At last we come to the number one card
of 2012, and no one should be surprised
that it is in fact
Mewtwo EX (BW: Next Destinies
54/99, 98/99, BW Promo BW45),
originally reviewed
here.
So what has changed since then?
Mewtwo EX
was released as a promo in a widely sold
tin, helping to drive its price down to
a reasonable level, something that also
happened to yesterday’s CotD,
Darkrai EX (BW: Dark Explorers
63/108, 107/108, BW Promo BW46).
Mewtwo EX is perhaps the most widely
played Pokémon this format, and with
good reason.
While there are many more options
than there was when it debuted, the best
defense against an opposing
Mewtwo EX is your own copy.
Mewtwo EX
has great stats, one fantastic attack
(X-Ball), and one good-to-great attack
it seldom ever uses (Psydrive),
mentioned because it never gets used and
thus I might have to justify that
comment.
Go back to when
Mewtwo EX was released and look at
the kinds of attacks that dominated; 120
for (PPC) and a generic Energy discard
was clearly superior to the likes of
Reshiram (Black & White
26/114, 113/114, BW Promo BW004,
BW23, BW: Next Destinies 21/99)
and its Blue Flare that for (RRW) with
the same damage required discarding two
(R) Energy.
Why bring up Psydrive?
The attack that has basically
been “very occasionally useful filler”
for
Mewtwo EX is still actually quite a
good attack, helping to emphasize how
great this card is!
So
Mewtwo EX has become a powerhouse
opener, secondary attacker, primary
attacker, or sweeper (though acting as
an opener can be a bit risky due to an
opponent likely running their own).
It has basically shaped this
format.
Its overall “power” has diminished since
it came out, though.
As stated, there are more options
now.
Most such options are other
Pokémon-EX.
Unlike many of the first wave we
received, later releases yielded enough
damage in decks that supported them to
outpace
Mewtwo EX, useful effects, or both.
Darkrai EX has proven perhaps the
best example; possessing great stats, a
great Ability, and a great attack while
also being Psychic Resistant.
Tornadus EX (BW: Dark Explorers
90/108, 108/108) has also proven useful.
Both of them require just a bit
more support than
Mewtwo EX, and lack scalable
attacks.
Most other seeming “counters” have not
proven to be enough.
The best is
Sigilyph (BW: Dragons Exalted
52/124), whose Safeguard Ability renders
it untouchable by Pokémon-EX that lack
special consideration and is otherwise a
Psychic-Type with a reasonably
splashable attack that hits harder the
more Energy the Defending Pokémon has.
It was even popular enough to
score its own “Quad” deck, but since
Sigilyph has no special protection
from non-Pokémon-EX, even it needed
Mewtwo EX backing it!
The existence of
Mewtwo EX has been a major
impediment to Psychic Weak decks; I
cannot say for certain but there have
been many for me that it just wasn’t
worth testing further because
Mewtwo EX simply crushed them.
This may not seem like a big
deal, but consider all of the seemingly
potent Psychic-Types that might have at
least had a small window of viability
without
Mewtwo EX.
Between this and the Pokémon
(regular variety or Pokémon-EX) that
were “bumped” from decks because
Mewtwo EX was simply better than
them with the same resources, the format
would surely have been dramatically
different without it.
I sadly haven’t been able to experiment
with Unlimited to know if earlier
guesses were on target or far wide; the
raw size of Pokémon-EX means a donk deck
built around them might be resistant
enough to some of the
first-turn-win/lockdown decks, but
definitely not all of them.
Of course, the ones it is
vulnerable to are just a bit more
complicated than those it isn’t and thus
are a bit inferior (still talking about
the top decks of the format, mind you).
It could be a rather odd
relationship.
Of course, if you are actually playing
some sort of Limited type match-up with
Mewtwo EX, unlikely though it is at
this point, it is a must run, simple as
that.
You probably can even risk the
infamous “one Pokémon and 39 Energy”
build, only needing to fear someone else
having been just as fortunate and
building the same deck, plus going
first.
Ratings
Unlimited:
3.75/5
Modified:
4.5/5
Limited:
5/5
Summary
Despite everything I’ve said to build it
up, I can’t bring myself to give
Mewtwo EX a perfect score; after
all, I didn’t give it one when it was
brand new and it is just a little less
potent now.
I certainly believe it to be the
best Pokémon in the format and the best
card this year, because it is almost
universally played while also having had
a significant impact on the format.
Remove
Mewtwo EX from the format and it is
a very, very different beast.
This is why I had it in the
number one spot for my own personal list
as well.
