Mew – Celebrations
Date Reviewed:
October 16, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 3.50
Expanded: 2.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Vince
Finally, the best card of Celebrations is Mew!
Yeah, there were other cards which could claim the number one spot, though I think Zacian-V comes close. It’s just because Mew has better utility of being splashable in any deck. All due respect of its Mysterious Tail ability, which lets you look at the top six cards of your deck, put an item card you find there, and put it onto your hand. Besides the ability, the rest of the card is unimpressive. 60 HP is very fragile, and Mew is not there to use its Psyshot attack, which does a pitiful 30 damage for two energy. But for what it’s worth, as long as Air Balloon is there, you could have at least two chances to fetch an item card (although there are ways to manipulate your cards to be put in a certain position).
Since Jirachi from SM Team Up left the Standard Format, we’ve got one less searcher. Mew’s Mysterious Tail is a “weaker” version of Jirachi’s Stellar Wish. While Jirachi has a smaller range (being able to look at the top five cards in your deck), it can fetch not just an item card, but also either a Supporter card or a Stadium card. There’s also another Jirachi card in SS Vivid Voltage, but it’s range is even shorter; you can only look at the top 2 cards in your deck, but you can pick one of them to be put in your hand and the other to be in the top of your deck.
Trainer cards are the bulk of most competitive decks, being used to advance your game plan. However, while item cards can be played as many times as you like, they tend to not have many powerful effects with the exception of few other staples such as Quick Ball or Air Balloon. For something that requires Mew to be on the Active Spot, it faces competition from other Pokémon that also needs to be on the Active Spot. Snorlax’s Gourmandize and Jirachi’s Dreamy Revelation comes to mind.
Even after all that, Mew is still a good card despite the competition it faces in both Standard and Expanded (though it’s even worse there). I feel like if the designers were to give something weaker (but still potent) right after something stronger had left the format, players will gladly accept them for what it is; it’s like taking a free candy. I think Mew happens to be one of them.
Ratings:
- Standard: 3
- Expanded: 2
Otaku
Our pick for the best card of Celebrations is Mew (Celebrations 011/025, 025/025)! Yet again, let us start our review by looking at Mew’s Ability, “Mysterious Tail”. Each instance you have of Mysterious Tail in play may be used once during your turn, before you attack or do anything else that automatically ends your turn upon resolution. The catch is that Mysterious Tail also requires Mew be your Active Pokémon in order to be Activated, so bounce, retreating, and/or switching effects are required to pull off such a thing. The rest of the Ability is that you look at the top six cards of your deck. You can reveal an Item card you find there and add it to your hand. Shuffle anything you didn’t (or couldn’t) select back into your deck.
When I saw this, my mind instantly when to Jirachi (SM – Team Up 99/181; SM – Black Star Promos SM161). It has a similar Ability, “Stellar Wish”, that made it a powerful card during its Standard-legal tenure, though not a true staple. Stellar Wish works almost the same as Mysterious Tail except you:
- Only look at the top five cards of your deck, instead of six.
- May add any Trainer you find there to your hand (not just Item cards).
- Jirachi puts itself to Sleep after the Ability is used.
So, while you’re not able to snag any Supporters (very important) or Stadium cards (less important) with Mysterious Tail, you get to look at more of your deck and should have an easier time manually retreating into a different Pokémon. Which you’re almost guaranteed to need to do, as Mew’s only attack is “Psyshot”, doing 30 for [PC]. That is far too little damage for far too much Energy, even in a deck with compatible Energy acceleration.
Mew is what I refer to as a “baseline” Pokémon. It has no Rule Box, so it won’t need to fear Path to the Peak but is shut down by Empoleon V’s “Emperor’s Eyes” Ability. The former is a very common play, while the latter is not. Unlike a Pokémon V, Mew isn’t giving up any extra Prizes when KO’d. It also lacks any name alterations or a Battle Style, which actually could be a mild disadvantage, given Galarian forms and Battle Styles are currently all advantage with no drawbacks. Mew is a Psychic type, and that’s good. More specifically, being a Basic Psychic type is good as Fog Crystal provides an easy means of fetching it from your deck. Being just Psychic still qualifies it for Mysterious Treasure in Expanded.
Being a Basic Pokémon is a serious advantage even apart from Fog Crystal access. They’re the easiest Stage to run as you don’t need to run any other cards for it to hit the field, no do you need to wait to Evolve. You can even open with Mew, where its Ability can help with your opening setup. Of course, in Expanded, this also means Alolan Muk (Sun & Moon 58/149) and Silent Lab can easily shut off its Ability. Mew has 60 HP, making it very easy to OHKO, and even being fairly vulnerable to bonus Bench-hits or accumulating damage spread. The small upside is that you can fetch it from your deck with Level Ball or (in Expanded) with Professor Elm’s Lecture. I’m not sure you need even more options for searching Mew out, but there you go! The HP means that Mew’s [D] Weakness and [F] Resistance should not often matter, but hey, at least it has some Resistance. The Retreat Cost of [C] is low an easy to pay, but with the Ability, I really wish it was free!
So, that’s the new Mew and our number one pick for this set. Do I think it will prove to be as good as Jirachi? Probably not, but there is a small chance. You won’t be able to get a Supporter to – for example – jump start your deck if it stalled out, or if your opponent has all but locked you down. If you get Pokémon search, you might be able to get something with a useful draw or search Ability into your hand and then onto the field. Quick Ball => Crobat V being the most obvious play. Items can do a decent amount of things, so maybe you’ll want some disruption instead, or a Rare Candy so another Basic can evolve into its corresponding Stage 2, etc.
Mew itself shouldn’t be left Active unless you’re comfortable letting it get KO’d, but with Air Balloon you can easily promote a Mew anytime you use a switching effect or have something KO’d, to use its Ability. Yes, it faces competition in this department: Suicune V lets you draw a card with its Ability if it is Active, while Jirachi (SW – Vivid Voltage 19/185) lets you look at the top two cards of your deck, then add one to your hand. This still-current Jirachi looks at fewer cards, but can add anything, while Suicune V is a Rule Box Pokémon. So, I’d say there is a niche for Mew. Okay, so why is this #1?
Perhaps I low-balled Zamazaneta V (Celebrations 018/025) and Zacian V (Celebrations 016/025), but the main thing is that Mew is almost perfectly generic support. Zamazenta V is for Fighting types facing Pokémon VMAX, while Zacian V is for decks running on Psychic Energy. I’m going to score Mew as a four-out-of-five for Standard, but take this with a grain of salt. This is pure Theorymon, and I worry I’m overrating it. In Expanded, Mew faces many more counters and much more competition. I’d be tempting to award it minimum marks except VS Seeker is legal here, and there are some niches where it might barely edge out the still-legal Jirachi from SM – Team Up.
Ratings
- Standard: 4/5
- Expanded: 2/5
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