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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

 

Makuhita #55/90

HS Undaunted

Date Reviewed: Oct. 21, 2010

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 1.40
Limited: 2.25

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale.
1 being the worst. 
3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating.

Back to the main COTD Page

Combos With:

Baby Mario
2010 UK National
Seniors
Champion

Makuhita (Undaunted) 

Poor Makuhita. Like yesterday’s Gligar, it’s a Basic that evolves into a Stage 1. Unlike Gligar, it doesn’t have an evolution card that is remotely playable. 

That means that this Makuhita would have to reach Sableye or Spiritomb levels of starter-type goodness to stand any chance whatsoever of being used. It won’t come as a surprise to anyone that it falls a long way short of that. 

The only good thing about this card is the 70 HP. After that, it’s all downhill: Psychic Weakness, no Resistance, hefty Retreat cost . . . you get the picture. Even the attacks are bad.  Two Energy for 20 and a couple of coin flips for 10 more? Three Energy for a vanilla 40 damage? A Basic that doesn’t have a single Energy attack (excluding SPs that can use Energy Gain) needs to be giving you a seriously good reason to even think about playing it. 

Seeing as neither Makuhita nor its evolution (Hariyama) can come up with even a half-decent reason between them, it’s safe to say that this card can be easily written off as set-filling binder fodder. 

Rating 

Modified: 1 (I don’t usually give 1, but the evo in this case is just so tragic, I feel I have to)

Limited: 1.5 (like most cards, it doesn’t suck quite so much here) 

conical

10/21/10: Makuhita (Undaunted)

Apparently, this is the third Makuhita reviewed. It seems odd that a seemingly random basic like Makuhita gets so many reviews. It could be coincidence, but Makuhita seems to be one of the most-reviewed evolving basics. Personally, I would love to see which basics get more reviews than others.(Pikachu's probably first, though.) 

The Makuhita in question today is, well, rather uninteresting. Slap Down is 1F for 20, plus some extra damage on coin flips, and Slap Push is 2F for 40. Did you notice how both attacks require more than one energy? As a general rule of thumb, basics should always have at least one attack that can be charged up in one turn, so it can attack if need be. There can be exceptions to this, such as Gligar yesterday, when the effects of the attack can make up some for the cost.

It wouldn't take much, but is there a Makuhita that is superior to this one? Yes, there is, actually: Makuhita AR(another Makuhita that's been reviewed) is the better choice. Unlike this Makuhita, Makuhita AR can attack for one energy with Sand Attack, which also prevents damage for the turn. Also, every other stat between the two is equal, making Makuhita UD the odd one out.

Things are slightly better in Limited for Makuhita, in that it can afford to attack slower. But it still doesn't do anything special. 

Modified: 1.25/5

Limited: 2/5


Otaku

Chibi sumo!

 

Makuhita is another Basic meant primarily to evolve, but like Gligar, it starts off better than some of the other Pokémon we’ve been discussing.  As a Fighting-Type it stands to hit opposing weakness quite often.  70 HP is enough that early game it can take a hit and still be viable to evolve, while late game it might even survive an attack from something big.  The damage doubling Psychic Weakness is a drag, and I am hard pressed to really classify it as good or bad.  There are some big decks that can hit it but they don’t seem to be “the” deck to run right now, but then again we do see certain Psychic Pokémon popping up frequently as supporting types.  The lack of Resistance is disappointing and the two energy to retreat is acceptable, given its status as a big, slower Pokémon in the video games and strong HP score as a Basic Pokémon.

 

Unfortunately, both attacks on Makuhita require a Fighting Energy and neither requires just a single Energy.  This robs the card of speed.  Slap Down is an okay attack for (FC): it does 20 damage and gives you two coin tosses to generate another +10 per heads, for upwards of 40 damage.  The attack really needed to cost just one Fighting Energy or required two of any Energy so it could use Double Colorless Energy, allowing it to be splashed into a variety of decks and attack right after being dropped.  Either changing the attack to a straight 20 or 30 points of damage, or 10 points of damage with the flips still doing +10; I am sure something could have been worked.  The second attack is Slap Push is pure damage, but unlike the last several reviews it paid attention in class: it only costs (FCC) and that means you can drop a Fighting Energy first turn and follow up with a Double Colorless Energy to bust out a respectable 40 damage second turn.  It is still a bit too low to be competitive on its own or match modern damage returns, but it is really close.

 

As is, Makuhita will be relying on two things to be played: a good Hariyama to evolve into and that no other Makuhita takes its place.  I see only one other Makuhita that is still Modified Legal.  It has the same HP, lack of Resistance and Retreat Cost but a better Psychic +10 Weakness.  It has Sand Attack for (C) to stall a little and for (FC) does 30 points of damage with Magnum Punch.  It is like one good Makuhita was divided into two sub par versions.  The Weakness is mostly a product of the times, and while nice isn’t really important enough to be a deciding factor in my book.  Sand Attack should either cost no Energy or do 10 points of damage with modern pricing.  Magnum Punch is okay but not good enough to be the cards “big” attack while Slap Push actually just fits the bill.  I’d probably split the line: ideally I wouldn’t be attacking with Makuhita at all.  If I am, I’d rather open with Sand Attack since it can be powered by a single Fighting Energy or overpowered by a Double Colorless Energy setting up for a larger, later attack but if Hariyama doesn’t show for some reason, Hariyama can then be a credible threat to anything that isn’t huge starting turn two.  Simply put neither is really good or bad, and since you have to run them to get to Hariyama, you might as well split and see what actually works best in your anticipated area of play.

 

Of course, finding a Hariyama worth running is also a challenge.  The older version from Arceus has 110 HP, Psychic Weakness +30, and a Retreat Cost of four.  Its Push Out attack costs the same as Slap Push but does 10 more damage while forcing the Defending Pokémon to switch out after that damage is done.  The damage is iffy and the secondary effect can backfire.  Vortex Chop is the second attack and costs (FFCC).  That extra energy buys a mere 10 more points of base damage, and the attack is only worth using when the secondary effect kicks in: if you attack something with Resistance (an iffy proposition), you’ll score 120 points of damage.  Unless Resistance makes a huge comeback (at least on what is played), this guy just isn’t worth running.

 

The rest of the CotD crew reviewed it about two weeks ago and weren’t too impressed.  100 HP is barely adequate and seems almost shameful for a Pokémon that is meant to be “big” according to the source material.  The slightly better Retreat of only three is appreciated, but in the way its better to owe someone three dollars instead of four.  I can’t say which Hariyama has the better Weakness: adding 30 is much worse when facing small fry, but when facing a Psychic Pokémon meant to attack, doubling the damage like the HS – Undaunted is worse.  Hammer In is actually pretty good, ignoring how Donphan Prime makes everything look so paltry with its fantastic first attack.  For the same price as Slap Push you do 60 points of damage with no catches.  That is reliable damage from a fast enough attack to be very threatening early game… so much so that one might even consider throwing on an Expert Belt so that everything but Rhyperior Lv.X and Wailord from Supreme Victors is within 2HKO range (ignoring other mitigating factors).  Too bad Backward Belt Throw is about as bad as Vortex Chop.  They cost the same amount of Energy, and you do 80 points of base damage instead of 60.  The effect of the attack is arguably worse: you do 20 points more damage to your Hariyama to 20 points more damage to the Defending Pokémon.  It is good to have the option of when to inflict the extra damage, but the self damage conflicts with the most obvious way to run Hariyama.

 

In the end, neither version is likely to see much play, which means Makuhita is probably only going to see play in Limited.  Here its 70 HP is even better: only three Basic Pokémon have higher HP scores: Hitmonlee, Skarmory, and Tropius.  Six others match the 70 HP, and of course most Stage 1 and 2 Pokémon surpass it.  Still quite good for a Basic Fighting Pokémon you might be able to pull an evolution for and that requires only a single of its Energy be Fighting in order to attack.  I mentioned the other day there are a full 20 Fighting Weak Pokémon, but be aware there are also nine Fighting Resistant Pokémon that can shut Makuhita down.  As a whole, I think it is nearly a must run unless you have another good, Fighting Basic Pokémon like Hitmonlee to run… in which case I’d be tempted to run both.

 

Ratings

 

Modified: 2/5

 

Limited: 3.75/5

 

I am still selling my former collectables on eBay.  I’ve had a lot of hobbies over the years, so at various times I’ll have comic books, manga, action figures, and video games on the auction block.  You can take a look at what’s up for bids here.  Just a reminder, Pojo is in no way responsible for any transactions and was merely kind enough to let me mention the auctions here. ;) 


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