aroramage |
Okay, well technically it's M
Pidgeot-EX that really made #1, but you can't play him
without Pidgeot-EX anyway, so there's that. All things
considered, the two of them are okay to start with, but
hey, we're not here solely to talk about why one's maybe
a little better than the other, eh?
That said, let's start with Pidgeot-EX,
the base form. With 170 HP and a Retreat Cost of 1,
things are
 looking
up for him outside of his Electric Weakness. So what's
the appeal? Well his first move is Mirror Move, a
classic attack from ye olden days where in the games it
would copy whatever move was used last as your own. Here
in the TCG, it works more like a "reflective" attack,
where it deals the same amount of damage Pidgeot-EX took
back to the opponent. This could be really devastating
if your opponent tries rushing Pidgeot-EX but misses the
OHKO - definitely a risk not worth taking, especially
since it only costs 1 Energy. On top of that, Feather
Lance is a Night Spear variant that's just a little bit
weaker, at 3-for-80 hitting a Bench-sitter for 20. Not
too bad, but still not the absolute pinnacle of attacks
either - it's got its usage!
So now that we know what can be
combined with Shrine of Memories to be used, let's talk
about the real star between these two: M Pidgeot-EX. It
might seem a bit odd that a 220 HP Mega Evo takes the
top of the list, but I'd like to think that's mainly due
to the shenanigans of his attack, Mach Cyclone. At 3
Energy, it deals 130 damage and gives you the option to
switch your opponent's Active Pokemon with a Benched
Pokemon. Let's take the basic consideration of this
attack into account: by attacking, you deal 130 damage
AND get to Lysandre out whatever you want. That can
really mess with your opponent, putting up a Pokemon
that they haven't powered up at all or that they'd much
more strongly prefer to be on the Bench - ideally, both!
By messing with your opponent's formation, you can
easily take away their main advantage in the game, and
that alone should give you incentive to be wary of M
Pidgeot-EX.
Course, the other thing might be
more of a ruling issue, depending, but if I'm correct
about the way Mach Cyclone works, you can actually to
deal enough damage to KO your opponent's Active Pokemon,
use Mach Cyclone to switch around to whatever you want
with Mach Cyclone, and then you claim your Prize AND
they then technically have an Active Pokemon and have to
stick with it. If it does work this way, then M Pidgeot-EX
is FAR from mediocre - it's downright scary! Because
while having the ability to switch around your
opponent's Pokemon almost freely is already a scary
effect, having control over what Pokemon they send out
AFTER you take a KO is a whole other beast.
M Pidgeot-EX could very well
dictate the pace of a game with just Mach Cyclone. That
should be some food for thought.
Rating
Standard: 4.5/5 (combined with the
Spirit Link, a few of the support cards in Roaring
Skies, and his generally Colorless Energy requirements,
he's definitely a major threat)
Expanded: 4.5/5 (buuuuuut he's not
gonna be frequently dishing out OHKOs, and that's where
I think the chink in his "armor" is)
Limited: 5/5 (but don't be fooled -
a great player could easily take advantage of M Pidgeot-EX,
and that can lead to a lot of problems if you're
unprepared)
Arora Notealus: Seeing as how a lot
of Mega Evolutions and EX in general have grown
gradually weaker since their debut back in Next
Destinies - or heck, ever since the end of the BW era -
it's still a gracious wonder when you can see potential
in cards like this. Then again, if M Audino-EX can get
someone the World Championship, anything's possible,
huh?
Weekend Thought: Do you agree with
our Top 10 list for Evolutions? Any cards you think
ought to have been on the list? Maybe there's a card or
two that you think shouldn't have made the list. I'm not
gonna say Evolutions is the absolute best TCG set ever -
probably more on the side of "meh" - but it's definitely
one of the most nostalgic, and it's gonna be interesting
to see if these cards continue to see play as we move
into the next generation of Pokemon...which just came
out today, so GUESS I'M GONNA BE PLAYING THAT FOREVER!!
*poof*
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Otaku |
At last we get to the number one card for XY:
Evolutions and it is actually a combination of two
cards: Pidgeot-EX (XY: Evolutions 64/108,
104/108) and M Pidgeot-EX (XY: Evolutions
65/108, 105/108). I know a certain user on
multiple message boards who has been rather vocal about
wanting a Pidgeot-EX and M Pidgeot-EX;
looks like today’s he’s living the dream.
Both are Colorless Pokémon, and we’ve covered two others
this week so you already know what I’m going to say.
Nothing in Expanded or Standard play is naturally
Colorless Weak or Resistant, and I’m not sure if there
are any tricks to even fake it unnaturally.
Weakness is a crazy powerful mechanic in the TCG while
Resistance is pretty well balanced, only mattering when
the numbers line up just right (or an effect references
Resistance). So being “neutral” is a net drawback
in that regard. There isn’t a huge amount of
support explicitly for the Colorless Type, but it’s
there and unlike the even less numerous Colorless Type
counters, some of it has proven worthwhile at different
times. Most Colorless Type can make use of any of
the basic Energy Types, as they mostly have Colorless
Energy requirements; this means there isn’t some
Colorless Energy support or major synergy from using the
same Energy Type. Fortunately just being able to
use most Energy cards and forms of Energy acceleration
is advantage enough, and is having enough of a Colorless
presence in a deck to justify working in the
aforementioned Colorless Type support.
Being a Pokémon-EX means giving up an extra Prize when
KO’d (majorly significant), dealing with anti-Pokémon-EX
effects (quite significant), and being excluded from
certain beneficial effects (sometimes significant).
Pokémon-EX have always enjoyed at least a small HP bump
over their “regular” counterpart, may enjoy other
improved stats, and may enjoy improved effects.
Pokémon-EX are either Basics or Mega Evolutions; as such
Pidgeot-EX enjoys being a Basic Pokémon instead
of a Stage 2 while M Pidgeot-EX enjoys being a
Mega Evolution instead of a Stage 2 (or however else the
mechanic may have been handled). Being a Basic is
the best as it has a natural synergy with many card
effects and game mechanics and there is even Basic Stage
support. The drawbacks to it are external; it
cannot access Evolution support (though this may be
mitigated if it can Evolve) and there are cards that
punish a player for having Basic Pokémon. Being a
Mega Evolution includes additional Stage based support
and counters, and as long as the Evolution line in
question has a Spirit Link card (and Pidgeot
Spirit Link is in this set), then its like a
slightly trickier Stage 1 to play; again, an improvement
over being an actual Stage 2 card.
Pidgeot-EX
has 170 HP, the lower of the two amounts typically seen
on Basic Pokémon-EX, but still sturdy enough to often
survive an attack. The most recent non-Pokémon-EX
version of Pidgeot is XY: Flashfire
77/106, and it has only 130 HP, so +40 is a good boost
even before we consider the difference between being a
Basic with 170 HP versus a Stage 2 with 130 HP. M
Pidgeot-EX has 220 HP, making it likely to survive a
hit but also a reasonable 2HKO for your opponent; this
is the lower of the three typical Mega Evolution HP
scores, but it is still a solid deal. We also
discussed Lightning Weakness and Fighting Resistance
yesterday, and today we will mention a card in relation
to them: Zebstrika (XY: BREAKpoint 49/122)
a Stage 1 Lightning Type with an Ability useful to
Lightning Type decks and an attack useful in most decks;
the latter specifically does 50 damage plus another 60
if the opponent’s Active is Fighting Resistant, and all
for just [CC]. So how does this card not
make Lightning Weakness one of the worst? Make
Fighting Resistance a bad thing? Shaymin-EX (XY:
Roaring Skies 77/108, 106/108) is already in most
decks. Yveltal-EX and several other attackers
that have Lightning Weakness and Fighting Resistance
aren’t what they once were, but are collectively are a
common presence as well. So far this has not
been enough to entice most decks to work in Zebstrika.
It’s nice for Lightning Type decks with the space, but
we don’t have a Lightning Type deck dominating either
the Standard or Expanded metagame, and when a Stage 1
glass cannon is your best splashable Lightning Type
attacker it could definitely be worse. The Retreat
Cost for Pidgeot-EX is [C] while M Pidgeot-EX
has a perfect free Retreat Cost; at least these are good
and great (respectively) and need no further
explanation.
Pidgeot-EX
has two attacks. The first is “Mirror Move” and it
costs only [C]. It does damage based on however
much damage “this Pokémon” took from attacks during your
opponent’s previous turn. This variable output
would be bad if this was the cards only real purpose,
but as a budget move it’s pretty nice. It mostly
hits a snag when your opponent has a real useful effect
tacked onto an otherwise weak attack, such as “Quaking
Punch” on Seismitoad-EX. It is fantastic if
your opponent just misses KOing Pidgeot-EX; 160
for one Energy is a steal. What is more, notice
how the attack actually works; though the text
determines how much, Mirror Move still does damage, so a
card like Giovanni’s Scheme or Muscle Band
can boost that damage. It doesn’t care how injured
Pidgeot-EX is either; you can Max Potion
away all the damage, but it was still done. As you
can tell this creates some real combo opportunities.
“Feather Lance” does 80 for [CCC], with a bonus Bench
hit of 20. This is about 10 shy in either
direction of being a great attack, where it would 2HKO
an opponent’s Active with 180 or less and be able to
OHKO the smallest Benched Pokémon… but it’s still a nice
move. Plus since the Energy cost is all Colorless,
a Double Colorless Energy and successful Max
Elixir covers the entire thing in a single turn.
The attacks only have synergy in how they are priced,
the first turn rules hurt Mirror Move since it means
going second you may as well have gone first because
Mirror Move can’t do anything if your opponent didn’t
attack the previous turn, but all in all these are some
good, solid attacks.
M Pidgeot-EX
brings another attack priced at [CCC]. This time
it is “Mach Cyclone” and it does 130 damage, with the
option of forcing the opponent to switch out his or her
Active. 130 for three is a good return, especially when
it has an optional bonus effect. Forcing your
opponent to change out his or her Active is not a
thrilling bonus effect on a “main” attack; typically you
want to score a OHKO or setup or the 2HKO, and forcing
your opponent to change out his or her Active doesn’t
usually help with either of those. Still, the
damage is enough for a 2HKO and - with a lot of work - a
OHKO in Expanded play. It also has some synergy
with both of the earlier attacks. While not much,
you can force something that is a bad match for Mirror
Move out of the Active slot in the hopes your opponent
can’t simply re-promote it. Feather Lance can
spread some damage around, so using the two together
might enable some multi-KOs. Of course you have
to have a way to enable M Pidgeot-EX to use those
attacks - this isn’t a BREAK Evolution so that requires
something like Celebi-EX or Shrine of Memories.
Which brings us to using Pidgeot-EX and M
Pidgeot-EX. This is all speculation; I have
not tested the two out. I believe the real
winner here is Mirror Move; with a Fighting Fury Belt
your opponent has to manage 210 damage in one turn to
score a OHKO, while the Celebi-EX/Shrine of
Memories combo requires 220 damage be done to M
Pidgeot-EX. Max Potion away the damage and
(if you had any attached) a single Energy, attach a new
Energy, and swing away if the damage is even remotely
worthwhile. Judicious use of Lysandre gives
you a solid chance of forcing up something you can OHKO
with Mirror Move as well. If you aren’t needing
Lysandre, Ninja Boy may enable some great
(even if simple) combos. Surprise your opponent
with that first Mirror Move by leading with something
other than Pidgeot-EX, but taking advantage of
Ninja Boy to switch into the bird. After that,
your opponent will have to deal with an added variable
for the matchup; weak attacks to avoid feeding Mirror
Move can allow something else to more or less safely
setup, while big hits that aren’t OHKOs enable massive
Mirror Move maulings. For those matchups where
Mirror Move just won’t be hitting hard enough, fall back
on Feather Lance and/or Mach Cyclone; 2HKOs for three
Energy on a 220 HP Mega Evolution ain’t bad.
Is this enough to win a tournament? Not on its
own, so it is a good thing we are dealing with somewhere
between one-third and two-thirds of a deck. Energy
accelerating Pokémon are probably not the answer;
they’ll enable superior attackers and might make for a
great deck, but not a great Pidgeot/M Pidgeot-EX
deck. You can experiment with Stage 1 supporting
Pokémon; neither Pidgeot-EX nor M Pidgeot-EX
need an Ability, so locking them down is a good way to
bring an opponent down to (or below) their level. Golbat
(XY: Phantom Forces 32/119; Generations
31/83) can be used with Mirror Move, Feather Lance
and/or Mach Cyclone for surprise KOs against your
opponent. In Expanded play don’t forget you’ve got
Tool Scrapper; surprise your opponent by ditching
Pidgeot Spirit Link after it has done its duty
and then slapping on Muscle Band or Bursting
Balloon to enable OHKOs (or effective OHKOs) again
with any of the attacks in question. Your options
are pretty well open, though if you use something like
Vileplume (XY: Ancient Origins 3/98)
you’ll need to speed out your Pidgeot Spirit Link
cards, Mega Evolve without them later on, or have
another work around for your lack of Items from hand.
Basic Fighting Types (especially with Ω Barrier) can
pull off nasty tricks using Focus Sash and the
earlier mentioned Ninja Boy combo.
Do I expect M Pidgeot-EX or a dedicated
Pidgeot-EX to be the next top deck? No.
Then again I also didn’t expect that much out of
Audino-EX and M Audino-EX, so I don’t want to
rule it out completely. I actually am quite fond
of Ninja Boy into Pidgeot-EX for Mirror
Move mayhem, but that is just on paper. It affects
my review scores, but I am not telling you I’ve
had any success with all of this; I’ve never
tested it. At all. Still this gives the duo
a decent amount of promise for Standard and Expanded
play, and they look to be a fantastic pull for Limited
play; just mind that Weakness as this set has some solid
Lightning Types for Limited play.
Ratings
Pidgeot
Standard:
3.35/5
Expanded:
3.5/5
Limited:
4.5/5
M Pidgeot-EX
Standard:
3.25
Expanded:
3.5/5
Limited:
3.75/5
Summary:
If you cannot tell, I really like Mirror Move, and the
rest of Pidgeot-EX and M Pidgeot-EX aren’t
bad. They aren’t great, but they seem reasonably
good, and for the final set of this generation, a set
with a precedence as being a catch all
reprint/Japanese-promos-we-never-got-before experience,
the nostalgia bomb that is XY: Evolutions has it
moments. Perhaps instead of me being down on the
set for having comparatively weak cards throughout its
top 10, I should be thankful it allowed some lesser
cards the limelight? Could that be all they need
to have a noticeable impact; a chance to not be
overlooked like they would have in another set? Pidgeot-EX
has potential in more than just an M Pidgeot-EX
deck after all.
The tag team of Pidgeot-EX and M Pidgeot-EX
scored 19 voting points, and I actually had it as my
first place pick (so 10 of those came from me).
Normally I favor general usage cards, but Pidgeot-EX
actually borders on being just such a thing. These
are the two cards most likely to give us a new(ish) deck
as well.
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