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I don’t know whether it is due to my own incredible
girth or the fact that E. Honda happened to be one of
the easiest characters to learn in the original Street
Fighter II, but even though I don’t follow the sport (I
don’t follow any ) I’ve got a certain fondness for sumo
wrestling. As such, I really do like Hariyama in
general and was eager to learn that there would be one
in the Japanese set that corresponds to XY: Furious
Fists: specifically Hariyama (XY: Furious
Fists 52/111). Let me walk you through whether I
was pleased or disappointed.
Hariyama
is a Fighting-Type which is riding high right now with
ample direct and indirect support, as well as hitting
most Colorless-Types, Darkness-Types and Lightning-Types
for double damage. Fighting Resistance is among the
most common, but Resistance is rarely more than an
annoyance. Being a Stage 1 is much less impressive;
Basic Pokémon simply dominate the format, though at
least you won’t suffer as bad against Item lock decks
(at least when it comes to Evolving) as you would with a
Stage 2. 120 HP isn’t bad but it isn’t especially good
for something fully Evolved. You’ve got a decent shot
of surviving an attack, but mostly because decks that
aren’t coming you at with a full set-up are likely to
just whiff; a deck that is locked and loaded shouldn’t
have to buff their main attacker too much (if at all) to
score 120 with a single attack.
This card has what is probably the second worst Weakness
to have right now: Psychic. Fighting-Types recently
received all the love, but a side effect of what became
popular is a Mewtwo-EX revival, which in turn has
prompted more Mewtwo-EX counters… including just
running your own copies, as it can OHKO itself with
relative ease. If Hariyama has no Energy of its
own, its still 2/3s of the way to a KO: one Energy of
its own or a third on Mewtwo-EX scores a OHKO.
The lack of Resistance is disappointing but not
crippling, though some foreshadowing… the Darkness
Resistance that (based on how Types interact in the
video games) Hariyama “should” have actually
might have been important even though it only provides a
small bonus.
Hariyama
has a Retreat Cost of four: avoid paying this unless you
think its going to cost you the game. Being set back
that much Energy is probably not worth a Prize (the card
only needs three to attack!), but the good news is what
I keep repeating: most decks already had the incentive
to pack at least some Retreat Cost lowering (or
bypassing) tricks, so its something most builds should
already have covered.
Hariyama
has one Ability and one attack. The Ability is one that
has shown up before, albeit on different Pokémon as a
Poké-Body: Thick Fat. Reducing damage from attacks by
Fire-Types and Water-Types reflects a similar video game
Ability and actually is handy; just the difference of a
30 point drop versus a 20 point drop (like Resistance)
is felt though the main thing is that its two different
Types instead of one (like Resistance). Which is why
wish it had Resistance, because three match-ups where
you can soak a little damage would be even more
impressive… and probably a bit necessary. It is a handy
Ability, but with just 120 HP and so many decks buffing
attacks, dedicated Fire- and Water-Type attackers have a
pretty good chance at still scoring a OHKO. The attack
could still save things and… Rocket Slap does 80 for
[FCC]. It really is good that you can use Double
Colorless Energy to speed things up but again, it
misses that critical 90 point mark and only has some
basic synergy with the Ability: when the Ability works,
you might live long enough to get off an extra attack.
So let us see if maybe we get lucky and a Makuhita
does something to make Hariyama better. The
choices are BW: Boundaries Crossed 82/149, BW:
Plasma Freeze 62/116 and XY: Furious Fists
51/111. All three are Basic, Fighting-Type Pokémon with
Psychic Weakness, no Resistance and no Abilities. BW:
Boundaries Crossed 82/149 has 70 HP with a Retreat
Cost of two versus the 80 HP and Retreat Cost of three
found on the other two: retreating for two is easier but
not easy enough to top 10 more HP, but let’s check the
attacks to make sure: yeah, just a vanilla 30 for [FF].
BW: Plasma Freeze 62/116 has a flip-until-tails
attack good for 20 points of damage per “head”, priced
at [FC] or does a flat 60 for [FFC]. XY: Furious
Fists 51/111 does a paltry 10 for [F] and 40 for
[FCC] so its pretty much a draw between the two; the
potential threat of a flip until tails attack versus a
40 that - thanks to being Double Colorless Energy
compliant - has a somewhat realistic chance of being a
desperation move. There is another Hariyama,
XY: Plasma Freeze 63/116: same Attributes as today’s
card but two different attacks. For [FC] it can Fake
Out for 30 points of damage and (on a successful coin
flip) score Paralysis. For [FFC] it hits that magic 90
points of damage but also takes an extra 20 points of
damage if attacked during your opponent’s next turn…
skip it.
When I first saw it, I thought it might have some
potential but I was overestimating the Ability. The
attack just isn’t enough and even though I’ve done a
little testing with it, anything I used to boost it
would have served me better elsewhere (same for effects
that boost damage). It isn’t worthless but its just not
good enough to warrant space unless you insist on a
mono-Fighting deck and want it to handle Pyroar…
in which case its okay, but I’d rather run something
different. You’ll also need to run Double Colorless
Energy or some other compatible Energy acceleration
as well (possibly both) so again, I wouldn’t bother but
you might at least make it functional. Expanded is much
the same, except you have Heavy Ball for welcome
(but slight) additional support. In Limited this deck
really shines. It and its lower Stage’s HP and damage
output perform better here and its mostly Colorless
Energy costs make it fairly easy to splash into
multi-Type decks. The are just enough good Fire-Types
and Water-Types I’d really like to have access to this
card. In the Theme Deck variants, once again this is
available in the Dark Hammer Theme deck, and it performs
fairly well there.
Ratings
Standard:
2/5 - With a little more HP or damage (and especially
both) this might have had some small place in the
format, but mostly it will just scream “suboptimal
build” for the competitive set.
Expanded:
2.25 - Heavy Ball can two of the Makuhita
I mentioned (the 80 HP versions) as well as Hariyama
itself, which I view as fairly good. Nothing
outstanding though.
Limited:
4/5 - Only skip it if you absolutely cannot work
sufficient Fighting-Type Energy in your deck (and two or
three sources should do it for a 1-1 line in an
otherwise non-Fighting deck) or if you’re running a +39
deck and so this would be your only Pokémon.
Theme Decks:
4/5 - Again Theme Deck only tournaments do happen in
real life (or used to) and you can always choose to
battle Theme Deck versus Theme Deck on the PTCGO. It is
pretty good here with the added support, though it
scores the same because there is enough competition I’ve
found myself mostly saving it for games where I expect
to see the opponent attacking with Fire-Types or
Water-Types.
Summary:
Hariyama isn’t a near, near miss but at least it
is somewhere in the vicinity; if it were just a bit more
buff and/or Fire- and Water-Type attackers at bit more
popular (preferably both) then it could have fared
admirably with the available Fighting support. As is,
just save it for Limited and for fun.
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