|
Hey guys, and welcome to a bit of a short week of
Pokemon cards! Since it is a short week, we'd like to
refamiliarize you guys with some reprints that joined in
this set! Today's reprint is going to be Enhanced
Hammer!
Now Enhanced Hammer is not all that old, but it's very
useful. In fact, it's SO useful, we actually
reviewed it back in August as part of our Top 10
Cards Lost to Rotation! (so much for that, am I
right?) It can be used to whack off a Special Energy off
of one of your opponent's Pokemon. Sounds too
situational? Well considering that we've got DCE, Strong
Energy, Herbal Energy, the new Mystery Energy, Plasma
Energy, and Rainbow Energy currently in the format -
with the addition of the two Blend Energies in Expanded
- we've got a whole host of decks that this card can go
up against!
Enhanced Hammer's mere existence means you have to watch
out before powering up your Landorus-EX with Strong
Energy - you may be able to hit hard this turn, but
after Enhanced Hammer comes down, you have to rely on
Muscle Band and HTLBank to really dish out damage.
Course, you could wait for one of the three other Strong
Energy you've got hidden away in your deck...assuming
they haven't been selected as Prize cards.
We talked a little about Xerosic being a good Supporter
in regards to him discarding Special Energies, but with
Enhanced Hammer, you won't ever need to use him outside
of getting rid of Tools your opponent put down - whether
that's a Muscle Band on one of their guys or a Team
Flare Hyper Gear on one of your guys! The best part
about Enhanced Hammer is that it's not limited to once
per turn, so as long as your opponent's Pokemon have
Special Energies on them, you can play out any and all
Enhanced Hammers you've got!
There may be a slight catch/combo to be had with
Seismitoad-EX's Item Locking power; while he can be used
to cripple your opponent in combination with Enhanced
Hammer, he also locks down the Hammer if he's opposing
you. Aside from that, though, there's not a whole lot a
player can do against the Hammer, and that's what makes
it so dangerous in a Special Energy-heavy format!
There is one other card to keep an eye on as far as the
Hammer goes, and that's Lysandre's Trump Card. Any card
that can reset the stage is going to have a big impact
on what's happened previously, and while you do get the
Hammers you've used back, your opponent also gets their
Special Energies back - and that could spell trouble for
you if they draw one first!
All things considered though, you better be running this
bad boy in all of your decks - at least 2 if you're not
going all the way up to 4!
Rating
Standard: 4/5 (a solid card that gets rid of a lot of
stuff and sets your opponents back a turn)
Expanded: 4.5/5 (even better with the addition of more
Special Energies!)
Limited: 3/5 (the only big Special Energies are Mystery
and DCE, but having a Hammer around to whack em out of
the park is always nice!)
Arora Notealus: At least this set HAS Special Energies
in it. Remember Dark Explorers? Limited, this card was
useless cause there was nothing to whack! Now you can
enjoy the mighty Hammer in all formats!
Next Time: Where's that one guy I wanted to battle
again...
|
