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We start the week
with Metagross-GX (SM: Guardians Rising
85/145, 139/145, 157/145); what is the latest version of
the “Iron Leg” Pokémon like?
Starting with the
most obvious, this is a Pokémon-GX; it will give up an
extra Prize when KO’d, have to deal with anti-Pokémon-GX
effects, and may be excluded from certain effects due to
being a Pokémon-GX (usually in a bad way). The
chief benefits are increased HP over its non-Pokémon-GX
counterparts, possessing three effects (guaranteed), and
one of those effects will be a GX-attack (only usable
once per game, but supposedly stronger for it). We
still have only a small pool of Pokémon-GX, and already
we have several just not worth using in competitive play
but all in all, I’d say this is still a great
deal. What will be a challenge is that
Metagross-GX is a Stage 2. Ideally, the
powers-that-be would design cards so that all Stages (or
at least all contemporary Stages) of Evolution were on
even footing. You’ve probably heard me rant that
the trick is making the final Stages of Evolution on par
with each other, slowing down Evolving Basics so that
Evolutions have time to hit the field naturally, while
pumping up Evolving Basic, Stage 1, and (if they still
exist) Restored Pokémon so they weren’t just a burden on
the Evolution line. That hasn’t happened, and even
if it does, Standard will still have to wait for the
current lot of fast, multi-purpose Basics to move onto
Expanded play. So for now, being a Stage 2 is the
next-to-worst Stage a card can suffer; only the BREAK
Evolutions of Stage 2 Pokémon have it worse, and perhaps
the BREAK Evolutions of Stage 1 Pokémon. The
latter has all the baggage of being a Stage 2 without
access to the shortcuts, but their Stage 1
counterparts tend to actually contribute to the line.
With Pokémon-GX, there is another facet to being an
Evolution; Metagross and Metagross-GX are
considered different names, so you may run up to four of
each but they have to Evolve from the same lower
Stages. Basic Pokémon-GX don’t have to share.
Metagross-GX
is a Metal-Type Pokémon. I already know I’m going
to run late and long with this review, so I’m going to
indulge and mention that this should not be the
case. In the video games, Metagross are
Steel/Psychic-Type Pokémon; nearly 20 years later
the TCG ought to have fully integrated the other video
game Types and Dual-Type status or
simplified into even fewer Types. Over the
years, I find myself favoring simplification as
the many “Types” of the Pokémon video games are a
remnant of faking more details in the original Game Boy
games. Sounds like sour grapes at first, but I
urge you to really consider how needlessly complicated
things are by being constrained with the current “Type”
system, versus just having to learn the traits connected
directly with a particular Pokémon. Thanks for
humoring me; being a Metal-Type is… okay. Metal
Weakness is universal to the Fairy-Type and found on
most of the TCG Water-Types that are actually video game
Ice-Types… though
recent
exceptions
have me a bit concerned. Metal Resistance is found
on most (all?) modern Lightning-Types, though some will
lack it in Expanded play. Exactly how good or bad
this is depends upon the specifics of the metagame; it
has been jumping around enough even a blowhard like me
is uncomfortable making a hard claim. I haven’t
seen a lot of Metal Weak or Resistance Pokémon in the
Regional top cuts, lately. The Type has adequate
support, but nothing currently dominant; I’ll get into
specifics if they come up later when discussing the
specifics of this card or strategies in using it.
I do not recall any Metal-Type (Pokémon or Energy)
specific counters, at least without getting into the
domain of the Unlimited Format.
Metagross-GX
has 250 HP; currently this is the maximum we’ve seen
printed on a Pokémon and only a competitive deck that
exploits Weakness while focusing on fast damage are
likely to manage the coveted rapid, reliable, repeatable
OHKO against Metagross-GX. Don’t become
overconfident, though; many competitive decks won’t
need to attain all three to give Metagross-GX
a run for its money. Metagross-GX has the
customary Fire Weakness nearly all recent Metal-Types
possess; Volcanion-EX decks are more than happy
to exploit that, as are other, less competitive
archetypes. Flareon (XY: Ancient Origins
13/98) does show up from time to time, and what makes it
a threat is its “Flare Effect” Ability making another
Stage 1 - like Vespiquen (XY: Ancient Origins
10/98) count as a Fire-Type, enabling that second Stage
1 to score the OHKO. For the record Darkness
Weakness would have been mechanically appropriate (based
on video game mechanics) but I’m glad they didn’t
shift because that’s an even worse Weakness to possess
at the moment. Metagross-GX is Psychic
Resistant, which seems mostly appropriate: Metagross in
the video games take double damage from Ghost-Type, Ľ
damage from video game Psychic-Type, and no damage
from video game Poison-Type moves. Resistance to
the TCG Colorless-, Dragon-, or Fairy-Types would have
avoided the contradiction, at least before we get into
the many Dual-Type Pokémon. Metagross-GX has a
Retreat Cost of [CCC]; include multiple means to avoid
paying this much to change out your Active, but I
honestly expected it to be the maximum [CCCC] cost, so
I’m slightly relieved. It also means Heavy Ball
might be a nifty way of searching out Metagross-GX.
Metagross-GX
possesses an Ability, a regular attack, and a GX-attack.
The first of these is the Ability “Geotech System”; I
must say, I like the name. I also like the effect;
this Ability allows you to attach a Metal or Psychic
Energy card from your discard pile to your Active
Pokémon. The only cards that count as [M] or [P]
in the discard pile are basic Metal Energy and
Psychic Energy, but that is enough to provide you
with options. Attachment from the discard pile can
allow you to reuse the same Energy over and over again,
and the draw/search effects we have make it fairly easy
to get the Energy into said discard pile in the first
place. Only attaching to your Active can at times
be inconvenient, but mostly that is the exact place you
want the Energy. This is a very good, maybe even a
great, Ability. The card’s regular attack is “Giga
Hammer” for [MMC], which does 150 damage but also
states “this Pokémon” cannot use Giga Hammer the
next turn. 150 for three is a good deal, but you’ll
need some help to take down typical OHKO targets like
Basic Pokémon-EX and Pokémon-GX; Choice Band,
Professor Kukui, or even both may be
required. Pokémon Ranger or changing out your
Active (possibly re-promoting it) can reasonably deal
with the effect; it is still a drawback, but once we’ve
seen worked around in multiple decks. Overall, I’d
call this a good attack.
That leaves the
GX-attack, “Algorithm”. It costs just [C] and does
no damage; it is all about its effect, and that is
searching your deck for five cards to add to your hand.
That is a fantastic amount of cherry-picked cards
but there are two hidden drawbacks.
This is an attack, so after you use it, your turn is
over and your opponent has an entire turn to
wreck your plans. This could be using N to
shuffle those five cards away, messing up your side of
the field, or doing something (useful to them) that
significantly alters his or her side of the board.
Something that affects even non-attack searching affects
is one of the classic TCG dilemmas, and its added nuance
in Pokémon. The more you run of a particular card,
the more options (barring specifics) you have of using
it, and also of drawing into it naturally. It can
(and often will) still be useful to search out such a
card, but it is less of a benefit than being able
to search out a similarly useful card of which you are
not running many copies. Pokémon further
complicates this with the Prize mechanic; five single
cards you might only need for some perfect combo, one
Algorithm readies for the next turn and… the whole thing
falls apart if one is Prized. Does that make this
a bad attack? No! In fact, I would still call
it a fairly good, early game attack, especially if we
receive more cards like Hala that reward you for
having used your GX-attack. Just remember what can
go wrong and try not to make it a critical part of your
setup.
Metagross-GX
Evolves from Metang which, in turn, Evolves from
Beldum. I am only seeing three Beldum
to consider for Expanded play, and two for Standard:
BW: Plasma Freeze 50/116, XY: Ancient Origins
47/98, and SM: Guardians Rising 83/145. All
are Basic Pokémon with 60 HP and neither an Ability nor
Ancient Trait. BW: Plasma Freeze 50/116 is a
Psychic-Type with Psychic Weakness, no Resistance,
Retreat Cost [C] and two attacks. The first attack
is “Calculate” for [C], which allows you to look at the
top four cards of your deck and rearrange them as you
see fit. The second attack is “Psypunch” and for
[PC] it does 20 damage. XY: Ancient Origins
47/98 is a Metal-Type Pokémon with Fire Weakness,
Psychic Resistance, a Retreat Cost of [CC], and (again)
two attacks. For [M] it can use “Ram” to do 10
damage, while for [MCC] it does 30 damage with “Spinning
Attack”. SM: Guardians Rising 83/145 is also a
Metal-Type Pokémon with the same Fire Weakness and
Psychic Resistance, but only has a Retreat Cost of [C]
and a single attack - “Core Beam” for [M], which does 20
damage but requires you discard one [M] Energy card from
itself. None of these are great, but unless
you’re worried about Psychic-Type attackers that can’t
already quickly KO a 60 HP Basic, go with BW: Plasma
Freeze 50/116. If you’re desperate, Calculate
might help get your deck going. In Standard play,
use SM: Guardians Rising 83/145 just for the
better Retreat Cost.
When it comes to
Metang, again we have three options: BW: Plasma
Freeze 51/116, XY: Ancient Origins 48/98, and
SM: Guardians Rising 84/145. All three are
90 HP Stage 1 Pokémon with two attacks, no Abilities,
and no Ancient Traits. Not too durable, but that
means both the Basics and the Stage 1 options are all
Level Ball compliant (may or may not matter). BW:
Plasma Freeze 51/116 is a Psychic-Type with Psychic
Weakness, no Resistance, and Retreat Cost [C]. For
[P] it can use “Psybolt” to do 10 damage, and flip a
coin where “heads” Paralyzes the opponent’s Active and
“tails” does nothing (the base 10 damage is done in both
cases). [PCC] pays for Psypunch, this time doing 50
damage. XY: Ancient Origins 48/98 is a
Metal-Type with Fire Weakness, Psychic Resistance, and
Retreat Cost [CCC]. Its first attack is “Metal
Claw” for [MC] which does 30 damage. For [MMC] its
second attack, “Bullet Punch”, does 50 damage and has
you flip two coins; each “heads” adds 20 damage, while
each “tails” makes no difference. SM: Guardians
Rising 84/145 is also a Metal-Type with Fire
Weakness, Psychic Resistance, and a Retreat Cost of
[CCC]. Its features two recycled attacks from its
lower Stages, those the Energy costs and damage are
different. For [C] it can use Ram to do 20 damage,
while for [MMC] it can use Core Beam to do 80 damage
(and must still discard a [M] Energy from itself).
If you’re not using Heavy Ball and are
running a source of [P] Energy (and I’m not saying you
should), BW: Plasma Freeze 51/116 can try to
stall with its Paralysis. SM: Guardians Rising
84/145 has decent attacks.
As you can split
the line, we should run through Metagross as
well; we’ve got BW: Plasma Freeze 52/116 (also
available as BW: Black Star Promos BW75), XY:
Ancient Origins 49/98, and XY: Ancient Origins
50/98. All are Stage 2 Pokémon with at least one
attack. BW: Plasma Freeze 52/116 is a
Psychic-Type with 140 HP, Psychic Weakness, no
Resistance, Retreat Cost [CC], and no Ancient Trait.
It is a Team Plasma Pokémon, so if it comes up again,
we’ll refer to it as Metagross [Plasma]. It
can tap Team Plasma support but will have to deal with
Team Plasma counters, though the latter won’t matter too
much because Team Plasma decks haven’t been worth
hardcountering in a while. Its Ability is “Plasma
Search”, which allows you to search your deck for a Team
Plasma card and add it to your hand once per turn,
before you attack. It also is worded so you
cannot use more than one instance of Plasma Search
in the same turn, badly nerfing the Ability. For
[PCCC] it can attack using “Mind Bend” to do 60 damage
and Confuse the opponent’s Active. Baby Mario was
the only reviewer to weigh in on it when it was our
Card of the Day, and the 2.25/5 he gave it might have been too high.
The game was really hard on Stage 2 Pokémon at the time:
you could attack when you went first, so setting up
something to Evolve usually meant playing down two of
its Basic Stage and knowing one would get FTKO’d.
Psychic Weakness was more dangerous at the time, with
140 HP being just “okay”. The attack was a joke
then and is even worse now (yeah, even if you use
Dimension Valley to lower the price). Only the
Ability is good… and because it can’t stack with itself,
it is only “kind of” good. The nerfing was
probably intentional; while it can’t grab just anything
from your deck, it could grab Team Plasma themed
Trainers and Energy, not just Pokémon. Don’t worry
about running this.
XY: Ancient Origins
49/98, and XY: Ancient Origins 50/98 actually
have a bit more in common, perhaps appropriate given
they are set-mates. Both are Metal-Type Pokémon
with 150 HP, Fire Weakness, Psychic Resistance, and
Retreat Cost [CCCC]. XY: Ancient Origins 49/98
has the Ability “Magnetic Warp”, which is basically a
free Escape Rope (before you attack) once during
your turn. Its “Iron Cannon” attack requires
[MMCC] to do 80 damage, with the option of discarding
all attached [M] Energy to do another 80 damage, or 160
total. If you can mix Energy Types, 160 for four
with a two Energy discard cost (the minimum [M] Energy
required) is actually decent; not great, but it does
look like it could work out with Metagross-GX.
The Ability was already tempting, to deal with the
Retreat Costs. I am uncertain if it is worth
losing a Metagross-GX, however. XY: Ancient
Origins 49/98 was reviewed
here.
XY: Ancient Origins 50/98 possesses the “Θ
Double” Ancient Trait, allowing it to equip up to two
Pokémon Tools; good, but less impressive now that easy
Tool discard is back in Standard. Its first attack
is “Machine Gun Stomp” for [CC], which does 20 damage
plus 10 per card in your hand. For [MMCC] it can
use “Guard Press” to do 80 damage, while reducing the
damage it takes (after Weakness/Resistance) until the
end of your opponent’s next turn. Guard Press is
bad, but Machine Gun Stomp was the star of a budget
deck, at least on the PTCGO for a very short time.
You see, there was a period in Standard where none of
Judge, N or Red Card were legal;
Judge wouldn’t return until the next expansion, N
the expansion after that (two expansions if we include
Generations), and Red Card doesn’t appear
to ever be returning. Ace Trainer released that
same set, but required your opponent recklessly pull
ahead of you in Prizes. While being a Stage 2 made
it cumbersome, Double Colorless Energy could fuel
Machine Gun Stomp (Guard Press was and remains not worth
the effort), and being worth only one Prize made it
easier to stay tied or behind the opponent until a
last-minute push for game. We looked at it
here,
sadly just past its prime (and it still wasn’t
all that great even when it was being used). Don’t
worry about this one either.
Metagross-EX
and M Metagross-EX do not compete with
Metagross-GX for the 4 Copy rule, or for lower
Stages; the former is a Basic and the latter a Mega
Evolution. I’m bringing them up just for
comparison’s sake. Both are Pokémon-EX, worth an
extra Prize when KO’d, vulnerable to Pokémon-EX specific
counters, and excluded from a (select few) useful card
effects. Both are also Metal-Types with Fire
Weakness, Psychic Resistance, and Retreat Cost [CCCC]. Metagross-EX
has 180 HP two attacks; for [MC] it can use “Magnetic
Laser” to do 20 damage while moving an [M] Energy from
one of your Benched Pokémon to itself while [MMCC] pays
for “Squared Attack” to flip four coins, good for 50
damage per “heads”. Not very good attacks, but not
really bad, either; a bit mediocre. Metagross-EX
has 220 HP and the attack “Gatling Slug” for [CCCC] and
does 130 damage plus 10 more for each [M] Energy
attached to itself. If you used four [M] Energy to
fuel the attack, you’d hit for a solid 170. Due to
the lack of Spirit Link card, these two had
almost no chance of proving competitive, though if it
does get one (Lucario Spirit Link released as a
surprise promo, after all), it might have some chops.
I mostly brought it up to distinguish between the two;
the highest HP any Metagross had was 150,
Metagross-EX has 180 HP, M Metagross-EX only
220 (many Mega Evolutions had 230 and some even had
240). The powers-that-be decided to bulk up
Metagross-GX, without giving it quite as massive of
attack costs or Retreat Costs. We looked at
Metagross-EX
here
and M Metagross-EX
here.
The good news is,
Metagross-GX has already proven itself
competitive. Perhaps it won’t experience further
success, but it managed a 2nd, 9th, and 18th place
finish in the Masters Division of the Madison, WI
Regional Championship. While it didn’t do as well
in the Mexico City Regional Championship, its 24th place
finish means it isn’t out of the running yet.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the lists for the deck,
though most included Dhelmise (SM: Guardians
Rising 59/145) because its Ability “Steelworker”
increases the damage attacks from your Metal-Types do by
10. This lack of info is why I allowed myself to
go back to my old review habits. The official
Pokémon site has the results (and decklists from the Top
8) posted for the Madison, WI Regional Championships
here.
For Standard play, I think Metagross-GX still has
potential, until Fire-Types dominate the metagame again.
It might have some chops in Expanded, where it can fuel
several potent attackers. As long as you get the
rest of the line, it should be a powerhouse in Limited
play.
Ratings
Standard:
3.65/5
Expanded:
3.65/5
Limited:
3.75/5
Conclusion
Metagross-GX
might have been a fluke, but I think it is a solid card
only held back by being a slow Stage 2 in a very fast
format and Fire Weakness being very dangerous
right now.
Metagross-GX
had the same voting points as Honchkrow and
Multi Switch, plus it lost the roll-off between all
three. It lost out to being tied with the next
highest and lowest ranks by one voting point, as things
were very close this far down in the list.
I had it as my 18th place pick for my own top 20, and it
barely made at least one other list, but we probably
should have had this at least near the top of the
runners-up, not near the bottom. Live and learn;
at least being this tardy, we could report on things
after-the-fact.
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