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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Top 5 New Legendary Treasure Cards

#3 - Meloetta EX  

- Legendary Treasures

Date Reviewed:
Nov 6, 2013

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 3.00
Limited: 2.40

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale.
1 being the worst. 
3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating.

Back to the main COTD Page

Baby Mario
2010 UK National
Seniors
Champion

#3 Meloetta EX 

Third place in our top 5 countdown is occupied by this really strange card. Strange because you don’t attack with it, or use it for an Ability (it doesn’t even have one). Instead, you use Meloetta EX for the simple fact that it has ‘Round’ printed on it as an attack name. 

Round is an attack that has appeared on a few cards in the Black and White era (Seismitoad, Wigglytuff) and it works by doing X amount of damage times the number of Pokémon with Round that you have in play. The current leader in terms of damage output is Exploud PLS which does 50x for four Energy of any Type, and I think you can see where this is going . . . load up the bench with Meloetta EX and let Exploud hit for more than enough damage to OHKO absolutely anything. 

Meloetta EX does solve a couple of problems that Round decks have struggled with in the past: being a Basic, she is a lot easier to get in play than any other Round Pokémon, which were Stage 1 at best, and she also takes up less room in the deck than an Evolution line would which leaves more room for consistency and draw cards. On the other hand she introduces one big new problem: Meloetta is an EX Pokémon with very low 110 HP and is easily KO’d herself. This isn’t so much of a problem with the errata to Pokémon Catcher as she will be less vulnerable on the Bench, however if she is ever forced active via Escape Rope or following a KO, she is going to hand the opponent an easy two Prizes and that’s not good. 

What Meloetta EX does is elevate Round decks from being for fun and casual play only to being semi-competitive. They still have speed issues (Exploud is a Stage 2 with a pricey attack) and are somewhat awkward to use, but if everything sets up smoothly they can be very difficult to stop. We will probably be seeing a few more of them because of Meloetta EX. 

Rating 

Modified: 3 (decent boost for a fringe deck)

Limited: 1.75 (can stall a bit with Brilliant Voice, but not worth giving up half your Prizes for)


Otaku

The new set, BW: Legendary Treasures, is upon us so it is time for a new Top 10 list!  Last time we expanded to a Top 12 because of scheduling: this time the nature of the set itself demands we “adjust” our usual practice.  When we select cards for a Top 10, we don’t normally consider “reprints”… but that would exclude most of Legendary Treasures.

 

With the set being mostly reprints, the new rules about to go into on November 8th, and the still relatively recent rotation we’ll be doing two Top 5 lists: the Top 5 Promising Picks of Legendary Treasures followed by the Top 5 Reprints of Legendary Treasures!  The review will be based on the format post rules change.

 

Today we are looking at Meloetta EX, who shows up in “Aria Forme”.  Besides being a part of the Radiant Collection subset contained with BW: Legendary Treasures and one of the three new Pokémon-EX in this set, Meloetta EX doesn’t have a lot going for it.  It is a Basic Pokémon, and that is still great.  Being a Psychic-Type isn’t especially useful right now. 

 

Being a Pokémon-EX is technically a draw back as it makes her worth two cards and there are multiple counter-cards available to use against them, plus a few useful cards that won’t work for Pokémon-EX.  Being a Pokémon-EX usually justifies violating template patterns (like HP scores) but  Meloetta EX doesn’t break the rules for HP; it has more HP than non-Pokémon-EX Meloetta, but 110 HP isn’t setting any records otherwise and is within OHKO parameters for most decks (though not “easy” OHKO range). 

 

No Weakness is the only “good” Weakness but some are less damaging than others.  The benefit of being Psychic Weak is that many Psychic-Type Pokémon are themselves Psychic Weak; creating something of a stalemate.  Not all are, however, and with 110 HP anything that can hit for 60 can score a OHKO.  Mewtwo EX is making a slight comeback and even if it wasn’t, if Meloetta EX did prove useful, Mewtwo EX would be an obvious counter.

 

The lack of Resistance isn’t devastating, because Resistance isn’t an especially strong mechanic (though it is nice to have).  It does have a low, single Energy Retreat Cost which one something hardier would be great, but here is just “good”; odds are if Meloetta EX is up front, it won’t survive being attacked.

 

Meloetta EX does bring two attacks; the first requires (CC) and hits for 20 points of damage with a 50/50 chance of either inflicting either Confusion or Sleep on the Defending Pokémon.  This isn’t bad, but it doesn’t justify being a Pokémon-EX.  Round is overpriced: (PPP) for 30 points of damage times the number of Pokémon you have in play with “Round”.  That 30 to 180 range means the attack is great when every Pokémon on your Bench has “Round”, good when you have three or four backing up Meloetta, adequate if you have at least two others, and bad with less.

 

Meeting a cost of (PPP) is not easy, so why is this card on the list?  Because this is the first Basic Pokémon with “Round” and the rules change means you can keep a few Meloetta EX on your Bench in relative safety while also having time to Evolve something else that has “Round” with a better cost and return.  There are actually four other Pokémon to pick from, so let us take a look at them.

 

Wigglytuff (BW: Next Destinies 79/99) is a 90 HP, Stage 1 Colorless Pokémon with Fighting Weakness, no Resistance, a Retreat Cost of two and an overpriced second attack in addition to accessing “Round” for (CC) that does 20 per “Round”.  I would skip this one.  Exploud (BW: Plasma Storm 107/135) means using a Stage 2 Colorless Pokémon, but gives a better 140 HP.  It has a massive Retreat Cost of 4 and the same problematic Fighting Weakness and lack of Resistance.  You also need (CCCC) to access “Round”, but it does 50 per for a range of 50 to 300 points of damage!  While Exploud lacks an inexpensive attack or useful Ability, for (CCC) (slightly less at least) you can reveal your opponent’s hand and discard all Items you find there, which could legitimately prove useful.

 

The remaining two Pokémon are part of the same Evolutionary line: Palpitoad (BW: Noble Victories 23/101; BW: Legendary Treasures 43/113) has an overpriced “Round” for (CCC) that does 20 per for a range of 20 to 120, which means that like Meloetta EX itself it should be used only to up the damage: a Stage 1 Water-Type Pokémon with 80 HP, Grass Weakness, no Resistance, Retreat Cost of two, and a so-so first attack isn’t something to rely on.  Seismitoad (BW: Noble Victories 24/101; BW: Legendary Treasures 42/113) is a Stage 2 Water-Type Pokémon with 140 HP, Grass Weakness, no Resistance, and Retreat Cost of three.  Round requires just (CC) on Seismitoad and does 30 per, giving a range of 30 to 180.  Its second attack is unfortunately overpriced and vanilla; not even a big damage number.

 

So Seismitoad or Exploud would be the best dance partners, and with the first turn rule change, nerfing of Pokémon Catcher, and access to Meloetta EX, either might finally be able to hang with the more established decks.  I wouldn’t expect Round decks to dominate tournaments, but Seismitoad and Exploud can now both more easily power-up.  Even the card pool has shifted in their favor, in that Silver Bangle can replace (or half replace) a Benched “Round” Pokémon and Silver Mirror can slow down opposing Team Plasma decks.  I like Exploud better, but as I have no good ideas for powering it up quickly, Seismitoad is probably the best choice.

 

In Limited play, Meloetta EX has neither the HP nor the damage output to pull of a +39 deck.  You might consider running it in most other decks, though.  110 HP will last a few turns here, especially if the coin flips go your way as you’ll be using the first attack almost exclusively (which also means not worrying about specific Energy types).  At the same time, two Prizes is half of your starting amount and your opponent will probably just build something on your Bench.  So while you should consider Meloetta EX, you probably shouldn’t run it.  Unlimited fares even worse; if you aren’t trying for a First Turn Win strategy (which the new rules don’t completely eliminate), the other Round Pokémon also all improve as much or more than Meloetta EX.

 

Ratings

 

Unlimited: 1/5

 

Modified: 3/5

 

Limited: 3/5

 

Summary

Meloetta EX doesn’t score high despite being a somewhat important release; it exists to help out “Round” decks as a Bench-sitter, a job it does adequately.  It isn’t a “good” Bench-sitter (imagine if it had an Ability) and is bad back-up attacker, so scoring it any higher would be as misleading as scoring it lower (and ignoring what it does for an entire deck).

 

Meloetta EX placed in the number two slot of my personal list.  I placed it so far about Excadrill EX because, despite Excadrill EX being better in everything but the niche use of Meloetta EX, Meloetta EX strikes me as having a better chance of succeeding, though only by a narrow margin.


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