The new set, BW: 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.
With the set being mostly reprints, the
new rules about to go into on November 8th,
and the still relatively recent rotation
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!
The review will be based on the
format post rules change.
Today we are looking at
Meloetta EX, who shows up in “Aria
Forme”.
Besides being a part of the
Radiant Collection subset contained
with BW: Legendary Treasures and
one of the three new
Pokémon-EX in this set,
Meloetta EX doesn’t have a lot going
for it.
It is a Basic Pokémon, and that
is still great.
Being a Psychic-Type isn’t
especially useful right now.
Being a Pokémon-EX is technically a draw
back as it makes her worth two cards and
there are multiple counter-cards
available to use against them, plus a
few useful cards that won’t work for
Pokémon-EX.
Being a Pokémon-EX usually
justifies violating template patterns
(like HP scores) but
Meloetta EX doesn’t break the rules
for HP; it has more HP than
non-Pokémon-EX
Meloetta, but 110 HP isn’t setting
any records otherwise and is within OHKO
parameters for most decks (though not
“easy” OHKO range).
No Weakness is the only “good” Weakness
but some are less damaging than others.
The benefit of being Psychic Weak
is that many Psychic-Type Pokémon are
themselves Psychic Weak; creating
something of a stalemate.
Not all are, however, and with
110 HP anything that can hit for 60 can
score a OHKO.
Mewtwo EX is making a slight
comeback and even if it wasn’t, if
Meloetta EX did prove useful,
Mewtwo EX would be an obvious
counter.
The lack of Resistance isn’t
devastating, because Resistance isn’t an
especially strong mechanic (though it is
nice to have).
It does have a low, single Energy
Retreat Cost which one something hardier
would be great, but here is just “good”;
odds are if
Meloetta EX is up front, it won’t
survive being attacked.
Meloetta EX
does bring two attacks; the first
requires (CC) and hits for 20 points of
damage with a 50/50 chance of either
inflicting either Confusion or Sleep on
the Defending Pokémon.
This isn’t bad, but it doesn’t
justify being a Pokémon-EX.
Round is overpriced: (PPP) for 30
points of damage times the number of
Pokémon you have in play with “Round”.
That 30 to 180 range means the
attack is great when every Pokémon on
your Bench has “Round”, good when you
have three or four backing up
Meloetta, adequate if you have at
least two others, and bad with less.
Meeting a cost of (PPP) is not easy, so
why is this card on the list?
Because this is the first Basic
Pokémon with “Round” and the rules
change means you can keep a few
Meloetta EX on your Bench in
relative safety while also having time
to Evolve
something else that has “Round” with a
better cost and return.
There are actually four other
Pokémon to pick from, so let us take a
look at them.
Wigglytuff
(BW: Next Destinies 79/99) is a
90 HP, Stage 1 Colorless Pokémon with
Fighting Weakness, no Resistance, a
Retreat Cost of two and an overpriced
second attack in addition to accessing
“Round” for (CC) that does 20 per
“Round”.
I would skip this one.
Exploud (BW: Plasma Storm
107/135) means using a Stage 2 Colorless
Pokémon, but gives a better 140 HP.
It has a massive Retreat Cost of
4 and the same problematic Fighting
Weakness and lack of Resistance.
You also need (CCCC) to access
“Round”, but it does 50 per for a range
of 50 to 300 points of damage!
While
Exploud lacks an inexpensive attack
or useful Ability, for (CCC) (slightly
less at least) you can reveal your
opponent’s hand and discard all Items
you find there, which could legitimately
prove useful.
The remaining two Pokémon are part of
the same Evolutionary line:
Palpitoad (BW: Noble Victories
23/101; BW: Legendary Treasures
43/113) has an overpriced “Round” for
(CCC) that does 20 per for a range of 20
to 120, which means that like
Meloetta EX itself it should be used
only to up the damage: a Stage 1
Water-Type Pokémon with 80 HP, Grass
Weakness, no Resistance, Retreat Cost of
two, and a so-so first attack isn’t
something to rely on.
Seismitoad (BW: Noble Victories
24/101; BW: Legendary Treasures
42/113) is a Stage 2 Water-Type Pokémon
with 140 HP, Grass Weakness, no
Resistance, and Retreat Cost of three.
Round
requires just (CC) on
Seismitoad and does 30 per, giving a
range of 30 to 180.
Its
second attack is unfortunately
overpriced and vanilla; not even a big
damage number.
So
Seismitoad or
Exploud would be the best dance
partners, and with the first turn rule
change, nerfing of
Pokémon Catcher, and access to
Meloetta EX, either might finally be
able to hang with the more established
decks.
I wouldn’t expect Round decks to
dominate tournaments, but
Seismitoad and
Exploud can now both more easily
power-up.
Even the card pool has shifted in
their favor, in that
Silver Bangle can replace (or half
replace) a Benched “Round” Pokémon and
Silver Mirror can slow down opposing
Team Plasma decks.
I like
Exploud better, but as I have no
good ideas for powering it up quickly,
Seismitoad is probably the best
choice.
In Limited play,
Meloetta EX has neither the HP nor
the damage output to pull of a +39 deck.
You might consider running it in
most other decks, though.
110 HP will last a few turns
here, especially if the coin flips go
your way as you’ll be using the first
attack almost exclusively (which also
means not worrying about specific Energy
types).
At the same time, two Prizes
is half of
your starting amount and your opponent
will probably just build something on
your Bench.
So while you should consider
Meloetta EX, you probably shouldn’t
run it.
Unlimited fares even worse; if
you aren’t trying for a First Turn Win
strategy (which the new rules don’t
completely eliminate), the other Round
Pokémon also all improve as much or more
than
Meloetta EX.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5
Modified:
3/5
Limited:
3/5
Summary
Meloetta EX
doesn’t score high despite being a
somewhat important release; it exists to
help out “Round” decks as a
Bench-sitter, a job it does adequately.
It isn’t a “good” Bench-sitter
(imagine if it had an Ability) and is
bad back-up attacker, so scoring it any
higher would be as misleading as scoring
it lower (and ignoring what it does for
an entire deck).
Meloetta EX
placed in the number two slot of my
personal list.
I placed it so far about
Excadrill EX because, despite
Excadrill EX being better in
everything but the niche use of
Meloetta EX,
Meloetta EX strikes me as having a
better chance of succeeding, though only
by a narrow margin.
