Trash or Treasure? Owner’s Pokemon Take Over Destined Rivals

The new set continues with another wave of owner's Pokemon. In Japan, they've already played with several City Leagues and one major Champions League with the new Standard format. Overall, it seems that this set primarily focuses on creating new archetypes, with only a small benefit to existing decks. If the new decks from this set aren't any good, then the set will mostly be a bust overall. However, this set has the potential to shake up the game by introducing multiple new decks at once.

Ethan's Pokemon

Ethan's Ho-Oh ex and the Ethan's Adventure Supporter card make up the backbone of this interesting combo package that revolves around Fire-type Pokemon. The consistency engine is Ethan's Quilava, which searches for the Supporter every turn. What's more, it evolves into a somewhat efficient attacker. Ethan's Typhlosion can typically do 220 damage for just one Fire Energy by the time it's set up. It does 280 if you have all four Ethan's Adventure in the discard. With a bit of damage modification, this can basically one-shot anything. As a single-Prize Pokemon attacking for one Energy, it is extremely powerful. Of course, being a Stage 2, it is not the most reliable. Sometimes you'll want to leave it as a Quilava because of its useful Ability. Some lists are playing an extremely thick line of Typhlosion so that you can have multiple attacking Typhlosion while also having the option of Quilava's Ability.

However, Typhlosion isn't necessarily the main attacker because it is high-maintenance and unreliable. Ethan's Magcargo is a Stage 1 nuke that can easily one-shot anything. Ho-Oh accelerates plenty of Energy to Magcargo, which clears 350 damage with five Energy attached. Its damage increments are the exact same as Raging Bolt ex, but since it is a single-Prize attacker, it engages in favorable Prize trades. Since it needs three Energy at minimum to attack, it is very inefficient against other single-Prize Pokemon. This is where Typhlosion can come in, utilizing its high HP and low-cost attack to gain an advantage in battle of single-Prize Pokemon. Ho-Oh's attack is overall lackluster because it requires four Fire Energy to deal only 160 damage. It also heals 50 damage from all of your Pokemon, which while niche, can be useful against spread decks like Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex.

Another note is that Ethan's Cyndaquil and Ethan's Slugma both one-shot Budew for one Fire Energy, which can be useful. Quilava's single-Energy attack also does 40 damage, which could also be used to take out a damaged Scream Tail or Drifloon.

Finally, Ethan's Pinsir is a tech attacker that can deal 170 damage as a Basic Pokemon. More importantly, it is a Grass-type, so it can be used to counter Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex. Ethan's Pichu has only 30 HP, but deals 30 damage and draws a card for free (and also has free retreat), making it the perfect foil for Budew. However, many decks with Budew have Bravery Charm for it, so Pichu's usefulness is debatable. Ethan's Sudowoodo is notable as a retreat lock option.

What's most interesting about Ethan's Pokemon is that you don't necessarily have to play a dedicated Ethan's deck. There is some room to mix and match the options here. You could go for turbo Magcargo without even bothering with Typhlosion or only playing a thin line. Typhlosion itself also has made appearances in other decks such as Dragapult ex without even including Magcargo or Ho-Oh. It goes without saying that any deck with Typhlosion should be playing four copies of Ethan's Adventure, and any deck with Magcargo needs Ho-Oh for Energy acceleration.

While Ethan's Pokemon are incredibly powerful, they have some serious shortcomings. A dedicated Ethan's deck is somewhat high-maintenance. While consistent at using Ethan's Adventure, that alone isn't enough. There is no built-in draw power whatsoever. If you want to play a draw Supporter, you're foregoing Ethan's Adventure for the turn. However, using Professor's Research to discard Ethan's Adventure can still be useful because it powers up Typhlosion's attack. Another downside is the Energy-hungry nature of the deck. With multiple Superior Energy Retrieval and Ho-Oh ex, it actually is pretty easy to stream Energy. The problem arises in deck space, as you need to play a bunch of Fire Energy, three or four Superior Energy Retrieval, and healthy counts of all of the Ethan's Pokemon. For this reason, a turbo Magcargo build forsaking Typhlosion is intriguing to me. Another potential concern is this deck's speed, as Ethan's Adventure can be a bit slow if the opponent is applying fast pressure.

In Japan, it seems that the most success of Ethan's Pokemon is playing Typhlosion in other decks, particularly decks that could benefit from Ethan's Adventure. While Typhlosion is a Stage 2, the power of its attack for just one Energy is undeniable. Basically any deck would enjoy having a chunky single-Prize attacker like that.

Cynthia's Pokemon

Cynthia's Garchomp ex is the cornerstone of the Cynthia archetype. This card isn't particularly broken, but it is very efficient and powerful. The support from the Cynthia's engine might just put it over the edge. Cynthia's Gabite has an amazing Ability which searches out other Cynthia's Pokemon, Cynthia's Roserade significantly buffs Garchomp's damage, and Cynthia's Power Weight adds 70 HP to any Cynthia's Pokemon. This is an outrageous Tool card which not only protects the small Pokemon, but also clocks Garchomp in as a 400 HP behemoth. There's also a Cynthia's Milotic and Cynthia's Spiritomb, but I don't think they are any good.

With Gabite forming the consistency engine and Garchomp easily one-shotting everything, there really isn't anything else this deck needs. While this deck will play several Cynthia's Power Weight, it could also include Powerglass to give Garchomp the option to easily attack in back-to-back turns, which is particularly useful against decks with two-Prize targets that can't deal 330 in one shot. I would probably play a 3-3 (or even a 4-4) line of the Roserade, as I would like to have two in play in order to allow Garchomp to hit for 320 against the likes of Dragapult ex and Marnie's Grimmsnarl.

No matter how you look at it, Cynthia's Garchomp is a straightforward deck with consistency, power, and efficiency. I will probably try it with Arven and Technical Machine: Evolution first. I think this deck has a lot of promise and real potential, especially because there is no real way to remove Tool cards in the metagame.

Shaymin

Shaymin is the most widely-played card from the new set in Japan. It should come as no surprise that the reintroduction of Bench Barrier is making quite a splash. Although Shaymin only works for non-Rule Box Pokemon, many Rule Box Pokemon have Tera protection anyway. Interestingly, Shaymin has 80 HP, so it cannot be fetched with Buddy-Buddy Poffin. Decks that play Shaymin should play several copies of Artazon and / or Nest Ball so that they can find Shaymin in time for it to be relevant. Shaymin's biggest application is protection against Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex. Although Tera Box has simmered down in popularity, I still think it is BDIF before Shaymin's release. Decks like Gardevoir and Dragapult can easily include Shaymin to effectively auto-win any deck with Wellspring such as Tera Box. Shaymin is also notable for its strength against Marnie's Grimmsnarl, which is a threatening new archetype with a snipe attack. Of course, it also blocks Scream Tail and baby Raging Bolt, which is great. Shaymin's 80 HP makes it difficult for opposing decks to take it out, as it tanks two Munikidori Adrena-Brains. Its attack is even somewhat usable! The new Shaymin is undoubtedly an incredible card that will see lots of play, and it will be extremely annoying for sniping decks!

Crustle

Crustle is one of my personal favorites from the new set. I recently wrote about Aegislash and how well-positioned that deck was for the metagame, and Crustle is a much better Aegislash. Although Crustle does require one more Energy for its attack cost, this is somewhat mitigated by Reversal Energy. In all other respects, Crustle is superior to Aegislash. Being a Stage 1, it is much easier to swarm into play. This also allows the deck to clear out tons of space, no longer relying on Grand Tree, Rare Candy, or even TM: Evolution (though I still might play that). With all of this extra space, perhaps the deck can afford to investigate options to deal with its unfavorable matchups. A thick Toedscruel line to deal with Gardevoir ex perhaps? Even a heavy space commitment would be worthwhile to shore up Crustle's matchups, as its Ability alone gives it tons of auto-wins. Dwebble also has Ascension, which is pretty good. I think this card has a lot of potential, and it will be quite annoying for a majority of decks. However, Aegislash never saw any competitive play, so perhaps this will go the same way. That being said, I will try to cook up a broken Crustle deck for NAIC.

Team Rocket's Pokemon

Team Rocket is by far the archetype with the most support, introducing several powerful Trainer cards. There are also tons of Team Rocket's Pokemon, although they aren't amazing. The main attacker is Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex, and boy, have I never seen a more needy attacker in my entire life. If you're willing to accommodate it, in exchange you'll get access to all of Team Rocket's bells and whistles and an outrageous 280 HP Basic attacker. Mewtwo's HP is just so ridiculous. In order to attack with it, you'll need four Team Rocket's Pokemon in play, a Team Rocket's Energy (which provides double Dark and Psychic) in addition to another Energy, and some Energy to discard off of your Bench. Mewtwo's attack does 160 base with 60 more for each Energy you discard from the Bench, up to a maximum of 280 damage.

That's where Team Rocket's Spidops comes in. Spidops accelerates Energy to itself via its Ability, which makes it the perfect partner for Mewtwo. What's more, Spidops's Grass typing perfectly covers Mewtwo's Dark Weakness, and its attack is actually good. Team Rocket's Articuno is another insane piece. Articuno's Ability stops all effects done to your Basic Team Rocket's Pokemon, including but not limited to: Phantom Dive snipe, Mind Bend confusion, retreat lock, etc. This is absurdly good.

Team Rocket's Wobbuffet is a useful tech because it can attack with just one Rocket's Energy. It moves all damage from one of your Benched Rocket's Pokemon to the opponent's Active. This allows you to fully utilize Mewtwo's massive HP. If the opponent cannot one-shot Mewtwo, you can fully heal it while still applying pressure! Wobbuffet is situational but has the potential to be very impactful. You need to fill the board with Rocket's Pokemon in order to attack with Mewtwo anyway. Another tech with the same easy attack cost is Team Rocket's Mimikyu. Mimikyu copies an attack from your opponent's Active Tera Pokemon! Very nice!

Now let's talk about all of the insane Trainers for this archetype. Team Rocket's Archer is similar to Roxanne, but it activates when one of your Rocket's Pokemon was KO'd and gives you five cards and your opponent three. Despite that, it's still good. Team Rocket's Ariana offers some insane drawpower, drawing up to 8 cards in hand if all of your Pokemon are Rocket's. Next is Team Rocket's Proton, which searches for three Rocket's Basic Pokemon. This is obviously nuts. Finally, the real kicker is Team Rocket's Giovanni, which is effectively Guzma. For Team Rocket's decks, this is a better version of Boss's Orders (Ghetsis), which is already an insanely strong card. You may be thinking that these Supporters are good, but not enough to carry an archetype. Well that's not all!

Team Rocket's Transceiver allows you to handpick what Supporter you want to play for the turn, which skyrockets the deck's consistency. This lets you more reliably play Proton to set up, Giovanni on key turns, go for raw draw, or hand disruption. Take your pick! This Item card is broken for Rocket's decks. Team Rocket's Factory is a Stadium that allows you to draw two cards at any time during your turn, so long as you've already played a Rocket's Supporter for the turn! This is potentially the most useful Stadium card ever printed, even if it can only be played in Rocket's decks. If all of that wasn't enough, we have Team Rocket's Great Ball, which is Capturing Aroma for Rocket's Pokemon! Having access to all of these Trainer cards is absolutely bananas. The deck should play four of each of these Trainers besides Archer, Proton, and maybe you can get away with three Giovanni and Factory. It's hard to imagine this deck losing when its Trainer cards are head and shoulders above every single other deck. Indeed this deck is good, but it is forced to focus on Mewtwo and Spidops. While this pair should cover most situations, they lack flexibility and Mewtwo is extremely high-maintenance.

There are some other interesting Team Rocket's Pokemon that don't necessarily go with the whole package, or can make their own decks. Team Rocket's Orbeetle allows you to freely move around damage on your side, which has synergy with Wobbuffet. Team Rocket's Arbok prevents your opponent from playing Pokemon with Abilities while Active, but it can be countered by Nest Ball or Boss's Orders, and its attack is mediocre. Team Rocket's Golbat and Team Rocket's Crobat ex snipe damage with their Abilities, and Crobat's attack returns itself to hand, allowing for more snipe plays. I expect to see some Golbat play at some point at the very least. Finally, Team Rocket's Porygon-Z can deal tons of damage as a single-Prize attacker, but requires lots of Team Rocket's Supporters to be in the discard pile in order to do so. I don't think any of these cards are as good as the Mewtwo / Spidops package, but they may pop up now and again.

Next are some Trainer cards that do not go with the Team Rocket's engine, but are broadly applicable for other decks. Team Rocket's Petrel is a Skyla reprint, and a very useful card overall. I expect it to see some play. Unfortunately, this guy is so ugly and creepy that I do not want to play him. Team Rocket's Venture Bomb is a very unique Item card that I suspect will be very powerful. It is not every day we see an Item card do direct damage. There are often times where I would imagine having a card like this. However, relying on a flip may end up rendering it unplayable. Finally, Team Rocket's Watchtower is a disruptive Stadium with interesting implications. It can be crippling against decks with Fan Rotom and Noctowl, as well as Pidgeot ex. However, its passive nature means it can easily be bumped, and Colorless Pokemon aren't prevalent enough in the meta. I do not personally think this Stadium is very good for the time being, but it could pop up in the future.

Marnie's Grimmsnarl

All of Marnie's Pokemon are pretty bad besides Grimmsnarl. On the surface, it doesn't look like anything too crazy, but Grimmsnarl has a few things going for it. You've probably seen the Dragapult / Charizard ex deck running around at some point. Grimmsnarl is basically both Pokemon into one; you get Charizard's Ability and Dragapult's attack (but slightly worse). However, since we're playing with Darkness Energy, we also get to easily use Munkidori. If we've learned anything over the past year, it's that Munkidori is a broken card. Furthermore, this deck gets access to the Spikemuth Gym Stadium, which is excellent consistency.

Marnie's Grimmsnarl is actually one of, if not the most successful decks in Japan right now. The deck typically plays Budew to slow down the game so that you can set up, as well as Froslass to complement the spreading and sniping damage. You could think of it like the current Froslass / Munkidori deck, but it now has access to Grimmsnarl for more power and Energy acceleration. Previously, Froslass's main issue was the Gardevoir matchup, but now the deck can steamroll them with Grimmsnarl. If needed, you can play a game without even using Grimmsnarl until closing it out, and simply spam Item lock like a normal Froslass deck until that time. This power and flexibility (along with multiple Munkidori) is absolutely insane.

Other Trainers

Funnily enough, we are getting reprints of both Sacred Ash and Energy Recycler. These are similar cards with more power but less flexibility than Super Rod. Although our rotation just happened, I suspect these are printed with the expectation of replacing Super Rod when it gets rotated next year. Most decks will probably rather play Super Rod, but occasionally you have Energy-heavy decks that would prefer Recycler or decks with no Basic Energy that prefer Sacred Ash.

Conclusion

Overall, this set has great potential to shake things up. Marnie's Grimmsnarl is the biggest and most imminent threat, but I also think Cynthia's Garchomp and Team Rocket's Mewtwo have solid potential. Ethan is probably weaker than these, even though it has a comprehensive and powerful engine. Of course, I'm keeping a careful eye on Crustle to make a breakthrough. That's all for today. Hopefully this provided some direction or ideas for the next format. Thanks for reading!