While Neo Genesis introduced only a handful of Fighting-types, the majority of them had some sort of place in the metagame. They really were on a roll with the card designs in this set and it makes you wonder why they couldn't maintain this level of polish for the entire Neo block.
The trend that Fighting-types just do damage in varying ways hasn't changed at all, but this set does bring Donphan into the fray, one of my personal favorite cards of the era. That's not to sell the other cards short, though. It's a solid group in general.
There needed to be an Onix card so that Steelix could be featured in the set. And this is a pretty good Onix. It does lose considerable bulk when compared to other Onix cards, but the improved damage output is fantastic.
Screech into a Rage will do 30 damage even if you didn't take any damage at all, and can do massive damage if the opponent tries to chip Onix down. But most importantly, Onix finally has a meta-relevant card to evolve into. That counts for a lot.
Grade: 7/10
Sudowoodo is funny, but not great. You could theoretically use cards like Rainbow Energy and Revive to force it onto the field with a bunch of damage counters on it. It's gimmicky, but I'd be interested in trying out a deck that maximizes Sudowoodo's damage output.
Still, we're looking at a Fighting-type, the most heavily resisted type, with a Retreat Cost of 3. That heavily offsets this card's potential.
Grade: 6/10
Gligar is outstanding. There aren't actually many Neo Basics on par with the ones from Base-Fossil, but Gligar stands head and shoulders above many of its peers. The attacks are efficient, the HP is above average, and it has a dazzling free Retreat Cost.
This is a card you do need to be prepared for, but it's not quite at the level of the best basics available.
Grade: 8/10
Phanphy kind of sucks, if we're being brutally honest. While it evolves into one of the best Fighting-types of the Neo block, you're not playing the deck because of how much you love this card.
Donphan is a little slow to charge up since Fighting-types had no acceleration at the time, so you would prefer not to have this little guy in the Active Spot...especially with his feeble 40 HP. Still he gets a little credit for being related to Donphan.
Grade: 4/10
Donphan is likely the best fighting-type Stage 1 of the entire WotC era. Flail is always solid, especially with 70 HP, but that's not the most appealing thing about this card.
That honor actually goes to Rapid Spin, which does an efficient 50 damage while shuffling the board around. By pairing Donphan with an army of Babies, it can be hard for your opponent to get a word in edgewise.
Grade: 9/10
While nothing in Neo Genesis has the sheer aura of dominance that Base Hitmonchan once boasted, there are some respectable additions to the metagame mixed in here.
The weird obsession with putting Flail and Rage on the new Fighting-types is also interesting, though I imagine it (probably) wasn't intentional.
No comments:
Post a Comment