aroramage |
You probably figured that, of the 4 Mewtwo-EX cards
(2 Basic Mewtwo-EX and 2 M Mewtwo-EX, never mind the 6
other variants of Full Art cards including the two
Secret Rares), at least one of them was bound to make it
onto our Top 10 List. And lo and behold, one of them did
indeed - the M Mewtwo-EX (64)!! This version originally
came out in Japan in the Red Flash booster alongside
Mewtwo-EX (62), with Mewtwo-EX (61) and M Mewtwo-EX (63)
featured predominantly in the Blue Shock booster.
There's a lot of variation amidst these 4 cards, but for
now I'm gonna just focus strictly on M Mewtwo-EX here,
since we'll be reviewing the other three at some point
in the future (who knows, maybe we'll have a Mewtwo-EX
week or something). M Mewtwo-EX here is probably the
better of the two M Mewtwo-EX, and he's got a lot going
for him. While he does maintain less HP, he does have an
attack called Psychic Infinity, and it works just as
well as any of those "Ball" moves we've seen in recent
history.
Basically, Psychic Infinity costs 2 Energy of any kind,
making this M Mewtwo-EX arguably splashable in a lot of
decks, though really he's better off in a Psychic deck
working off of Dimension Valley, making it cost 1
Energy. While the initial damage of 10 doesn't seem like
that much, this attack works a lot like Yveltal-EX's
Evil Ball, tacking on more damage based on the total
amount of Energy between the two Active Pokemon. How
much damage though?
30 damage per Energy.
That's right, taking into account M Mewtwo-EX's own
Energy costs (assuming you're not using Dimension Valley
to cheapen it), the attack will deal at least 70 damage
just on its own. Add on whatever amount of Energy is on
the opponent's Pokemon, and you could have a very large
problem on your hands, ranging anywhere from an
additional 30-120 damage for most other Pokemon! The
latter is enough to KO most Basic-EX (dealing what would
be 190 damage including M Mewtwo-EX's own Energy costs),
though it's not overbearing enough to KO many Megas
without some more Energy pushed onto M Mewtwo-EX.
There is a slight catch to this, but I actually
appreciate the text: Psychic Infinity's damage is
unaffected by Weakness. This may seem like a somewhat
irrelevant or even unnecessary bit of rule text, but
consider that the original Mewtwo-EX from Next Destinies
had a weaker version of this attack that was affected by
Weakness, forcing a format of Mewtwo Mirror Matches that
no one enjoyed - it was either Win or Die back in those
days. With this little bit of text, the Pokemon TCG
designers acknowledge their little mishap and work to
keep the format strongly balanced, keeping M Mewtwo-EX
from becoming the next Mewtwo-EX...err, so to speak.
It's balanced, powerful, and not too heavy (or awkward)
in terms of cost, giving M Mewtwo-EX a proper spot as
the #4 on our list.
Rating
Standard: 4.5/5 (he's got a lot of power to tap into,
but he's not ridiculous broken like Mewtwo-EX was)
Expanded: 4.5/5 (though access to his previous form in
this makes him feel a tad inferior; after all, Mewtwo-EX
could actually KO this M Mewtwo-EX with just a
measly...wait, he needs 11 Energy?! Pssh, this guy only
needs 6 Energy to KO him back, and he's not even relying
on Weakness!!)
Limited: 5/5 (naturally, if you get the parts, you play
this guy)
Arora Notealus: You know, it's interesting to see this
version of Mega Mewtwo around and about. I mean, he's
been getting a lot of comparisons with Frieza from DBZ
in terms of design, and if you've seen the Zygarde evos
coming out, they look a bit like Cell. What's next, a
legendary that transforms similarly to Majin Buu?
......I'd like to see that, actually. (although maybe
that's what Hoopa's for? Hmmmm...)
Next Time: A familiar face in a different form!
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Otaku |
Welcome to the final four for our Top 10 Cards of XY:
BREAKthrough! We begin this week with M
Mewtwo-EX (XY: BREAKthrough 64/162, 160/162)
and as I plan on going through all options for Mewtwo-EX
and touch upon the other M Mewtwo-EX let’s
go through all they have in common. So in addition
to M Mewtwo-EX (XY: BREAKthrough 64/162,
160/162) we are looking at the original Mewtwo-EX
(BW: Next Destinies 54/99, 98/99; BW: Black
Star Promos BW45; BW: Legendary Treasures
54/113) and our first new Mewtwo-EX (XY:
BREAKthrough 61/162, 157/162, 163/162) and second
Mewtwo-EX (XY: BREAKthrough 62/162, 158/162,
164/162). The other M Mewtwo-EX is XY:
BREAKthrough 63/162 and 159/162.
All of these are Pokémon-EX, which means they give up an
extra Prize when KOed and are both categorically
excluded from certain beneficial effects and targeted by
detrimental ones. Of course this usually is
accompanied by better attributes and effects. All
the Mewtwo-EX are Basic Pokémon, making them the
easiest to fit into decks, put into play and even enjoy
some specific Stage support in addition to a natural
synergy with many card effects, such as using Super
Scoop Up to bounce a Pokémon and then playing it
back down. Both M Mewtwo-EX are Mega
Evolutions, which means all the baggage from being a
Pokémon-EX in addition to the specifics of Mega
Evolution and losing the benefits of being a Basic.
Without Mewtwo Spirit Link your turn ends upon
Mega Evolving, and rarely are you going to want to give
up the chance of attacking just to get your Mega
Evolution into play (after all, wasting a turn while
taking an extra hit usually mitigates the advantage of
being a Mega Evolution). We’ve got a few cards
that specifically cause problems for Mega Evolutions but
we’ve got Mega Turbo to provide them basic Energy
acceleration from the discard pile.
All versions of Mewtwo-EX and M Mewtwo-EX
are Psychic-Types. The majority (though by no
means an overwhelming amount) of Fighting-Types and of
Psychic-Types are Psychic Weak: both TCG Types are made
of three video game Types (Fighting, Ground and Rock for
Fighting and Psychic, Ghost and Poison for Psychic), so
between that and Pokémon based on dual-Types in the
video games, there’s some variety in the Weaknesses one
will see. Resistance is far less varied; nearly
all Darkness-Types and Metal-Types are Psychic
Resistance, though -20 damage is an annoyance and not
the Achilles’ heel Weakness tends to be.
Psychic-Type support exists and has some good cards, but
the cards that explicitly refer to Psychic-Types is just
four cards deep: Dimension Valley, Gardevoir
(BW: Next Destinies 57/99; BW: Dark Explorers
109/108), Mystery Energy and Wobbuffet (XY:
Phantom Forces 36/119). Dimension Valley is
great, Gardevoir isn’t worth it, Mystery
Energy is somewhere in between and Wobbuffet
stands on the outside because it affects Abilities and
no Mewtwo-EX or M Mewtwo-EX has one.
Indirect support does better having a decent amount of
Psychic-Type Pokémon that don’t need to be run in
Psychic-Type deck to be effective, but are still
enhanced by the support. All in all, this still
seems like a solid deal to me.
Let’s talk Hit Points: pretty easy with Mewtwo-EX
because all versions have 170 HP, which is enough to
soak a hit before being KO’d but usually because the
opponent’s set-up is lacking and/or the deck isn’t
focused on doing damage just to your Active. M
Mewtwo-EX (XY: BREAKthrough 63/162, 159/162)
has 230 HP which is enough that only the biggest hits
will take it down in one shot while today’s actual
review subject - M Mewtwo-EX (XY: BREAKthrough
64/162, 160/162) as I made it easy to forget with this
approach - has 210 HP so it is a little less sturdy but
still relatively durable. Psychic Weakness is
common to all of these cards and it is a substantial
risk… in part because of the original Mewtwo-EX (BW:
Next Destinies 54/99, 98/99; BW: Black Star
Promos BW45; BW: Legendary Treasures 54/113),
which if you somehow didn’t know this card was still
impressive, I’ll explain why shortly. Also common
to all of them is a lack of Resistance which is typical
so we’ll move on to Retreat Costs; M Mewtwo-EX (XY:
BREAKthrough 64/162, 160/162) has a chunky Retreat
Cost of [CCC], which means you probably need to include
some options to lower the cost and/or bypass manually
retreating it entirely. All the others including
today’s official subject have a Retreat Cost of [CC],
low enough that if you have to pay it, it likely can be
afforded (both up front and in terms of the long game)
but still high enough you’re better off finding
something to lower the cost or bypass it.
So how about attacks? Mewtwo-EX (BW: Next
Destinies 54/99, 98/99; BW: Black Star Promos
BW45; BW: Legendary Treasures 54/113) can use
“X-Ball” for [CC] to do 20 damage times the total amount
of Energy attached to both Active Pokémon (both yours
and your opponent’s). This is a great deal as for
just a Double Colorless Energy you can score a
quick and easy 40 damage even if the opponent’s Active
has no Energy (and still subject to Weakness, Resistance
or any other effects that can alter damage). Decks
with compatible Energy acceleration can often manage an
easy (though Energy intensive) OHKO. Its second
attack rarely sees use but is actually reasonably good
in a Psychic deck: “Psydrive” requires [PPC] to hit for
120 damage and then you must discard an Energy from it.
The main issue is that X-Ball is just so much easier to
afford and if both Actives have enough Energy it will do
more damage as well. When you’ve got the right
deck though, it can be a nasty surprise for an opponent
that thinks his or her lean, mean attacker is safe.
It has been reviewed
four
different
times
already
with all of them being a Top X list of some sort.
If you haven’t figured it out already, this detailed
re-review of such a familiar card (besides being typical
of me) will make at least a little sense.
Mewtwo-EX
(XY: BREAKthrough 61/162, 157/162, 163/162) also
has an attack that requires [CC] - Photon Wave - which
does 30 damage in addition to reducing any damage the
Defending Pokémon does during your opponent’s next turn.
The damage is and effect are “okay” for the effort
involved, but remember that if your opponent can reset
effects on the Active that was the Defending Pokémon,
you won’t gain that bit of protection. For [PPCC]
this Mewtwo-EX can use “Psyburn” to hit for a
flat 120 which might be okay except there is nothing
really supporting it. It does meet my preferred
minimum damage criteria (120 vanilla damage for four)
but it needs something else like superior attributes or
effects (such as via an Ability or Ancient Trait) to
really work, otherwise especially with its
vulnerability to the preceding Mewtwo-EX and its
X-Ball, it just becomes a huge target. Maybe use
it in Standard when you need a Mewtwo-EX but
won’t have much (if any) source of [P] Energy available,
but not in Expanded unless you’ve got a specific combo
in mind.
Its set-mate Mewtwo-EX (XY: BREAKthrough
62/162, 158/162, 164/162) spices things up a bit with
its first attack (Shatter Shot) needing [P] and hitting
for 30 damage times the number of Energy attached to
itself. Its second attack (Damage Change) needs
[PPC] and swaps the damage on your opponent’s Active
with itself… so if the opponent has no damage you
completely heal this Mewtwo-EX. Shatter
Shot has solid damage for the investment though Damage
Change may be a bit high; you have to survive a hit to
even be able to use it, you need something less damaged
than your Mewtwo-EX and scoring OHKOs
requires something with less HP than Mewtwo-EX
has remaining. Possibly use it in Standard if the
deck has a decent source of [P] Energy available, but
not in Expanded unless you’ve got a specific combo in
mind.
M Mewtwo-EX
(XY: BREAKthrough 63/162, 159/162) has just the
single attack “Vanishing Strike” which does 150 damage
and if there is any Stadium in play the attack does
another 50 damage (so 200 total) plus ignores
Resistance and any effects on the opponent’s Active.
Yes, that means Weakness still applies for the few cards
where that matters. OHKOing your opponent’s
non-Mega Evolutions seems pretty sweet so where is the
catch? The Energy cost of [PFFC], a fairly awkward
cost to meet; four of any Energy is already a bit tricky
but a mix of both Fighting and Psychic Energy
requirements is simply difficult, as apart from Mega
Turbo there isn’t a lot of good Energy acceleration
that applies. Still it can be done, which just
leaves the need to cover the last 40 to 50 points of
damage needed to take out most Mega Evolutions and
Wailord-EX. This might be worth running, but
it needs to be the star of the deck that features it.
Finally we come to today’s actual subject: M
Mewtwo-EX (XY: BREAKthrough 63/162, 159/162).
Its lone attack is “Psychic Infinity”, with the easy to
meet price of [CC]. The attack does 10 damage plus
an additional 30 for each Energy attached to either
player’s Active Pokémon, with the drawback that Weakness
does not apply. Yes, this is a version of X-Ball
that - besides appearing on a Mega Evolution - trades
the capacity to exploit Weakness for a minimum 10 points
of damage doing 50% more damage per attached Energy.
If Weakness would not be a factor, where X-Ball does 40,
Psychic Infinity does 70. Where X-Ball does 60,
Psychic Infinity does 100. Where X-Ball does 80,
Psychic Infinity does 130. Etc. So why run
through everything else?
The main use I see for this card is as a sort of
personal Pokémon Tool for Mewtwo-EX (BW: Next
Destinies 54/99, 98/99; BW: Black Star Promos
BW45; BW: Legendary Treasures 54/113); in
exchange for Mega Evolving and either just using
Mewtwo Spirit Link or also including Tool
Retriever so that you can use it, bounce it and
replace it with the Tool you otherwise would have on
Mewtwo-EX, you drop M Mewtwo-EX (XY:
BREAKthrough 63/162, 159/162) so it becomes an
Evolution with an HP and damage bump. You can hit
some very high amounts with fewer Energy if you go with
this Mega Evolution, and you just use the same
strategies you were using with the original Mewtwo-EX,
adjusted for a little less deck space. In Standard
you’ll have to figure out which Mewtwo-EX works
best but after that, you can find the same (or
equivalent) Energy accelerating tactics and go to
Psychic Infinity… and beyond!
Unsubtle “Buzz Lightyear” reference aside, in Limited
scoring this this is largely meaningless. If you
pull a Mewtwo-EX you may as well include it,
whether you are going for a +39 deck where said
Mewtwo-EX is the only Basic or whether you’re
building a fully fleshed out deck and you can try to
build Mewtwo-EX and/or M Mewtwo-EX up
while it sits on the Bench. While not all the
time, you should have the deck space for those games
where giving up a turn for an HP boost and better attack
is worth it, and if you get Mewtwo Spirit Link
and can draw into both it and the Mega Evolution in a
timely manner, hurrah!
Ratings
Standard:
3.5/5
Expanded:
3.5/5
Limited:
4.75/5
Summary:
M Mewtwo-EX (XY: BREAKthrough 63/162,
159/162) scores the same for both Standard and Expanded
which might seem a touch odd. In Standard it
becomes the main attacker for a deck… or rather specific
variants of decks that can accelerate the needed Energy.
I don’t think it looks bad, but it may not be as good as
something that simply takes less space and either hits
just as hard or has more technical benefits. The
big knock against it in Expanded is that you could just
stick to the original X-Ball wielding Mewtwo-EX
and while it won’t hit as hard, it needs far less set-up
to swing for less and with more Energy (versus Mega
Evolving) can still hit the big numbers.
On my own personal list, this was my eighth place pick;
I’m not surprised it clocked in higher and I may be
lowballing it. Regardless of that I expect it to
be popular before we get some solid, conclusive
tournament results that either cement it as being that
good or reveal it to be more players wanting to use a
“new toy”.
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