For those not already aware, my family is a Pokémon family. Watching the cartoon and exploring the video games and playing the TCG are all things my children and I do together, and as a single dad I am particularly thankful for this.
Over the last several weeks, the kids and I have been exploring the latest card game expansion, Furious Fists. As the name implies, this set is all about overwhelming power — as is evidenced by its mascot, Mega Lucario. Its theme decks, however, focus on a pair of distinctly different Pokémon.
Dark Hammer is a Dark/Fighting deck featuring the massive Pangoro. His attacks include Clobber for 30 damage and Hammer Arm for 80, and (while those aren’t anything to sneeze at on their own) both are supplemented by stellar secondary effects. By discarding an attached Item you can add an additional 40 damage to Clobber, while Hammer Arm also forces your opponent to discard the top card from his deck.
And Pangoro’s not in this fight alone, with lots of other brawler Pokémon like Makuhita/Hariyama and Landorus there to back him up. Some choice Trainer cards, specifically Korrina, which allow you to search your deck for a Fighting-type and an Item, and Evosoda, which lets you search out and play the evolved form of one of your Pokémon, help a lot with deck management by getting your heavy hitters out early in the game.
The great bear is pitted against Sylveon‘s Fairy/Grass deck Enchanted Echo. Thanks to the included Eevee’s Energy Evolution ability, which allows the player to search his deck for the corresponding evolution when attaching an Energy to this versatile Pokémon, both Sylveon and the included Leafeon see ample time on the field. With base attacks that focus on removing energy from an opponent and putting his Active Pokémon to sleep respectively, they already offer some pretty fierce control options. Add to this their higher secondary attacks, which come complete with the opportunity to do 50+ damage, and these fluffy little critters can definitely hold their own.
The Trainer card Battle Reporter, which instructs you to draw until you have the same number of cards in your hand as your opponent, and Tornadus, whose Twister Throw attack does bonus damage if you and your opponent have the same number of cards in your hand, are a devastating combo. Plus, a brand new Victreebel comes equipped with the Ability Wafting Scent, which sacrifices an Energy card to both Poison and Confuse its opponent.
The best part for the kids and me is always opening boosters, and The Pokémon Company International sent us an entire box of Furious Fists booster packs to check out. Overall it was a great haul, with the Mountain Ring Stadium showing up as a great option for protecting benched fighters and Tool Retrieval aiding the mighty Pangoro, but our best finds were probably the multiple special Energy cards – Herbal Energy, which heals for 30 damage when attached, and Strong Energy, which provides a additional 20 damage to attacks.
Sadly, we didn’t find any Mega Lucarios, but with two Mega Heracros EX cards, a Basic Heracross EX, a Dragonite EX and a gorgeous Full Art foil Fossil Researcher Trainer, we definitely had quite the haul. All this proves that if you’re looking for crazy damage or skillfull deck manipulation – or just handsome cards in general – you and yours should check out Furious Fists.
Review materials provided by: The Pokémon Company International
