Mimikyu – Paldea Evolved
Date Reviewed: June 21, 2023
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 3.0
Expanded: 1.5
Limited: 3.0
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Vince
Mimikyu (SV Paldea Evolved 97/193) sneaks into the meta. A Basic Psychic type with 70 HP, Metal Weakness, and a retreat cost of C, it has an ability and an attack. The Safeguard ability states that it prevents all damage done to this Pokemon by attacks from your opponent’s Pokemon ex and Pokemon-V. Ghost Eye costs PC and lets you put 7 damage counters on your opponent’s Active Pokemon.
I recall the last time a non-Rule Box Pokemon has that built-in protection was Decidueye from the Sword & Shield Darkness Ablaze expansion. Most of what I thought about from these older cards, even as far back as Sigilyph from Black & White Dragons Exalted, would apply to Mimikyu. For the format Mimikyu is entering, it came in the right time to exploit that protection. Pokemon-V, Pokemon VMAX, Pokemon V-UNION, and Pokemon ex won’t be able to damage Mimikyu, but non-Rule Box Pokemon and other bygone mechanics in Expanded such as Pokemon-GX and Pokemon-EX will damage Mimikyu. It also isn’t protected from effect of an attack; if there’s an attack that says to put 7 damage counters on it, then Mimikyu is done for.
Still, Safeguard is still a good ability that can abused to great effect. Mimikyu’s Ghost Eye isn’t a bad attack, but one wished that it did more damage. You can even use a hit-and-run style attacker, which will lead Mimikyu to be on the front as a shield against certain attackers, and it can retreat for free as long as Beach Court is in play. However, not all decks use exclusively multi-prize Pokemon, as it may also contain baseline single-prize Pokemon (or other bygone mechanics) just to deal with specific roadblocks like today’s card. And with only 70 HP, that may not be enough to make Mimikyu stay in play; Damage counter placements will bypass that ability.
Ratings:
Standard: 3/5 (Mimikyu may not have been used by a deck, but the potential is still there.)
Expanded: 1.5/5
Limited: 3/5 (Even without Pokemon ex, Ghost Eye is still a decent attack)
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