TCG Jump: Featured Card- Bronzong BREAK

It has been a long time but lets break out another new card from Fates Collide. This card may not be getting too much hype but it can link well with a lot of cards in the current meta. This card is heavy but strong as steel and it will be felt once it collide into the battlefield. When you play this card then your opponent will start hearing the bell toll as the death toll rises. It won’t be long as victory starts raining down and take your six prizes. This week we are going to be featuring Bronzong BREAK from Fates Collide.

Bronzong BREAK is a Metal Pokemon with 130 HP. It can BREAK evolve from one of three Bronzong that are currently in format. Bronzong BREAK has a single attack call Metal Rain which cost a Metal and one other energy to use. When you use Metal Rain then you can discard as many Metal energy as you want. For each Metal energy that you discard, you are able to target any of your opponent’s Pokemon or you can target the same Pokemon to do 30 damage times to the amount of Metal energy you discard. Bronzong BREAK retain the type and retreat cost of the Bronzong that it evolved from.

The Pros
Bronzong BREAK is a card that can fit into many current Metal decks that use Bronzong in them. You may have to shift some cards around but if you are already running a Metal deck that plays Bronzong then you could add two Bronzong BREAK to use as a late game attacker. Especially if your opponent has some Shaymin EX on the bench. All you need to do is load up Bronzong BREAK with four Metal energy and simply start raining damage counters on Shaymin EX by using Metal Rain.

Another advantage to use Bronzong BREAK is that the Bronzong that it could evolve from are good in their own right. You have the most popular Bronzong from Phantom Forces which is able to attach energy from the discard because of it’s Metal Links ability. Many Metal and Colorless decks appreciate this little ability for energy acceleration. The other Bronzong from Fates Collide has the Metal Fortress which can prevent effects from your opponent’s attacks from affecting your bench Pokemon. This isn’t a bad ability to have in your deck against certain match ups that give Metal a hard time.

Lastly, the task of powering up Bronzong BREAK to attack won’t be a problem. You can simply evolve a few Bronzong with the Metal Links ability, play a few Battle Compressor to discard some Metal Energy and simply attach those energy to your Bronzong BREAK to make it rain damage.

The Cons
Lets get the obvious out of the way. Getting Bronzong BREAK out will be the same as evolving a Stage Two Pokemon without the use of Rare Candy. It may not be easy to do but it is possible if you delicate part of your deck to do this. Nobody likes playing a Stage Two Pokemon but it can be done. You will just need to make decisions such as do you want to use your Ultra Ball to grab a Bronzong or an attacker like Dialga EX.

Bronzong BREAK also has low HP for a BREAK Pokemon. Some of the highly used BREAK Pokemon have HP that rivals EX Pokemon which makes them harder to knock out with a single hit. Meanwhile, Bronzong BREAK sits with 130 HP which can be difficult to hit but much easier compare to the other BREAK Pokemon. What makes things awkward is that there are Pokemon like Yveltal and Xerneas who both have 130 HP and Basic Pokemon. They do not require any evolution to get out and can do what they need to do quickly. Most players would want to have a Pokemon last a long time if they are going to invest time setting up. Bronzong may not be consider worth setting up if it can easily get knock out.

Do we need to mention Fire decks? They are not as common as they use to be but Fire decks simply just outpace any kind of Metal deck that Bronzong BREAK will be in. They just need a way to hit 70 damage and that is enough to knock out all kinds of Metal decks before Bronzong BREAK even comes out.

How to Play It
If you want to play Bronzong BREAK then we first need to decide on which Bronzong you want to use and evolve from. The obvious choice is to use Metal Link Bronzong from Phantom Forces as it will synergize with Bronzong BREAK’s Metal Rain attack. You can simply discard Metal Energy by using Battle Compressor and Ultra Ball. Once you have enough Metal energy in the discard, simply use Metal Links to attach them to a Bronzong or Bronzong BREAK and hope your opponent isn’t ready for a surprise shower of pain. You will like to have at least two or three Bronzong on the bench to help quickly place energy on your Bronzong who will be going into battle.

The other Bronzong should also be considered as well. It hast the Metal Fortress ability which isn’t as useful as Metal Links but could be consider. There are a lot of decks that like to use spread damage such as Trevenant which will eventually knock out your 90 HP Bronzong. Metal Fortress can be used to prevent this damage from knocking out your Bronzong and Bronzor. It isn’t worth playing three Metal Fortress Bronzong but you could try to sneak in at least one of them into your deck.

Your ideal bench set up will be three Bronzong at most with one of them BREAK evolving to use Metal Rain or simply for the HP boost. If you want to run multiple Bronzong BREAK to Metal Rain several times then you will want to include Zoroark and/or Float Stone. Bronzong’s Metal Links only allows you to attach Metal Energy to your Benched Pokemon. That means that if you discard all your Metal Energy to attack one of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon then you need to refuel if you wish to attack again. If you have a Float Stone attached to your active Bronzong BREAK then you can just power up a Benched Bronzong BREAK and retreat your current active Bronzong BREAK with your power up Bronzong BREAK. If you want to attack with the same Bronzong BREAK then Zoroark’s Stand In ability will allow you to put your Bronzong BREAK on the bench to recharge. If you do this then make sure your Zoroark has a Float Stone attached so it can freely retreat to allow your Bronzong BREAK to make it rain once again.

You want to use Bronzong BREAK as a late game attacker. Your opponent would have exhausted a lot of resources and you may find yourself low on resources as well. If you are playing a Metal deck then your side of the field would have weather some damage but your Bronzong are still standing strong. Simply BREAK Evolve one of them and attach energy to them. You will need to get one into the active but once you do that then you can use Metal Rain to target one of your opponent’s Shaymin EX. This Pokemon is found in almost every deck and has low enough HP to be an easy knock out. Just discard four Metal Energy and take your last two prizes as you knock out Shaymin EX. It sure is much easier then loading up a Metal EX Pokemon and using Lysandre to pull a Shaymin EX into the active.

They say that it is never good to send a support solider into battle. Though sometimes fate makes it where the small solider has to go out into the big battle. The might of warriors will collide but the little guy can come out on top. That is what Bronzong can become once it evolves into Bronzong BREAK. So get ready to break the dreams of your opponent if you are ready to play Bronzong BREAK in your Metal deck.