aroramage |
It was only a matter of time after
the reveal of Lugia BREAK that we'd see new BREAK Evos
for other non-EX Basic Legendaries. And here we are with
Xerneas BREAK!
Matching up with most other Stage
2s in terms of HP, Xerneas BREAK brings with it the
attack Life Stream onto any other Xerneas you use it
with. Right now, this includes the reprint of the XY
version of Xerneas as well as the one from BREAKThrough...and
a promo that no one really uses. So which one comboes
best with Xerneas BREAK?
Well Life Steam costs 2 Energy and
does 20 damage for every Energy attached to your
Pokemon. It's fairly similar to M Gardevoir-EX (PRC)'s
attack, Brilliant Arrow, only instead of 3 Energy and 30
damage for every Fairy Energy, it's been reduced to a
more efficient 2-for-20 on ALL Energy. This is
reminiscent of attacks like X-Ball, Evil Ball, Aero Ball
- really any "Ball" attack that we've seen on popular EX
before, but now there's a major difference in that it no
longer relies on how much Energy your opponent's Active
Pokemon has. They could have as little as no Energy if
they're playing something like Yanmega, and it wouldn't
affect the output! And that's a pretty big buff in my
opinion.
So Life Stream alone makes Xerneas
BREAK playable, but which would be the best to combine
with him? Xerneas (XY, STS) does have Geomancy, a quick
boost of Fairy Energy that charges 2 Bench-sitters very
quickly. Already that adds on an extra 40 damage to the
attack, and assuming you run normal attachments, that
means Xerneas BREAK will do at least 80 damage on its
first use of Life Stream after a Geomancy. That being
said, it is a bit slow, having to attack with Geomancy a
couple of times before using Xerneas BREAK's Life Stream
to do serious damage, but it is a good set-up option.
A lot of players though have leaned
towards Xerneas (BKT) when building around a Xerneas
since he's got Rainbow Force, an attack that does more
damage based on the different Types of Pokemon on your
Bench. While the Rainbow Road deck hasn't seen too much
play recently, it is notable for being able to stack up
to 160 damage just from Xerneas' Rainbow Force attack,
which combined with a Muscle Band could easily KO any
non-Mega Pokemon-EX. That being said, Life Stream and
Rainbow Force don't really have much in common, and
since it doesn't matter what the diversity in your
Energy line-up is, I wouldn't really recommend running
him with the BREAKThrough version.
In any case, Xerneas BREAK is a
great BREAK Evolution with a lot of good applications to
offer, so try him out in your new Xerneas Fairy decks
and breath some new life into the competition! Or just
play him in an Energy acceleration deck, that could work
too.
Rating
Standard: 4/5 (a powerful enough
attack always warrants another look)
Expanded: 4/5 (and the fact that
it's on a smaller non-EX Pokemon makes it more
appealing, if only for the one-Prize trade-off)
Limited: 5/5 (not to mention the
decency of being an effective Stage 1 rather than a
Stage 2 or 3)
Arora Notealus: I imagine Xerneas
BREAK will do well in the right build, and he may even
pick up more once the rotation hits. Life Stream is too
powerful to ignore, and I'm willing to bet that his
appearance will make a mark on BREAK Evolutions becoming
more prevalent in the game.
Next Time: On the other hand, we've
also got another BREAK Evo to talk about...
|
Otaku |
Welcome to our second week counting down our top 10
picks from XY: Steam Siege, which actually means
counting down our top 5 if you want to get technical.
Our subject today is Xerneas BREAK (XY: Steam
Siege 82/114). It is a Fairy Type, which means
it only hits Weakness when attacking XY-era Dragon Types
but at least nothing is Fairy Resistant (at least not
yet). Fairy Type support is lackluster, at least
that which specifically applies to actual Fairy
Type Pokémon; they have some good support based around
the Fairy Energy Type like Aromatisse (XY
93/146) with its [Y] Energy moving “Fairy Transfer”
Ability or Fairy Garden zeroing out Retreat Costs
for Pokémon with [Y] Energy attached. I couldn’t
find any anti-Fairy Type effects yet; hard to say if it
will stay that way or if they have been around long
enough we should expect them to start showing up.
If it also possible I overlooked some, especially in
more recent sets; Type specific counters usually end up
being too weak to matter or too strong for their own
good (as if they work really well, people cut back on
that Type and the counter is no longer needed).
Being the BREAK Evolution of a Basic Pokémon makes
Xerneas BREAK a lot like a Stage 1, except support
explicitly for Stage 1 Pokémon won’t benefit it.
In my estimation, that makes it inferior to Basics,
actual Stage 1 Pokémon and… yeah, that is it, as being a
pseudo-Stage 1 is still easier than being a Stage 2,
Restored Pokémon, Mega Evolution, or a BREAK Evolution
that Evolves from something larger. Two cards and
a turn of waiting (or three cards and no waiting with
Wally) is not too steep a price to pay for a good
attacker or piece of Bench support. I have not
seen a card that references BREAK Evolutions
specifically, either to help or hinder them.
Xerneas BREAK
has 150 HP, putting it just 20 to 30 points below the
170 to 180 HP typically seen on worthwhile Basic
Pokémon-EX. This is a good score, with favorable
odds when it comes to surviving an attack. It
helps that there are several effects to boost damage
against Pokémon-EX, though I am reminded more and more
that Basics can get a sweet bonus from Fighting Fury
Belt. An already good Basic Pokémon-EX can
fake being a Mega Evolution with Fighting Fury Belt
due to the +40 HP and +10 damage, and with
non-Pokémon-EX Basics now clocking it at up to 140, they
can fake being a decent Basic Pokémon-EX as well, let
alone ape some of the power of the BREAK Evolutions. Xerneas
BREAK has no Weakness, Resistance, or Retreat Cost
printed on it, but instead will use whatever is supplied
by the Xerneas from which it BREAK Evolves.
It also can use that card’s attacks and (if it has one)
Ability. It brings one attack of its own as well -
Life Stream - which costs [YY] and does 20 damage times
the amount of Energy attached to all of your Pokémon.
The cost of the attack alone means it should do an
underwhelming (but not totally useless) 40-for-two.
The big strength of such attacks is that if you have
several other Pokémon ready to go, you can send this
kind of attacker up front first and it will hit hard
while being relatively disposable.
We need to look at the possible Xerneas that
Xerneas BREAK could BREAK Evolve from: XY
96/146 (reprinted as XY: Black Star Promos XY05
and XY: Steam Siege 84/114) XY: Black Star
Promos XY31, and XY: BREAKthrough 107/162.
All are Basic Fairy Type Pokémon with Metal Weakness,
Darkness Resistance, Retreat Cost [CC], no Ancient
Traits, no Abilities, and two attacks. As they
will matter to Xerneas BREAK, let us discuss the
“bottom stats” quickly. Metal Weakness is
dangerous, but not the most dangerous right now.
We did recently get a new, potent Metal Type deck in the
form of Genesect-EX (XY: Fates Collide
64/124, 120/124) backed by Bronzong (XY:
Phantom Forces 61/119). The “Rapid Blaster”
attack on Genesect-EX already hits for 100 points
of base damage, and has a built in effect to do more
damage by discarding attached [M] Energy, so this just
saves Genesect-EX a one or two Energy discard
cost (depending on other buffs). Not a good thing
to do “for” your opponent, but better than something
gaining a one Energy OHKO combo such as with Fighting
Weakness. The rest of the risk comes from
Bronzong backing up several other possible main
attackers, and the Metal Type having a lot of good
backup up attackers that can be slipped into a
Bronzong backed deck. The Darkness Resistance
could actually be relevant; Yveltal-EX and
friends have a large presence even when they aren’t one
of the top decks, and Xerneas BREAK has 150 HP to
back it up, meaning an effective 170 in the matchup.
The Retreat Cost of [CC] is something you can probably
afford without a huge hassle, but the long term loss is
high enough to matter; good thing Fairy Garden is
one of many options for dealing with Retreat Costs.
XY
96/146 (and its reprints) all have 130 HP, which was the
maximum printed on “regular” Basic Pokémon at the time
and is only 10 shy of the current max. This is the
point where I believe surviving an attack becomes more
likely than not. Its first attack is “Geomancy”
for [Y], allowing you to select up to two of your
Benched Pokémon, then search your deck for a [Y] Energy
card to attach to each of them. Currently only
basic Fairy Energy cards can provide [Y] Energy
while in your deck, and given how all recent Special
Energy cards have been worded, that doesn’t seem likely
to change anytime soon. For [YYC] this Xerneas
can use Rainbow Spear to do 100 damage, but must discard
an Energy attached to itself afterwards (of any Type).
In isolation these attacks are simply “okay”, but with
the HP and synergy between the two (with multiple
Xerneas in play) it has been a good (though not
great) Pokémon. Though I wasn’t reviewing at the
time, the Pojo crew looked at it
here
as their ninth best card of XY.
XY: Black Star Promos
XY31 is kind of obscure, but also has 130 HP. The
first is “Aurora Gain” for [YCC] to do 50 damage, plus
during your opponent’s next turn this Pokémon will have
no Weakness. For [YYCC] you can use “Light of
Life” to do 80 damage, +40 (so 120 total) if your
opponent has Yveltal or Yveltal-EX in
play. Though the stats are solid, both attacks are
very underpowered or overpriced. XY: BREAKthrough
107/162 has 120 HP, not a huge loss. Its “Rainbow
Force” attack costs [YCC] and does 10 damage plus 30
more for each Type of Pokémon you have on your Bench.
For [YYCC] Xerneas also has “Power Creation”
which does 80 damage, plus 80 more if it was healed this
turn. Both attacks can hit some important damage
numbers, but Rainbow Force is the one that has a
competitive deck built around it, with future promise
due to dual Type Pokémon having returned to the game.
We reviewed it
here.
XY 96/146 and XY: BREAKthrough 107/162
are worth using as a basis for Xerneas BREAK, or
perhaps I should say that Xerneas BREAK has
potential as an add on for these Pokémon. Geomancy
can help fill your side of the field with Energy to fuel
Life Stream, while decks built around XY:
BREAKthrough 107/162 often need some Energy
acceleration as the attack requires three Energy.
It takes a lot of Energy for Life Stream to hit
important numbers, but with relative safe Bench-sitters
like Regirock (XY: Black Star Promos XY49
and other Fairy Type support, it is plausible you get
get those numbers. Still a good Evolved attacker
is something the Fairy Type could use, and Xerneas
BREAK can supply that. For Limited play,
XY: Steam Siege 84/114 is the Xerneas in this
set and a great pull on its own; it also works well with
Xerneas BREAK.
Ratings
Standard:
3.75/5
Expanded:
3.75/5
Limited:
4.5/5
Summary:
Simply put Xerneas BREAK provides a strong
Evolved attacker for Fairy Types because two of the
three Xerneas we have available are already
strong attackers in their own right. If I am wrong
and this isn’t something the Fairy Type needs, then I’ve
overrated Xerneas BREAK, but it still has the
usual fallback of “Good Basic Stages” that can help many
Evolutions break even (pun intended) when they
themselves are a bit underwhelming.
Xerneas BREAK
earned 11 voting points, seven of which came from me as
I made it my fourth place pick. As you can guess
by the inconsistent tone of this review, I’m definitely
having second thoughts on having ranked this card that
high. Fifth place might be a bit high, but I do
think it has potential.
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