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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Hariyama (Undaunted)  Hello, and welcome to the start of another week of Pojo’s CotD.  We kick off with Hariyama from Undaunted. You pretty much always know what you are going to get with Hariyama – relatively big attacks for a relatively big cost. Will this one live up to expectations, and will it be the first playable Hariyama for a long, long time? Let’s find out.  Hariyama is a Fighting-type Stage 1 with a decent 100 HP, Psychic Weakness, no Resistance, and a horrible Retreat cost of three. Fighting is a reasonably good typing to have, given that the ever-popular Luxray is Weak to it.  But that only matter if Hariyama has the attacks to take advantage. Its first offering, Hammer In, does a straight 60 damage, which will easily one-shot that Luxray, but unfortunately, it costs [F][C][C] to use. Even with the possibility of using Double Colourless to speed things up, it’s too slow. Consider Donphan Prime as the benchmark . . . a Fighting Stage 1 that does the same amount of damage for only one Energy.  Add yet another Fighting Energy to Hariyama and you can do Backwards Belt Throw for 80. This attack is slightly more interesting in that it gives you the option to do another 20 damage with the drawback of having Hariyama do 20 to itself.  100 for four Energy is no more than decent, and the backlash really hurts Hariyama. It certainly isn’t enough reward for risking so much Energy on a Pokémon that is now reduced to 80 HP.   . . . and that’s the problem with Hariyama, and an awful lot of Stage 1 Pokémon. They lack the sheer speed (and support) of Basic attackers, and don’t have the hitting power and durability of a Stage 2. This is made even worse when they have big Energy costs (like Hariyama), as even the slight speed advantage they have over Stage 2s is eroded by the need to pile 3-4 Energy on them.  All this leaves Hariyama as a Pokémon which, compared to the rest of the format, is both weak and slow . . . and those are the two worst things that an attacking Pokémon can be.  Rating  Modified: 1.25 (we have several Fighting Stage 1s that are a lot better – never mind anything else) Limited: 2.75 (not so bad in a slow, low-damage format)
virusyosh	Hello once again, Pojo viewers! This week we are continuing with more Undaunted reviews. Today we are looking at a non-holo rare from the set: Hariyama. Hariyama is a Stage 1 Fighting Pokemon. Fighting types aren't commonly seen in the metagame today, with the exception of Donphan Prime, Machamp SF, and a few other cards generally used as techs (Relicanth SV and Promo Toxicroak G come to mind). 100 HP is fairly good for a Stage 1, so it should probably survive a hit or two. Psychic Weakness isn't great, as there are still a decent number of Psychics still played, even if they aren't necessarily main attackers. No Resistance and a Retreat Cost of 3 are both pretty bad. Hariyama has two attacks. The first, Hammer In, does 60 damage for [FCC]. Nowadays, 60 damage for 3 energy is really expensive, especially if there is no secondary effect involved. The second attack, Backward Belt Throw, starts off at 80 damage for [FFCC], but can do 20 more damage if Hariyama deals 20 damage to itself. Having the choice to be able to do more damage is great, however 4 energy is probably a bit too costly and the recoil damage can add up quickly if you decide to add damage to Backward Belt Throw. Modified: 1.75/5 The attacks are too expensive and don't do enough. If you really want to use a bulky Stage 1 Fighting Pokemon, use Donphan Prime. Limited: 2.5/5 Hariyama could totally work in Limited, despite its shortcomings in Modified. There are Darkness types all over Undaunted, so you may run into a few Fighting Weaknesses to Hammer In for the KO. 100 HP is also a nice big body for this format, too. Just don't get recoil-happy and you should easily be able to get a few KOs.
RocketProf	Hello all!! The first COTD for this week is Hariyama for the Undaunted Expansion, a Stage 1 Fighting type with a 2X Psychic weakness (sad face), no Resistance (sad face) and a Retreat Cost of 3 (sadder face).  All in all this card isn't one I can find a logical use for, the stats leave a lot to be desired and the attacks are expensive at FCC for 60 and FFCC for 80 or 100 and 20 to yourself, and only having 100HP this isn't a hit worth taking, especially considering the hefty Energy cost... poor Hariyama... another sub par card... Modified-1.5/5 Limited-2.5/5 (the colorless costs make it a little more versatile... a little)
Otaku	As someone with a mild interest in sumo wrestling, I had to review this card.  Sadly, that and striving to fully review the set are the only real reasons I see for looking at Hariyama.  He is a Stage 1 and lately that doesn’t bode well.  Theoretically, all Pokémon Stages should be equal.  Basic Pokémon are fast but either limited in strength to compensate, or rely on an evolved form for more options.  Stage 2 Pokémon are supposed to have the best abilities and attributes but are slower to get into play and sometimes can have really poor lower Stages to compensate.  Stage 1 Pokémon are supposed to be a nice compromise: faster than Stage 2 Pokémon but with more to them than Stage 1 Pokémon.  Realistically, they should the stage of evolution most likely to be overpowered, not underpowered.  Yet when the game first began, the problem was several Basic Pokémon were too fast and powerful for most evolved Pokémon to compete.  In modern times, it is usually the opposite: we have so many evolution short cuts that running evolutions means two extra cards but no extra time… and in a game with this TCG’s level of draw and search power, two more cards is nothing.  Rare Candy and Broken Time Space can and do help Stage 1 Pokémon, but especially Rare Candy is just too good for Stage 2 Pokémon.   The fact I had room and time to insert that mini-rant shows how fast the rest of the review will go.  100 HP in general is good for a Stage 1 Pokémon but given the idea of a “sumo wrestling Pokémon”, feels light.  Double weakness to Psychic Pokémon is not good, though it is appropriate.  Lack of Resistance is bad but commonplace.  A retreat cost of three is appropriate (again, big guy here)…except he isn’t that big, is he?  You have to pack some cards to get it out of the Active slot.  Hammer In requires (FCC) and does 60 damage straight.  Thanks to Double Colorless Energy this isn’t a slow attack, but compared to many of its contemporaries it isn’t a fast attack either and ultimately it only exists to use before you can use its big attack.  Being the “beginning” filler attack, it truly fails, even leaving out competition from Donphan from HeartGold & SoulSilver.   The card’s big attack, Backward Belt Throw has a cool sounding name (well, if you have even my limited knowledge of sumo wrestling) but a fat cost and low payout.  For (FFCC) you only hit for base 80 damage.  You can bump it up to 100 points of damage but only by doing 20 more damage to yourself.  The large Energy cost means a slow start, which in turn means you won’t be hitting hard until it fails to OHKO.  If it isn’t a OHKO, then the 20 damage isn’t worth it, since a fully healthy Hariyama will barely survive a hit from most mainstream attackers.  With all the little damage adding tricks, even the smaller attackers that Backward Belt Throw could OHKO without the self damage will be able to take Hariyama out in one blow.   Simply put, don’t use him.  The best idea I can come up with is to slap an Expert Belt and pack healing cards.  With a solid deck behind it, you should be able to pop out Hariyama attacking turn two (through a Double Colorless Energy) and the damage boost from Expert Belt will mean 80 damage at a time when it still matters.  Next turn a Fighting Energy lets you start bringing 100 or 120 damage hits.  A few Plus Power and just about anything can be OHKO’d.  It just is so inefficient compared to Donphan Prime and the other popular decks.   At least in Limited it becomes a simple, solid attacker that can be easily mixed with one or two other Colors.   Ratings   Modified: 2/5   Limited: 3.5/5   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.  I had a complicated weekend so expect a lot to be added midweek.  Just a reminder, Pojo is in no way responsible for any transactions and was merely kind enough to let me mention the auctions here. ;)
Mad Mattezhion  Professor Bathurst League Australia	Hariyama (HS Undaunted)   Everybody knows this guy. Hariyama never seems to get any love from the TCG and this version is no exception.   On the plus side, we get the usual high HP (100) in the upper end of the Stage 1 spectrum, but that is usually the only good thing about Hariyama cards. The usual negatives are also present, with a high retreat cost of 3 (workable, but pack Switch), Psychic weakness (not as popular anymore but still common) and 2 completely terrible attacks.   Hariyama here gets Hammer In (FCC for 60), which is at least 2 turns to power and far too little damage, and Backwards Belt Throw, a cool name for a truly terrible main attack. For the cost of FFCC, you deal 80 damage or increase to 100 at the cost of 20 recoil damage. Obviously, the cost makes it too slow (you’ll be KOed before then) but even then, the damage is sub par and the recoil is worthless, helping your opponent as much as it helps you.   I will admit, I like recoil attacks in general, and the Mamoswine from Legends Awakened is a favourite card in my collection (though I admit, it is at the bottom end of playable, if it even fits into the playable group at all). However, the recoil attack on Mamoswine dealt 100 damage and 40 damage to one of the opponent’s benched Pokemon, and it had the health to absorb the 40 recoil damage. If a future Hariyama is to be playable, it needs to follow this example and deal more damage than it takes.   Modified: 1.25 (Donphan Prime is the benchmark for Stage 1 Pokemon, this card fails to match it) Limited: 3 (If you use Fighting Pokemon, Hariyama could take a few hits and give as good as it gets) Combos with: A stern letter to the designers, demanding better treatment for this noble Pokemon.