Aerodactyl ex – Mythical Islands
Date Reviewed: January 23, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
The ninth best card of Mythical Island is Aerodactyl ex (Mythical Island 046/068, 078/068, 84/068)! It’s a Stage 1 (F) Type Pokémon ex that evolves from the Trainer-Item, Old Amber1. Aerodactyl ex has 140 HP, (L) Weakness, and a Retreat Cost of (C). It has both an Ability and an Attack. The former is “Primeval Law”, and it prevents your opponent from playing Pokémon from their hand to evolve their Active. The latter is “Land Crush”; priced at (F)(C), and does 80 damage. Aerodactyl ex is available at the ♦♦♦♦ and ★★ rarities, with two different version of the higher rarity.
As a Pokémon ex, Aerodactyl ex is worth two points when KO’d, and can run into an anti-Pokémon ex effect. Since Aerodactyl ex made this countdown, it has to be good enough to justify these drawbacks. It is also a Stage 1 Pokémon; easier to run than a Stage 2, but more demanding than a Basic. Not only do Stage 1 Pokémon lack Stage-specific support, Aerodactyl ex evolves from the Trainer-Item “Old Amber”. That means it evolves from something that doesn’t get to benefit from Poké Ball!
(F) Typing isn’t a great start, but it isn’t bad. The majority of (C) Pokémon, plus almost all (D) and (L) Pokémon are (F) Weak. Ignoring all the Pokémon that aren’t competitive and/or the damage done by Land Crush, there’s there are a few OHKOs and 2HKOs enabled by Weakness. There’s zero (F) Type-specific support (for now), but a few other competitive (F) Types that share Energy requirements with Aerodactyl ex.2
Aerodactyl ex has 140 HP; typical for a Stage 1 Pokémon ex, and high enough to survive medium (and lower) attacks, and even the bottom half of heavy attacks. (L) Weakness looks scary, but once again, the cardpool matters. There’s few to no competitive, (L) Pokémon that score a OHKO (instead of a 2HKO), against 140 HP due to Weakness. There are some that will be better at 2HKOs because of it, though. Aerodactyl ex’s (C) Retreat Cost is more important than it’s Weakness. A lone X Speed zeroes it out, and retreating at full price is often doable.
Primeval Law provides a one-sided soft lock3 on evolving your Active Pokémon. It wasn’t until I saw this in play that I realized it was actually worthwhile, even good. Aerodactyl ex does not have to be your own Active for it to apply, nor does it in any way restrict your own evolving. Aerodactyl ex can just sit on the Bench, largely safe from being KO’d. Meanwhile, the other player now must fully evolve their Pokémon before promoting them to the Active position.
This is easier said than done in Pocket; besides the times when you’re already in trouble, Pocket just sets up slower than the full TCG and doesn’t make it as easy to switch out your Active for something from your Bench. If you do want (or need) Aerodactyl ex to attack, Land Crush is solid. 80 is a solid return for two Energy, even on a Stage 1 Pokémon ex. 80 is enough to OHKO many Basic and Stage 1 Pokémon, and 2HKO most of the rest. There’s also no costs or conditions for the attack, and even a (C) Energy requirement in its cost; quite reliable!
Old Amber (Genetic Apex 218/226, Mythical Island 063/068) is a Trainer-Item whose effect allows you to play it onto your Bench, then treat it as if it was a Basic (C) Pokémon with 40 HP. It has no Ability, no attack, no Weakness, no Retreat Cost, and can’t even retreat at all. Its effect also allows you to discard it from play during your turn.4 It is worth a point when KO’d, but not when discarded. You’ll never be stuck opening with it as your Active Pokémon, but again, you can’t fetch it with Poké Ball.
Though not connected by name mechanically, I’ll bring up Aerodactyl (Genetic Apex 210/226). Both because it also evolves from Old Amber, and to give us an idea of what being a Pokémon ex does for Aerodactyl ex. “Baby” Aerodactyl is a Stage 1 (C) Pokémon with 100 HP, (L) Weakness, (C) Retreat Cost, and one attack. “Primal Wingbeat” costs (C)(C) and does not damage. Instead, the attack has you flip a coin; “tails” does nothing, but “heads” forces your opponent to shuffle their Active Pokémon back into their deck. Yes, all your opponent had in play was an Active, you win. Otherwise, you’re stalling, or making it safe for a different attacker of yours to do its thing.
Both Old Amber and Aerodactyl have seen at least a tiny amount of success in competitive play. Old former as either deck or Bench filler, or a decoy. Bench it, discard it when you have no use of it, and even better if your opponent wasted some cards and/or an attack on it before you do. Baby Aerodactyl is mostly for stall, or a lucky win by Bench out. It still needs to Energy and “heads” to do that, so it seems like a Hail Mary kind of play.
As critical as I am of the Item-as-Basic approach to Pokémon like Aerodactyl and Aerodactyl ex, for now, Old Amber and baby Aerodactyl are net positives for Aerodactyl ex. I don’t expect decks to need (or want) filler the more sets we receive, at which point Old Amber will become worse than the average evolving Basic. Aerodactyl will likely remain an oddball that could be an answer to an opponent with a strong, built-up Active… but only if luck goes your way.
Aerodactyl ex, however, is good! Do to Primeval Law working from the Bench, Aerodactyl ex could technically function in any deck that can make room for it. It’s own deck actually doubles as one variant of Fighting Toolbox over on Pokémon Zone. There’s also a Marowak-ex/Primeape deck in the Low Tier that runs just one Aerodactyl ex and Old Amber. This suggests it isn’t central to the strategy, but handy when it works out.
Rating: 3.5/5
Aerodactyl ex has carved out a niche in the competitive sphere, which means it also carved out a place in this countdown. When the opposing deck either doesn’t run Evolutions, can get by without them, or manages to get what it needs into play around Aerodactyl ex, you still have a solid 140 HP, Stage 1 Pokémon ex beatstick. When they plan on evolving frequently and are likely to do it in the Active spot, your opponent is in trouble.
In fact, Aerodactyl ex almost seems like a hard counter to Weezing (Genetic Apex 177/226, 243/226). No Evolving an Active Koffing into Weezing and due to Weakness, a Giovanni would allow Aerodactyl ex’s Land Crush to score a OHKO…
1Old Amber is also a card in the full TCG. Released as DP – Majestic Dawn 84/100 and Platinum – Arceus 89/99 in the late 2000s. I might discuss it if we review Pocket’s version of Old Amber.
2This is actually a facet of Energy requirements for attacks, it was easier to fit in here.
3A soft lock, at least in TCGs, is when your opponent manages to partially lockdown (restrict) your actions.
4“During your turn” means after you draw at the start of your turn, but before you do anything that automatically ends your turn upon completion (like attacking).
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