Machoke -- Guardians Rising Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Machoke from the Guardians Rising Pokemon Card set.  Machoke is a Stage 1, Fighting type Pokemon card, with a HP of 100.  It has a x2 weakness to Psychic type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a three Colorless Energy card retreat cost.  Machoke's Ability is called Daunting Pose and prevents all damage done to your Benched Pokemon by your opponent's attacks and Abilities.  Besides the Ability, Machoke just has one move called Cross Chop, for two Fighting Energy cards this move does 30 damage plus 30 more damage if you get a heads when flipping a coin.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Machoke is a Stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Machop into play (I reviewed Machop from this set yesterday) and then evolve Machop into Machoke.  Machop does have a Stage 2 evolution in Machamp, which I'll be reviewing tomorrow, that you'll probably want to use with this Pokemon line but since I haven't reviewed that card yet, the strategy below will act like Machoke is the final evolution in this line.  So if you read my review of Machop, you'll know that I thought it was an average Basic Pokemon card overall.  It had a powerful move for a Basic Pokemon, being able to do 50 damage for only two Energy cards, plus it had a solid HP.  But the card was limited overall with only one move and a higher retreat cost.  So knowing this and looking at this Machoke card, I would either recommend using Machop as a starter type Pokemon for your deck without Machoke, or, to use the line solely for Machoke's Ability.  You can just keep Machoke on the Bench and prevent your opponent from doing any damage to your Benched Pokemon.  Essentially, its Ability will prevent all spread damage from happening.  Besides its Ability, Cross Chop does less damage than Machop can do, so that is why I wouldn't put it in the Active Pokemon spot if I didn't have to.

Pokemon Card Rating:  
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  Despite having a move that does less damage than its Basic evolution form, in my opinion this is still an average Stage 1 Pokemon card overall.  Like I mentioned above, this card's Ability is excellent and can easily be utilized from the Bench the entire game.  Combined with Machop from this set, which I also gave a 3 out of 5 rating, both cards get a 3 out of 5 rating from me.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Machoke from the Guardians Rising set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Machop's Stage 2 evolution in Machamp, which is from this same 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 --
At what level does Machoke evolve into Machamp?
Please respond with the correct answer and a link to your YouTube channel. 24 hours from now I will be randomly selecting a correct response to my question and sending a private message to this person with a free code on YouTube.

Machoke -- Evolutions Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Machoke from the XY Evolutions Pokemon Card set.  Machoke is a Stage 1, fighting type Pokemon card, with a HP of 90.  It has a x2 weakness to psychic type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a two colorless energy card retreat cost.  Machoke does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Karate Chop, for two fighting energy cards this move does 60 damage minus 10 damage for each damage counter on Machoke.  Machoke's second move is called Submission, for three fighting energy cards, this move does 80 damage, however Machoke does 20 damage to itself.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Machoke is a Stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Machop into play (I reviewed Machop from this set yesterday) and then evolve Machop into Machoke.  Machop does have a Stage 2 evolution in Machamp, which I'll be reviewing tomorrow, that you'll probably want to use with this Pokemon line but since I haven't reviewed that card yet, the strategy below will act like Machoke is the final evolution in this line.  So if you read my review of Machop, you'll know that I thought it was a below average Basic Pokemon card overall.  The card actually had an above average HP and could do up to 40 damage a turn, but the card was limited in that it only had one move, required two energy cards to use that move, and this move was based off of coin flips, meaning it may end up doing zero damage every turn.  So knowing this about Machop and looking at this Machoke card, I cannot recommend using either in a deck, I could see using Machop if you know that Machoke is a decent card to use, but really, both of Machoke's moves work to make the other move worse.  For one turn, this card may be okay, doing 60 damage for two energy cards with Karate Chop, but as soon as Machoke gets attacked or if you decide to use Submission, Machoke gets more damage put on it, plus Karate Chop does much less damage.  So it seems like with this line that it would be best to use the full line, up to Machamp, and only keep Machop and Machoke in the active Pokemon spot for a turn or two each, never for any long periods of time.

Pokemon Card Rating:  
I would give this card a 2 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is an average to slightly below average Stage 1 Pokemon card from the XY Evolutions set.  Similar to Machop, this card has some good things going for it, it has a solid HP and two powerful moves, at least at first.  However, like I mentioned above, after one turn with Machoke, you'll either be doing less damage when attacking with Karate Chop, or you'll be attacking Machoke when using Submission.  So, since I gave both Machop and Machoke 2 out of 5 ratings from this set, combined they get the same rating from me, 2 out of 5.  Look elsewhere for fighting type Pokemon to use.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Machoke from the XY Evolutions set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Machop's Stage 2 evolution in Machamp, which is from this same 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 --
At what level does Machoke evolve into Machamp?
Please respond with the correct answer and a link to your YouTube channel. 24 hours from now I will be randomly selecting a correct response to my question and sending a private message to this person with a free code on YouTube.

Machoke -- Furious Fists Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Machoke from the Furious Fists Pokemon Card set.  Machoke is a stage 1, fighting type Pokemon card, with an hp of 90.  It has a x2 weakness to psychic type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a two colorless energy card retreat cost.  Machoke does not have an Ability and it only has one move called Beatdown.  This move requires two fighting energy cards and does 40 damage.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Machoke is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Machop into play (I reviewed Machop from this set yesterday) and then evolve Machop into Machoke.  Machoke does have a stage 2 evolution in Machamp that you'll probably want to use with this Pokemon line but since I haven't reviewed that card yet, the strategy below will act like Machoke is the final evolution in this line.  So if you read yesterday's review of Machop, you'll know that I thought that card was a below average Basic Pokemon card.  The main reason I didn't like the card was that the retreat cost on the card was higher than the energy cost of its only move, which only did 10 damage.  So knowing this about Machop and looking at this Machoke card, if you're in need of 2 Pokemon cards to fill your fighting type deck, Machop and Machoke would fill your need, but they wouldn't be my first choice to do so.  You could use a 1-1 line of these Pokemon and move Machop right to the active Pokemon spot when you get it, attach one energy card to it, use its only attack, then try and evolve it into Machoke as soon as possible, attach one more energy card to Machoke and use Beatdown every turn.  If you can get Machoke into the active Pokemon spot early in the game, you can do a fair amount of damage doing 40 damage a turn, but later in the game this card won't do that much only doing 40 damage.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 2 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is a below average Stage 1 Pokemon card from the Furious Fists set.  This card is above average early in the game since it has one quick move that does 40 damage, but later on as the game progresses you're going to want a card that can do a bit more than 40 damage a turn.  So overall, I gave Machop and Machoke each 2 ratings individually and combined I would also give them a 2 rating.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Machoke from the Furious Fists set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Machoke's stage 2 evolution in Machamp which is from this same 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 --
True or False?  All of the Machoke cards in the English TCG have been of the uncommon rarity.
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.

Machoke -- Plasma Blast Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Machoke from the Plasma Blast Pokemon Card Set.  Machoke is a stage 1, fighting type Pokemon card, with an hp of 90.  It has a x2 weakness to psychic type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost. Machoke does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Last-Chance Chop, this move requires one colorless energy card and does 20 damage plus 70 more damage if Machoke only has 10 hp left on it.  Machoke's second move is called Seismic Toss, this move requires three energy cards, two fighting and one colorless, and does 60 damage.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Machoke is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Machop into play (I reviewed Machop from this set yesterday) and then evolve Machop into Machoke.  Machoke does have a stage 2 evolution in Machamp that you'll probably want to use with this Pokemon line but since I haven't reviewed that card yet, the strategy below will act like Machoke is the final evolution in this line.  Just a note there are actually two Machamp cards in this set, one rare the other rare holo.  So if you read yesterday's review of Machop you'll know that I thought the card was pretty average but I gave it a below average rating because the retreat cost on the card was higher than any of the energy requirements to attack.  So if you plan on using Machoke in your deck, I would only use a 1-1 line of Machop and Machoke just because they require so many energy cards to retreat.  I would try my hardest to get Machoke onto your bench and get three energy cards on it so when you move it to the active Pokemon spot you can use Seismic Toss right away.  I would then use Seismic Toss every turn until Machoke is about to feint, then I would use Last-Chance Chop.  I personally would not use Machop or Machoke in a deck because neither card is above average and together they just aren't that great.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is an average stage 1 Pokemon card.  This Machoke card does have an average hp, and two pretty decent moves.  This card can attack quickly, do 60 damage regularly, and even do 90 damage in certain situations.  Just like Machop from yesterday, this card's retreat cost is quite high, but since Seismic Toss requires three energy cards the retreat cost really isn't as bad.  Even though Machoke is an average card, the line of Machop and Machoke from this set would get a 2 out of 5 rating for me, Machoke was a 3, Machop a 2.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Machoke from the Plasma Blast set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of the first of two Machamp cards from this set, which is the stage 2 evolution in the line of Machop and Machoke.  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 --
What rarity was the Machoke card from Base Set?
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.