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The new set, Legendary Treasures, is upon us so it is
time for a new Top 10 list!
Last time we expanded to a Top 12 because of
scheduling: this time the nature of the set itself
demands we “adjust” our usual practice.
When we select cards for a Top 10, we don’t normally
consider “reprints”… but that would exclude most of
Legendary Treasures. The new rules are about to go
into effect and the Modified Format underwent its latest
set rotation not that long ago, so this time we’ll be
doing two Top 5 lists: the Top 5 Promising Picks of
Legendary Treasures followed by the Top 5 Reprints of
Legendary Treasures!
We begin our countdown with the fight most Promising
Pick of Legendary Treasures…
Excadrill EX!
I’ll forgo my usual formatting because I need to
hurry and it was really increasing the length.
Excadrill
EX is notable as it is the first (alongside its
set-mate
Chandelure EX) that is of an Evolution (though the
card itself is still a Basic,
Excadrill
normally Evolve from
Drilbur) and
also is not what are often referred to as “Legendary”
Pokémon.
I personally do not think this is a good “change”; I
liked Pokémon-EX as a mechanic reserved for “Legendary”
Pokémon. I
would not have wanted it to be an Evolution, either;
we’ve tried that (remember Pokémon-ex?) and it didn’t
really work then either.
While Pokémon-ex existed in better balanced
formats, that doesn’t mean they were the source of said
balance.
Still, its status as one of the few “new” Pokémon-EX in
this set plus breaking the old template means it will
likely enjoy at least 15 minutes of fame even if it
doesn’t prove to be tournament viable.
So do I think
Excadrill EX is something that can win tournaments?
I have serious doubts.
What it clearly has going for it is its Type
(hitting Fighting Weakness is amazing), Stage (Basics
are still best), and HP (180 HP is the second highest
printed).
What definitely hurts it is that it suffers from Water
Weakness (multiple established and hopeful threats).
Good but not great is the Lightning Resistance
(how often it will matter I don’t know) and the Retreat
Cost of three (Heavy
Ball target plus most decks don’t retreat normally
anymore).
I didn’t comment on the card’s attacks because they
couldn’t be simplified as above.
Both do solid amounts of damage for the Energy
going into them, but not high enough to score critical
2HKOs (first attack) or OHKOs (second attack).
Dig Out can be powered by nearly all Energy
acceleration (including just dropping a
Double Colorless
Energy onto
Excadrill EX) while the second needs four Energy,
specifically (FFCC); still
Double Colorless
Energy compliant but even with help four Energy is
still a lot.
The effect of Dig Out reveals the top card of your deck;
if it is a Basic Energy card you get Energy acceleration
(you can attach the revealed Energy to one of your
Pokémon) but anything else and it is just discarded.
The big hit from Break Ground might do 120 points
of damage, but it hits your own Bench for 10 a piece;
you’ll have to cope with the damage (whether through
careful play or combos); it might not matter or it could
set things up for a faster KO.
The two attacks combo together, but without more
aid you’re not guaranteed to take out the average
Pokémon-EX even with one of each attack… and any “combo”
card you add in is another non-Basic Energy card to risk
on Dig Out.
If Excadrill EX
had been released sooner, cards like
Recycle and
Pokédex
could have made it easy enough to stack the top of your
deck (besides being slightly useful anyway), but now
you’ll have to run something like
Musharna (BW:
Next Destinies 59/99) which is more about not
swinging blind than really improving your odds.
The new rules could also be a problem; Dig Out
hits just hard enough to be scary first turn, and Dig
Out could set up for a faster Break Ground.
Had
Pokédex still been legal, you might have even risked
Ether to try
for a first turn Break Ground, but probably not.
The one thing that is easy to deal with is the Bench
damage – Mr.
Mime (BW: Plasma Freeze 47/116) covers that,
and as the nerfing of
Pokémon Catcher
will make snipe/spread damage more useful, you might
have wanted to run it anyway.
In the end I am sure a deck can be built around
it, but I don’t know how good it would ultimately prove.
I’ll probably never get around to building it,
but I was thinking of
Team Plasma
Badge so that I could use
Colress Machine
for early game acceleration (and deck thinning) while
also tapping
Deoxys EX for more damage… but that would still need
something else to score OHKOs against non-Weak Pokémon.
For those that like to toy around with Unlimited or
Limited,
Excadrill EX is obviously a must run in Limited
(whether on its own or splashed into almost any deck)
but might be a fun pick for Unlimited.
Running a “Quad
Excadrill EX”
deck could rely on Trainers to help with managing
various aspects of the card, HP scores can be much lower
here, and 180 HP is resistant to some “donk” strategies
(though not immune).
Ratings
Unlimited:
3/5
Modified:
3/5
Limited:
4.95/5
Summary
Excadrill EX
is a good card, but in a format dominated by
great
cards. As
always, I may be missing something; I haven’t been able
to test the card at all.
I can only look at how similar cards have
performed as well as try to anticipate how the rule
changes will affect the game.
Excadrill EX
did not make my Top 5 list, though it did make my Top
“whatever” when I was jotting down all cards that showed
at least some promise.
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