Celebi ex – Mythical Islands
Date Reviewed: January 27, 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 fifth best card of Mythical Island is Celebi ex (A1a 003, 075, 085)! This Pokémon ex is a Basic (G) Pokémon with 130 HP, (R) Weakness, (C) Retreat Cost, and the attack “Powerful Bloom”. For (G)(C), the attack lets you flip a coin for each Energy attached to Celebi ex1; for each “heads”, do 50 damage to the opposing Active. Celebi ex is available at the ♦♦♦♦, ★★, and ★★★ rarities.
Grass support consists of Caterpie (A1 005), Erika (A1 219, 266), Lilligant (A1 030), and Serperior (A1a 006, 070). Serperior is the most important to Celebi ex; its Ability means each (G) Energy attached to all your (G) Pokémon counts as (G)(G). This allows Powerful Bloom to powerfully balloon! Erika is the next most useful, and some versions of the deck use Lilligant’s attack to attach a few extra (G) Energy.
As for exploiting Weakness, Celebi ex is sort of good at it. Glancing through the (G) Weak Pokémon currently relevant to the metagame, there’s a decent amount who need one fewer “heads” to be OHKO’d due to their (G) Weakness. When you have an attack that is both flip-based and without a finite cap on damage, even when Weakness could matter, you may fall short with it or overkill without it. It’s also worth noting that Celebi ex could have been a (P) Type2. Even though Psychic is well supported, Grass does more for Celebi ex.
Never forget that Celebi ex is worth two points when KO’d; it’s a silly way to lose. Less important, but still relevant; Tauros (A1a 060) can do 120 damage to Celebi ex for just three Energy… and Giovanni transforms this into a OHKO. 130 HP is low for a Pokémon ex, but is still high enough to tank lesser heavy attacks. (R) Weakness does matter; Arcanine ex (A1 041, 254) and multiple Blaine-compatible Pokémon score OHKOs they’d otherwise have missed. Though the latter do need the +30 from Blaine (A1 221, 268).
Celebi ex is a Basic Pokémon; easy to run, easy to field, and can be searched out by Poké Ball. Also why the 130 HP is only a little low. Celebi ex needs (C) to retreat, which is pretty typical, but still good. Even one X Speed zeroes it out, and it isn’t too bad to pay. Though the combo with Serperior does mean you’re still losing (G)(G) even though you’re discarding just one attached (G) Energy.
Powerful Bloom lives up to its name so much, I almost lead with it. Unlike with yesterday’s Serperior, I’m glad the cost is (G)(C) and not (G)(G). Not because people are already using Celebi ex in a multi-Type deck: they aren’t! It leaves room for Celebi ex to grow. Powerful Bloom counts Energy of any Type attached to Celebi. Right now, that’s actually a drawback, as it allows Mew ex (A1a 032, 77, 83, 86) to still flip a coin for whatever Energy its using to fuel its “Genome Hacking” attack.4
Powerful Bloom is also interesting as its average damage, and thus its damage-to-energy ratio, increase the more Energy you have attached. The baseline two Energy only averages 50 damage, about what you’d expect for (X)(C)5. There’s always the risk you’ll do zero damage, but as you add more Energy, the maximum, mean, median, and mode of your damage continue to rise (though not all at the same rate). Without Serperior’s Ability to bolster it, this would just be “okay”, but with it? The sky’s the limit.
About Celebi ex beating out Serperior: I had to ask “How could Celebi ex work without Serperior?” We’re not restricted to considering the current cardpool, but can entertain a hypothetical where there’s just no Serperior released right now. I believe Lilligant is a plausible substitute. Far less effective on its own, but still doing enough to become a low tier competitive deck. I could also see Celebi ex working alongside Exeggutor ex (A1 023, 252). Celebi ex tries to be the “glass cannon” you load with Energy while Exeggutor ex is up front tanking, and attacking for just (G).
Either of which are more impressive than Serperior sans Celebi ex. Grass does have some strong attackers who require multiple Energy… but they’re also Stage 2s and/or not as potent as Celebi ex. The difference is enough I had to recognize that Celebi ex has a little more going for it, hence its placement and score.
Rating: 3.75/5
I’m a little nervous I’m overrating Celebi ex, but it really is in a great place right now, and until something better comes along, or anti-Grass, anti-coin flip, or anti-Abilities soon become normal, it’ll probably stay there. Remember the “Curse of the coins”, though. You don’t control when you’ll flip low or high damage, and that risks whiffing when you needed big damage, or doing overkill that you’ll wish you could have “saved” for later.
1Meaning, the Pokémon using Powerful Bloom.
2Celebi are Psychic/Grass Types in the video games.
3Like an effect that let you re-flip coins.
4Genome Hacking costs (C)(C)(C) and copies its damage/effects from an attack on the opponent’s Active.
5(X) represents any non-Colorless Energy requirement.
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