21times |
Kangaskhan
(Sun & Moon, 99/149) returns to the meta in the
Sun & Moon expansion set.
A very hefty 130 HP Basic Pokemon, it features
two attacks,
Cross-Cut (30 base damage, 60 to evolution Pokemon)
and Hurricane Punch (flip four coins, 50 damage for each heads).
It is a Colorless Pokemon with the typical
Fighting weakness and a heavy three retreat cost.
I am so happy to say that
Kangaskhan is
actually playable.
In sixteen matches, I won six and lost ten.
However, if you can get multiple
Kangaskhans
set up, you can actually compete against any of the big
boys (except Fighting).
I beat
Lurantis GX (Sun & Moon, 138/149)
Solgaleo GX (Sun
& Moon, 143/149),
Yveltal EX (XY,
144/146) Umbreon
GX (Sun & Moon, 142/149),
M Gardevoir EX
(Steam Siege, 79/114)
Espeon GX (Sun
& Moon, 140/149),
M Mewtwo EX (Breakthrough,
64/162), Golduck Break (Breakpoint, 18/122), and
Garchomp (Breakpoint, 70/122).
It’s not going to win quickly – these are all
games in which you’re going to have to fight long and
hard. I
found, though, that it takes
a lot of
damage to beat
Kangaskhan.
Look at it this way: to KO six
Kangaskhan –
four with Fighting
Fury Belts (Breakpoint, 99/122) – it takes a
minimum of 940
damage to win the match (170 HP X 4 PLUS 130 HP X
2). Compare
that to having to KO only three
Solgaleo GX’s.
That’s only 750 damage, almost two hundred damage
less than
Kangaskhan. And – to
extend that 940 number well over a thousand – I included
Fairy Drop (Fates Collide, 99/124) and
Puzzle of Time
(Breakpoint, 109/122).
I would guess that in several of the matches that
my opponents had to actually do more than 1200 damage in
total because I was able to bring multiple
Fairy Drops
back with Puzzle
of Time.
Below is the decklist I used.
It’s not a great deck, but it’s at least somewhat
competitive:
##Pokémon - 8
* 4 Kangaskhan SUM 99
* 4 Unown AOR 30
##Trainer Cards - 36
* 2 Fairy Garden XY 117
* 4 Puzzle of Time BKP 109
* 4 Fighting Fury Belt BKP 99
* 4 Fairy Drop FAC 99
* 1 Super Rod BKT 149
* 4 Random Receiver FAC 109
* 4 Max Elixir BKP 102
* 4 N NVI 101
* 2 Heavy Ball NXD 88
* 2 Revive ROS 88
* 4 Professor Birch's Observations PRC 134
* 1 Special Charge STS 105
##Energy - 16
* 4 Double Colorless Energy EVO 90
* 12 Fairy Energy XYEnergy 2
Rating
Standard: 2.5 out of 5
Conclusion
While not the best card coming
out of Sun & Moon,
Kangaskhan is
at least somewhat competitive.
It’s not going to place top 8 at any major
tournament, but Kangaskhan is one tough alligator / crocodile / dragon that needs a
ton of damage to take down.
I would also say that he will definitely benefit
from the soon to be released card
Victini (Guardians
Rising, 10/169).
There were a couple of times that I went 0 for 4
on coin flips with
Hurricane Punch.
I’m sure
Victini would be worth at least another win or two
in the matches I played.
|
Otaku |
We conclude this
week with Kangaskhan (Sun & Moon 99/149).
She is a Basic Pokémon, the best Stage to be for the
last six or seven years due to the pacing, the fact that
one card equals one copy, Basic Stage support, being
able to function as your opening Active, and a natural
synergy with many card effects. There are anti-Basic
Pokémon effect, some actually pretty good, but it
remains the best Type. She’s Colorless, which
means you won’t be able to exploit Weakness, won’t have
to deal with Resistance, can tap a little Type support,
and technically has to worry about anti-Colorless Type
effects (or would if they’d ever proven competitive). Kangaskhan
enjoys 130 HP, just 10 under the maximum we’ve seen
printed for Basic Pokémon, excluding those featuring a
mechanic like being a Pokémon-EX or Pokémon-GX.
This gives her a fair chance of surviving an attack,
though hard hitting decks or those exploiting Weakness
should still take her down in one hit, unless their
setup is lacking. Said Weakness is to the Fighting
Type, who are known for hitting hard, hitting fast, and
stacking damage bonuses. It isn’t the worst
Weakness, but only because there are enough crazy good
decks to crowd out the still impressive Fighting Types.
Lack of Resistance is typical, though extra
disappointing given that it would be even more useful
with 130 HP. The Retreat Cost of [CCC] is
definitely enough that manually retreating at full price
is a real issue, though it does mean that Kangaskhan
may be searched out with Heavy Ball or utilize
Heavy Boots… though most of the time you’ll just use
Ultra Ball, maybe Lure Ball, and
Fighting Fury Belt or Float Stone instead.
Kangaskhan
has two attacks. For [C] she can use “Cross-Cut”
to do 30 damage, plus another 30 if the opponent’s
Active is an Evolved Pokémon. 30 for [C] isn’t great,
but it isn’t bad, and when you get the effect 60 for one
is really good. Evolutions aren’t the most run
Stage, but are hardly rare. For [CCCC]
Kangaskhan can use “Hurricane Punch” to flip four
coins, good for 50 damage per “heads”. 6.25% of
outcomes are doing no damage, 25% yield 50 damage, 37.5%
result in 100 damage, another 25% does 150 damage, and
another 6.25% grants 200 damage. That means 100
damage is the mean, median, and mode results; 100 for
four isn’t bad, but it isn’t great, either.
Together, these two attacks complement each other in the
sense that both have only Colorless Energy requirements,
that one attack involves a conditional requirement while
the other involves flips, and you have the
next-to-lowest cost (one energy) versus the next to
highest cost (four Energy). This isn’t great, but
especially as Evolutions become more common, it may not
be worthless, either.
The other options
for Kangaskhan are BW: Plasma Blast 71/101
and XY: Fates Collide 75/124. Both are also
Basic, Colorless Pokémon with Fighting Weakness, no
Resistance, and two attacks. BW: Plasma Blast
71/101 has 100 HP with a Retreat Cost of [CC]. Her
attacks are “Call for Family” for [C] and “Comet Punch”
for [CC]. The formers allows you to search your
two Basic Pokémon to put on your Bench, while the latter
grants four coin flips, doing 20 damage per heads.
Comet Punch has the same percentage break down as
Hurricane Punch, but with 0, 20, 40, 60, and 80 damage
(with 40 being the mean/median/mode). XY: Fates
Collide 75/124 has 120 HP with Retreat Cost [CCC]
with the attacks “Tiny Punch” and “Mega Punch”.
They cost [CC] and [CCCC], respectively, doing 40 damage
and 100 damage. Both returns are a bit low for the
Energy, but only a bit and at least they are reliable.
None of these Kangaskhan are super great, but for
her niche, a Basic with 130 HP that hits okay for a
little or a lot of Energy, she really is an option.
Most of the time, though, you won’t need such a thing.
What made this card catch my eye is its presence in the
“Forest Shadow” Theme Deck, quite handy for the Theme
Deck Format on the PTCGO; I presume she would be a great
pull for Limited Format events as well.
Ratings
Standard:
1.75/5
Expanded:
1.5/5
Limited:
4/5
Theme:
4/5
Conclusion
Kangaskhan
is a great thing for Limited and Theme deck play,
but falls short elsewhere. Her design, while
straightforward, isn’t really all that bad, and she
really demonstrates power creep well. She’s
filler, but at least she’s higher quality filler.
|
