I haven’t actually caught up with my class work,
but between frustration, the need to
review, and a few other problems I am rapidly
trying to review this card. As such, please
forgive typos and such.
Name:
Meganium ex
Set:
EX Unseen Forces
Card#:
106/115
Rarity:
Pokémon-ex
Type:
Grass
Stage:
2 (Evolves from Bayleef)
HP:
150
Weakness:
Grass, Fire
Resistance:
Water
Retreat:
CC
Poké-Power:
Nurture and Heal
Once during your turn (before your attack) you may
attach a (G) Energy card from your hand to 1 of your
Pokémon. If you do, remove 1 damage counter from
that Pokémon. This power can’t be used if Meganium
ex is affected by a Special Condition.
Attack#1:
(CCC) Razor Leaf [50]
Attack#2:
(GGCCC) Power Poison [90]
Discard 1 Energy attached to Meganium ex. The
Defending Pokémon is now Poisoned.
Name:
Bayleef
Set:
EX Unseen Forces
Card#:
35/115
Rarity:
Uncommon
Type:
Grass
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Chikorita)
HP:
70
Weakness:
Fire
Resistance:
Water
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Soothing Scent [10]
Attack#2:
(WWC) Razor Leaf [50]
Name:
Chikorita
Set:
EX Unseen Forces
Card#:
51/115
Rarity:
Common
Type:
Grass
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Fire
Resistance:
Water
Retreat:
(C)
Attack:
(C) Headbutt [10]
Attack#2:
(GC) Razor Leaf [20]
Attributes:
Meganium ex a Grass Pokémon. In some
respects this is nice: Grass Resistance only exists
on Metal Pokémon, but that allows Metal Pokémon to
shut out almost all damage Grass Pokémon can do.
There are decent amounts of Grass Weak Pokémon, and
due to this type lacking a popular “brute force”
deck, most players with this Weakness ignore it. In
other words, they aren’t countering it.
Meganium ex
is also a Stage 2 and a Pokémon ex. What this means
is that it should have access to some of the most
powerful effects available: that is, without making
it a “broken” card. Since you have to use at least
two cards to get it into play (Chikorita and
either Bayleef or Rare Candy), plus it
has all the problems faced by a Pokémon-ex (multiple
cards that can’t be used on it or will have
diminished effects plus cards that are designed
specifically to hamper its performance), it will
need its 150 HP. Oh, and as I forgot to remind
everyone in my last CotD, we have that double Prize
penalty when it’s KO’d. Said 150 HP is a good,
solid amount. The only thing higher for a Stage 2
Pokémon ex is 160, so next to the highest is pretty
great. It will let you survive attacks from several
smaller Pokémon, and even fellow Stage 2 Pokémon ex
will usually need two hits against a healthy
specimen.
The double Weakness is definitely a big problem: all
Fire or fellow Grass type Pokémon need to do is
score 80 points of damage to OHKO this flower. At
least since they saddled it with a double Weakness,
it actually has a Resistance! Water Resistance is
nice, and sometimes gives an “overkill” effect; a
Water Pokémon is Grass Weak. Of course, if it was a
choice between no Resistance or a double Weakness,
I’d rather have one Weakness and no Resistance.
There is a decent chance that the double Weakness is
on this card for another reason, to be discussed
later.
The last of the “Bottom Stats” would be the retreat
cost. Meganium ex has a solid retreat cost
of “two”. Anything over two generally means you
won’t want to pay to retreat unless you have no
choice but to do so or lose the game. Anything less
means you can more or less retreat freely without
worry. At two, you’ll usually have the option, but
will want to avoid using it unless it’s urgent.
As stated earlier, Meganium ex comes from
Bayleef who comes from Chikorita. This
set’s Chikorita is passable: its second
attack is overpriced but it does have Water
Resistance. Bayleef is reasonably solid,
with all around good Attributes for a Stage 1 that
still has another Evolutionary option available,
except for its HP, the minimum you usually want even
if you can Evolve again. The first attack is what
you’d expect on a Grass Pokémon, but the second is
nice and solid damage, unusual for Grass Pokémon.
That Water Resistance is what offsets that HP.
Abilities:
By George, I think they’ve got it!
Normally, a single extra Energy attachment from hand
is nice, but not too overpowering. Since this is a
Pokémon-ex, you’d expect a little more, and you get
it. Although limited to just Grass Energy, it is an
otherwise completely unrestricted attachment that
actually removes a damage counter from the target!
Working from the bench means it should stack, and
that just begs for combos.
The second attack Razor Leaf is a nice, no-nonsense
50 damage for three of any Energy. A 20 point
damage bonus good for the supporting attack of a
Pokémon-ex.
Power Poison is a bit disappointing: five Energy is
the point at which the normal damage to Energy
relationship spikes, so it should be worth 70 points
of damage or so completely on its own, maybe 80. So
10 extra damage and being forced to discard an
Energy to auto-Poison seems almost a bit weak.
Fortunately, the abilities have some synergy. Their
costs seem much lower than they really are thanks to
the Poké-Power, and you also have the luxury of
treating this as a “bench-sitter”.
Uses and
Combinations:
Boost Energy is a must: not only will it
completely power a Razor Leaf on its own, but it
means that you can Rare Candy into this
straight from Chikorita and still hit pretty
hard. More over, you can then use your Poké-Power
to still end the turn one Energy ahead. So first
turn, Nurture and Boost, then Razor Leaf.
Second turn, same thing. Third turn, Nurture,
Boost, then Power Poison and use the Boost
Energy for the discard cost. Fourth turn a
Normal Grass Energy (or for that matter, any legal
to attach Energy) and your Grass Energy attachment
via Nurture and you can Power Poison again. Now you
can use whatever attachment suits you to keep up the
Power Poison each turn, and direct the other Energy
attachment to another Pokémon. Plus, you’ve healed
a total of 40 damage while you’ve done all this.
Further combos can be accomplished with compatible,
Basic and/or Stage 1 attackers and Mr. Briney’s
Compassion (though this makes the one damage
counter being healed often superfluous). If you can
bench two Meganium ex early on, you’ll have a
supreme advantage of powering many Pokémon up in a
single turn. Even one can ready the Fire
Red/Leaf Green Scyther for action.
Ratings
Unlimited:
2.5/5-You remember the drill: add Neo Genesis
Slowking for Trainer disruption, plenty of good
beatsticks that can make use of the Energy, and
you’ve got a fun deck for Unlimited that has a
chance at winning against the more serious decks.
Remember though, I said a chance, not that it’s a
guarantee. Even without Slowking it might
work just because Double Colorless Energy,
Boost Energy, and that extra Energy attachment
can keep it and several other nice Pokémon attacking
while this tries to hide on the bench.
Modified:
3.75/5-Again, we should expect at least one solid
deck to be built around this card, and there is the
possibility of more than one. Some cards that are
rumored to be coming out will just love this thing…
Limited:
4.25/5-Assuming you can pull a full line of it this
beast will be incredibly hard to overcome. That
little bit of healing is really something, as is
Poison, in this format. That double Weakness and
double Prize penalty is the only thing to really
hurt its chances.
Summary
Hopefully a sign that TPC has learned that pretty
much anything other than Pokémon-ex should not have
a Poké-Power that breaks the normal Energy
attachment rules. Of course, attacks that do such
aren’t a problem due to the time lost to use it.
