Xerneas – Vivid Voltage
Date Reviewed: March 9, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 2.00
Expanded: 2.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Xerneas (SW – Vivid Voltage 078/185) continues our streak of being a baseline Pokémon. If no effects alter how many Prizes are being taken for a KO, it is worth only one. There are no special modifiers in its name. There is no Rule Box on it. Overall, this is probably a good thing. Xerneas is a [P] type, which is… “okay”? You can hit Mewtwo & Mew-GX for double damage, you can take advantage of Horror [P] Energy and… not much else worth mentioning. Being a Basic is the best; Xerneas doesn’t automatically need to rely on other cards to hit the field, nor does it have to wait to be played. It can act as your opening Active, and naturally works better with certain card effects, like bounce.
Xerneas has 130 HP, which is decent on a basic. Well within OHKO range for “main attackers” focused on doing damage, it might survive if your opponent is using more technical (and typically lower damage yield) attacks, or just has a poor setup. [M] Weakness is dangerous right now, though the big concern – Zacian V – already does 100 more damage than is needed before Weakness. No Resistance is typical; while any Resistance is better than none, Resistance just doesn’t do a lot of good without additional damage reduction, healing, etc. A Retreat Cost of [CC] is low enough you can pay, but high enough you’d prefer not to; Air Balloon can zero it out, assuming you can spare the Tool slot on it.
Xerneas knows two attacks. “Geo Hunt” costs [P] and lets you put a card from your discard pile into your hand. [PPC] pays for “Aurora Gain”, which does 100 damage and heals 30 from Xerneas. Being able to reclaim any one card is good, though not great… or at least, it hasn’t proven so in the past. Aurora Gain is overpriced, and the healing only helps if you’ve got a bunch of additional support to keep Xerneas from being OHKO’d or nearly OHKO’d. However, 100-for-three is poor, but not awful. It isn’t worth building a deck around, but if the deck you already want Xerneas in can cover Aurora Gain’s cost without much trouble, you’ll probably fine a use for it.
Geo Hunt is the main appeal of this Xerneas, however. In Expanded, cards such as Oranguru (SM – Ultra Prism 114/156) and Sableye (BW – Dark Explorers 62/108) were banned. Xerneas is nowhere near as good at recycling as these cards, but it still lets you add one card reliably from your discard pile, and has a decent HP score. Psychic types, if memory serves, are one of the better types for disruption or outright control elements. I wouldn’t bet on Xerneas becoming the main attacker for a control deck, but I also wouldn’t bet against it. As for the Standard Format, you have fewer powerhouse cards to recycle, but far less competition for such a position if a deck needing it were to arise.
Ratings
- Standard: 2/5
- Expanded: 2/5
Xerneas isn’t mind-blowing, but it does just enough to be worth a look. Iit can reliably recycle one card from your discard pile at the cost of your attack, plus having one unit of [P] Energy attached.
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