aroramage |
Well, it's that time of year again!
Time to review the best cards in the most recent set,
BREAKpoint! Or as I'm gonna call it, Breakpoint. Cause
capitalizing so many letters is silly. I'M LOOKING AT
YOU BREAKThrough!!
...well, I'm one to talk.
So for our little list here, we
start out with one of the new Mega Evos to hit the
scene, M Scizor-EX! And to me, he's...decent. Honestly,
maybe it's just my thoughts on the matter for now, but
he doesn't seem like he's all that. Okay, so his attack
is 2-Energy, which is as you may note a really cheap
cost for a Mega Evo attack, and for what it's worth,
he's very good at what he does.
For a mere 2 Energy, M Scizor-EX
here unleashes the power of Iron Crusher, dealing out
120 damage and granting you the ability to either get
rid of a Special Energy card on the opposing Active
Pokemon or discard a Stadium in play. Now I know what
you're thinking: "But aroramage, that sounds amazing!
Every deck runs Special Energies and/or Stadiums, and
dealing 120 damage is enough to 2HKO most any Pokemon in
the game! How can that NOT be good for 2 Energy?"
Well, yes, that's all technically
true. M Scizor-EX can run against the grain of a lot of
decks in general - Fighting decks running Strong Energy,
Dragon decks using Double Dragon Energy, anything that
runs DCE. And on top of that, he can just get rid of a
Stadium, giving you the upper hand potentially in
certain match-ups? Certainly, he's a great guy! But I
think for me, it's that 120 damage bit. I know asking
for more would probably warrant another Energy
attachment, but given how easy it'd be with Bronzong
hanging around, I doubt it would be an issue for Steel
decks that will easily be running M Scizor-EX here.
Maybe a slight boost to 140?
I'd say that's what Muscle Band's
for, but you already know he's gonna have Spirit Link
equipped. In any case, M Scizor-EX should not be
overlooked just cause I want him to do a smidge more
damage - he's a very real threat in the game, and he's
gonna be leading a slew of Steel decks to the meta!
Rating
Standard: 3.5/5 (he's powerful, no
doubt - a cheap attack with a great effect - and he's
definitely got the right support)
Expanded: 3.5/5 (I just think he
could have used a little extra oomph to him, ya know?
Something that says, "If I wanted to, I could one-shot
you right now!")
Limited: 5/5 (course, I'm also
greedy and want my Megas to be silly OP, so what do I
know?)
Arora Notealus: You'd probably be
surprised if I said that M Scizor-EX didn't somehow make
it onto my list - but that's also probably because I
really wanted to look at some other cards that would
also push through for quite a bit. That's probably one
of the great things about these lists - whereas a few
cards may stand out as really good cards, there are
others that would be up for debate, and the great thing
about having multiple reviewers make different lists to
compare is really nice!
...that being said, having only two
reviewers doesn't leave much to the imagination when you
have an idea of what the other guy probably voted for XP
Next Time: SPEAKING OF SILLY OP
MEGAS
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Otaku |
Welcome
to our Top 10 Picks of XY: BREAKpoint Countdown!
However before we get to that, I have some
bookkeeping. There are two reviews I missed (here
and
here)
that should hopefully be posted shortly, if they are not
already up. Much more problematic is that while
going through CotDs from as far back as the Top 10 for
the previous set, I noticed I badly messed up a review.
It wasn’t just that I overrated or underrated the card,
it was that I misread the effect! To make matters
worse, both before and after we reviewed
Brigette
I understood the effect correctly but for some reason
while writing the review, I was under the impression she
added the searched for card(s) to hand as opposed to
playing them directly to the field. That means she
is useless for accessing Abilities triggered when a
Basic is put into play and that means she is a much less
impressive card. A corrected review might be
posted for this, or it might not… and perhaps it is
strangely useful that we start our current Top 10 with
me being reminded of how easily I can utterly fail at
reviewing.
If
you’ve never read any of our Top 10 countdowns before,
let me quickly run through how we determine what makes
the Pojo Top 10 (or 5 or 15 or however many cards make
the list). Each individual reviewer may submit a
Top 10 list. Often you’re allowed to include a few
extra cards (sometimes useful for breaking ties) or if
you for some reason had a shorter list, we aren’t too
fussy about that either. Each card is assigned a
value based on how it placed on a person’s list, and
these are then summed to compile the final Top 10. Reprints
are not eligible most of the time; initially this was
because our Top 10 lists were an end-of-year feature and
many (most?) TCGs are good about keeping strong, staple
cards available in new product through periodic
reprints, enough that something like Professor
Sycamore is getting reprinted at least once per year
until they decide they are done with it and allow it to
rotate out of Standard play. In fact, Professor
Sycamore is card #107 of 122 in XY: BREAKpoint
and it is still a strong, important card (though not
quite what it once was). A card that is similar to
a past release but distinct enough that the game
recognizes them as two different cards is still fair
game. Now onto the 10th place!
M
Scizor-EX
has to deal with giving up an extra Prize when KOed and
being unable to access certain useful effects while also
being targeted by certain detrimental ones due to being
a Pokémon-EX. As a Mega Evolution, it also has the
painful effect of ending your turn when you actually
Mega Evolve into it, though this can be avoided with
Scizor Spirit Link. There are a few cards like
Mega Turbo that help out Mega Evolutions and a
few like Faded Town that are an extra obstacle
just for them. Being a Metal-Type means all
Fairy-Types and a chunk of Water-Types will not like
M Scizor-EX because it is hitting their Weakness.
XY-era Lightning-Types sport Metal Resistance, which may
be a pain or may not even be noticed as the -20 only
matters in borderline cases. I’m not seeing any
counter-cards that explicitly reference Metal-Type
Pokémon, but there also isn’t much in the way of
Metal-Type support either: Klinklang (BW:
Plasma Storm 90/135), Reverse Valley (XY:
BREAKpoint 110/122), Shield Energy and
Steel Shelter.
Klinklang
[Plasma] offers full protection against damage done by
Pokémon-EX to Metal-Type Pokémon thanks to its “Plasma
Steel” Ability; potent but sometimes painful to actually
get into play. Reverse Valley and Steel
Shelter are both Stadiums, with the former have two
different effects that operate simultaneously but apply
to only one player or the other (determined by how the
card is facing). Reverse Valley provides a 10
point damage boost for Darkness-Types before
Weakness/Resistance for one player while decreasing the
damage Metal-Type Pokémon receive by 10 after
Weakness/Resistance for the other. Steel Shelter
prevents all Metal-Types from being affected by Special
Conditions: both could be useful but also be dead weight
depending on the match, so while they compete for space
they could work together. Shield Energy is the
Type-specific Special Energy for Metal and reduces the
damage done to Metal-Types by 10 after
Weakness/Resistance (multiples stack). There are
also cards that can support other Types but work better
with Metal, like Bronzong (XY: Phantom Forces
61/119), Klinklang (Black & White 76/114)
and several Metal-Type attackers. Overall it
doesn’t strike me as the strongest Type, but it does
have its benefits.
M
Scizor-EX
has 220 HP; the lower of the most common scores for Mega
Evolutions, but still difficult to OHKO outside of
Weakness or decks that rely upon brute force/combos
specifically meant to OHKO anything. Speaking of
Weakness, it could be a real problem here as it is Fire,
and while that makes sense we also just came off of a
stretch where Entei (XY: Ancient Origins
15/98)/Charizard-EX (XY: Flashfire 12/106)
were a somewhat novel, successful choice for Standard
play, while Flareon (BW: Plasma Freeze
12/116) has been a success in Expanded (usually with a
partner) for a while now. There are a few other
less prominent Fire-Type decks out there, and
hypothetically any Stage 1 attacker can become a
Fire-Type if it can squeeze in Flareon (XY:
Ancient Origins 13/98). This is probably the
card’s biggest danger. Far less important but
appreciated nonetheless is Psychic Resistance; so many
cards don’t have any and while -20 damage won’t shift
things much, definitely better to have it than not.
Finishing up the bottom of the card, the Retreat Cost of
[CC] is high enough you prefer not to pay it but low
enough you’ll often be able to afford both paying it and
recovering from having paid it.
M
Scizor-EX
lacks an Ancient Trait (seems like that mechanic is done
now), and isn’t changing the pattern of Mega Evolutions
having no Abilities while only having a single attack.
This time the attack is “Iron Crusher”. As I am
writing this late, I just got an image of Wil Wheaton in
a suit of powered armor. I don’t think the attack
will have this effect on most opponents though, so
you’ll need to rely on just what is printed: 120 damage
for [MM] and the option to either discard a Special
Energy card attached to the opponent’s Active or
to discard a Stadium from play. This is a
fantastic damage to Energy ratio with no drawbacks.
The cost means Mega Turbo and a manual Energy
attachment can take you from zero to attacking in a
single turn. Being able to discard either an
attached Special Energy or the current Stadium in play
or neither means the effect shouldn’t ever
backfire while the current metagame makes it unlikely
you wouldn’t be able to use at one effect or the other.
This also opens up the possibility of using a beneficial
Stadium that applies to both players but then discarding
it to prevent your opponent the same bonuses. Of
course it isn’t perfect: 120 scores a 2HKO on almost
anything that sees competitive play, except cards with
protective effects. However it also doesn’t OHKO a
lot of things, and this is a format that is big on
OHKOs. Even stacking multiple buffs, it will
struggle to take down typical Pokémon-EX attackers in a
single hit.
So what
about Scizor-EX? We’ve got to go through it
to get to its Mega Evolution. It is very similar
to M Scizor-EX: same Type, Weakness, Resistance,
Retreat Cost and lack of Ability or Ancient Trait, but
as a Basic Pokémon-EX with two attacks. The first
is “Steel Wing” for [M] which does 20 damage while
reducing the damage done to Scizor-EX (or rather
“this Pokémon) by 20 once again after Weakness or
Resistance. The damage and effect aren’t brilliant
but they aren’t bad either; in fact for something likely
intended only to Mega Evolve, it is a solid deal.
For [MM] Scizor-EX can use “Gale Thrust” to hit
for 50+ damage. The “plus” is that the attack does
an additional 60 damage (so 110 damage total) if
Scizor-EX moves from your Bench to the Active
position during your turn. Thanks to Pokémon like
Zoroark (XY: BREAKthrough 91/162) and its
“Stand In” Ability or Keldeo-EX and its
functionally identical “Rush In” Ability, plus Float
Stone or another effect to zero out Retreat Costs,
Gale Thrust should be pretty easy to spam for the 110.
A solid basis for M Scizor-EX, but I don’t think
there is the damage base for Scizor-EX to prove
worthwhile on its own.
So how
should you run this Pokémon? If Fire Weakness
isn’t too big of a danger, you probably should go with a
fast deck designed to exploit the disruption that is
already present in Iron Crusher… probably with more
disruption. If you use Bronzong and its
“Metal Links” Ability, you might take up more space than
with Mega Turbo but you’ll also have Energy
acceleration that can be used over and over again,
including for alternate attackers. I am uncertain
which approach is better, but with so many decks relying
on Special Energy cards, Stadiums, and/or getting by
with smaller attackers (like Night March), Iron Crusher
could take you far. At least in Standard; Expanded
adds Flareon [Plasma] back into the mix as well
as more competition, including more decks that use few
or no Special Energy cards. As such I don’t expect
as much out of M Scizor-EX here. In Limited
play, this is a great pull, unless of course you don’t
get a Scizor-EX. The attack costs aren’t
particularly easy to splash as they are mono-Typed, but
they also cost only one or two Energy, which helps.
If you go the +39 route, where Scizor-EX is
combined with 39 other non-Basic Pokémon cards to form
your 40 card Limited Format deck, you probably want one
of those 39 cards to be M Scizor-EX. Even
though you’ll lose an attack to Mega Evolving and it
might take a bit to draw into M Scizor-EX in the
first place, Scizor-EX won’t be able to get the
damage bonus for Gale Thrust.
Ratings
Standard:
3.35/5
Expanded:
2.85/5
Limited:
4/5
Summary:
Part of me thinks we’ll be seeing a lot of M Scizor-EX
as it discards our precious Special Energy cards and/or
Stadiums while setting up for a 2HKO and for only two
Energy but then I realize that just might not work as
the format is so rapidly paced. M Scizor-EX
actually tied with
tomorrow's
ninth place pick in terms of voting points. I had
M Scizor-EX as my fifth place pick because of
what I expect of it in Standard, with the cards that
placed above it seeming like strong plays for either
Standard or Expanded play. Given how I’ve
meandered back and forth in my own review, I won’t
deserve credit even should it exceed my expectations.
It was actually pretty tight in this part of the list,
as 11th and 12th place tied with only one less voting
point than 9th and 10th.
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