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Shaymin EX LTR
Modified:
When the first version of this card was released there
was some hype around it. "A Basic that can do 180 for
just 2 Energy, it can KO a Mewtwo EX!" The only problem
is, to get to this EX slaying number you need to be
losing... badly. 180 only happens when your opponent has
1 prize remaining, 2 prizes remaining nets you a neither
here nor there 150. That KOs Empoleon and Kyurem but
it's not taking out any heavily used EX. The main
problem though is the HP, 110 HP just isn't enough for
an EX, arbitrarily assigned to this card because it's a
physically small Legendary Pokemon. There's not much
point in netting a nice revenge KO if your revenge
attacker is going to get revenged KO'd itself, for 2
prizes no less! Another point stacked against Shaymin EX
is that it needs a deck to go into, the only popular
Grass deck right now is the Virizion EX / Genesect EX
deck which has little use for another EX Pokemon.
It is a very powerful card and outperforms most other
Pokemon cards ever printed. It's just the enormous power
creep that has occurred in a small portion of the game
that means it is outclassed by other Basic Pokemon with
much higher HP than itself.
Limited:
Legendary Treasures Limited is a crazy place, with its
high EX pull rates there's a decent chance you'll see a
Shaymin EX on either side of the table. But the same
applies here as it does in Modified, that's an awfully
low HP total for giving up half of your prizes. Which
leads on to another problem for Shaymin EX in Limited,
less prizes = less damage, maxing out at 120 damage.
Considering the high number of Basic Pokemon in this set
that have equal or higher HP to Shaymin EX and can do
similar damage AND are not EX's (3 versions of Reshiram
for example!) Shaymin EX has trouble competing here too.
Unlimited 150:
Until fairly recently, Shaymin EX was banned in U150.
Since an update in the rules though ("Basic Pokemon with
150 HP or more are banned" instead of "Pokemon EX are
banned") Shaymin EX, along with other "small" EXs like
Mew EX are now legal in U150! Some were concerned that
they would prove to be too powerful for the format and
this rules change is as a trial period only, but it
seems to be working well so far!
To continue the comparison from the Limited review, when
a Pokemon such as Blue Flare Reshiram is legal and
counts as an EX you can see how Shaymin EX is of a
similar power level (and also wonder why this wasn't
implemented in Modified rather than having 180 HP
monstrosities running around!)
But, onto the actual review! It's early days for the
small EXs in U150 so I can only speak from my personal
experience using Shaymin EX in a Beedrill deck. As a
starter it can work well if you have a good selection of
Supporters to set up Pokemon with, you can then often
get ahead of the Energy race as your opponent uses Call
for Family or evolving attacks like Spiritomb's (Arceus)
Darkness Grace. The 2 prizes lost will definitely be
worth it against decks without much acceleration of
their own and Shaymin can be brought back late game with
Pokemon Retriever, Super Rod etc.
As a mid - late game attacker Shaymin EX does much
better than in Modified. When playing for 8 prizes
Revenge Blast maxes out at 210 base damage! The numbers
required to hit below this are lower too, with most
decks getting to around 140 HP and a general maximum of
160 HP. This means Shaymin EX can be hitting relevant
numbers at the mid game rather than having to wait until
you've almost lost.
Thankfully, it's Shaymin's fairly low HP stat that
prevents it from breaking the format. It can be
countered by popular cards such as Ditto (Fossil) or
Clefable (Jungle) and walled to an extent by Mr.Mime
(Jungle), although the Mime player risks being set up on
with Synthesis.
Overall, Shaymin EX looks like a safe addition to the
format, giving a type that was lacking in a solid "Big
Basic" during the Black & White series a powerful new
Pokemon.
Ratings.
Modified: 3
Limited: 2.5
Unlimited 150: 4
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