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Metagross UL
Seeing as both of the other Modified Legal Metagross are
Steel Type, maybe it’s about time we got this Psychic
one (Metagross is a Steel/Psychic Type in the video
game). Sure, Steel Pokémon get the benefit of Special
Metal Energy, but a Psychic one will hit for Weakness
much more frequently.
As you would expect for a Pokémon that weighs in at
1212.5lbs, Metagross is both fairly durable (130 HP) and
has a massive Retreat cost (though that need not matter,
as we shall see). The double Psychic Weakness could be
an issue, but Psychic Pokémon can always take advantage
of Azelf LV X’s PokeBody to fix that.
The reason Metagross’ Retreat cost need not be a problem
is because of its Psychic Float PokeBody. This gives any
active Pokémon with Psychic Energy attached a Retreat
cost of zero. The fact that the effect applies to any
active of any Type is extremely useful. For example, if
your Claydol is dragged active, you can Retreat it at a
cost of attaching one Energy, rather than having to
attach two and discard them both. It’s not quite as
flexible (and therefore not as good) as Flygon RR’s
Rainbow Float, but in a Psychic deck, it comes pretty
close.
Now that’s all very nice, but I’m fed up of Metagross
that are only good for using their Powers and Bodies on
the Bench (see the LA and SV versions). I want one that
can do some damage. Metagross UL gets off to a good
start with a decent value no-effect attack called Pulse
Blast. For only [C][C], this does 60 damage. Not bad,
though not quite as good as the kind of overpowered one
Energy attacks we are used to from the likes of Jumpluff
and Donphan Prime. One way of compensating for this
would be to use Double Colourless Energy, but really you
should think twice before you attach a DCE to Metagross.
The reason for that is that its second attack, Double
Leg Hammer, costs [P][P][P]. This means that that DCE
(or Call Energy) you were fortunate enough to draw into
is effectively a waste as far as this attack is
concerned . . . you are going to have to attach another
three Psychic Energy if you want to use this attack. And
you should want to use it, because Double Leg Hammer is
actually pretty good. It does 40 damage to two of your
opponent’s Benched Pokémon. Against most decks this is
two Prizes in two turns as you target Pokémon like
Claydol, Uxie, Azelf, and Crobat G. Used with Jirachi UL
and its devoluter-style Time Hollow attack, you can even
use it to KO multiple Stage 1 and 2 Pokémon.
So, Metagross does have some potential, but his
conflicting Energy requirement is incredibly annoying.
It seems that you can either use Metagross as a cheap-ish
fast-ish attacker with DCE, OR as an effective damage
spreader, but not both. That, plus the fact that spread
is commonly countered by today’s metagame are probably
deal-breakers as far as a tournament viable Metagross
deck is concerned. That’s a shame, because this card is
so nearly there.
Rating
Modified: 2.75 (lack of synergy between the attacks'
Energy needs spoils what could have been a very good
card)
Limited: 3.5 (Body and attacks are all great here, but
Stage 2s are not easy to get out in Limited)
Combos with . . .
Jirachi UL (spread and then devolve)
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