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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Kecleon - Sandstorm


Date Reviewed: 11.19.03

Ratings & Reviews below

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

Thundachu  Kecleon

Overview: The PokeBody is very unique. For every basic energy attached to Kecleon, Kecleon is that type. Multiple types at once means lots of power over weakness. Yum. For 2 colorless energy, you get to flip 2 coins and for each heads, 20 damage. Not bad. Weakness of Fighting makes Armaldo and Solrock a problem, but it could be worse I suppose. 60HP is good for a basic and 1 retreat is nice as well.

Unlimited: Not to good here with Chansey, Clefable, Ditto and Wigglytuff. Nice as a good backup though. 2.5/5

Modified: 3/5

Draft: A Basic that has the power to change itself to multiple types is great here. Since alot of your deck will be basic energy, this card is good here. Also has a good damage ratio. 4/5
Hedge  Kecleon

 

Whoah man. Multi energy and this were meant to be. If you have 2 of these and 3 multi in a deck, you can cover any weakness, except colorless. Oddly enough this card’s greatest weakness is dragons, not fighting. Dual resistance with a multi on this is zero damage. And let me tell you, I went to a Dragons prerelease tourney yesterday and a lot, A LOT of dragons have dual resistance. However,….. Some big bad ex stage two’s have dual weakness, so this card does times four damage. 0_0   Only one retreat, good….. a nice 60hp for a basic, also good…… This is all for modified though. Unlimited is another story. Nonetheless, if you were fighting a colorless-weak dragon, either use bounce energy or a crystal shard. I will try to get a ruling on crystal shard with this… the way the cards sound, to me the shard would override….. Anyway, very neat card…. And an easy rare to get, as well.

Oh yah nearly forgot; let’s get a PPPR on this:  7  

 

            Unlimited: 1/5 – You know, these “big basics” of the new age can’t stand up to old school. Hitmonchan pwnz this guy. Sneasel pwnz him, too. Plus, Sneasel has no weakness, and we only like mass flippy attacks in unlimited; which sounds stronger to you, Double Scratch or Beat Up?  -_-

 

            Modified: 2/5 – I was going to give this card a 3, but I just noticed that it said

“..basic energy card.” That means that multi won’t work. -_____-  I guess it could still be used to counter specific weaknesses for certain decks, but other than that…..

 

            2 on 2: 2/5 – I really don’t know what to say about this format. Honestly, there are really only about ten cards that have a dramatically different rating in this area.

 

            Draft: 3.8/5 – Ahhh, a nice “big basic” in draft….. Plus it’s relatively easy to draft, heck, you could make a deck out of this. Every kind of energy, draft it with R&S for lady outing, I can see it now….. ~_^

            Author:  ~Hedge

            Written November 16th, 2003.

Props:  Pojo for posting this review, and umm, Nintendo for portraying Kecleon’s power well according to the GBA.

            Slops: Kecleon’s power for saying “…basic energy card.

Bullados  Kecleon

Attributes:
A little low on the HP, but not all that bad. It'll just need some management. Fighting weakness, again, isn't something to be extremely concerned about. There are very few fighting decks out there, and there is very little fighting TecH with the possible exceptions of Solrock and Makuhita. No resistance once again; ya know, I think that resistance is starting to become a thing of the past… Retreat is pretty decent. Pay it if you have to, but I wouldn't, just because of the power…

Poke-BODY: "Energy Variation"
This is almost gamebreaking. If it said, "basic Energy TYPE" instead of "basic Energy CARD", it'd be absolutely broken. Even as it is, the guy can be 6 different types at one time, with the right energy attachment. He can get a 4x hit on an evolved Pokemon-ex. This power, by itself, is an anti-ex-type.

Attack: "Double Scratch"
Man, I wish that this would've been just a Slash attack. Flippy attacks are beyond me, and I'll never see the point in using them, except in this one case. 20x2 for [CC] isn't all that bad, but I'd've rather seen a straight 20 for [CC] or even 10X3 for [C]. I'm an odds man, and I see the Ľ chance of getting no damage to be too high. Then again, against a dual-weak Pokemon, this could be a huge advantage… (40x2x2=160...)

Ratings:
Unlimited:
Not really worth the effort. There are many other cards that do much more damage without relying on weakness to take over, seeing as many of the popular Pokemon in Unlimited have no weakness. 1.25/5

Modified:
This is one part of my "Ultimate TecH" deck. He's pretty good as support, or as somebody you want to build a deck around. I'd suggest against doing the latter, as Kecleon's pretty weak as a main-attacker. More of TecH against a specific type that your deck is particularly weak against. 3/5

Limited:
VERY good. You will most likely play at least 2 different energy types in Limited, and probably more than that. A card that can change its type based upon energy attachment, especially seeing as there are very few cards in SS that don't have a weakness, is extremely powerful, even with the relatively weak attack. 4.5/5

~Bullados
Ralphy  Ralphy-
I'm guessing that Kecleon is a Chameleon is the power is pretty fitting. This could be great, when used correctly.

Unlimited- I wouldn't mind tossing one of these into a Haymaker deck because there is already some different types of energy in there. But outside of that, there is no use for it in Unlimited and it is a 60 HP fighting weak. Tyrouge, Tyrouge. 2/5

Modified- To start, Double Scratch isn't too bad. Average 20 for *CC*, which is to be expected. Now if you use 2 fires to power the attack up, and you are facing a grass poke, you deal 40 for *CC*, which is nice. Now the clincher, If you face a duel weakness Poke, and you have the correct energy, he deals an average of 80 for *CC*. That is superb. Ex Pokes are a big chunk of the format and Kecleon makes for a good counter, you deck does have to be geared in a way that Kecleon get used effectively though. I give a 3.5/5.

Limited- Colorless attack, 60 HP basic, one retreat. All good think for a draft Poke. A draft deck commonly uses more two types so Kecleon get more usuable. 3.25/5 here.
Otaku

Just a quick note-I was in a hurry this week, and forgot that EX Dragons was upon us.  This gives access to some very useful cards for Zangoose, and shows us its reason for existing as it slaughters so many Dragon Evolutions.  For Modified, bump it up to a tentative 4/5; unless no really strong Dragon decks emerge, any deck lacking a colorless attacker will want Zangoose then.  For Limited, if you are using Sandstorm with Dragons, it’s a 5/5!  And now for today’s card…

 

Name: Kecleon

Type: Colorless

Stage: Basic

HP: 60

Weakness: Fighting

Resistance: None

Retreat: C

Poké-BODY: Energy Variation

Kecleon’s type is the same as every type of basic Energy card attached to Kecleon.

Attack#1: (CC) Double Scratch [20x]

Flip 2 coins.  This attack does 20 damage times the number of heads.

 

Ah, something I think will be a little less contested as an AB3 (Almost Big Bad Basic).  For those who haven’t been reading some of the more recent CotDs, lately we have been looking at some Basic Pokémon who have enough power to get them noticed in Modified, but not quite enough for Unlimited.

 

Attributes: Like many recent cards, this has no real place in Unlimited, so the review will focus on Modified.  We only have one Kecleon, which is a Basic with no available Evolutions or “pre”-Evolutions.  So it’s probably not going to slide into any pre-existing decks “just because it’s a Kecleon”.  As a Basic, Colorless Pokémon, you’d think its only competition would be Zangoose and maybe Skyridge Ditto for Eon, but as you’ll see later on, that is not the case.  Kecleon has 60 HP, which is fairly good for a non-evolving Basic.  Its not the 70 that keeps it safe from most “straight-damage” attacks of Stage 2s, but its good enough to stand up to other basics and some Stage 1 Pokémon with all but the worst luck.  It is Weak to Fighting, which is not so hot considering that there exists good Fighting TecH if Kecleon were to be found in a lot of decks… or to nail other poplar Fighting Weak Pokémon, like Linoone and Delcatty.  There is no Resistance, sadly, so we’ll move onto retreat.  A retreat cost of just one is the second best in the game, and is quite easy to pay… though some of Kecleon’s other talents may make it awkward…

 

Abilities: What makes Kecleon interesting is its Energy Variation Poké-Body.  It is all types that it has a Basic Energy attached for.  That means it can be any combination of Fighting, Fire, Grass, Electric, Psychic, or Water types, including some or all of them at once.  It can only be Colorless if it has no basic Energies attached, or if it has its Poké-Body turned off, say by Muk ex.  It only has one, fairly generic attack, but it serves its purpose: Double Scratch averages 20, which is what (CC) pays for.

 

Uses/Combinations: Type-Matching.  This thing can exploit almost any Weakness in the right deck.  One popular idea is running it with the Expedition version of Alakazam, and a couple of each energy type: both Pokémon can make use of the varied energy types (that Alakazam can mimic opponent’s attacks via a Poké-Power, but needs the correct Energy).  An added bonus is that the deck is half built for you: buy an Echo theme deck, get a couple Kecleon, and you got a chance.  Conversely, you can buy and trade for the cards you need to max out said deck, but with the Echo theme deck acting as a base; it will make things much easier.  Other than that, it is not unheard of (or unsuccessful) t toss a handful of  Basic Energy for a type you need to emulate to counter a specific threat to your deck, such as tossing in some Fire Energies with Kecleon into a water deck to provide a solid “Basic” Fire Pokémon.  What makes Kecleon particularly nasty, though, is since its Poké-Power makes it multiple types at once, it can apply both Weaknesses found on some Pokémon ex!  This means that with a Grass and Psychic Energy attached, Kecleon has a one-in-four chance of OHKOing a Gardevoir ex!  The downside is that it loses its “Colorless” type, so it wouldn’t score double damage to the Colorless weak Pokémon from Dragons.  It also would have to apply both sets of Resistance to, reducing total damage by 60, if it matches both types.

 

Ratings

 

Unlimited: 1.75/5-You could run it in a specialized deck if you wished, but a lot of the most played Pokémon lack weaknesses, so it is ineffective as a whole.

 

Modified: 3.75/5-You can run it to kill many, many annoying Pokémon, if you can make room for the needed basic Energy cards.

 

Limited: 4/5-Its incredibly evil here.  Whatever else you got, you can now add this to counter Weakness/Resistance for the rest.  Just remember the strength of Fighting types in this set and format.

 

-Otaku (nintendotaku@hotmail.com)

soslow Kecleon

Feh....Kecleon's an odd one. Essentially, you can load Kecleon up to have an advantage against every type (including those dual weakness Pokemon-exs) But when it only has a potential of 80 with two heads and only 60 HP it doesn't really seem worth it. Also take into account that while giving it different energy you could potentially be setting yourself up for a backfire when they bring out something with a resistance against one of Kecleons types.

Ratings:
Unlimited- 1/5
Modified- 2/5
2 vs 2- 2/5 (I dont see anything extravagent there either)
Limited- 3.5/5...this could be quite good considering you'll use more than one type of energy

 


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