Mismagius Review – Pokemon Unbroken Bonds

Vince

Mismagius is another related Pokémon that utilizes from Dusk Stone. There’s not much to be said about the rest of the card besides it’s ability. Mysterious Message states that you may draw cards until you have seven cards in your hand, but then this Pokémon is Knocked Out, giving your opponent a prize card.

This may sound like a terrible drawback, but I tend to think of this ability as an opportunity. Sure, you’re behind on prizes, but so what? You can get a hand of seven cards and also possibly make use of coming-from-behind cards to generate a bigger pay off. Cards like Lt. Surge’s Strategy to use two more supporters? How about Counter Energy for the equivalent of two Rainbow Energies? Also Martial Arts Dojo that gives you a bigger damage output when you’re behind on prizes? And sometimes you fall behind on purpose for the bigger picture, such as fueling up damage output based on the amount of Pokémon in your discard pile. Attacks such as the name “Vengeance” from Persian-GX or Flareon Plasma will love filling up your discarded Pokémon. Each Mismagius would be 40 more points of damage from Persian-GX because Misdreavus is also discarded.

And that’s the kind of thinking that makes Mismagius worth consideration for certain decks.

Ratings:

• Standard: 3.5/5
• Expanded: 3.5/5
• Limited: 3/5

Otaku

Mismagius (SM – Unbroken Bonds 78/214) is a [P] Type, which could come in handy; Mysterious Treasure survives rotation, and while all [D] and [M] Types are [P] Resistant, many [F] and [P] Types are [P] Weak. Being a Stage 1 means Mismagius is a bit slower and requires more deck space than a Basic, though if you can spare even more space, Dusk Stone will Mismagius hit the field on your first turn (even if it is the overall first turn of the game). Lest we forget, this is a single Prize Pokémon; in a metagame with so many prominent double and now even tripe Prize Pokémon, that’s becoming an advantage instead of a neutral trait. 110 HP HP is low enough Mismagius is probably getting OHKO’d, but high enough it’ll require something at least approaching a serious attack. Unless a [D] Type is doing the attacking, as [D] Weakness means just 60 damage gets doubled into a OHKO (with 10 points of overkill, even). [F] Resistance means Mismagius is a bit more durable in that match-up, though still a little more likely to be OHKO’d than survive. Its Retreat Cost of [C] is relatively easy to pay, and any effect which lowers it transforms it into a perfect free Retreat Cost.

Mismagius as an Ability and an attack, and I’m going to do that sometimes annoying thing by jumping to the attack first. “Hypnoblast” costs [PCC] and does 70 damage while putting your opponent’s Active to Sleep. Underwhelming, but not abysmally so. Slap a Choice Band on Mismagius and it can 2HKO most non-Resistant, Basic Pokémon-EX/GX (and OHKO most of the [P] Weak ones). In fact, it may be adequate because this attack? It is just filler. We’re here for the Ability, “Mysterious Message”. The first part of this Ability states that once per turn before you attack, you may draw until you have seven cards in hand. If you draw any cards in this manner, Mysterious Message KO’s the Pokémon which used it… and yes, your opponent gets to take a Prize for this. This isn’t a true once-per-turn Ability; if you have multiple instances of Mysterious Message in play, each may be used. You’re giving up a Prize, but you’re getting a first-turn-Lillie-less-one or a non-first-turn-Lillie-plus-one worth of draw power. Probably not something to slap into just any deck, but definitely something with potential.

Looking at the results I have available for the last several events since SM – Unbroken Bonds became legal, I’m not seeing anything using Mismagius, which confuses me. I legitimately expected this card to at least be showing up a little, though it is true that I don’t have even have full Top 8’s for all these events, let alone beyond; Mismagius could be hiding in the gaps but… probably not. The short version is that the decks which might use it are also operating either on razor-thin margins or Prize denial, not leaving much room for a happy middle ground… until, possibly, rotation. Until then, however, Mismagius is still a card to consider. Dusk Stone means you can try and pull one off on your first turn, which will also let you make use of things like Counter Catcher, Counter Gain, and Counter Energy. If you time things correctly, you can “play around” Mismagius while still utilizing Green’s Exploration. I wouldn’t run it just to combo with Mismagius, but if a deck already has Shedinja (SM – Lost Thunder 95/214), you could just use its Ability to attach it to Mismagius, then self-KO without giving up any Prizes. could be used When Reset Stamp (or whatever its English name ends up being) releases in English, that will also likely improve Mismagius’ prospects.

I’m wondering about it in Expanded; there are decks which want Pokémon in the discard pile, and precious few which would fail to enjoy enjoy the extra draw power… but a Prize is still a steep price. If you can spare your Ace Spec for it, Life Dew lets you pull the same trick as Shedinja. I’ve also got a kooky, completely untested idea; I haven’t even finished the Theorymon on it yet. Perhaps you can build a deck around an attacker like Vespiquen (XY – Ancient Origins 10/98), whose “Vengeance” attack hits harder the more Pokémon you have in your discard pile, and try to work in both Shedinja and Mismagius. Still, I once again have nothing concrete for Expanded. As for the Limited Format, run Mismagius more for the attack than the Ability. It is easy for your hand to become cluttered here, which may significantly reduce how many cards you can draw off of Mysterious Message but Hypno Blast and even the card’s other traits should be much more useful; a solid Stage 1 that can work well in a mixed Energy deck.

Ratings

Standard: 3/5

Expanded: 3/5

Limited: 3.2/5

Yes, relatively good marks for something which is totally unproven, but Reset Stamp and rotation are coming.  I actually want to score it higher, but can’t bring myself to since, again, no one seems to be using the card well yet. You might want to snag one or two of these before someone does.