Reasons to Play Latias EX

PokeLover81

PokeLover81

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hello! So with the upcoming release of Phantom Forces for the modified format, I would like to tell you about a little diamond in the rough I found out about. That card is the almighty Latias Ex. For those of you who don't know:

Latias Ex: (Basic) 160hp

Ability: Bright Down

Prevent all effects of attacks, including damage, done to this pokemon by your opponent's Pokemon with abilities.

Attack: Barrier Break [F] [P] [C]

This attack's damage isn't affected by weakness, resistance, or any other effects on the defending Pokemon.

First off, let me just tell you how under rated this card is. The ability makes it immune to Pyroar, Genesect, Verizion, the upcoming Aegislash, Keldeo, Darkrai, and many other strong cards. This card can be subbed into any deck. Make space for 3 things: Latias Ex, and 2 Rainbow Energy. Before you know it, you can stop an entire deck right in it's tracks.

I also play a Pyroar deck, so I will be adding this into the deck, allowing me to make sure I have an extra attacker and blocker to put into the mix. If you live near Tennessee, watch out for Regionals, because you'll see me there running Pyroar/Seismitoad/Mewtwo/Malamar/Latias Lock. A.K.A. - Total Lock Down.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias Ex in every deck!

Latias EX isn't a really splashable card. If you run only one Latias EX you need at least 2 Rainbow maybe 4 if you deck doesn't have either Fire or Psychic(Why even bother to play it at that point). Also if your Latias EX is prized you have +2 cards that are hand waste. Also not all meta cards have abilities. Yvetal EX(You are an easy target.), Seismitoad EX, Donphan(Abilities still affect you), Mewtwo EX, Gengar EX, Raichu, Landy EX, Lucario EX, and Thundy EX all don't have abilities and can kill you before you have your 3 different energy attaches.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias Ex in every deck!

Not many of the cards you listed are all that big. Let's look at some of the decks that people are playing right now.
  • Garbodor + Stuff - Makes Latias not really a thing.
  • Yveltal - Doesn't have to worry about being walled, does a ton more damage than Latias, and can probably one shot Latias with three Energy.
  • Donphan - None of the attackers in there have Abilities.
  • Pyroar - While I have seen Latias used to counter Pyroar, it's not like they don't play Charizard, which can OHKO with a Muscle Band.
  • Virizion / Genesect - On top of being a really good deck, it can bypass Bright Dawn with G Booster.
  • Landorus / Lucario / Fighting Stuff - No Abilities.
  • Aromatisse - Tons of attackers; none of them have Abilities.

I'm not saying it's a bad card; I just don't think it's that good in this particular format.

Professor Oak said:
Now is not the time to use that!
Click to expand...
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias Ex in every deck!

Don't forget Mewtwo can take advantage with X-Ball. Seismitoad also passes through Latias. With 160 HP, it's not hard to take down in today's format.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias Ex in every deck!

Latias is a niche card. I like the idea of using it in Pyroar decks because Empoleon is such a bad matchup otherwise (you can also play Sigilyph to deal with megas). The only problem is finding a good energy lineup, but I like the rainbow idea.

Another place I could see it is in hit and run decks. Again, if Empoleon decks ever become big, Donphan or Gengar players can tech this for massive annoyance. It's not a card to write off and I actually lost to it once (playing Lucario/Cofagrigus on playtcg). I just wish it's attack didn't suck so bad. 70 damage just doesn't cut it.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias Ex in every deck!

I saw Latias being used as a wall back when Palkia/ Walls was a thing, and I've seen it in a couple of Donphan decks, again as a wall. Immunity to Pokemon-Ex (Sigilyph/ Suicune) or basics (Pyroar) gives more coverage in general, though Latias does have a bit of a niche here. Its attack is awful though. The energy cost is extremely awkward. The only deck that could run it effectively is Aromatisse, and there's just so many better options. Cobalion-EX has an attack with the same effect, but only needs one color to attack (metal), has an amazing first attack (Righteous Edge, which removes special energy), and support in Bronzong and Klingklang.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias Ex in every deck!

To be fair, Latias does have Altaria to boost damage. I tried to build a deck around that, but it was too slow and still didn't hit for enough damage.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias EX in Every Deck

I played a match against a latias deck with a virgen deck and I couldn't do anything,because I only had raichu which did a little' but not enough.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias EX in Every Deck

hawk45678 said:
I played a match against a latias deck with a virgen deck and I couldn't do anything,because I only had raichu which did a little' but not enough
Click to expand...

Yeah that kind of makes sense. I imagine Raichu wasn't as helpful against Latias as Beartic would have been. What about your G Booster? Was it prized?
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias EX in Every Deck

Ive played a latias EX to relative success in an aromatisse pyroar aegislash EX suicune wall type shebang. But tbh pyroar/suicune does a large amount of the work, latias is just filling in a small secondary role (as it probably should anyway). That being said it hasnt been great so far even in this sort of deck.

Decklist is something like:
3-2 aromatisse
2 Xerneas
1 Xerneas EX
1 Suicune
1 Latias EX
2-2 Pyroar
1 Virizion EX
1 Malamar EX
1 Aegislash EX

But tbh it feels not much better than a regular fairy deck so I dunno (and more susceptible to enhanced hammer since it relies so much more on rainbow energy)
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias EX in Every Deck

I personally playtested Latias-EX/Pyroar/Beartic/Raichu using Proxy cards against some friends and family, and it runs quite powerful. I don't think Latias-EX is strong enough to run a deck on it's own, but I think any deck that uses Rainbow Energy and Fire/Psychic Energy can benefit from this card a bit. It isn't the greatest, but it works well.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias EX in Every Deck

I've been playing Latias EX in my Aromatisse deck mainly because I pulled a Full Art one with rainbow energies. The only problem is it's not spashable.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias EX in Every Deck

I think Jirachi EX is more splashable in every deck than Latias EX is right now mainly because with Standard format being Supporter heavy as it is due to Item Lock, getting key Supporters with Stellar Guidance like Lysandre can really swing the game in your favor however with Garbodor still in the format it becomes more of a timing issue.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias EX in Every Deck

Card Slinger J said:
I think Jirachi EX is more splashable in every deck than Latias EX is right now mainly because with Standard format being Supporter heavy as it is due to Item Lock, getting key Supporters with Stellar Guidance like Lysandre can really swing the game in your favor however with Garbodor still in the format it becomes more of a timing issue.
Click to expand...

It was with a heavy heart that I recently switched out my FA Latias EX for a Sigilyph. Latias's ability is awesome and it's one of my favorite cards, but there are honestly better options. I run an Aromatisse deck with 3 Rainbows, and Latias EX was amazing against Pyroar and great against VirGen, except when G-Booster came into play. The reasons I switched it out:

- An EX blocker has the same effect against VirGen, but I only lose one prize when Sig gets G-Boostered.

- An EX blocker serves as an effective wall in a far greater number of scenarios.

- With the return of Enhanced Hammer and the intro of Xerosic, the 2 necessary rainbow energy (which can be a little tricky to fish out of the deck in the first place) could quickly be discarded, leaving me with few options against Pyroar.

Honestly, in this format, it's a great Pyroar counter (if they're not playing enhanced hammer), but that's about it.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias EX in Every Deck

I have to say that I just build a deck that runs both basic Fire and Psychic energy (Gengar / Pyroar), and I didn't even consider using Latias-EX at any point. There's simply too many common threats that it doesn't block, including Ylveltal-EX, Landorus. Lucario, Donphan, Seismitoad, and plenty more. I'm playing Pyroar in its place somewhat, as they're easier to stream and have more utility as both an attacker and a wall. While Latias-EX does have a niche, as stated in my prevous post, that niche is just too small to warrent its use.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias EX in Every Deck

Maybe if Latias had a really good or interesting attack. It has an okay shredding attack, with to little damage. I think it could work in that ^Gengar/Pyroar if it was better with attacks as a one-of.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias EX in Every Deck

I play a Donphan deck and I have been recently playing it with Latias and some other walls and I have to say I completely agree it's a great card, but I don't believe it should be in every deck.
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias EX in Every Deck

Hmm, that does look pretty interesting for Speed Lugia. Speed Lugia struggles so much against Donphan decks. Safeguard shuts down the entire deck, and even though my current counter is working out really well (2 plasma kyurem, 3 lysandre, 2 vs seeker) I will try this out too. It's ideal because I run 4 Rainbows already. Thanks for the tip!

Mora said:
Not many of the cards you listed are all that big. Let's look at some of the decks that people are playing right now.
  • Garbodor + Stuff - Makes Latias not really a thing.
  • Yveltal - Doesn't have to worry about being walled, does a ton more damage than Latias, and can probably one shot Latias with three Energy.
  • Donphan - None of the attackers in there have Abilities.
  • Pyroar - While I have seen Latias used to counter Pyroar, it's not like they don't play Charizard, which can OHKO with a Muscle Band.
  • Virizion / Genesect - On top of being a really good deck, it can bypass Bright Dawn with G Booster.
  • Landorus / Lucario / Fighting Stuff - No Abilities.
  • Aromatisse - Tons of attackers; none of them have Abilities.

I'm not saying it's a bad card; I just don't think it's that good in this particular format.

Professor Oak said:
Now is not the time to use that!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

You only said Donphan doesn't run attackers with abilities, but honestly being able to hit Safeguard with a basic is pretty big against it.

Oh, and don't forget this will probably get a reprint and a Mega with Spirit Link later on. It has nothing to do with this format but still pretty nice :]
 
RE: Reasons to Play Latias EX in Every Deck

yorepoor said:
Hmm, that does look pretty interesting for Speed Lugia. Speed Lugia struggles so much against Donphan decks. Safeguard shuts down the entire deck, and even though my current counter is working out really well (2 plasma kyurem, 3 lysandre, 2 vs seeker) I will try this out too. It's ideal because I run 4 Rainbows already. Thanks for the tip!

Mora said:
Not many of the cards you listed are all that big. Let's look at some of the decks that people are playing right now.
  • Garbodor + Stuff - Makes Latias not really a thing.
  • Yveltal - Doesn't have to worry about being walled, does a ton more damage than Latias, and can probably one shot Latias with three Energy.
  • Donphan - None of the attackers in there have Abilities.
  • Pyroar - While I have seen Latias used to counter Pyroar, it's not like they don't play Charizard, which can OHKO with a Muscle Band.
  • Virizion / Genesect - On top of being a really good deck, it can bypass Bright Dawn with G Booster.
  • Landorus / Lucario / Fighting Stuff - No Abilities.
  • Aromatisse - Tons of attackers; none of them have Abilities.

I'm not saying it's a bad card; I just don't think it's that good in this particular format.
Click to expand...

You only said Donphan doesn't run attackers with abilities, but honestly being able to hit Safeguard with a basic is pretty big against it.

Oh, and don't forget this will probably get a reprint and a Mega with Spirit Link later on. It has nothing to do with this format but still pretty nice :]
Click to expand...

I totally agree with this. Latias seems amazing in theory, but after HUGE testing (and believe me, I mean HUGE) it is just to klunky.

PS- yorepoor, can I get your list in a PM?
 
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