Skip straight to the scores and summary for a
concise overview.
Please note that while I denote δ Delta Species
Pokémon by adding a δ to the end of their name, but
that said symbol is not actually part of their name
for gaming purposes to my understanding. For
example, a “Pokémon δ” can Evolve from or into a
non-Pokémon δ, so long as no other rules are being
broken. That is, I can Evolve Dratini δ into
a Dark Dragonair, plain Dragonair, of
the “Dragonair δ”. I cannot, however,
Evolve a Dark Dragonair into a Dragonite δ
or a Dragonair δ into a Dark Dragonite.
Also, remember that Pokémon δ are found in multiple
sets: don’t mistake a Pokémon’s status as a Pokémon
δ (the δ DELTA SPECIES printed between their
name and their HP) as its set (refer, as always, to
the symbol in the lower right hand corner, barring
certain promos).
Name:
Mewtwo δ
Set:
EX Holon Phantoms
Card#:
24/110
Type:
Lightning
Stage:
Basic
HP:
70
Weakness:
Psychic
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
(C)
Attack#1:
(C) Psychic Erase
Choose 1 of the Defending Pokémon’s attacks. That
Pokémon can’t use that attack during your opponent’s
next turn.
Attack#2:
(LLC) Swift [40]
This attack’s damage isn’t affected by Weakness,
Resistance, Poké-Power, Poké-Body, or any other
effects on that Pokémon.
Attributes:
Mewtwo is a Basic as always, which means it’s
easy enough to drop into play on a whim and quite a
few cards let you search your deck for Basics. So
as always, being a Basic is great. Mewtwo
doesn’t Evolve, nor does it have a “pre-Evolution”,
so it has to be pretty good since its all on its
own.
As a Pokémon δ, Mewtwo is a Lightning Pokémon
this time. In terms of Type Matching, this won’t
really matter: Mewtwo has one attack that
does damage, and it already ignores Weakness
(amongst other things). Still, it is nice that
Low Pressure System can add another 10 HP.
Mewtwo already has an impressive 70 HP, so
upping it isn’t vital but it is nice. It won’t make
any difference towards the Psychic Weakness, since
30 or less damage from a Psychic Pokémon still won’t
OHKO you but 40 or more will. Going into the end of
the tournament season, almost all Weaknesses are on
the same level: you have a few established decks, a
few old decks returning with tweaks, and a few
expected unknown decks that someone’s been working
on more or less in secret.
There is no Resistance on this card (a pity, as
always), so we’ll finish this section off with the
Retreat Cost: just one Energy. This is quite nice
as it allows Mewtwo to retreat most of the
time with little concern about Energy.
Abilities:
Psychic Erase is a nice attack: early game you’d
force the opponent to forget their inexpensive
attacks when they have too little Energy for the big
attacks while you set up. If your only big hitter
goes down mid-to-late game, Mewtwo can go up
and use a single Energy for the opponent to use just
those small attacks, buying time. Unfortunately,
that doesn’t work so well right now: Jirachi
from EX Deoxys doesn’t attack too often, and many
decks use Trainers alongside Pokémon for the set up.
Swift suffers because you miss out on Weakness. It
isn’t a bad attack, mind you: you pay for 40 points
of damage, and you get 40 and an overall beneficial
effect (no effects on the opponent matter). Still,
as your only big attack, it is hurt since it can’t
do more than 40. I think they could have made the
cost a bit lower (LCC) or else made the damage 50 or
so (at least being able to OHKO the average Basic).
Uses and
Combinations:
Unfortunately, Swift is an attack that isn’t good as
your inexpensive supporting attack nor is it good as
your main attack. It works best as the second of
three attacks (or second or third of four), where
you still have a low Energy attack capable of
setting up or exploiting Weakness early on, and a
big attack capable of exploiting Weakness when its
fully powered and still hitting hard besides. Too
little damage means it will rarely matter that Swift
ignores everything: who cares if you hit a fully
loaded Steelix ex for 20 damage a turn, when
each turn it’s scoring a KO. Even the 40 damage
Mewtwo does is too little to late. Ultimately,
Swift appears to be an obsolete attack. Other than
a Pokémon-ex needing to bypass Safeguard and its ilk
with prevent all effects of attacks in some manner,
damage counter placing attacks tend to do everything
Swift does, but a little better.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5 – I didn’t discuss it in Unlimited because
simply put, it isn’t worth it. If you need to use
Mewtwo, use the classic Movie Promo version
or Mewtwo ex. Maybe even Rocket’s Mewtwo
or Rocket’s Mewtwo ex. Not this. Better
Basic Lightning Pokémon as well in the forms of
Rocket’s Zapdos and possibly Zapdos ex.
Modified:
1.75/5 – I wish I could score it higher, but what
little it has going for it is nullified in the
current format. Resistance is easy to avoid with
Crystal Shard, so this is only for the “other”
effects you occasionally encounter, and there are
other cards that handle that better.
Limited:
3/5 – It can stall decently, and has a solid attack
for damage. Nothing special unless your near
mono-Lightning deck and you have to go up against
Flygon δ.
Summary
Nice art, but not a good card. It wants to be good,
but everything it does, other things can do better
(and may not be needed anyway).
-Otaku
