Am I just sour or are all of these cards really mediocre?
Except for Dragonite-EX -- I'll play that. I'll play that hard.
Except for Dragonite-EX -- I'll play that. I'll play that hard.
News 20th Anniversary Set in September + Surfing Pikachu and M Slowbro-EX!
- Thread starter Athena
- Start date
@crystal_pidgeot Where are you? I want to know if you're happy, sad, or confused with regards to Pidgeot-EX and M Pidgeot-EX! XD
Yeah, the new Mewtwo-EX is sad, but even more so if you know your game history.
Mewtwo (Black Star Promo 3 and 14) was one of the early powerhouses of the game. It released around November 10, 1999 because it was one of the four promos you got with your ticket purchase for the original Pokémon movie, so it joined the card pool about a month after the official release of Fossil (the third expansion for the North American release of the game). Later it would become a bit easier to obtain because the home video release of the film came with the alternate art reprint. If you are very strict in how you defined the old Haymaker deck (more strict than myself!) this killed it. I say it redefined it Mewtwo joined the deck's stable of fighters:
...
See why I sound like an old crank so often? It just all repeats. @_@ Anyhow, with the current pace of the game (including first turn attack rules), Absorption went from being a power play to being a quaint or cute trick that will rarely do you much good. Well, just perhaps it will help M Mewtwo-EX. Probably not though as Absorption is actually straight up weaker than any of its previous iterations, Recover improved the wrong part (needs to heal a lot more for it to matter as an attack), and Psyburn suddenly became a four Energy attack when the entire point was you had the option to manually attach, Absorption, and then not have to attach again at all the next turn.
Yeah, the new Mewtwo-EX is sad, but even more so if you know your game history.
Mewtwo (Black Star Promo 3 and 14) was one of the early powerhouses of the game. It released around November 10, 1999 because it was one of the four promos you got with your ticket purchase for the original Pokémon movie, so it joined the card pool about a month after the official release of Fossil (the third expansion for the North American release of the game). Later it would become a bit easier to obtain because the home video release of the film came with the alternate art reprint. If you are very strict in how you defined the old Haymaker deck (more strict than myself!) this killed it. I say it redefined it Mewtwo joined the deck's stable of fighters:
- Hitmonchan (Base Set 7/102; Base Set 2 8/130; Best of Game 2; Platinum 129/127)
- Electabuzz (Base Set 20/102; Base Set 2 24/130; Best of Game 1; Platinum 128/127)
- Scyther (Jungle 10/64, 24/64; Base Set 2 17/130; Platinum 130/127)
...
See why I sound like an old crank so often? It just all repeats. @_@ Anyhow, with the current pace of the game (including first turn attack rules), Absorption went from being a power play to being a quaint or cute trick that will rarely do you much good. Well, just perhaps it will help M Mewtwo-EX. Probably not though as Absorption is actually straight up weaker than any of its previous iterations, Recover improved the wrong part (needs to heal a lot more for it to matter as an attack), and Psyburn suddenly became a four Energy attack when the entire point was you had the option to manually attach, Absorption, and then not have to attach again at all the next turn.
Starmie BREAK would be so much better if it tagetted EXs instead of other BREAKs... Why does PCL hate evolution cards so much?
edit: Regular Mewtwo EX has a background and pose reminiscent of Benimaru Itoh's original art! Clever. The FA version has the same background color as the Ken Sugimori print. Wish the pose was the same too.
This Dragonite EX's Ability is a call back to Dark Dragonite. Shame that its artwork doesn't reflect that. Pidgeot EX would also look really cool on its Fossil print pose.
edit: Regular Mewtwo EX has a background and pose reminiscent of Benimaru Itoh's original art! Clever. The FA version has the same background color as the Ken Sugimori print. Wish the pose was the same too.
This Dragonite EX's Ability is a call back to Dark Dragonite. Shame that its artwork doesn't reflect that. Pidgeot EX would also look really cool on its Fossil print pose.
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@Otaku @WastedSkyPirate @Purrloin I just woke up and my alerts were blown up, Haven't seen the card yet and do want to mention the Pokemon in the fears I'll be on forced vacation again.
finally spirit links 
I don't get a mention? TRIGGERED!
Starmie B is killing me. I remember there was some popularity in Delphox B and Zoroark B (And Yanmega is still being discussed), but there's no hope for the thing.
I wonder if they're going to translate the attack name to "Star Break" in english...
I wonder if they're going to translate the attack name to "Star Break" in english...
I have to give it to Ueda this time. Those Full Arts are really not that bad. Maybe Ueda's finally picking up his game. They aren't 5ban levels of beautiful, but they're a lot better than some of his previous full arts. (cough cough hideous FA Shaymin cough cough)
@PineDog Sorry, I've been going through post. Still seeing them but you guys know me too well. For my review of Pidgeot EX and m Pidgeot EX. I'm not even mad. For those who didn't know I play Stormfront Pidgeot;
It was a spread/healing deck that used Empoleon, Vaporeon and Omastar that devolved Pokemon. Had much success with the deck. I also played this during the Gardevoir and Gallade format. So I'm glad to see that Pidgeot EX is a much better version of this. Well, its time to build the deck and buy those 300 dollar gold ultra balls...
Trying to contain my hype here AND it has a full art. What would make this better is if it also gets the Secret rare slot as well but we all know Charizard is getting that.
It was a spread/healing deck that used Empoleon, Vaporeon and Omastar that devolved Pokemon. Had much success with the deck. I also played this during the Gardevoir and Gallade format. So I'm glad to see that Pidgeot EX is a much better version of this. Well, its time to build the deck and buy those 300 dollar gold ultra balls...
Trying to contain my hype here AND it has a full art. What would make this better is if it also gets the Secret rare slot as well but we all know Charizard is getting that.
That was super interesting to find out! I was only collecting cards when those Promos and Mewtwo ex came out, so the attacks easily slipped my memory (and I never had that Majestic Dawn Mewtwo). I got my binders out to look at the Promos and the ex, then looked up the other Mewtwo, and sure enough, that's what this was going for. I can see why the original was powerful, but for every attack in today's format, this EX just falls flat. I even thought Energy Absorption should have gotten two energies from the discard pile and Psyburn should be 3 energies to at least be pretty decent! (How spot on was that thought?) But as it is, getting one energy is underwhelming because you'd need a DCE in order to attack on turn two, especially since Dimensional Valley has been rotated out (unless you use other energy accelerations like Max Elixer, though that's for Benched Pokemon). But even then, why would you pour a bunch of resources into a four-energy attack that does 110 damage, when there are much better options out there? And healing 60 damage as an attack is useless when the name of the game has come down to attempting to one-shot everything.
Interesting and baffling all at the same time.
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It's all good man! I actually think M Pidgeot-EX is the second most competitive EX card in this set, only after Dragonite-EX (BTW, someone's going to use Hoopa-EX to grab three Dragonite-EX, play down a Skyfield use Dragonite-EX's ability to grab 4 Shaymin-EX's and two other EX's, Super Scoop Up the Hoopa-EX & a single Dragonite-EX, and boom! Bench filled!) I can't wait to see how you use M Pidgeot-EX!@PineDog Sorry, I've been going through post. Still seeing them but you guys know me too well. For my review of Pidgeot EX and m Pidgeot EX. I'm not even mad. For those who didn't know I play Stormfront Pidgeot;
It was a spread/healing deck that used Empoleon, Vaporeon and Omastar that devolved Pokemon. Had much success with the deck. I also played this during the Gardevoir and Gallade format. So I'm glad to see that Pidgeot EX is a much better version of this. Well, its time to build the deck and buy those 300 dollar gold ultra balls...
Trying to contain my hype here AND it has a full art. What would make this better is if it also gets the Secret rare slot as well but we all know Charizard is getting that.
Called the Starmie BREAK and the Mewtwo being an EX. Suspicious that Dragonite-EX would be colorless.
Didn't saw that Nidoking BREAK but it kinda confirms they changed the old Nidoking line to Psychic, so I honestly hope Clefairy is also changed to a Fairy-type, otherwise it's ridiculous.
I wasn't expecting Mega Pidgeot anymore after trying to figure out the japanese set list, but I'm glad they actually did it. I guess the official site was just trolling by showing cards from other sets besides Base Set...
Kinda bummed about a few things:
- TPCi is dumb. This should not come up as a surprise but still, if they wanted to make the cards look similar to the old ones, they should have changed the english card's template to resemble a bit more the classic english template instead of just copying the Japanese one.
As an example, as much as I like the energy symbols in the attacks to be all in line, they should have placed them 2 per line when the attack costs 3 or more energies, like the old cards did.
- Same art reprints for the Kanto Starters EXs is lazy af! PCL is the one to blame for this though. On the other hand, Yay! for the spirit links and (apparently) the Mega FAs. Don't like that only Zard-Y will get a FA, even if Zard-X always gets the good stuff. Maybe a secret rare for X?
- Like Otaku mentioned before, Major Fail at trying to recreate the old Mewtwo promo. It's just so bad. Why did they even bother with it?
Anyway, Surfing Pikachu is a Secret Rare and there's 2 more before it in the set. Maybe some other promos that are being released in Japan like the Charizard reprint.
Overall, meh. I don't think making a set containing remakes on mostly cards from the first set and ignore all the others after it is the best way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the TCG but ok.
Didn't saw that Nidoking BREAK but it kinda confirms they changed the old Nidoking line to Psychic, so I honestly hope Clefairy is also changed to a Fairy-type, otherwise it's ridiculous.
I wasn't expecting Mega Pidgeot anymore after trying to figure out the japanese set list, but I'm glad they actually did it. I guess the official site was just trolling by showing cards from other sets besides Base Set...
Kinda bummed about a few things:
- TPCi is dumb. This should not come up as a surprise but still, if they wanted to make the cards look similar to the old ones, they should have changed the english card's template to resemble a bit more the classic english template instead of just copying the Japanese one.
As an example, as much as I like the energy symbols in the attacks to be all in line, they should have placed them 2 per line when the attack costs 3 or more energies, like the old cards did.
- Same art reprints for the Kanto Starters EXs is lazy af! PCL is the one to blame for this though. On the other hand, Yay! for the spirit links and (apparently) the Mega FAs. Don't like that only Zard-Y will get a FA, even if Zard-X always gets the good stuff. Maybe a secret rare for X?
- Like Otaku mentioned before, Major Fail at trying to recreate the old Mewtwo promo. It's just so bad. Why did they even bother with it?
Anyway, Surfing Pikachu is a Secret Rare and there's 2 more before it in the set. Maybe some other promos that are being released in Japan like the Charizard reprint.
Overall, meh. I don't think making a set containing remakes on mostly cards from the first set and ignore all the others after it is the best way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the TCG but ok.
I might play it the same way as I did last time. I can also use it in any deck I want so I have options for how I use it. Might stick with Golduck Break or Energy Trans Venusaur if its in this set. Lunala GX is also on my radar for its energy movement ability. Magnezone lets me use Zapdos, which is something I want to do. So many ways to play it.
I think Dragonite-EX will be pretty playable in any deck that runs many Pokémon (particularly Sky Field decks like M Ray and Raichu as you can use it to get back both Rayquaza EX and M Rayquaza EX or Pikachu and Raichu); I might try running one in my mega decks as it's pretty nice to be able to instantly get Pokémon back, especially if you have to prematurely Sycamore your mega/s (I've had unfortunate hands with 2/3 megas and nothing else useful but Sycamore early game and a bit of insurance never hurts).
Vespiquen would probably like it as well as early game you can retrieve Unowns to keep grinding through the deck, and discard it later if it's not needed.
Edit: Nevermind it only grabs Basics. Still could definitely be useful.
Vespiquen would probably like it as well as early game you can retrieve Unowns to keep grinding through the deck, and discard it later if it's not needed.
Edit: Nevermind it only grabs Basics. Still could definitely be useful.
