aroramage |
My goodness, it's Mew!
...see, cause Mew in the games
knows Transform and-okay...
So we've got little Mew with a mere
40 HP and a measly Psy Bolt, dealing 2-for-30 damage
with a 50/50 shot at Paralyzing the opponent. Really,
this was a bit of an unnecessary nerf on the card,
consider its older self could just do it for 1, albeit
inflicting only 10 damage. Still, while 1-for-10 going
up to 2-for-30 in modern times seems alright, it's
really the only complaint I've got towards this card,
especially given that its Ability isn't really going to
help it out.
On the surface though, Neutral
Shield is a Safeguard variant, preventing damage and
other effects from attacks from a specific group of
Pokemon. While Safeguard protects against Pokemon-EX,
Neutral Shield is a bit broader, protecting from
Evolution Pokemon. Of course normally this would just
refer to Stage 1 or Stage 2 Pokemon, but we've come a
long way since the early days. Now we've got two new
kinds of Evolution: Mega Evolution and BREAK Evolution.
While functionally they are just the same putting a card
down on another card as the other Evolutions, their
classification as Evolution cards means that Mew's got a
bit more utility going for him against certain
match-ups.
That all being said, Mew itself is
still extremely vulnerable to a host of other problem
cards. In the years that have passed since its release,
this card could have at least gone up in terms of HP.
Psy Bolt isn't much more to talk about, and considering
we've got Basic Pokemon-EX that are more troublesome
than any of the new Evolutions, it's probably going to
be a bit of a miracle that Mew has any impact at all.
Not to say it won't happen or that it couldn't happen,
but it's going to affect how certain decks address it.
And once they know how to, 40 isn't
that big of a number to get past.
Rating
Standard: 2.5/5 (against those
particular decks that don't have the outs to this card,
it'll prove extremely handy even as a tech piece)
Expanded: 1.5/5 (but to other
decks, it's just gonna be run over easily)
Limited: 2.5/5 (similarly, in any
environment where certain Basics can have an impact, Mew
looks particularly fragile)
Arora Notealus: This version of Mew
came out as a promo card back in the days when the game
was being handled by Wizards of the Coast. To think it's
come all this way. Like when Yugioh was being done by
Upper Deck Entertainment, and the animes were all voiced
by 4Kids! Man...we've come a long way since those days.
Next Time: Speaking of cards that
have come a long way...
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Otaku |
Mew
(XY: Evolutions 53/108) gets the spotlight today.
As a Psychic Type, many Fighting and fellow Psychic Type
Pokémon will be Weak to it, but nearly all Darkness Type
and Metal Type Pokémon are Resistant. My
usual search tools
aren’t up to par right now, but I don’t recall any
effects that specifically counter the Psychic Type,
which is good for them. There are some beneficial
effects that reference the Type, however; Dimension
Valley shaves [C] off attack their attack costs,
Gardevoir (BW: Next Destinies 57/99; BW:
Dark Explorers 109/108) has an Ability that causes
basic Psychic Energy to provide [PP] instead of
[P], Mystery Energy shaves [CC] off a Psychic
Type’s Retreat Cost while attached, and Wobbuffet
(XY: Phantom Forces 36/119; Generations
RC11/RC32) shuts down Abilities while it is Active
except those of fellow Psychic Types. Out of
these only Dimension Valley looks to be
particularly useful for Mew. Currently
there aren’t any [P] Energy related tricks not
restricted to Psychic Type Pokémon which could benefit
Mew, though there are some strong Psychic Types
that share some synergy with it; common Energy
requirements and being able to tap the same Type support
can do wonders, but again more on that later.
Being a Basic is the best when it comes to Stages;
minimum cards and time to hit the field, decreases your
risk of mulliganing, some card effects naturally work
better with Basics, and some card effects are
specifically designed to benefit Basics (like
Fighting Fury Belt). The only drawbacks are
you can’t tap the Evolution specific Stage support and
are vulnerable to Basic Stage specific counters. 40 HP
is tiny and an all but guaranteed OHKO; only a few
Pokémon are printed with a lower HP score (30 HP), and
the only real benefits 40 has over 30 are fringe.
They do exist though; spread or bonus Bench hits are
less likely to score a (bonus?) OHKO and in Expanded
play Mew would survive an opponent’s opening
Hypnotoxic Laser/Virbank City Gym combo.
Technically it makes Weakness a little less relevant as
well; only Psychic Type attackers that do no
damage, 10 damage, or don’t apply Weakness whiff on a
OHKO and those that hit for 40 or more already would
have scored a OHKO, so just the attackers that swing for
20 and 30 really benefit. No Resistance is typical
and on 40 HP, -20 damage for a single specific matchup
likely wouldn’t have mattered anyway. That Retreat
Cost of [C] is fairly easy to pay, both up front and in
the long run. Still on something so tiny I would
have appreciated a free Retreat Cost instead.
Mew
has the Ability “Neutral Shield” which protects it from
damage and any effects of attacks made by your
opponent’s Evolution Pokémon. Not the wording; not
just “Evolved” but “Evolution” means something like
Gallade (XY: BREAKthrough 84/162) put into
play via Maxie’s Hidden Ball Trick is still
denied. From what I am seeing of recent results,
the format is still heavy on Basic attackers;
heavy but not monopolized so sometimes this can
come in handy. Its real flaw is that with just 40
HP on Mew an opponent has to recklessly Evolve
their entire field or else whatever Basics are waiting
to Evolve - especially Basic Pokémon-EX - can take an
easy OHKO. If you have something else
waiting to then OHKO them, you might pull ahead in the
Prize trade, or you might not. Mew has just one
attack called “Psy Bolt”; it costs [PC] and does 30
damage plus it has a coin flip based effect to try and
Paralyze the opponent’s Active. This is overpriced
unless Dimension Valley (or I guess Gardevoir
from earlier) is in play, but even with the attack
effectively costing only [P] it is just fairly priced.
The Ability and attack are an odd pairing; if Neutral
Shield is doing its thing, the only reason to Paralyze
the opponent’s Active is to prevent it retreating or
your opponent forcing something else up and then
attacking it. If it is not working, then it does
act as a failsafe, though not a particularly effective
one, as you can try and keep a Basic attacker locked
with Paralysis. So they do complement each other a
little, but just not enough for me to be particularly
comfortable relying on them.
Mew
directly competes with all other Mew cards,
though sometimes they may complement each other as well.
Other versions of Mew are BW: Black Star
Promos BW98, XY: Black Star Promos XY110, and
XY: Fates Collide 29/124. All are Basic,
Psychic Type Pokémon with Psychic Weakness, no
Resistance, and no Ancient Trait, with all but BW:
Black Star Promos BW98 being Standard legal. BW:
Black Star Promos BW98 has 60 HP, Retreat Cost [C],
the Ability “Psyscan”, and the attack “Psychic
Exchange”. Psyscan allows you to look at your
opponent’s hand once per turn (before you attack) if
this Pokémon is your Active, while Psychic Exchange
costs [P] and has you shuffle your hand into your deck
before drawing six cards. The Ability is weak as
Mew must be Active, and for that matter the
attack also suffers for the same reason; you could
change out your Active Mew after using the
Ability, but it’s stuck up front after attacking.
Granted, only the Ability would really be tempting if it
worked on the Bench, as “draw attacks” are just too slow
under the current rules and card pool (at least the vast
majority of the time). This card was never
reviewed.
XY: Black Star Promos
XY110 was also never reviewed before. It has 70
HP, Retreat Cost [C] (again) but this time with two
attacks and no Ability. The first attack is
“Clairvoyance” for [C] and… it lets you see your
opponent’s hand, so it’s a worse Psyscan. The sad
part is that it wasn’t until I just typed the previous
sentence that I realized it wasn’t just a bad attack but
a downgrade of the previous Mew promo! The
second attack is different at least; “Psychic” for [PPC]
doing 40 damage plus another 10 for each Energy attached
to the opponent’s Active. Very overpriced, though
potentially useful under select circumstances, namely
when you can somehow afford the cost and need to
take down an Energy laden attacker who is Psychic Weak,
has low HP, or both. So far, today’s Mew is
still coming out ahead. That ends with XY:
Fates Collide 29/124; it has 50 HP, a perfect free
Retreat Cost, the Ability “Memories of Dawn”, and the
attack “Encounter”. Memories of Dawn allows this
Mew to copy and use attacks from your other Basic
Pokémon; though there is no discount without other cards
(like Dimension Valley) it is still a potent play
in certain decks. Encounter isn’t great, but it is
far better than it would normally be, basically allowing
you to sacrifice Mew to help with set up in some
other way. That free Retreat Cost has also helped
it slip into decks, as it is one of the few Basic
Pokémon with said feature. The only reason this is
not what I consider to be the main competition
for today’s Mew is that they serve almost totally
different purposes.
Mew
(XY: Evolutions 53/108) joins the ranks of other
Pokémon capable of “walling” due to their effects.
Currently we have Glaceon-EX who also is
protected from Evolution Pokémon, though by its attack.
In one sense an Ability is better since your opponent
cannot get around it via Pokémon Ranger or
forcing Mew up before it could attack, but at the
same time Abilities have to fear Hex Maniac and
(as this is a Basic Pokémon) Silent Lab, as well
as other Ability counters. Glaceon-EX is worth
two Prizes when it is KO’d, but it’s much more durable
and the attack it uses to wall - “Crystal Ray” - is
better than Psy Bolt, so unless your deck just cannot
afford a Water Type or Pokémon-EX while it can handle a
Psychic Type, Mew loses. I don’t think it
is totally without purpose in the current and pending
metagame, but unless predictions of an Evolution
dominated metagame come true, it is quite niche for
Standard and Expanded play, though a hair more useful in
Limited as a surprise drop against an opponent that
managed to field and fuel a worthwhile Evolution.
Which may be better than the Mew which inspired
it, Mew (WotC Black Star Promos 47).
As with some of the other cards, I am uncertain if
today’s version counts as a full on “updated re-release”
(rendering the old version unplayable even in Unlimited
due to significant text changes) or not. WotC Black
Star Promos 47 is not the first Mew card
released, and there was none in the original Base Set
which XY: Evolutions otherwise likes to copy, but
I don’t fault the powers-that-be from wanting to include
the infamous Mew in the set. This older
Mew is also a Psychic Type Basic Pokémon named “Mew”
with 40 HP, Psychic Weakness, no Resistance and Retreat
Cost [C]. Neutral Shield first appeared here,
though as a Pokémon Power and not an Ability.
Pokémon Powers are essentially the original form of
Abilities, though card effects that refer to Abilities
do not affect Pokémon Powers and vice versa.
This Neutral Shield worked against “Evolved Pokémon”
instead of Evolutions. I don’t recall if we had
any tricks to put Evolutions into play directly at the
time, so it may not matter that the coverage was a
little less thorough. Another difference is that
when this card was printed, Confusion, Paralysis, and
Sleep would turn off Pokémon Powers; later once the
blanket term “Special Condition” was coined, it was
ruled that cards with this clause were shut down by any
and all Special Conditions, so Burn and Poison were
added to that list. Instead of Psy Bolt, this
Mew had “Psyshock” for [P] to do 10 damage and flip
to Confuse… which actually was a misprint as the
original Japanese version Paralyzed. As the early
days of the game were even more Basic dominated than the
present, this Mew was merely a novelty.
Ratings
Standard:
1.75/5
Expanded:
1.35/5
Limited:
2/5
Summary:
An easy to bypass protective effect, an overpriced,
underpowered attack, and an almost minimal HP score make
this Mew one to keep in your binder and not in
your deck.
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