Armored Mewtwo – Pokemon Promo Review

Vince

Armored Mewtwo looks pretty cool on the card, and it also originated from the Pokémon Anime where Giovanni used one and curbstomps Gary despite letting him allow to use multiple Pokémon against it, which is a testament to how obscenely powerful it is. It also appeared on Mewtwo Strikes Back. Due to the card name, it doesn’t count against other Mewtwo cards, meaning you could have 4 Armored Mewtwo, 4 Mewtwo, 4 Mewtwo-ex, 4 Mewtwo-EX, 4 Mega Mewtwo-EX, Mewtwo-GX, 4 Mewtwo & Mew-GX, 4 Rocket’s Mewtwo, 4 Delta Mewtwo, 4 Rocket’s Mewtwo-ex, 4 Counterattack Mewtwo, 4 Shining Mewtwo, and 1 Mewtwo Star in one deck (45 total), though I don’t think you need that many!

Anyways, Armored Mewtwo has only one attack, and it’s not actually that bad. Psychic Raid costs three Psychic energies for 130 damage. The attack cost can be fueled up easily by Malamar’s Psychic Recharge Ability. And even if Armored Mewtwo can’t attack on your next turn, you can reset the clause by bringing Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX via Invasion ability, manually retreat for free if it has an Air Balloon attached to it (it’s a new Pokémon tool from Sword & Shield that reduces the retreat cost by two), and bring Armored Mewtwo back to the front and attack again. There may not be any reliable damaging boosting items in Standard at the moment, though the new Fine Band from Sword & Shield acts like a weaker version of Muscle Band from XY as it lets you do 10 extra damage to the Defending Pokémon. The slight damage boost is actually enough to OHKO any Psychic weak Pokemon such as Mewtwo & Mew-GX that this attack would otherwise fall short of without the tool.

This is another one of those decent single prize Pokémon which has the capacity to 2HKO the game and gets support due to being a Basic and/or being a Psychic Type. At the same time, however, it has to compete other single prize Pokémon that utilizes Psychic energy such as Necrozma from Unified Minds or Ultra Necrozma from Cosmic Eclipse, and they both do more than 130 damage.

Ratings:

• Standard: 2.5/5
• Expanded: 2.5/5
• Limited: N/A

Conclusion:

Armored Mewtwo might be cool looking with all that armor, but it isn’t useless in the competitive scene, but one wishes that it could do more.

Otaku

Yes, we’re reviewing this card because it looks so cool!  Armored Mewtwo (SM – Black Star Promos SM228) is reaching for your nostalgia in an attempt to weaponize it… but does it succeed?  Does it even work if you’re not someone who remembers this design for its brief appearance in the Pokémon anime?  The first gameplay aspect to consider is the name; it really is “Armored Mewtwo” so it does not count against how many copies of Mewtwo, Mewtwo-EX, Mewtwo-GX, etc. you can run.

Armored Mewtwo is a [P] Type, handy for support like Mysterious Treasure and exploiting the [P] Weakness of cards like Mewtwo & Mew-GX.  Armored Mewtwo is a Basic Pokémon, making it easy to run.  120 HP is enough to survive weaker attacks, which is adequate given its Stage.  [P] Weakness could be an issue, but mostly because some other [P] Type attackers are going to OHKO it without needing to bring their “A” game.  No Resistance is typical for SM-era [P] Types, so we’ll move onto the Retreat Cost.  [CCC] is chunky, a pain to pay and even to zero out.  It also isn’t quite high enough for cards like Buff Padding or Poké Maniac.

Armored Mewtwo has no Abilities or obscure effects, just  a single attack, and it is “Psychic Raid”.  For [PPP] this attack lets Armored Mewtwo hit for 130 damage, but also places an effect on itself, preventing it from attacking during your next turn.  Even in a post-Guzma Standard Format, this effect is relatively easy to shake.  The damage for the Energy is decent, though not great.  If you wanted to, you could slap this into your typical Malamar (SM – Forbidden Light 51/131; SM – Black Star Promos SM117; Shiny Vault SV18/SV94) deck.  Its “Psychic Recharge” Ability makes it relatively easy to fuel Psychic Raid.

Armored Mewtwo is not worth it, though, because there are too many better options for that deck.  Just sticking to [P] Type Basic Pokémon worth a single Prize, the obvious option is Giratina (SM – Lost Thunder 97/214; SM – Black Star Promos SM151).  Budget versions of the deck can just use Necrozma (SM – Unified Minds 101/236; SM – Black Star Promos SM204).  When we lift the single-Prize restriction, and only worry about the attacker making good use of [P] Energy, instead of actually being a [P] Type Pokémon, we gain even more options.  So… yeah, no room for Armored Mewtwo unless you insist on running it.

I can’t think of a reason you’d run Armored Mewtwo instead of those other Pokémon in the Expanded Format, and promos aren’t Limited Format legal.  Even if they re-released this card in a set, though, it’d just be “okay”; Psychic Raid’s Energy cost and effect are much harder to deal with unless that set just happened to have compatible cards.

Ratings

• Standard: 2/5
• Expanded: 1/5
• Limited: N/A

Armored Mewtwo is style over substance, though at least it almost was worth using, just being overshadowed by the many, many superior options for Malamar decks.

aroramage

BEHOLD THE POWER OF THE STRONGEST POKEMON TO EVER LIVE, POWERED UP BY A SUIT OF ARMOR!!

Armored Mewtwo explodes onto the scene, a Basic Psychic Pokemon with 120 HP, alongside a Psychic Weakness, no Resistance, and a Retreat Cost of 3. It unleashes the full fury of its Psychic Raid, a 3-for-120 move that is so powerful, it prevents Armored Mewtwo from attacking on its next turn! But don’t be fooled, for your opponent will likely have been thrown all the way across the room by the sheer overwhelming might of this card, as the moment it hits the table, it’s an unstoppable force of nature that rivals even the legendary Tag Team-GX!!

…okay but in all seriousness, Armored Mewtwo isn’t good. It was released as a promo in the Fall 2019 Collector Chest – you’d know it as that tin lunchbox with Armored Mewtwo on the side. You’ll likely never see Armored Mewtwo at a tournament outside of someone’s binder, but if looking at that full art hasn’t got you looking around for a Chest to get your hands on, it probably should! The fun fact about this card is that it’s the first printing of Mewtwo in his iconic battle armor from the movies! So hey, that’s pretty neat!

Get one for your collection, but please, don’t try to play it competitively. You’ll find him to be sorely lacking in the battle prowess his suit’s supposed to provide.

Rating

Standard: 1/5 (a bad move, low HP score, and expensive costs tend to do that to cool cards)

Expanded: 1/5 (but hey, coolness factor is clearly top notch)

Limited: N/A (as a promo, Armored Mewtwo is too cool for sealed play)

Arora Notealus: I’m sure there’s a more solid reason for why they made a bad Armored Mewtwo card. Maybe so that we can look forward to the good version? Or maybe just to say they made Armored Mewtwo a thing in the card game, I don’t really know. Either way, I’d still be happy hanging onto this card, cause boy oh boy does it look freaking COOL!!

Next Time: A throwback to a card that actually was competitive for a time!