weirdly inefficient here, but maybe they were still afraid of printing really good water-types at the type since Base Blastoise was one of the cards steamrolling the metagame at the time.
Grade: 2/10
The Vending series isn't so much a set with high highs and low lows as it is a set with little hills and shallow valleys. Most cards in this series are either slightly better or slightly worse than their original Base-Fossil counterparts, perhaps because the designers were playing it safe at the time and waiting for the metagame to settle.
Or it could be that they didn't want a Japanese-exclusive set that you could only get from vending machines to be the deciding factor at tournaments. Who knows? Still, we're starting to see the designers explore semi-modern ideas, like themes and archetypes, in a way that they really didn't in the other early sets. For that reason alone, this series of cards is interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment