R
RattataJoey
Today I'm reveiwing the recently revealed Conkeldurr from Psycho Drive
Conkeldurr from Coro Coro
Conkeldurr - Fighting - HP140
Stage 2 - Evolves from Gurdurr
Ability: Master Arts
This Pokemon's maximum HP is increased by 20 for each Fighting Energy attached to this Pokemon.
[F][C][C][C] Mountain Drop: 80 damage. Flip a coin until you get tails. For each heads, discard a card from the top of your opponent's deck.
So how does this card stack up;
Firstly we can note that he's a Stage 2 with 140HP, while not seeming overly impressive 140HP still beats average, if only by 10HP.
Secondly we see his ability, which is what will probably attract most peoples attention, Master Arts grants Conkeldurr an extra 20HP for each fighting energy attached to him meaning that Conkeldurr has the pontential to be a stubborn Pokémon to take down.
Thirdly is his attack Mountain Drop for 1 Fighting and 3 colourless you can do 80 and you flip a coin until you hit tails for each heads you discard the top card of your opponents deck, this attack has the potential to be devastating but most likely you'll be discarding 1 or 2 cards if any at all.
Lastly are his bottom line stats as to be expected on a pure fighting type conkeldurr has a 2 times Psychic weakness which at the moment isn't horrible but could hold trouble in the future as I'll explain later, he also has a retreat cost of 4 which means if you want him back on the bench your going to need a switch or to burn alot of energy.
So does he have a future in the metagame?, personally I don't think he does, even with generous hitpoints and the ability to increase them to obscene heights he faces a few problems the biggest of which is Mewtwo EX.
Mewtwo EX - Psychic - HP170
Basic Pokemon
[C][C] X-Ball: 20x damage. Does 20 damage for each Energy attached to both Active Pokemon.
[P][P][C] Psycho Drive: 120 damage. Discard an Energy attached to this Pokemon.
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
Mewtwo already hits Conkeldurr's weakness and can do 80 for double colourless with Xball, Xball's damage is 20 times the number of energy attached to mewtwo and the defending pokémon, Conkeldurrs weakness makes that a whooping 40 damage per energy, meaning that with just the energy to use Xball Mewtwo is hitting Conkeldurr for 80 damage meaning that Mewtwo can 2 shot Conkeldurr and sadly his ability doesn't save him, remember that the damage also counts the energy attached to Conkeldurr so even though each fighting energy attached gives him an extra 20HP Mewtwo gets to do an extra 40 damage meaning that mewtwo can soon converge on Conkeldurr making the the 2HKO into an OHKO infact if Conkeldurr has 3 energy attached Mewtwo will hit him for 200 damage which perfectly matches Conkeldurr max HP at that time, so we lose Conkeldurr without even getting to attack once.
Another problem is the amount energy that Conkeldurr requires to attack, 4 energy or 3 if you use DCE for 80 damage is horrible even with the added effect as I stated before you'll more than likely only be discarding 1 or 2 cards at most which most likely won't harm any consistent deck unless your extremely lucky, of course with his attack requiring so much energy and his ability being fueled by energy he might stand a strong chance if we're given an energy acceleration engine for fighting and a card like this might be an indicator as to whether we get 1 or not, personally I feel that we won't and that Conkeldurr will become another card with its potential left untapped.
In closing I'm quite saddened by the fact that this Conkeldurr won't make a huge impact unless theres a split in the set similar to what happened with Black and White and we get Conkeldurr a set before Mewtwo EX, Conkeldurr has alot of potential and I'd love for something to be released that could help realise it and make Conkeldurr the Champion he deserves to be.
Signing off for now,
RattataJoey
Conkeldurr from Coro Coro
Conkeldurr - Fighting - HP140
Stage 2 - Evolves from Gurdurr
Ability: Master Arts
This Pokemon's maximum HP is increased by 20 for each Fighting Energy attached to this Pokemon.
[F][C][C][C] Mountain Drop: 80 damage. Flip a coin until you get tails. For each heads, discard a card from the top of your opponent's deck.
So how does this card stack up;
Firstly we can note that he's a Stage 2 with 140HP, while not seeming overly impressive 140HP still beats average, if only by 10HP.
Secondly we see his ability, which is what will probably attract most peoples attention, Master Arts grants Conkeldurr an extra 20HP for each fighting energy attached to him meaning that Conkeldurr has the pontential to be a stubborn Pokémon to take down.
Thirdly is his attack Mountain Drop for 1 Fighting and 3 colourless you can do 80 and you flip a coin until you hit tails for each heads you discard the top card of your opponents deck, this attack has the potential to be devastating but most likely you'll be discarding 1 or 2 cards if any at all.
Lastly are his bottom line stats as to be expected on a pure fighting type conkeldurr has a 2 times Psychic weakness which at the moment isn't horrible but could hold trouble in the future as I'll explain later, he also has a retreat cost of 4 which means if you want him back on the bench your going to need a switch or to burn alot of energy.
So does he have a future in the metagame?, personally I don't think he does, even with generous hitpoints and the ability to increase them to obscene heights he faces a few problems the biggest of which is Mewtwo EX.
Mewtwo EX - Psychic - HP170
Basic Pokemon
[C][C] X-Ball: 20x damage. Does 20 damage for each Energy attached to both Active Pokemon.
[P][P][C] Psycho Drive: 120 damage. Discard an Energy attached to this Pokemon.
Pokemon EX Rule: When Pokemon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
Mewtwo already hits Conkeldurr's weakness and can do 80 for double colourless with Xball, Xball's damage is 20 times the number of energy attached to mewtwo and the defending pokémon, Conkeldurrs weakness makes that a whooping 40 damage per energy, meaning that with just the energy to use Xball Mewtwo is hitting Conkeldurr for 80 damage meaning that Mewtwo can 2 shot Conkeldurr and sadly his ability doesn't save him, remember that the damage also counts the energy attached to Conkeldurr so even though each fighting energy attached gives him an extra 20HP Mewtwo gets to do an extra 40 damage meaning that mewtwo can soon converge on Conkeldurr making the the 2HKO into an OHKO infact if Conkeldurr has 3 energy attached Mewtwo will hit him for 200 damage which perfectly matches Conkeldurr max HP at that time, so we lose Conkeldurr without even getting to attack once.
Another problem is the amount energy that Conkeldurr requires to attack, 4 energy or 3 if you use DCE for 80 damage is horrible even with the added effect as I stated before you'll more than likely only be discarding 1 or 2 cards at most which most likely won't harm any consistent deck unless your extremely lucky, of course with his attack requiring so much energy and his ability being fueled by energy he might stand a strong chance if we're given an energy acceleration engine for fighting and a card like this might be an indicator as to whether we get 1 or not, personally I feel that we won't and that Conkeldurr will become another card with its potential left untapped.
In closing I'm quite saddened by the fact that this Conkeldurr won't make a huge impact unless theres a split in the set similar to what happened with Black and White and we get Conkeldurr a set before Mewtwo EX, Conkeldurr has alot of potential and I'd love for something to be released that could help realise it and make Conkeldurr the Champion he deserves to be.
Signing off for now,
RattataJoey
