aroramage |
And then we've got the Ancient
Trait-wielding version of Metagross here, with Theta
Double giving him access to two Tools at once. So
there's always the potential to be sticking two Muscle
Bands on this guy as always, but is he gonna be worth
the trouble? Let's find out!
His first attack is Machine Gun
Stomp, which is a 2-for-20 blow that does an extra 10
damage for every card in your hand. That's actually not
too bad on its own, to be fair. Granted, most players
will want to have played out the cards in their hand
before they attack, since once you're done with the
attack, your turn's over. But if you throw down a
Sycamore and use this, hey! That's 90 damage for only 2
Energy! Not too shabby.
By comparison, Guard Press is a
bit...eh? At 4 Energy, it does 80 damage, kinda like the
Iron Cannon from yesterday's Metagross, but instead of
dealing more damage, it reduces the damage Metagross
takes by 20 after Weakness and Resistance. It's okay,
I'd have rather taken Iron Cannon from the other
Metagross and slapped it on this one, since then you
could utilize a DCE for Machine Gun Stomp and KO stuff
with Iron Cannon, but Guard Press? Not so great.
So once again, we've found
ourselves with a relatively okay kinda card. MEH DAY IS
BEST DAY, AM I RIGHT EH?!?!
Rating
Standard: 2/5 (one day Metagross
will be awesome in the TCG...again, if he has before)
Expanded: 2/5 (I'm just covering my
bases, sorry >_>)
Limited: 3.5/5 (HEY LOOK, AT LEAST
HE CAN WRECK STUFF HERE)
Arora Notealus: So yeah. Metagross.
He's awesome. His cards aren't, but he is, so...there ya
go.
Next Time: The last of the Regis!
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Otaku |
Okay, now it is officially time for Metagross
(XY: Ancient Origins 49/98), the one with
an Ancient Trait and thus the distinctive
not-quite-full-art. To my knowledge there has been
no great upsets or revelations so… being a Metal-Type is
still “alright”. The good news is that they do
have some nice cards like Bronzong (XY:
Phantom Forces 61/119), Cobalion (BW:
Noble Victories 84/101, 100/101; BW: Legendary
Treasures 91/113), Cobalion-EX, Dialga-EX
(XY: Phantom Forces 62/119, 122/119), Heatran
(XY: Phantom Forces 63/119), Jirachi-EX,
Klinklang (Black & White 76/114) and
Klinklang (BW: Plasma Storm 90/135).
The bad side? That is probably their strongest
point and most of those either require building a deck
around them (the two Klinklang) are so generic
they work in anything (Jirachi-EX) or somehow
fall in between but still end up more likely to support
a main attacker that is otherwise not a Metal-Type (the
rest). Cards that specifically provide a
beneficial effect only to Metal-Types are Klinklang
[Plasma] which I already mentioned, Shield Energy
(which kind of clashes with the basic Metal Energy
acceleration of Bronzong and preference not to
run too many Special Energy) and Steel Shelter (a
solid Stadium that prevents Special Types against
Metal-Types; not always useful and facing steep
competition. Metal-Type Resistance is currently
only present on most XY-era Lightning-Types, which isn’t
so bad, and Metal Weakness is universal so far for
Fairy-Types plus on the Water-Types that represent the
video game Ice-Type, which isn’t as useful as it might
be if those two were more popular.
Being a Stage 2 is difficult. The core game
mechanics seem like they would work best with HP scores
“front-loaded” so that Evolving Pokémon could soak more
hits (important as we aren’t leveling them up to Evolve
against similarly strong Pokémon, but whatever your
opponent is using) and have useful features to help
justify running them instead of having most or all of
the burden on the final Stage of Evolution (last two
Stages I guess in the case of BREAK Evolutions).
Plus instead of the designers keeping a pace that allows
time for Evolutions to hit the field without falling too
far behind, such as by having some time for attacks
meant to set-up to play a roll and not making big Basics
or Stage 1 Pokémon able to hit hard and fast… they game
does just the opposite, then attempts to patch the issue
by adding some Evolution acceleration that instead seems
to just help a few cards enough to see play while not
making a substantial difference for the others… unless
the pendulum swings all the way towards the other
direction and it overpowers them.
Metagross
has 150 HP. Even though this is just 10 shy of the
maximum printed on a Stage 2 you have a few Stage 1
cards that tie it, one Stage 1 card that exceeds it -
Wailord (BW: Dragons Exalted 26/124) has 200
HP - as of course most Pokémon-EX (Mega or plain
Basics), though they are of course worth two Prizes
instead of one. The offensive side of the game has
kept pace with these larger cards (or rather outpaced HP
everywhere else) so 150 is still within OHKO range for
at least the main attacker of most decks (sometimes
secondary). Some decks will need a few turns to
reach that high of a damage yield or won’t be able to
reliably hit 150+ over and over again, but their numbers
are low among the competitive field which should do both
and and in not much time. Fire Weakness seems to
mostly mean Flareon (BW: Plasma Freeze
12/116) needs just less Pokémon for the OHKO it already
can achieve. The Psychic Resistance is
appreciated, mostly because a lot of cards have none,
however -20 damage just isn’t that much against cards
that either tend toward massive amounts of damage like
Mew-EX or Pumpkaboo (XY: Phantom Forces
44/119) in Night March decks or those focused on
alternate methods of taking out your Pokémon like the
new Gengar (XY: BREAKThrough 60/162) that
don’t care as much about doing “damage”. The
massive Retreat Cost of four is painful; too expensive
to pay unless Metagross is fully powered and even
when you can, losing four Energy is a huge setback even
for decks with Energy acceleration. Pack something
to help it out of or endure in the Active slot.
Metagross
(XY: Ancient Origins 50/98) has the Ancient Trait
“Θ Double” which allows it to have two Pokémon Tools
attached at once. Its first attack is “Machine Gun
Stomp” for [CC], which does 20 damage plus 10 per card
in your hand, while its second attack is “Guard Press”
for [MMCC] which hits for 80 damage in addition to
reducing the damage Metagross takes from attacks
during your opponent’s next turn. Let us start by
considering these in isolation. I would say that Θ
Double is a good-but-not-great Ancient Trait, owing to
needing to either run extra Pokémon Tools or really
focus on getting what you do run onto this card, as well
as having a natural vulnerability to mass/multi-Pokémon
Tool discarding effects like Startling Megaphone
and Tool Scrapper. Machine Gun Stomp isn’t
brilliant but due to its cost that a single Double
Colorless Energy can meet and the fact that even
though decks tend to focus on ripping through themselves
to your advantage, you shouldn’t have too hard of a time
holding onto at least a three or four card hand with the
possibility of something truly massive, it also seems at
least somewhat good. Its big drawback is again,
whatever you hold onto isn’t being used elsewhere and
even if you build your hand up, a card like N can
send it crashing back down. Only good enough to
build a deck around if your hand can be made relatively
safe.
Guard Press is underpowered or overpriced, or probably a
bit of both. While a protective effect can help on
a card this size, an extra -20 only makes this as
difficult to OHKO as a 170 HP Pokémon and… we have
Pokémon-EX that size and they are only a little less
likely to be OHKOed than the 150 HP Pokémon. 80 damage
is at least 20 or 40 short given the Energy invested and
the mild bonus effect. Four Energy really is
massively expensive, even when they are half Colorless.
Now when we start blending these together we see some
synergy; Pokémon Tools often help attacks, whether
through boosting damage done to the opponent’s Pokémon
or blocking damage that would have been done to your
own, accelerating Energy eliminating your Retreat Cost,
two Pokémon Tools can do a lot and you can even mix and
match those effects. You might even include
Lucky Helmet so that as Metagross takes
damage, your hand size gets larger! The [CC] cost
of Machine Gun Stomp flows into the [MMCC] cost of Guard
Press; not as smooth as possible, but notable better
than if say the cost was [MMMC] or even [MM] leading to
[MMCC]. Other than that and Guard Press providing
guaranteed damage, there isn’t more between it and
Machine Gun Stomp, which is a bit of a problem because
if Guard Press falls short then yes one does need to
rely on Machine Gun Stomp.
So what about the lower Stages? In Standard you
only have Beldum (XY: Ancient Origins
47/98), Metang (XY: Ancient Origins 48/98)
and Metagross (XY: Ancient Origins 49/98)
to also consider. All are Metal-Type Pokémon with
Fire Weakness, Psychic Resistance and no Ancient Traits.
The Beldum is a Basic with 60 HP, Retreat Cost of
[CC], no Ability and two attacks; for [M] it can use
“Ram” to do 10 damage while for [MCC] it can use
“Spinning Attack” to hit for 30. Metang is a
Stage 1 with 90 HP, Retreat Cost [CCC] and again two
attacks: “Metal Claw” for [MC] does 30 damage while
“Bullet Punch” costs [MMC] and does 50 damage, with two
coin flips good for an additional 20 per “heads”. Metagross
(XY: Ancient Origins 49/98) has the same 150 HP
and Retreat Cost of [CCCC] as today’s Metagross,
but with an Ability called “Magnetic Warp” and attack
called “Iron Cannon”. The former is a slightly
weakened Escape Rope; it allows you to Bench your
Active and then promote any other of your Benched
Pokémon as the new Active, then force your opponent to
do likewise. I say “weakened” because if you have
no Bench you won’t be able to force your opponent to
change out and as you must go first, your opponent is
able to adjust to your decision instead of you adjusting
to his or hers. Iron Cannon costs the same [MMCC]
and Guard Press and also does 80 damage, but its effect
is that you may discard all [M] Energy attached to
Metagross in order to do 80+80 (160) damage.
In Expanded, Beldum (BW: Plasma Freeze
50/116), Metang (BW: Plasma Freeze 51/116)
and Metagross (BW: Black Star Promo BW75,
BW: Plasma Freeze 52/116) are also options.
These are all Psychic-Types with Psychic Weakness, no
Resistance and (of course) no Ancient Traits, though the
Metagross is a Team Plasma Pokémon and will be
referred to in the rest of the review as Metagross
[Plasma]. This Beldum also has 60 HP but
with Retreat Cost [C]. Its two attacks are
“Calculate” for [C], which to use and allows you to look
at and rearrange the top four cards of your deck, and “Psypunch”
for [PC] which does 20 damage. Its set-mate
Metang has 90 HP with a Retreat Cost of [CC], and
two attacks. For [P] it can use “Psybolt” to hit
for 20 damage and attempt to Paralyze the opponent’s
Active (“heads” on a mandatory coin flip) or its own
version of “Psypunch” that costs a bit more at [PCC] but
hits a bit harder at 50 damage this time. Metagross
[Plasma] has 140 HP, a Retreat Cost of [CC], an Ability
and an attack. The former is “Plasma Search” which
allows a player to search his or her deck for a Team
Plasma card (Pokémon, Trainer or Energy), show it to
your opponent and then add it to your hand. It is
once per turn before you attack, though if you have
multiple copies in play you may use each. For
[PCCC] it can attack with “Mind Bend”, doing 60 damage
and Confusing the opponent’s Active.
None of these cards are stellar but some are better than
others… at least where you have a choice. If
avoiding Psychic Weakness or not being a Metal-Type
isn’t a concern, the Calculate attack on Beldum (BW:
Plasma Freeze 50/116) at least allows you to attempt
to improve your set-up; probably a good idea if you are
stuck attacking with something like Beldum. Rare
Candy is preferred to the two Metang, but due
to item lock one shouldn’t rely on it alone; a mix of
either or which ever one handles your Weakness avoiding
or Type-support matching needs. Metagross
[Plasma] just wasn’t needed by Team Plasma decks, nor is
it particularly useful elsewhere; skip it. Metagross
(XY: Ancient Origins 49/98) actually has a decent
Ability and attack, plus even if you are focused on
today’s Metagross, a single one can be quite
handy (again, the Ability). You can find a review
of Metagross [Plasma]
here
and a review of Metagross (XY: Ancient Origins
49/98)
here;
the Metagross [Plasma] review is dated but the
other is just from yesterday.
So… what to do with Metagross (XY: Ancient
Origins 50/98)? In Expanded not much; too
difficult to get your hand size up and keep it up.
In Standard, it has become a budget deck on the PTCGO.
Yeah, not a huge claim to fame but something; in
Standard it isn’t quite as easy to shrink your
opponent’s hand size; multiple card effects do it, but
none of them are a staple like N. As such
using a bunch of draw effects that don’t shuffle or
discard your hand or only allow you to draw until you
have X cards in hand, a player slowly builds until
Machine Gun Stomp is good for a 2HKO and then a OHKO.
Maybe early on the player tries to power up Guard Press,
either using two Hard Charm so it can soak decent
damage (60 total) or some Muscle Band so it can
hit for a decent amount (another 40 means 120 total)
while the hand builds. If your opponent can’t cut
through all your Metagross quickly, the fact that
they eventually can make use of Machine Gun Stomp to hit
for OHKOs at a cost a Double Colorless Energy can
fill can overtake you in Prizes… sometimes.
Unfortunately, this card was originally slated for an
earlier review and was then postponed, because this
trick doesn’t work on the PTCGO as well anymore; XY:
BREAKThrough is already included in Standard there
and that means Judge is now an option. I
don’t know if a lot of people will be running Judge
but as one still has Battle Compressor plus VS
Seeker available but lacks as many potent Supporters
worth running in high counts, it seems probable.
If you do pull it in Limited, at least you can probably
enjoy it there. Everything about the card becomes
better, though Θ Double is difficult to access and you
do still need to pull the lower Stages. You may
have to rely on Guard Press if your hand thins to
quickly and can’t build back up, but often in Limited
you’ll have many cards in hand you just can’t play right
away, so I do not think this will be a major hinderance
to Machine Gun Stomp.
Ratings
Standard:
2.5/5 (on the PTCGO, 1.75/5)
Expanded:
1.25/5
Limited:
4.5/5
Summary:
A gimmicky attacker and unfortunately for Metagross
that gimmick has already become old news on the PTCGO.
Might be fun to try a massive hand deck offline for the
short time left before Judge joins, or if you
just like the strategy in general and want to play for
fun, but Metagross is pretty lacking overall.
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