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Happy Halloween! Our review for this spooky day is…
Hitmontop (XY: Furious Fists 49/111)!? In my
defense (as I’m the one that picked the cards for this
week) remember that our beloved Pokémon are “Pocket
Monsters”: does that not make them all appropriate for
Halloween? If you responded “No”... well honestly I
forgot what I was doing when picking the cards and
didn’t think to schedule something more seasonal.
Fortunately we’ll soon be diving into XY: Phantom
Forces, so perhaps it is best if we have a
less-than-seasonal entry; we’ll have many a
Halloween-flavored review this November. Now it is time
to get to the bottom of Hitmontop!
If you’ve been paying attention this week (or to the
game in general), it will come as no surprise when I say
it is good to be a Fighting-Type: it often hits three
other Types for Weakness (Colorless, Darkness and
Lightning) and while it does encounter Resistance
somewhat often relative to other Types, “relative” is
the key word as no Resistance is still far and away the
most common. Plus Resistance isn’t too hard to bypass,
especially with the ample direct and indirect support
the Fighting-Type enjoys, perhaps being the best
supported Type right now. Being a Basic is similarly
the best; while you’ll have to deal with the occasional
inconvenience like Pyroar (XY: Flashfire
20/106) this is the Stage that needs no other cards or
extra time to get into play and indeed is the Stage you
must have in your deck for it to be legal and that you
need at least one of in hand to start the game.
We now hit a much less impressive Attribute: 90 HP.
While this isn’t pathetic, it definitely isn’t good.
Even referring to it as “average” (as in “between good
and bad” not a mathematical mean) seems off. 90 is low
enough that most decks, once they have something
approaching a competent attacker set-up, will score a
OHKO, usually with little cost. It can survive a hit if
that set-up is wanting, such as very early game or
recovering from a sudden Pokémon (and other resource)
loss, but that is about it. Due to the card’s Psychic
Weakness, well known attackers like Mewtwo-EX
have a field day, as if there is any Energy attached to
Hitmontop, X-Ball will score a OHKO: using only
its own Energy Mewtwo-EX just needs a third
Energy attached or any boosting tricks, even a simple
Hypnotoxic Laser. The card lacks any Resistance;
most cards do and Resistance is underpowered instead of
overpowered like the Weakness mechanic, so this is
average (the middle ground between “good” and “bad”)
even if it is technically the worst Resistance. The
Retreat Cost of [C] is good; you should usually have
enough Energy attached to manually retreat as well as
being able to recover from paying the cost… and if
you’ve got any effect that would lower its Retreat Cost
even by just one, Hitmontop becomes a free
retreating Pokémon.
So what are the card’s effects? Two attacks, which is
not promising; for something this small an Ability is
usually a better bet. The first attack is Quick Draw,
costing [C] to use. It… has you draw one card. Well,
honest name I suppose, but underwhelming. The second
attack has the awesome name of Helicoptero and requires
[FCC] to use. It hits for 40 points of damage and
forces you to switch Hitmontop with one of your
Benched Pokémon. The attacks have mild synergy; the
costs are such that you can use a Double Colorless
Energy to lead with Quick Draw but next turn go
right to Helicoptero. Quick Draw won’t help much but
technically is a “set-up” move, and Helicoptero would
help deal with your low HP. In fact, we already know
how to play this in a deck, but the reason we won’t
is because Donphan (BW: Plasma Storm
72/135) can hit just as hard for one Energy… which makes
sense because three Energy for 40 with this effect is
way overpriced.
I’m not sure if Hitmontop could have been
designed to work with Donphan - one is almost
certainly going to push the other out of a deck. As is,
if Donphan rotates out in a few years but
Hitmontop remains, Hitmontop is probably not
good enough at the job to slip in.
Ratings
Standard:
1.5/5 - Technically you could build a porter style deck
around it akin to Donphan, but it would be much
more vulnerable due to needing three Energy to start
hitting and running, yet doing no additional damage.
Plus it lacks a big finale attack like Donphan
and when it does get stuck Active, is more likely to get
KOed. Still, the deck would be functional.
Expanded:
1.75/5 - As above, but you gain access to Level Ball
and Skyarrow Bridge, which could help. Still far
inferior to Donphan and friends.
Limited:
4.75/5 - Even weak draw power is good here. Helicoptero
is decent as well, provided you have something that can
get back out of the way or do some good while stuck up
front. You’ll need some source of [F] Energy if you
wish to attack and obviously, don’t bother with this if
you’ve got something like Lucario-EX you can try
to build a +39 deck around.
Summary:
We end the week with a card that shows how it might have
worked, but in the end doesn’t deliver anything that we
can’t get being done better, elsewhere. Even though it
is a Basic Pokémon, its a nerfed Donphan.
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