Machamp #49/101 -- Plasma Blast Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Machamp from the Plasma Blast Pokemon Card Set.  This is the first of two Machamp cards I'll be reviewing from the Plasma Blast set.  Machamp is a stage 2, fighting type Pokemon card, with an hp of 150.  It has a x2 weakness to psychic type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost.  Machamp's Ability is called Badge of Discipline and says that the damage of each of your fighting type Pokemon's attacks is not affected by resistance.  Besides the Ability, Machamp just has one move called Close Combat, this move requires four energy cards, three colorless and one fighting, and does 120 damage, unfortunately if you get a tails when you flip a coin while using this move any attack your opponent does to Machamp during their next turn is increased by 30.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Machamp is a stage 2 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Machop into play and then evolve it into Machoke before you can evolve Machoke into Machamp, both of those Pokemon are from this set and I've reviewed both of them the last couple of days.  The previous two Pokemon in this family are average at best, both have high retreat costs so if you want to use Machamp in your deck, I would recommend setting this line up on your bench.  And remember, this is the first of two Machamp cards from this set so in tomorrow's review I'll be stating which one I like better from this set.  So like I said, if you want to use this line in your deck, I would set it up on the bench since Machamp requires four energy cards to attack and while on the bench you can utilize Machamp's Ability.  I would use this card in a fairly heavy fighting type Pokemon deck to make best use of Machamp's Ability, I would then put four energy cards on Machamp, and when in the active Pokemon spot I would use Close Combat every turn.  Personally I wouldn't use this line in a deck just because most of the Pokemon in it are average to below average.  But if you do choose to use this line, I wouldn't use more than a 2-1-1 line of Machop, Machoke, and Machamp.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is an average stage 2 Pokemon card from the Plasma Blast Pokemon card set.  I do like that this card has a high hp, pretty decent Ability, and one good move, but the reason I'm only giving this card an average rating is because the retreat cost is high, and the only move this card has is extremely slow, so if you get it into the active Pokemon spot without four energy cards on it, its 150 hp won't seem so high, plus if you flip a tails when attacking, the 150 hp will go faster as well.  Overall, the line of Machop, Machoke, and the first Machamp card from this set gets an average 3 rating from me, Machop was a 2, Machoke and Machamp was a 3.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Machamp from the Plasma Blast set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of the second Machamp card from this set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
Which other English sets has Machamp been in at least twice?
Please respond by including your YouTube username and link to your YouTube channel.  If the question is quite tough, the first correct comment will win, otherwise I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner.