Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG post, I cover the cards Fezandipiti ex, Okidogi ex, Munkidori ex and Pecharunt ex from the Night Wanderer set that was revealed in late April, early May 2024.
These four ex Cards are all of the Darkness type as they all are Poison Pokemon. Adding the Binding Mochi tool card to Poisoned Pokemon gives an attack boost of 40 damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon.
Card screenshots from the JustinBasil website.
Ferzandipiti ex
Fezandipiti ex is a Dark Basic ex Pokemon with 210 HP, one retreat cost and Fighting weakness. It is kind of an interesting card with its ability and its attack cost. The attack cost 3 colourless energy and does 100 damage to 1 of your opponent's Pokemon. You can choose to hit the opponent's Active Pokemon or hit an opponent's Benched Pokemon (assuming no Manaphy or Rabsca in play).
The Take Advantage ability is an interesting comeback ability where once during your turn, if any of your Pokemon were knocked out during the opponent's last turn, you may draw 3 cards. You can only use this ability once per turn even if there are two or more Fezandipiti ex in play. This ability is very good if you have this in play and the opponent does a strong combo like Iono + Counter Catcher with knockout or Unfair Stamp + Boss's Order with knockout in the previous turn. Drawing cards is generally highly favoured in the Pokemon TCG.
Pros
- Colourless energy attack cost with Bench sniping option
- Very good ability for drawing cards when one of your Pokemon is knocked out.
- Combos with Dark Patch for energy accleration.
Cons
- The attack is somewhat weak at 100 damage.
- Fighting weakness.
- 210 HP is kind of low for a Basic ex. Most Basic ex are 220HP with some at 230 HP or higher.
With its draw ability I do expect Fezandipiti ex to see some play. Will it be a top tier card? Not sure but let's see.
Munkidori ex
Munkidori ex is also 210 HP with one retreat cost and a Fighting weakness. The attack of Dirty Headbutt does 190 damage at the cost of two Dark energy and one colourless energy. An attack amount of 190 damage is not great as many popular Basic V Pokemon and Basic ex Pokemon are 220 HP or sometimes higher. Dirty Headbutt could one hit knockout weaker popular two prize Basic Pokemon like Squawkabilly ex, Mew ex, Lumineon V and Rotom V. For more damage to Dirty Headbutt, Binding Mochi tool card would be needed to boost the damage to 230 which is a good key number.
The ability of Skip A Beat is a prize denial ability conditional of having Pecharunt ex in play. If Munkidori ex is knocked out by an attack from the opponent's Pokemon and if you have Pecharunt ex in play then the opponent takes one less prize card. The opponent would take 1 prize card instead of the regular two in most cases. One combo idea that would be kind of broken would be this Munkidori ex, Pecharunt ex and the latest ACE SPEC energy card Legacy Energy. If the opponent knockouts Munkidori ex with your Pecharunt ex in play and Legacy Energy attached to Munkidori ex then the opponent does not take any prize cards (2 minus 1 from Skip A Beat and minus 1 from Legacy Energy effect).
Pros
- Prize denial option with Skip A Beat ability
- Combos with Binding Mochi (need Poison), Dark Patch, Pecharunt ex
- Weakness advantage over Psychic Pokemon
Cons
- The attack of 190 damage is weak.
- Opponent could play around Munkidori ex and its Prize denial ability.
- Fighting weakness
I don't think Munkidori ex is great. Defensively it can be good but offensively the attack is not great. Let's see how it plays out in certain decks with combos.
Okidogi ex
Okidogi ex is a big Basic Pokemon ex card that has 250 HP. A good handful of 2 prized Basic Pokemon in the form of Vs and Pokemon ex have 220 HP
or sometimes 230HP. Stuff like this with 250 HP is getting crazy. This card has a retreat cost of three and Fighting weakness.
The first attack of Poison Muscles takes in one colourless energy as its cost. This non damaging attack allows for Dark Energy accleration from the deck to this Okidogi ex in the active spot. The drawback is that it gets Poisoned.
Okidogi ex's second attack of Crazy Chain is kind of crazy. It costs two Dark energy and a colourless energy and does 130 base damage. If this attacking Okidogi ex is Poisoned then it does 130 more damage giving it a total of 260 damage. A damage amount of 260 damage pretty one hits any Basic Pokemon without any tools or modifiers. With the Binding Mochi tool card you can add 40 more damage if Okidogi ex is Poisoned. This results in a big 300 damage amount.
Pros
- Big HP for a Basic Pokemon
- Big attack if Poisoned
- Compatible with Dark Patch Item card and Poison themed decks.
Cons
- Three Retreat cost
- Fighting weakness
- Poison Muscles first attack better in early game. It can take time to get energy for the Crazy Chain attack.
Pecharunt ex
From the video game Pecharunt is featured in The Indigo Disk expansion. It is the leader of the Loyal Three Pokemon being Fezandipiti, Okidogi and Munkidori. This Poison/Ghost Pokemon is very dangerous as it disguises itself as a piece of Mochi. Those who eat the Mochi that Pecharunt creates are under Pecharunt's control.
Here is the Pecharunt ex card. The HP on this is quite low at 190 HP with a low one retreat cost. It has a Fighting weakness just like the Loyal Three Pokemon.
The Subjugating Chains ability provides a Switch effect for Dark Pokemon once during your turn. You have the option to switch a benched Dark Pokemon except any Pecharunt ex into the active spot. The drawback is that the new Active Pokemon is Poisoned.
Pecharunt ex's attack of Irritating Burst is one of those attacks that is dependent on how many Prize cards your opponent has taken. The damage amount is 60 times the number of prize cards your opponent has taken. This attack gets stronger in the late game. If the opponent has taken four prize cards and has two prize cards left then the attack does 240 damage. If the opponent has 1 prize card left then the attack does 60 times 5 prize cards taken = 300 damage.
Pros
- Ability is useful for switching in and out different attackers.
- Good with Okidogi ex and Poison themed decks
- Attack gets stronger in late game.
Cons
- 190 HP is low for a two prize Pokemon
- Fighting weakness
- Cannot use more than 1 Pecharunt ex ability. The ability is used once even if multiple are in play.
Concluding Notes
Dark and poisoned themed decks get a big boost with these cards from the upcoming Night Wanderer set. It is uncertain how these cards and associated decks will play out. These attackers can hit good numbers but not as high as 300 or 330 damage to knockout beefy popular stage two Pokemon like Charizard ex and the most recent Dragapult ex. More supporting cards are needed I think to help hit larger attacking numbers.
If these cards get popular I do expect Fighting to emerge as a key counter to Dark Pokemon, Electric Pokemon and to some Colourless Pokemon. In the Temporal Forces environment, Fighting Pokemon are not particularly popular. Let's see what happens in Japan first.