Shiinotic – Extradimensional Crisis
Date Reviewed: June 2, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Welcome to the Top 5 Cards of Extradimensional Crisis (A3a)! While there are 103 cards in this expansion, only 69 are new, unique cards. Besides my own initial impressions, I am also referencing the earliest results (found on LimitlessTCG), as well as the early coverage found over on Pokémon Zone. Which is probably a good thing, because I’d dismissed fifth place as bait. This review will be even more speculative than normal; I’ve never even encountered this deck, let alone run it.
The 5th Best Card Of Extradimensional Crisis Is Shiinotic (A3a 027)! It is a Psychic-Type, Stage 1 Pokémon that evolves from Morelull. Shiinotic has 90 HP, (M) Weakness, a (C)(C) Retreat Cost, an Ability, and an attack. “Illuminate” is the Ability, and it says that, once per turn, you can add a random Pokémon from your deck to your hand. The attack is “Gentle Slap”, priced at (C)(C) and doing 40 damage. Shiinotic is currently only available as a ♦♦♦ rare.
Shiinotic being a (P) Type likely won’t matter much. There are (P) Weak Pokémon with HP scores low enough for that +20 to matter, and there’s a decent amount of (P) support1. None of it seems especially relevant to the current metagame, though it’s too early to rule it out completely. As a Stage 1, Shiinotic isn’t as fast or easy to run as a Basic, but it’s not overly demanding, either. I’ll address it’s Basic Stage, Morelull, later in the review, along with some other Shiinotic-related cards.
90 HP is pretty typical for Stage 1 Pokémon. It’s not super fragile, but it’s a probable OHKO for most main attackers. (M) Weakness isn’t likely to matter: Skarmory (A2 111; P-A 039) misses the OHKO, while Solgaleo ex (A3 122, 189, 207, 239) scores it before Weakness. The Retreat Cost of (C)(C) is decent, though on a Bench-sitter with just 90 HP, it feels high. After all, how often will you have Energy you can spare to attach to something not mean to attack or even be Active?
There’s very little draw and search in Pocket, and even fewer such cards actually worth running. Illuminate lets you add a random Pokémon to your hand, from your deck, once per turn per instance of it you have in play. I actually did not think it was worth running a Stage 1 for this Ability. It’s a minimum of two cards, two turns, and a Bench spot to maybe get the Pokémon you want. From your 20 card deck that is several cards lighter by the time you get to use Illuminate.
Gentle Slap is not a good attack, but it doesn’t need to be. Shiinotic is being run for its Ability, and that Ability does not care about Pokémon Type Thus, having an attack that only requires (C) Energy is appreciated. Two Energy is a bit much to ask of something you don’t want Active and attacking anyway, and 40 damage for two Energy is a poor return… but again, that’s if we judge Gentle Slap while ignoring the card has a useful Ability.
There’s more cards related to Shiinotic than you might expect: Morelull (A1a 007), Morelull (A3 016, 157), Morelull (A3a 026), Shiinotic (A1a 008), Shiinotic (A3 017), and Mallow (A3 154, 196). Mallow is a Supporter that lets you remove all damage from one of your Pokémon named “Shiinotic” or “Tsareena”. I won’t delve into Tsareena (A3 020, 158), even though Mallow ties them all together. It’d be different if I saw a bunch of successful Tsareena decks running Shiinotic…
All three Morelull are Basic Pokémon with one attack and a (C) Retreat Cost. Morelull (A1a 007) and Morelull (A3 016, 157) are (G) Types with 60 HP and (R) Weakness. Morelull (A1a 007) can use “Ram” for (G) to do 20 damage, while Morelull (A3 016, 157) has “Stampede” for (C), doing 10 damage. Morelull (A3a 026) is a (P) Type with just 50 HP, (M) Weakness, and the attack “Hook”. Priced at (P), Hook does 20 damage.
Shiinotic (A1a 008) and Shiinotic (A3 017) are (G) Type, Stage 1 Pokémon with (R) Weakness, (C)(C) Retreat Costs, and one attack. Shiinotic (A1a 008) has 90 HP, and for (G)(G) it can use “Flickering Spores” to do 50 damage to the opponent’s Active, and leave it Asleep. Shiinotic (A3 017) has 100 HP, and for (G)(C) it can use “Flickering Light” to do 50 damage and flip a coin. “Tails” means you just do the 50 damage, while “heads” means you do the damage and the Defending Pokémon can’t attack during your opponent’s next turn.
Yeah, none of these are doing Shiinotic any favors. It could be worse: a rival Shiinotic crowding out today’s version, or if we had even worse options for Morelull. Speaking of Morelull, the lists I checked ran either Morelull (A3 016, 157) or Morelull (A3a 026). I’d go with the former, or Morelull (A1a 007) if the deck runs on (G) Energy. Maybe if (R) Weakness was significantly riskier than (M) Weakness, Morelull (A3a 026) would make sense.
So what is using Shiinotic and doing well? Solgaleo ex, apparently. Take this with a huge grain of salt, since we’re not even a week into the Extradimensional Crisis metagame. At the time I’m writing this review, LimitlessTCG’s results shows Solgaleo ex/Shiinotic decks having a 66 Count, which is good for a 2.58% Share, and with a 56.12% Win Rate. As opposed to Solgaleo ex/Skarmory, who has a 25 Count, 0.98% Share, and 41.24% Win Rate.
I did not expect this. I still don’t understand it, either, but I can hazard a guess. The goal of Solgaleo ex decks is to prep Solgaleo ex (duh). As it only needs (M)(M) to attack, you can use your first two Energy attachments and a Rare Candy (A3 144) to ready it relatively quickly. Solgaleo ex’s “Rising Road” Ability even ensures you can promote it to the Active position.
Previously, this was done behind a Skarmory. If it was worthwhile, you could spare an Energy and a Tool so that Skarmory could attack Turn 2 or 3. If not, you’d let Skarmory take the hits, maybe still equipping it with Poison Barb (A3 146) or Rocky Helmet (A2 148). If you got stuck with Cosmog (A3 085, 171; P-A 067) Active, you’d attach to it – it’ll need the Energy anyway if it evolves into Solgaleo ex – and use Cosmog’s attack, which lets you move it to your Bench.
What about Shiinotic? I’m guessing that attacking with Skarmory isn’t generating that much of an advantage. While Shiinotic is a Stage 1 and Skarmory is a Basic, for Skarmory to attack effectively it needs a Tool attached. Thus, you can drop two Skarmory and two Tools to make room for two Morelull and two Shiinotic. Morelull is not a good meatshield, nor is Shiinotic… but they’re good enough to not only buy time for a ready Solgaleo ex to hit the field, but Shiinotic’s Illuminate helps to setup Solgaleo ex.
Rating: 3/5
It’s still early enough that Shiinotic decks could become the norm when it comes to running Evolution-focused decks. Given my initial dismissal of the card, and the current results, I’m thinking it only applies to certain Stage 2 Pokémon, and Solgaleo ex might be the only one worth it at this time. I saw more than one credible player sing Shiinotic’s praises before we actually were able to run it, so I’ll go with a hopeful three-out-of-five. Maybe I’ll be forced to eat my words, and it’ll explode in usage later?
1Comfey (A3 080, 168), Gardevoir (A1 132), Lunala ex (A3 087, 186, 204, 238), and Mythical Slab (A1a 065).
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