Mewtwo – Sun & Moon Promo – Pokemon COTD

Otaku

Mewtwo (SM – Black Star Promos SM77) begins our week, and it begins with a solid foundation.  Being a Basic is best.  The Psychic Typing and 120 HP are good but not great; they give you options, but others give you more or better.  The Retreat Cost of [CC] is mediocre, but far from bad and easily dealt with in most decks.  Psychic Weakness is dangerous, but not the worst to have at the moment in Standard (might be the worst to have in Expanded, though).  Lack of Resistance is technically the worst, but Resistance usually isn’t all that important.  “Pressure”, the Ability, soaks some damage, extending the card’s lifespan while Active… but only while Active as its 20 damage reduction doesn’t work while Mewtwo is on the Bench.  The attack “Super Psy Bolt” is bad, but at least it isn’t abyssmal; 100-for-three can still be good when the cost isn’t three non-Colorless Energy requirements.

If you have a deck that can easily meet the expense of Super Psy Bolt, then Mewtwo becomes a good – still not great – single-Prize beatstick.  120 HP plus -20 to damage taken from an opponent’s attacking Active (while Mewtwo itself is Active) edges it out of the probable OHKO zone.  Slap a Choice Band on it, and only things that have some form of protection, HP buff, healing, etc. fall outside of its own 2HKO range.  In fact, even without the Choice Band, most things would still prove vulnerable.  Mewtwo is extra nasty when it can exploit Weakness… but itself crumples when facing other Psychics due to its own Weakness.  This is a card not quite built for the Limited Format; it just needs a smaller attack so that it doesn’t take so long for it to go on the offensive, or to be more flexible on the Energy requirements so it was easier to a splash into multi-Type decks (and would help it in Constructed play, as well).  Of course, as a promo, it isn’t legal for the Limited Format anyway.  For Constructed play, both Standard and Expanded lack a lot of decks that can supply [PPP] with ease, and where they can, they tend have to better options.

Ratings

Standard: 1.85/5
Expanded: 1.65/5
Limited: N/A

Vince

Mewtwo (SM Promo 77) is one of those cards that is very frustrating for deckbuilders to construct. Pressure is a good ability that soaks hits AND BEFORE Weakness and Resistance. Which means if opposing Psychic Pokémon hits Mewtwo for weakness, you would use the damage you would normally inflict, subtract 20, then multiply by two.

So while the ability is very good, what else does Mewtwo have to back it up? Nothing special, really. Just a vanilla attack that does 100 for PPP, and there’s not much energy acceleration outside of Gardevoir (BW Next Destines) or Max Elixir.

Such as the fate of most cards that always have at least one great effect, but cursed with other attributes that are terrible. Only very few cards actually have ideal features such as being a basic with high HP, great ability, great attack, and a perfect retreat cost. Darkrai-EX (BW Dark Explorers) and Tapu Lele-GX are very close examples!

Standard: 2/5
Expanded: 2/5
Limited: N/A

aroramage

Never one to shy away from promos, Mewtwo shows up on one! Nothing too special though, at least not in my opinion. He’s got the Ability Pressure to reduce damage by 20, and his main attack is Super Psy Bolt, a 3-for-100 vanilla move. I don’t think it’ll be that definitive in any deck, but at the very least, he’s got some nice artwork.

…honestly, there’s not much to say about this card. It’s okay for what it is, but there are definitely better options out there.

Rating

Standard: 2/5 (at least damage reduction is apart of its tool kit)

Expanded: 1.5/5 (just a shame that he likely is binder fodder)

Limited: N/A (still, he’s really cool looking binder fodder!)

Arora Notealus: I’d imagine that by now, Mewtwo has had enough different cards in the game to rival the likes of Pikachu in essence. Naturally, I’m sure Pikachu has the most, if you also include special promo variants like Flying Pikachu, Surfing Pikachu, and [Insert Name Here]’s Pikachu, but if there’s a contender for the next largest amount of cards, Mewtwo is probably somewhere up on that list. That’s mainly just cause he’s a first Gen Pokemon though, and they’ve had their time in the light for a loooooooooooong time.

Side Reviews: #2 Guzma – similar to how Choice Band is the go-to Tool of this era, Guzma is the absolutely definitive Supporter of this era. He’s effectively what Lysandre did but with an additional Switch for your side, making him much more efficient overall. Now you can not only get your opponent to put their most vulnerable card up front, but you can swap in an appropriate attacker to clean up the mess. He’s an absolute 4-of in most any deck, in my opinion, though you could probably get away with less if you’re looking to cover your bases in other avenues.

#1 Tapu Lele-GX – naturally topping out the must-have Supporter, Tapu Lele-GX is the must-have Supporter retriever and similarly to Guzma has a definitive advantage over a predecessor that fulfilled the same role in Jirachi-EX. Tapu Lele-GX can retrieve a Supporter from the deck, and she can even dish out a powerful X Ball-like attack, albeit without applying Weakness/Resistance. Tapu Cure GX is also good recovery, but you’ll likely not need it most of the time because you’re either running a GX Attack that you want to use for your deck or because you’re dominating the match easily enough without needing it. Either way, Tapu Lele-GX tops it all off at #1 for 2017!

Next Time: Escape with your life – but also your energy!