The arrival of Mew and its Mythical Island special set in Pokémon TCG Pocket brings with it some very disruptive cards. Clearly intended to mess with the current meta and mix things up for people relying on the same three decks in all their battles, it should make online competition far more interesting until the arrival of a full new set in January. We’ve highlighted the best of the 68 new options.
Grass decks
Grass decks get their first decent chance in the meta, with some very powerful additions among the nine new cards. There’s the Exeggcute/Exeggutor cards, for instance, which let you add two energy each turn to the former to power up the 80+ attack on the latter. The plus is another 20 attack for every energy attached to the opponent’s active Pokémon, which is an excellent counter for people playing Lapras or Blastoise, and even gives you a better chance against the Charizard ex.
Then there’s Celebi ex with a 50x attack offering a coin flip for every energy it has attached, and perhaps most powerfully, a Stage 2 Serperior that, while sitting on your bench, has an Ability called Jungle Totem that means every Grass energy attached to any of your cards counts double. So, yeah, combine that with the Exeggutor or the Celebi and crikey, you’re in business.
Fire decks
Fire decks didn’t need any help, and accordingly only have marginal new additions among the seven new arrivals. Ponyta and Rapidash have slightly better attacks, and Salandit and Salazzle are given poison attacks. Perhaps the most interesting new twist is Volcarona, which will do 80 damage to any opponent Pokémon of your choice, but will discard two of the three energy it cost to deliver.
Electric decks
Electric decks get six new cards, and offer a cute change with a new Pikachu who has an attack that does 10 damage per benched monster, like a mini-version of the Pikachu ex’s skill. It then gets a lot less cute with the new Raichu which, for three energy, does 60 damage to your opponent’s active Pokémon, but also 20 each to everything on the bench. Unleash that on a Water deck, and you’re hitting everything on the bench for 40 each, which could be devastating against those Starmie decks the kids love so much.
Psychic decks
Psychic decks, which were already the most OP in the game, are being handed a fistful of more power among the ten new cards. Mew is fairly modest, hitting for 20 and revealing the opponent’s hand, but Mew ex has a Ditto-like ability to mimic any attack of your opponent’s active card, and for three Normal energy, meaning it can be used in any deck of any stripe. Beheeyem arrives and, while dishing out only 10 damage on its own, will add another 20 for every card the opponent has benched. That’s a tidy 70 on a bloody Pikachu ex deck setup, for just one energy. The rest of the purple additions are filler.
Fighting decks
Fighting decks are, as ever, given underwhelming options amongst the eight additions, but Golem can now dish out 120 and reduce the next attack against it by 30—although that’s for four energy. However, this might also be the most disruptive deck to play, with the new Aerodactyl ex that prevents your opponent from evolving their active Pokémon just by being on the bench. That’s going to mess with a whole bunch of the meta, even if playing Fighting is still going to be boring as hell.
Dark decks
Dark decks have a nice new twist with Weezing, whose 50-damage attack will also force your opponent to coin flip to see if their following attack can work, ensuring Dark remains the game’s best griefing option. There are seven new cards, but most are filler.
Dragon decks
Dragon decks still aren’t really a thing, given there are so few cards, but for those brave enough to risk the multi-energy options with their Dragonites, there’s now a Druddigon that hits for 90 and does 20 damage when hit, but that’s literally the only new card.
Normal decks
There’s then a bunch more disruption on offer among the six new Normal type cards, including a Stage 2 Pigeot ex that is a super-powered version of the Beheeyem mentioned above—it does 80 damage, plus another 20 for each card on your enemy’s bench. So yeah, if someone’s playing Pikachu ex and only has two Pokémon on their bench, you’ll whack them for 120, enough to take out the Pikachu in one hit!
Tauros joins in with Fighting Tackle, a 40+ attack that adds on another 80 if the opponent’s Pokémon is an ex. Again, enough to crush a Pikachu, and take a serious chunk out of everything else.
Water decks
And then there’s Water decks. Best guess is that someone at The Pokémon Company is a big Squirtle fan or something, because this already enormously powerful option is getting even more so with these eight extra cards. Gyarados is getting an ex, because presumably Blastoise ex, Lapras ex, Starmie ex and Articuno ex wasn’t enough. The 180HP Stage 1 card has a 140 attack for four energy, that also discards a random energy from a random card on either side!
And that’s not even the real danger. That comes with Vaporeon, whose underwhelming card in Genetic Apex can now be dropped straight into bulk. The Mythical Island incarnation has an ability called Wash Out, which lets you move Water energy freely from your benched to active Pokémon as much as you like, whenever you like. That, combined with Misty’s ability to let you load up on as many energy as you can flip heads in a row, means anyone playing one of those five different Water ex cards is going to get loaded up stupid-fast.
Trainer cards
As with Genetic Apex, the number of Item and Trainer cards remains extremely low when compared with the physical game. There are only five new additions (and for some reason a repeated card with Old Amber, which is entirely unchanged), but they’re going to make a big difference.
Mythical Slab lets you peek at the top card of your deck, but unlike Pokédex, lets you do something with it. If it’s a Psychic Pokémon, you can add it to your hand. If it’s not, whatever it is goes to the bottom of your deck.
Trainer Blue is a hail Mary lifesaver, reducing all incoming attacks on the next turn by 10, while Trainer Leaf is the tactic-changing option to reduce the retreat cost for that turn by two. However, both are Supporters, and as such mean you won’t be able to play the other, or a Professor’s Research, Misty, Giovanni, etc.
The other new Trainer is Budding Expeditioner, who has the rather specific ability to take your Mew ex from your active spot and back into your hand. I guess that’s going to figure into people’s games?
The very strangest addition, however, is Pokémon Flute. This card puts a Basic Pokémon from your opponent’s discard pile onto their bench. This might at first read like something that could be actively aiding the enemy, but it’s actually a rather gloriously trolly option. Beyond the most obvious use—if you’re using attacks that are boosted by the number of cards on the opponent’s bench—if someone is leaving space for their vital Ralts to support their Mewtwo, or a Charmander that stubbornly won’t come out to build their Charizard, filling that slot with whichever card they sacrificed up front would be extremely funny.
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