Review
too long? Skip straight to the scores and summary.
Name:
Mightyena ex
Set:
EX Holon Phantoms
Card#:
101/110
Rarity:
Pokémon-ex
Pokémon-ex Rule:
When Pokémon-ex has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2
Prize cards.
Type:
Darkness
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Poochyena)
HP:
100
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
Psychic
Retreat:
None
Poké-Power:
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may choose 1 of
the Defending Pokémon and switch it with 1 of your opponent’s
Defending Pokémon and switch it with 1 of your opponent’s
Benched Pokémon. Your opponent chooses the Benched Pokémon to
switch. This power can’t be used if Mightyena ex is affected by
a Special Condition.
Attack#1:
(CC) Sharp Fang [30]
Attack#2:
(DCC) Hyper Claws [50+]
If
the Defending Pokémon is a Stage 2 Evolved Pokémon, this
attack does 50 damage plus 40 more damage.
Name:
Poochyena
Set:
EX Holon Phantoms
Card#:
80/110
Type:
Darkness
Stage:
Basic
HP:
40
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
Psychic
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Paralyzing Gaze
Flip a
coin. If heads, the Defending Pokémon is now Paralyzed.
Attack#2:
(CC) Smash Kick [20]
Attributes:
Mightyena ex is a Darkness Type Pokémon, meaning it will
rarely hit anything Weak, but won’t have to worry about
Resistance and can use Darkness Energy to increase the
damage yield form its attacks. Quite nice, I’d say.
Unfortunately, it has only 100 HP. This is pretty poor for a
Stage 1 Pokémon-ex. Although a good 20-30 points higher than
other Mightyena for HP, it still isn’t much for a
Pokémon-ex. It is just high enough to make it vulnerable to
Desert Ruins (though I wouldn’t want it at 90, as that is
just horrid for a Stage 1 Pokémon-ex). I am saying it really
needed to be 110, 120, or even 130 (anymore would not fit the
Pokémon and would also necessitate a double Weakness).
Fighting Weakness just accentuates this point: most fully
Evolved Fighting Pokémon can easily hit for 50 points of damage
reliably. If you see a Fighting Pokémon, don’t bring this thing
out. At least we actually have Psychic Resistance on this card:
this means you should have a real edge over Psychic Pokémon, and
especially “Ghost” Pokémon (Darkness Weak Psychic Pokémon) are
in real trouble. A second impressive “bottom stat” is a free
Retreat. This is the best it can be and is great for shaking
off attack effects as well as just managing your Pokémon in
general.
This
set gives us a new Poochyena, but it’s more or less a
vanilla Pokémon with just 40 HP and Fighting Weakness, it just
won’t survive too long. I’d recommend the EX Deoxys version
since it can mess with the opponent’s hand.
Abilities:
Driving Howl isn’t great, but it can be handy for getting some
problem Pokémon out of the Active slot. Sharp Fang is pretty
weak, but if you can use Darkness Energy to fuel it you
can get some decent shots in with it. Hyper Claws is good, but
not with something real nice to back it up. What do I mean?
Well, Hyper Claws will give a Darkness Energy endowed
Mightyena ex a good chance of OHKOing a normal Pokémon-ex,
Stage 1, or Basic Pokémon. Unfortunately, it’s not going to cut
it if you have to slug it out with another Stage 1 or 2
Pokémon-ex. As these are common sights in the current metagame,
it really hurts. There is some synergy between the Driving Howl
and Hyper Claws, as you can try to force up a Stage 2, but since
the opponent chooses what to bring up, it’s not going to do
much.
Uses
and
Combinations:
I could see including one if you are using one of the
Mightyena currently legal for Modified. However, of the two
only the Pokémon δ version has a prayer of being a decent enough
attacker. It helps that said version can prevent Pokémon-ex
from attacking by attacking them.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5 – Not a chance. It’s just not meant for this format where
Blastoise is about the only Stage 2 you’ll see.
Modified:
3/5 – You could build an “okay” deck with the EX Delta Species
Mightyena. If you really love Mightyena and
insist on using it, this version will be a definite help.
Limited:
3.5/5 – Surprisingly handy here. You won’t be able to use the
second attack often, but constantly forcing your opponent to
bring up something new can force them to spread out their Energy
and be unable to power up their better attacks or force them to
burn Energy retreating.
Summary
Mightyena ex
is a bit underpowered but if you really want to run it you
should be able to do so with some success. If you aren’t a fan
though, just get it for your collection.
