Merry Christmas!
We begin our shortened week of
reviews with the number seven pick of
our Top 10 Cards of 2013:
Genesect EX.
Given that it is a Grass-Type
(making it green) with prominent red,
glowing eyes and an Ability is called
“Red Signal”, that makes a giant, kind
of transforming robot-bug festive,
right?
Well, maybe it works for me
because I’m a Transformers fan?
We first reviewed the
Genesect EX
here, where it clocked in as the #3
pick for our BW: Plasma Blast Top
12 list.
Does its presence here in the
seventh place slot vindicate its
previous finish, or show that it was a
bit overrated?
It probably comes as no surprise
that I cannot give you a clear answer.
One of those reviews I never finished
was my CotD for
Genesect EX; in my defense I
struggled because on one hand it seemed
better to just review the card alongside
its two Ace Spec options (to give the
full picture) but that was a lot for a
single review, so either path was hard
(and yes, I tried both!) and in the end,
by the time it was close to done it was
out dated.
I’ll resist giving a thorough,
detailed (re: covering every aspect of
the card that occurs to me) review of
the card because it does get
complicated;
Genesect EX does have access to Team
Plasma support in addition to those two
Ace Spec cards, after all.
I’ll try to use broad strokes, at
least compared to my usual fair.
This Pokémon has its own major deck with
Virizion EX, often referred to as “VirGen”
for short.
Virizion EX is already a useful card
due to its Ability protecting against
Special Conditions, but in an actual
Grass deck its Energy accelerating
attack is even more useful.
Genesect
EX needs (GGC) to attack, whether
you’re using one of its two Ace Spec
Pokémon Tools (that aren’t Technical
Machines but still grant access to one
alternate attack a piece) or just using
the fairly good Megalo Cannon attack
printed on
Genesect EX itself, so it definitely
needs the help.
G Scope proved to be a bust; even
before
Pokémon
Catcher received its erratum, there
is no other version of
Genesect EX; why “pay” your Ace Spec
to hit the Bench instead of just using
Red Signal to force the target active?
G Scope only hits for 100 points of
damage, so once active even
Megalo
Cannon hits the target just as hard
(with 20 to a Benched Pokémon of your
choice as a bonus) or harder (if you hit
Weakness).
You also then retain the option
of using
G Booster (the other custom Ace
Spec) so you can clobber anything for
200 while ignoring all effects on the
Defending Pokémon e.g. effects like
Safeguard and those of
Silver Mirror are bypassed.
Mr. Mime (BW: Plasma Freeze
47/116) was already available to block
G Scope even when the card was new,
so I really don’t “get” why the
designers thought it was a good idea to
release such a card, especially
alongside
G Booster.
Once you’re loaded for bear
G Booster allows you to go on a OHKO
spree.
Shadow Triad means you can reclaim
it after a
Genesect EX goes down or a
Tool Scrapper does its thing, one of
the reasons being a Team Plasma card
proved useful.
Even if you have to burn a
Supporter to reclaim
G Booster and use cards like
Energy Switch to help re-Energize a
Genesect EX, it’s worth it to win
the game with three big hits, especially
when you consider decks using similar
strategies usually have to rely upon a
Stage 2 Pokémon.
Beyond that, decks already using
Plasma Energy (or easily adjusted to
include it) now have reason to use Red
Signal in place of the nerfed
Pokémon Catcher, adding another
usage for the card.
Team Plasma decks in general have
reason to consider it (but not with
G Booster) for that reason and to
provide a Grass-Type attacker (Energy
permitting).
For Unlimited I can only offer Theorymon,
as I am just not going to get a chance
to test anything here for the
foreseeable future and no one seems to
be posting results from which I can
gather data.
Prior to the rule change, there
were many decks that could win first
turn, using complicated combos made
reliable by the fantastic draw and
search options of Unlimited.
After the rule change, only those
that can do so without attacking can
still win first turn and one of the best
First Turn Win decks, Sabledonk, can
meet that requirement.
This format still has
Gust of Wind (amongst other things),
so having Red Signal isn’t that big of a
deal... unless you want to run this in a
Trainer denial deck, then it might
actually be worth considering.
Again this is pure speculation.
For Limited play, as long as I could run
at least a third (and preferably half or
all) of my Energy as
Grass Energy, it is a must run.
Alternatively, if I can pull at
least one
Plasma Energy, it’s probably a must
run (two slots for a powerful but
unlikely combo can still work out here).
I don’t think this is a good
choice for trying a +39 deck: 170 HP is
a lot, but your opponent gets to attack
you twice before you can bust out Megalo
Cannon (which should win you the game
three or four attacks barring an amazing
set-up by your opponent).
If you feel lucky or daring you
can try, and hope your opponent has
nothing but small hitters available.
Ratings
Unlimited:
2/5
Modified:
3.75/5
Limited:
4.75/5
Summary
I scored
Genesect EX, cornerstone of VirGen
decks, just a little lower than
Silver Bangle.
Just as with the Top 12 list for
BW: Plasma Blast, I believe the
card that ultimately placed one spot
lower is better.
Genesect EX can do a lot, but it all
requires support that only works
together in VirGen decks because the two
major Pokémon involved are both Basics.
Silver Bangle is a huge boon to any
attacker that isn’t a Pokémon-EX, while
Genesect EX is only a huge boon to
Virizion EX decks; it is obviously
useless in most decks and even those
that can afford Red Signal its just a
good (but not great) Bench-sitter (and
sometimes emergency attacker).
Genesect EX
made my list in the number six slot
(with
Silver Bangle in the number four
spot), and I
Genesect EX all over the bottom half
of my pre-submission Top 10 and
still don’t know if I got it right.
It makes a popular and potent
archetype possible, but it’s a piece
that probably could be adequately
replaced by something else.
