Serperior – Mythical Islands
Date Reviewed: January 26, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
We’re in the middle of a countdown, but… I need to shorten my reviews. The easy way is switching card IDs to shorthand, like “A1” instead of “Genetic Apex”, and leaving off the bottom number from the IDS (“123”, instead of “123/465”). The trickier change is I will no longer go into so much detail for cards that aren’t the actual CotD subject. Obvious, but still different.
The sixth best card in Mythical Island is Serperior (A1a 006, 070)! This is a (G) Stage 2 Pokémon with 110 HP, (R) Weakness, (C)(C) Retreat Cost, the Ability “Jungle Totem”, and the attack “Solar Beam”. Jungle Totem causes each (G) Energy attached to your (G) Pokémon to count as (G)(G). It clearly states it doesn’t stack. Solar Beam costs (G)(C)(C)(C) and does 70 damage. Serperior is available at both the ♦♦♦ and ★ rarities.
Jungle Totem is the focus of this card. Once Serperior hits the field, Energy costs for (G) Types are functionally halved. Yes, the effect could be stronger; its restricted to (G) Energy on (G) Pokémon, and a second instance of this Serperior won’t increase the yield, though it will provide insurance in case your opponent takes out your other Serperior.
Solar Beam is definitely not optimized. You don’t want to attack with Serperior unless you’re desperate, but even with the Ability, you need two (G) that will behave as (G)(G)(G)(G) to use the attack. Just make the printed cost (G)(G)(G)(G) and let it do a little more than 70 damage! Better still, reduce the cost to (G)(G) so that Serperior just needs one attachment to attack. Yes, even if the damage were dropped to 50 or 60. We’re not running off-Type Energy in Serperior, and if Abilities could be disabled in the future, Serperior still effectively needs (G)(G)(G)(G) to attack.
Jungle Totem makes Serperior good Grass Type support. It’s not alone:
- Caterpie (A1 005)
- Erika (A1 219, 266)
- Lilligant (A1 030)
provide random (G) Pokémon search, (G) Pokémon exclusive healing, and (G) Energy acceleration, to (G) Pokémon, respectively. All but Caterpie are already being combined with Serperior into a deck.
Serperior shouldn’t usually be attacking, but if you must, don’t expect (G) Weakness to help much, if at all.
One of the reasons it is tricky to squeeze all the (G) support into the same deck is that Serperior is a Stage 2. It evolves from Servine, which itself evolves from Snivy. The only option for Servine is A1a 005. For Snivy, there’s A1a 004 and Promo-A 027; the former has +10 HP, but the latter can attack for (G) to do 20. I don’t think hoping to also get a Giovanni to shoot for a Turn 2 KO of Magikarp is worth -10 HP. +10 HP won’t make much of a difference, however, so go with whichever version you prefer.
Serperior has 110 HP, tying with Gardevoir (A1 132) for the lowest Stage 2 HP score. It’s just outside of medium attack range, but with Giovanni (or the like) even medium attacks can score the OHKO. (R) Weakness allows the most likely attackers in a Blaine Decks to score a OHKO without also using Blaine or Giovanni. Most other prominent (R) attackers already score the OHKO.
The go-to Serperior Decks are all classified as Celebi ex Decks. Why not review Celebi ex (A1a 003, 075, 085) instead? Besides this being a smaller set, either card has a decent chance of being competitive without the other. Though, in Serperior’s case, it’d be hoping for better attackers who could utilize its Ability in future sets. We have some, but they’re less impressive and/or universal than Celebi ex.
Rating: 3.5/5
Serperior is a bit lacking in stats and attack, but its Jungle Totem Ability is the kind that spawns an archetype… which it already has done. Unless Fire decks were to suddenly dominate the metagame, I don’t think that will change anytime soon. Yes, we already have several good Fire decks, but we also have several good Water decks and one dominant one keeping the balance.
Note: Due to a technical issue, this review was posted a day late. Sorry, folks! Never mind, I – Otaku – just failed to read the calendar correctly!
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