Shockwave Mako

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Bell
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Shockwave Mako

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[Art Not Yet Available]


Type: Creature
Race: Shark
Quadrant: Dynasty
Element: Water
Cost: 3
Power: 3000
Effect: When this creature attacks you may [Deplete 2]. If you do, choose a creature in the conflict with less power than this creature and return it to its owner's hand. (Return the creature before your opponent can block with it or any battle occurs).
Set: Advent of Chaos (CF-01) Uncommon
Flavor Text: not yet available
Writer Text: As the tail moves faster, the water around it vaporizes and forms small bubbles of gas. This is cavitation. When the bubbles collapse later, they typically cause very strong local shock waves.


The Element.

Water creatures have high personal adaptability and a wide range of different effects, but the effect of Shockwave Mako is actually one of their more common capacities. Water specializes in conserving and redirecting effort, making things easier for themselves and harder for enemies. This is seen in the ability known to many as 'bounce', the capacity to return opposing creatures to the hand, through one method or another. Shockwave Mako does this quite well even considering its limitation, by 'pushing back' many of the other creatures the opponent could use in the way that Water is known for, as well as being strongly supportive of strategies that do more of it, or use other capacities that rely on limiting the opponent's ability to move forward or striking at their hand of cards.


The Combat Ability

For its cost, Shockwave Mako's combat ability is considered completely standard. Even with no acceleration, most of the creatures it faces in the early turns, and quite a few of those which enter the conflict only a short time after it can, are matches for it but no more. This allows players to confidently add the card to their decks as part of their early attack force without having to worry that they may be sacrificing too much necessary power. Being 'average' or 'standard' for early cards means, however, that as the game progresses and more powerful creatures enter the conflict, Shockwave Mako's influence in terms of actual battles may decrease a lot. It also falls just short of the power rating where many destructive effects can no longer damage it. This means that overall, as the game plays out, this card needs to be given additional power in order to remain a fighting force, something that is not easily achieved in Water, which is a bit disappointing for many due to the other reason to give it more power...


The Effect

The specifics of Shockwave Mako's effect mean that it is not something one aims to use very often. It allows the player to use up free tempo to get rid of the opposing creature but only if that creature would have been Mako's prey in a regular attack situation. This extends the other way, though. If Mako's power is increased by an effect, the range of creatures it can remove increases. Despite this, the use of this creature's ability is very tactical, as it cannot be directly helped by the player's attempts at achieving Cost Reduction other than by side effect. More reduction means more free tempo to use, so this Shark is well suited to decks with lots of other Water creatures. Still, there are other highly effective ways to combine. Earth's ever popular Morning Glory, with a little help from Parkour L, can empower Mako to push back strongly against opponents, and Wind's spell Fair Wind is an excellent low cost support for this card, allowing it to temporarily remove whatever would counterattack it while possibly even attacking a different target. Fire offers similar options.

Gravity offers various discard effects but not as many that can take place immediately, though there are definitely ways to push the opponent strongly back with combinations of Hypnotic Sway, Shockwave Mako and Kraken Eleganto, and at the very least, the more creatures the opponent must re-play, the longer it takes for their resources to be useful to them, causing even cards like Ghost Jellyfish and Memory Loss to pose greater threats by default. The only general drawback to the card would be the limitation in what exactly its effect can work on, and the strain of consistently generating enough tempo to keep using it. Though some might argue that returning certain creatures to the opposing hand is more dangerous than destroying them, nearly no options for their permanent removal are as 'cheap' or reliable and repeatable, giving Shockwave Mako a fairly unique role in decks it is added to.


Ratings

Casual: 5/10
When using this card, one needs to take it seriously. The downfall of the Shockwave Mako in casual play is actually that when the opponent deck is not as focused, this card actually has less to do, and sometimes less that it can do. It should be carefully considered when adding it, whether or not one has enough focus on power additions or special synergy to make it work, otherwise it will often end up being just an attacker and not serving a tactical purpose at all.

Tournament/Ladder: 9/10
It is almost ironic that in highly competitive play, this creature has such an important role. With the ability to disrupt many early progressions, or force the opponent to move in ways that do not benefit them, Mako is a perfect representative example of what competitive decks containing Water should be striving for. Being relatively cheap also means that if used correctly, this card can make opponents use up their powerful destruction effects and pave the way for bigger trouble.

Random: 10/10
A randomized deck duel on KP would have to be nearly over for most people to be unhappy to see this card. Despite the fact that even in RND, the chances of a creature bigger than this one aren't actually small, the control over flow that it can give is almost like shutting down opponents. Drawing this creature early on can create a truly phenomenal level of advantage, even considering the general way that opposing creatures are used if they are low cost. Best of all, Mako, like most Water cards, adapts well and supports many strategies, vital in Random play.

Overall: 8/10
Anyone who wants to use this card will devote a certain amount of effort into making it effective, since it is most certainly not something that most people 'throw in'. Despite that, it could be, at least if you get it early enough or have power increasing effects. Options for this cost slot are also often fairly similar to Mako in effectiveness, giving it another shot at inclusion. Whether this card flows you forward or backward is up to you, though, as with most Water.
In chats wrote:<Wedjat> Why is there no function for converting "antagonizing fools" into "delightful servants"?
<ri> you don't have access to defool.exe?
<Wedjat> It would be an illegal operation.
<Bell> SIGGED
<Wedjat> \o/
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