Another Monday,
another rushed review.
I apologize to
those who appreciate my normal in depth nature, but as usually I find I have
much to talk about and little time to talk about it in.
The Magneton
reprinted in EX Power Keepers came to my attention in its first iteration.
Locally it was a very familiar site as a semi-regular player in Iowa built a
deck around Groudon ex from EX Hidden Legends. Overshadowed by decks like
BAR, this was a refreshing deck: strong but without feeling unfair. Groudon
ex would attack with Crushing Mantle, discarding oodles of Energy for a OHKO.
Each turn, Magneton would fetch the Energy back so it could do it again. As
it was a local deck that we saw every tournament for the length of the
combo’s legality. So strong is the memory I am drawing a blank as to the
actual combo the “official” Magneton decks were built around.
Magneton’s
attributes are forgettable, especially by modern standards, except for its
-30 Resistance to Metal Pokémon (which is quite nice).
So Magneton’s
Poké-Power is pretty handy if you have an effect that requires discard
fodder. Quite a few decks run EX Power Keepers Delcatty with Energy Draw,
and the two are a natural combo: discard fodder (or often another Basic
Energy card) to constantly get Energy from the discard to then fuel
Delcatty’s drawing.
Magneton’s Poké-Power
isn’t its only strong feature: its Magnetic Force attack can be very
damaging with a good set up, often involving other Pokémon using Double
Rainbow Energy (for +20 to its damage without the -10 drawback affecting
Magneton), Scramble Energy and sometimes even Boost Energy.
Right now, its
best Modified use is probably in decks like my Delgatron, more commonly
called Hurricane. My name is a lame amalgam of the names of the key Pokémon
used (Delcatty, Feraligatr, and Magneton), and I only use it because it
sounds vaguely Cybertronian. Yes I am weird. Hurricane decks (as they are
more commonly called) use the trio to regularly cycle Energy for big damage:
Delcatty discards an Energy and hopefully draws it to the hand, while the
Mysterious Treasures version of Feraligatr uses its Cyclone attack to throw
Energy from the hand back into the deck for 20 damage per Energy card.
Magneton is important because without it, you’d have to constantly use
Trainers to get back the discarded Energy from Delcatty. At least a 1-1 and
preferably a 2-2 line is a must for Hurricane decks, as like their namesake
storm, without fuel they dry up and die. While one could try and just use
Delcatty ex to throw all the Energy back into the deck with its Upstream
attack, that’s just not thinking: you’ll have a small Pokémon ex probably
getting KO’d and ending the game before you can take advantage of the
rejuvenation, plus Magneton instantly feeds the Energy to Delcatty.
Well, this review
is longer than I expected, but fairly rambling. I’ve been running the
Hurricane type of deck for just a few weeks, and most of my matches with it
were at Battle Roads or the side event of our Secret Wonders Pre-Release.
Still, I am convinced it is a great deck and that really boosts Magneton’s
score. So impressed am I that I am honestly wondering if a 1-1 or 2-2 line
of Magneton belongs beside most Delcatty…
Ratings
Unlimited: 1/5
Modified: 3.65/5
Limited: 4/5
