Pikachu ex – Shining Revelry
Date Reviewed: April 9, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Pikachu ex (A2b 022, 082, 092) is a Lightning-Type Basic Pokémon ex. It has 120 HP, (F) Weakness, (C) Retreat Cost, no Ability, and one attack. For (L)(L)(L), Pikachu ex can use “Thunderbolt” to do 150 damage to the opponent’s Active. Thunderbolt also discards all Energy attached to whatever Pokémon is using it (usually this Pikachu ex). For this Pikachu ex, there’s one ♦♦♦♦ rare and two ★★ versions.
Sooner than normal, Let’s talk Pikachu ex (A1 096, 259, 281, 285). The two cards share the exact same name, so you can have two of one, two of the other, or one of each, but not more than that in the same deck. Speaking of “exact same”, the only functional difference between the two are the attacks. While each has just one, Pikachu ex (A1 096, 259, 281, 285) knows “Circle Circuit” instead of Thunderbolt. Circle Circuit costs (L)(L) and does 30 damage for each of your Benched (L) Pokémon.
As a Pokémon ex, Pikachu ex give up an extra point when KO’d. Meowscarada (A2b 007, 073), Red (A2b 071, 090), Sudowoodo (A2a 036, 079), and Tauros (A1a 060) do extra damage to Pokémon ex. Red lets anything do +20 damage, while the aforementioned Pokémon each have one attack, with different Energy costs, names, base damage, and bonus damage, where the bonus damage only applies to Pokémon ex.
There’s not a lot of (L) support. Pachirisu (A2b 025, 103; P-A 058) provides a little attack-based Energy acceleration, while Pikachu (A1a 025) has a weaker version of the Circle Circuit found on Pikachu ex (A1 096, 259, 281, 285). We’ll discuss the notable (L) Pokémon in the competitive scene later in this review. They’re a little more impressive in terms of exploiting Weakness; most (W) Types, and many of the other Types have at least one or two (often notable) (L) Weak examples.
Being a Basic is the best. Also, water is wet! Basics require minimum deck space and time to hit the field1, while having access to support like Poké Ball (P-A 005) is a staple, and Shaymin (A2a 069, 081)2. Pokémon Flute (A1a 064) and Victreebel (A1 020) have anti-Basic effects, but neither are currently competitive, to my knowledge.
120 HP is poor for a Basic Pokémon ex, but it is still enough to eat a full force medium attack. Besides raw power decks, expect OHKOs from more combo oriented decks, and 2HKOs from almost everything. (F) Weakness typically fall into the “combo oriented” category, with Weakness just providing another +20 damage to their arsenal. At least the (C) Retreat Cost is simple and effective, made even better with a simple X Speed (P-A 002).
Thunderbolt has a hefty Energy cost, a hefty drawback, but delivers hefty damage. No aspect of this attack is record breaking, even for (L) Types. It’s the total package that matters. There are no coin flips or conditions, just (L)(L)(L) damage to do 150. That’s enough damage to OHKO any Basic Pokémon ex (before other card effects). With Red, Thunderbolt can one-shot most Stage 2 Pokémon ex. Discarding all attached Energy is sizable drawback, but with Pikachu ex’s HP, it might be a none issue.
We’ve already reviewed Pikachu ex (A1 096, 259, 281, 285); I scored it as a 4.25/5! It used to belong to one of the two high tier (maybe even top tier) decks in the metagame. That no longer applies. Circle Circuit is still a good attack, letting you do 90 damage for (L)(L), so long as you can fill your Bench with (L) Pokémon first. It’s just there are more speedy attackers, and reliable 2HKOs lead to less favorable 2HKOs.
Both Pikachu ex are still “good” cards. It’s just that the Pikachu ex (A1 096, 259, 281, 285) is no longer “great”. In fact, Pikachu ex (A2b 022, 082, 092) is used more often because it’s filling a different niche. Raichu (A1 095) and Zapdos ex (A1 104, 260, 276) used to be the (L) Type’s go to for big hits. The former is basically today’s Pikachu ex as a single point, Stage 1 that does 10 less damage. The latter is flippy and can hit harder than today’s Pikachu, but is more likely to do less damage.
While both alternatives do come with benefits, the end result is they’re just not as good at being a deck’s hard-hitter. Pikachu ex (A2b 022, 082, 092) isn’t being run as a main attacker, either. Instead it is a one-of backing up stuff like Magnezone (A2 053) or Pachirisu ex (A2 061, 183, 198), often with baby Pachirisu acting as an opener to accelerate Energy while doing a tiny bit of damage. Pokémon Zone lists it as a Promising Deck, but over on LimitlessTCG, the most successful Pikachu ex (A2b 022, 082, 092) using deck (Magnezone variant) has just 38 instances, with a 47.19% Win Rate.
Rating: 3/5
Pikachu ex (A2b 022, 082, 092) isn’t brilliant, but I almost thought it was! When I first saw Pachirisu and Pikachu ex, I overestimated both. Still, I’ll gladly take an “average” good card over one that is filler or broken. Lastly, I didn’t bother discussing all “Pikachu” or “Raichu” cards because, from game mechanic perspective, they’re no more related to Pikachu ex than any other Basic or Stage 1 (L) Type. Take Lt. Surge; it lists “Pikachu” as one of the cards its effect can target, but Pikachu ex is not a legal target. That “ex” at the end of it’s name makes all the difference.
1Barring card-specific requirements.
2Celestic Town Elder (A2a 073, 088) and Combee (A2 017) are additional pieces of Basic support, but to my knowledge, have yet to see significant competitive success.
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