- Shining Genesect
Shining Genesect
– Shining Legends
Date Reviewed:
November 1, 2017
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 3.53
Expanded: 3.17
Limited: 4.07
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
 aroramage Having been a little lax on reviews, I did want to say that while I like that the folks at the Pokemon Company decided to bring back “Shining” Pokemon to the game, I’m not as…enthralled? Enthusiastic? I guess I’m generally unimpressed with them outside of the unique shiny color artwork. Shining Jirachi for instance has a unique mechanic with Stellar Reign, allowing players to completely undo their opponent’s work for but a single Energy. Sure it’ll take the opponent a long time to build it up again, but Shining Jirachi also only has 70 HP. So you’re ideally planning around Stellar Reign to undo your opponent’s handiwork before tearing it apart with another Pokemon. On its own, though, it’s not that threatening. Similarly, Shining Mew from yesterday has the ability of Legendary Guidance to automatically provide 2 Energy cards straight from your deck to your Pokemon, INSTANTLY powering anything up with ease for a single Energy. And yet you’re basically letting your opponent gain the lead, since you’re attacking to do it, and you’ve only got 30 HP to work with. That’s not much to work with, at best you’re getting it off…once. If you’re lucky. And not going first. And not having to deal with your opponent setting up. So it’s from that sort of general “okay” to “geez” perspective that I look at Shining Genesect and realize how much it wanted to be Keldeo-EX that it basically has Energy Reload to charge itself up and Gaia Blaster to go 3-for-50 and Hydro Pump 20 more damage based on the amount of Grass Energy on it. At least you can draw off Grass Energy with Energy Reload from your other Pokemon (course, you can only draw off Grass Energy with Energy Reload, but still). There’s not much else to really say about Shining Genesect. It’s alright for what it does, but otherwise I think it’s a little…subpar. That’s probably the best way of putting it – it’s a good card, but it’s gonna get outclassed by other options. At least it’s not putting anything out there risky to accelerate the game the way Shining Mew does, and it’s not likely to be a somewhat terrifying tech option for players the way Shining Jirachi will definitely become, if it isn’t already. Rating Standard: 2.5/5 (Hydro Pumping is pretty strong, but it only works with the right Ability) Expanded: 2/5 (Deluge or Inferno Fandango are hand-spammy, but they work) Limited: 3/5 (Energy Reload just isn’t the same) Arora Notealus: The Shining Pokemon are nice, and I hope that there will be some good ones in the future, but for now…well, okay, maybe there should be some Shiny GX Pokemon at some point, THAT’D be pretty neat. Next Time: THE ONLY IMPORTANT LETTER IS THE V |
 21times Shining Genesect (Shining Legends, 9/73) definitely qualifies as a little bit of miss on our part when it came to reviewing Shining Legends. None of us had Shining Genesect in our top five. This 130 HP Basic Grass Pokemon makes for a great pairing with Tapu Bulu GX (SM32) and Venusaur (Shining Legends, 3/73) decks. Shining Genesect has a good ability and a good attack. Energy Reload, reminiscent of Flareon EX’s (RC6) Flash Fire ability, allows you to move a Grass energy from one of your other Pokemon to this one, and Gaia Blaster can crank up the damage when paired with Venusaur. Shining Genesect works as a great counter to Hoopa (Shining Legends, 55/73) and Alolan Ninetales (Burning Shadows, 28/147), and it can potentially help turn a match into a seven prize card game without having to rely solely on Tapu Bulu GX as your only attacker. I have seen Shining Genesect more than any other Shining Legends Pokemon with the exception of Venusaur and Hoopa. I’ve seen Shining Genesect 6 times, while I’ve come across Hoopa 13 and Venusaur 8 times. I’ve seen these Pokemon more than I’ve actually seen any other Pokemon from Shining Legends, including Zoroark GX (Shining Legends, 53/73) (5 times). So I know that PTCGO does not reflect the competitive “meta” of the game – in 361 matches this month, I have faced “meta” decks only 134 times (37%). I still feel that we underestimated the value of Shining Genesect, however, and, certainly in my case, overestimated the impact Raichu GX (Shining Legends, 29/73) and Entei GX (Shining Legends, 10/73) would have on the game (I’ve seen both of those Pokemon combined a total of six times – as many as Shining Genesect). Rating Standard: 3.5 out of 5 Conclusion I think Shining Genesect best serves as a partner to Tapu Bulu GX and probably works best in the Venusaur builds we’ve seen this month that have supplanted the Vikabulu (Buluvolt?) decks that have traditionally paired Vikavolt (Sun & Moon, 52/149) with Tapu Bulu GX. I’ve gone 3 wins and 3 losses against Shining Genesect this month – but in full disclosure I played Greninja (Breakpoint, 40/122) more than any other deck in October and 2 of these Shining Genesect matches were against my blue frog (both losses). Still, I’ve been really impressed by Shining Genesect, and if I could redo my Shining Legends rankings, it would definitely move up to the top five, and maybe even as high as second. |
 Vince Today, we’re looking at Shining Genesect which, I think, has potential as a one prize Grass type attacker. And looking at its card effect text, you can see the direction it is going. Energy Reload grabs one grass energy from your other Pokémon to this Pokémon, so that you’ll be able to fuel up Gaia Blaster’s attack cost as well as doing an extra 20 damage from that attack (because it does 20 more damage for each grass energy attached to this Pokémon). Loading up Energy on one Pokemon has its advantages and disadvantages. Attacks like Gaia Blaster, Secret Sword, Thunder Lance, Blaze Ball, or Slash Blast gives incentive to the user investing a specific type energy to gain the maximum effect. In this case, Shining Genesect with four grass energies can 2HKO, although you can pump even further to reach 250 damage (due to 50 plus 200 for ten energies). The disadvantage would be other Pokemon punishing you for having too many energies such as Mewtwo EX X Ball or Gardevoir-GX. Also, those energies goes to the discard once Shining Genesect gets KOed, tremendously slowing down your setup. Even with such disadvantages, we have another option of performing such a role. And it’s no surprise that it can function in a +39 deck in Limited. Standard: 3.5/5 Expanded: 3.5/5 Limited: 4.5/5 (load up energy and wreak havoc!) |
 Retro
Another Grass-type Genesect arrives in a span of about 3 years! But its color is red… no matter though. Previously, the last and the most successful Grass-type Genesect, which is BW Plasma Blast’s Genesect-EX, is insanely good because it is resilient to status thanks to Virizion-EX from the same set, and an extra attack in G Booster, the Ace Spec that is exclusive to Genesect that allows it to fire one shot after one shot OHKOs. So how does this one stack up? Being a Basic Pokemon, Shining Genesect does receive numerous support items to help it. Items such as Fighting Fury Belt (XY BREAKpoint) improves survivability, and Max Elixir (XY BREAKpoint) helps accelerates energy for it to start attacking. It has a retreat cost of 2, but since Genesect is an attacker, it is fine. Brigette (XY BREAKpoint) can also search for it, meaning that searching for it isn’t a big issue (unless either the Genesect or the Brigette is prized), and with Tapu Lele-GX (SM GUR) in the format as a staple, it is easier to get the Genesect. In short, there has never been a better format for Shining Genesect to exist in. And as a Grass type, you can hit many relevant Pokemon for Weakness, such as Lapras-GX (SM Base Set), Greninja BREAK (XY BREAKpoint) and Lycanroc-GX (SM GUR) that are predicted to rule the meta. This Genesect, just like the Genesect-EX from earlier, is a nuker through and through, but it takes a different path than just simply G Boosting away. It has an Ability and an attack that chains well with each other. The ability, Energy Reload, allows you to move a Grass energy from a Benched Pokemon to Shining Genesect. Keep in mind that it just said Grass energy, not Basic Grass energy, so any energy that can count as Grass energy, such as Rainbow Energy, the soon to be released Counter Energy (SM Crimson Invasion), or the Blend Energy of Grass, Fire, Psychic and Dark (BW DEX) does count and is movable with this Ability. This in turn fuels its attack Gaia Blaster, which for those of you running Keldeo-EX (BW BCR) or Trevenant-EX (XY PRC) should be very familiar with; a 3 Colorless energy with a base damage of 50 and it increases by 20 for every Grass energy attached to this Pokemon. After enough Grass energies, this attack should be reaching all the good numbers; with 3 Grass energies it deals 110 damage, with 4 Grass energies it will do 130, and so on, making it capable of setting up 2HKOs or even one shotting any Pokemon with enough energies on Shining Genesect. However, even though this attack has no scaling cap, it still deals a relatively low damage on average in this meta. If this card is released in the BW era, where the highest HP you can go is 180 HP, this attack might just be very powerful. However, the meta is filled with Pokemon that can go up to 250 HP, meaning that it won’t be one shotting those Pokemon soon. And even then, when they think that their injured Pokemon will be damaged but not knocked out, they can just use Acerola (SM BUS) or Super Scoop Up to get them back to their hand, meaning your attacks will come to naught. Also it is weak to Fire, which is a big issue with such threats like Volcanion-EX decks and Salazzle-GX decks being everywhere, so if you can’t kill them, they will beat you back. But, it only gives up 1 prize, can charge itself up, has energy acceleration options, and hits for a decent typing with a Colorless energy cost on its attack. What more can you want? Rating: Standard: 4.6/5 (A superb attacker that can give even the best of decks a run for their money with proper support) Expanded: 4/5 (Many other Grass attacker exist here, but Genesect can give them a run for their money as well with its nuke-ness) Limited: 4.7/5 (If you can pull even just 1 of these, get ready to win. It’s that good.) Next on SM Shining Legends: |
