Neo Discovery Review - Fighting

While the new Fighting-types of Neo Discovery are well below the power level of the Neo Genesis cards, we kind of expected that by now. There are at least some heavy hitters, most notably Tyrogue.

But when the biggest selling point of your set is that it "at least has a Baby in it," that's pretty underwhelming.

Poliwrath completes the set of cards we saw back in the Water-type post. This is honestly a really solid attacker, at least as far as the damage per energy ratio goes. The obvious problem is that all of the other Poli cards are Water-types, and use Water-type energy.

It's not impossible to justify its inclusion, especially if you need a way to deal with the Metal Chansey deck, but it's a bit of a stretch. Still, there are no serious issues with the card.

Grade: 6/10

Tyrogue is probably the most important card in the set, as weird as that is to say. It's purpose is simple. It can knock out opposing Babies for a single energy while having the Baby Rule and free retreat cost itself.

This may not seem worth it, but keep in mind that the Baby Rule doesn't just prevent damaging attacks. It prevents all attacks. This means that Tyrogue has a chance of disrupting your opponent's setup, even if it whiffs on Smash Punch.

Grade: 9/10

Hitmontop is a bit hard to justify. The heavy reliance on coins on annoying, and its main damaging attack is expensive. You could be playing Genesis Gligar, Base Hitmonchan, Rocket's Hitmonchan, etc.

Its stats aren't completely unforgivable for a non-evolving Basic, since it at least has 60 HP and a low retreat cost, but there's just not any deck that wants exactly Hitmontop.

Grade: 3/10

Omanyte, for whatever reason, is a much better summoner than the similar Kabuto card. Being able to grab any Stage 1 from the fossil group and just slam it onto the board is an incredibly useful effect, even if it only benefits a niche archetype.

There sadly aren't any outstanding Omastar cards, but it can at least speed up Aerodactyl and Kabutops decks a bit, so there is room for it in the metagame.

Grade: 6/10

Omastar really isn't bad, all things considered. Squeeze and Spike Barrage are both above-rate attacks in terms of what they offer. But 80 HP on a Stage 2 is a bit lackluster and it doesn't come with any must-have qualities.

One cool thing about this line is that you can add them to a generic Water deck as a way to hit Lightning-types, but that's kind of a moot point since the best Water-decks are already running Stage 2 lines and don't have room for this.

Grade: 6/10

Larvitar isn't great, but I guess they were following the template set by Base Dratini when they designed it. It has low HP and no way to actually protect itself, but it will eventually become a powerful Evolution.

The fact that it attacks for Colorless energy is actually relevant, since Tyranitar cards can be either Dark or Fighting. As such, it's nice that you're not committed to one or the other right away.

Grade: 3/10

Pupitar only just barely has stats appropriate for a Stage 1. It's actually pretty disappointing, since the Dragonite line set the precedent that even the middle stage of a pseudo-legendary is supposed to be a powerful card.

But I suppose that design philosophy would feel out of place on a literal cocoon. It gets the job done, but you'll mostly want to make a beeline for Tyranitar as soon as possible.

Grade: 4/10

One thing I will note is that we're seeing a lot of crossover between Water and Fighting in the Neo block. Between Poliwrath, Omastar, Kabutops, Piloswine, Quagsire, and Piloswine, these types are slowly becoming intertwined with each other in a really interesting way.

Of course, you'll really only focus on one or two evolutionary lines at a time, but it's neat to see so much overlap between the two types.