Horsemen Of Morgantown

Hello, Horsemen. It’s time to talk Pokemon.

 

This week we’ll be covering a card that’s caught my eye since coming back from the Philadelphia Regional Championship on Oct. 26th and 27th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s right, folks. Your eyes do not deceive you. Kecleon (PLF 94) is a bit of an oddity as far as Pokemon cards are concerned. The fantastic type-switching Pokemon is one of a group of cards who can copy moves. The other two examples of this in current Modified play are Zoroark (BLW 71) and Mew EX (DRX 46).



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While these three cards do essentially the same effect, they do about it very differently. Zoroark copies one of the Defending Pokemon’s moves for only a Double Colorless energy with Foul Play, but it’s a 100 HP Stage 1 which makes it a bit difficult to keep in play. Mew EX has the Ability “Versatile” which allows it to copy the moves of any Pokemon in play, yours and the opponent’s. However, you must be able to pay the exact energy cost to use the attack. Kecleon falls in the middle between these two, in that it can only copy the attacks of the Defending Pokemon, but it must also meet energy requirements.

In previous formats, Zoroark found a niche in combating Reshiram and Zekrom by copying their 120 damage attacks paired with either Special Darkness Energy or a PlusPower. Mew EX was played to success in the 2012 National Championships in what became known as the “Gothlock” deck by copying Accelgor’s “Deck and Cover”. So where could Kecleon fit?

Before we can deduce Kecleon’s place in the format, let’s look at how to maximize his damage. If Kecleon copies the attacks of the Defending Pokemon, then we want to attack Pokemon that are weak to themselves. So which two types are weak to itself? Dragon and Psychic. Hmmm. I think there are some of those that are pretty good.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah. Like those. So let’s do some math.

KECLEON VS. MEWTWO EX
Kecleon with a Double Colorless attached against a Mewtwo EX with a Double Colorless.

Kecleon uses Imittack and copies X-Ball. 2 energy + 2 energy * 20 = 80 damage then x2 for weakness, ending up with 160 damage.

KECLEON VS. DEOXYS EX
Kecleon with a Psychic/Prism Energy and a Plasma Energy against a Deoxys EX with Psychic/Prism Energy and a Plasma Energy.

Kecleon copies Helix Force and has a Plasma attached. 30 damage + 60 for the 2 energies attached to Deoxys EX then x2 for weakness. 180 damage.

KECLEON VS. BLACK KYUREM EX
Kecleon with 3 energies of any type versus a Black Kyurem EX with any amount of energy.

Kecleon copies Slash for 60 damage, x2 for weakness. 120 damage.

 

Unfortunately, only in one of these matchups is Kecleon able to take a KO. However, there is still one trick left up Kecleon’s sleeve: Silver Bangle.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The reason Silver Bangle is as amazing of a card as it is comes from a ruling done by the PUI Rules Team (Information can be found in the Compendium). To paraphrase: Any additions and subtractions to damage come before calculating weakness and resistance for the Attacking Pokemon, but additions and subtractions to damage come after weakness and resistance for the Defending Pokemon.

Let’s take a look at what that means for damage calculation:

THUNDURUS EX VS. TERRAKION
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this example, we have both Pokemon fully-powered with their respective energies. Thundurus EX has an Eviolite attached whereas Terrakion has a Silver Bangle.

 

Now, if Terrakion uses Retaliate (but a Pokemon has not been knocked out last turn), Retaliate does 30 damage x2 for weakness for a total of 60. Now, because Silver Bangle is attached, Retaliate attacks for 30 + 30 damage and x2 for weakness. 120 damage. Now, because Thundurus EX has an Eviolite attached, 20 damage is subtracted next (because Thundurus EX is defending), leaving our final number at 100 damage. Now, we can use this basic model for calculation to figure out what exactly happens when we put Silver Bangle on Kecleon. 

KECLEON VS. MEWTWO EX
Instead of Kecleon doing 160 damage by copying X-Ball, Kecleon with Silver Bangle will attack for 80 + 30, then x2 for weakness. 220 damage. OHKO.

KECLEON VS. BLACK KYUREM EX
Instead of copying Slash for 120 damage, Silver Bangle brings up Slash’s 60 damage to a perfect 90 damage for 180 damage OHKO.

So Kecleon can OHKO three of the most popular EXs in Modified, which is not too shabby considering you can buy a single copy of the card for $1. So now to find a place in a deck for Kecleon. Any deck utilizing Double Colorless and Energy Switch (reprinted in Legendary Treasures recently) could make good use of Kecleon.

Incidentally, the return of Energy Switch brings back the “Rebirth” of Ho-Oh EX decks. Ho-oh decks, in some ways, began as the precursor to the deck known as “Big Basics” which utilizes attackers that are fully powered from a single attachment. In a Ho-oh deck, you can set up multiple single attachment attackers with Energy Switch in just one turn.

 

This combination with Kecleon works very easily against Mewtwo and Black Kyurem, but the setup required to copy Deoxys EX’s Helix Force does not allow a player to gain much. It’s more beneficial to set up your own Deoxys and counterattack. I’m honestly not sure if Kecleon will make much of a splash in competitive play. But with the new rules change coming on November 8th, it’s hard to say what will come out of the woodwork.