Ty_Sylicus said:
Yeah....those birds are shamefully bad. In order to use Plasma Energy for the effect, you would need to attach 4 energies. This would take four very long turns without help from Emboar, Eelectrik, or some other form of acceleration. Then again, why bother doing all that for only 120 damage?!? There are FAR better uses for your precious Plasma E's.
This is just a theory, and it's probably not even a good one at that, but it seems that Moltres EX and Zapdos EX seem to be "middle ground" versions of already existing cards of their respective types. Allow me to elaborate.
Zekrom and Reshiram both have powerful attacks, but each of those attacks have a significant cost, a 40 damage recoil and 2 energy discard respectively, but only give up one prize when KO'd. Now look at their EX versions, Zekrom EX and Reshiram EX. Each ALSO has a powerful attack, but yet AGAIN, they also have their respective drawbacks, starting with the absurd 4-energy cost. THEN, you have the drawback effects of a 2-energy discard or a 50 damage recoil on a coin flip respectively. In essence, they're only slightly more powerful versions of their normal bretheren. Powerful, but costly and have almost no techability, instead being parts of the "main stratagy" and thus must have a centralized deck around them to function at the highest level. Many players favor the normal versions because they only give up one prize and don't need to go overboard with the EX version.
Now lets take a closer look at Zapdos EX and Moltres EX.
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Zapdos-EX - Lightning - HP170
Basic Pokemon (Team Plasma)
[L][C] Agility: 30 damage. Flip a coin. If heads, during your opponent's next turn, prevent all effects of attacks, including damage, done to this Pokemon.
[L][L][C][C] Power Voltage: 80+ damage. If this Pokemon has a Plasma Energy attached to it, this attack does 40 more damage.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 1
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Moltres-EX - Fire - HP170
Basic Pokemon (Team Plasma)
[R][C] Destruct Flame: 30 damage. Flip a coin. If heads, discard an Energy attached to the Defending Pokemon.
[R][R][C][C] Power Flame: 80+ damage. If this Pokemon has a Plasma Energy attached to it, this attack does 40 more damage.
Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retrat: 1
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Like all Plasma pokemon, they have what seems to be over-costed attacks. Keep in mind, however, that these ARE Plasma pokemon, giving them full compatability with Colress Machine. Because of the free energy attachment from Colress Machine, this essentially makes all Plasma pokemon's attack costs [C] less. So lets look at those attack costs again, revised with this knowlegde...
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Zapdos-EX - Lightning - HP170
Basic Pokemon (Team Plasma)
[L] Agility: 30 damage. Flip a coin. If heads, during your opponent's next turn, prevent all effects of attacks, including damage, done to this Pokemon.
[L][L][C] Power Voltage: 120 damage.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 1
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Moltres-EX - Fire - HP170
Basic Pokemon (Team Plasma)
[R] Destruct Flame: 30 damage. Flip a coin. If heads, discard an Energy attached to the Defending Pokemon.
[R][R][C] Power Flame: 120 damage.
Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retrat: 1
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You might be asking why Power Voltage and Power Flame are now doing 120 damage. Remember that you attached a Plasma Energy to them with Colress Machine. With this in mind, you already meet the requirements to do the extra 40 damage, so you can now do 120 instead of the base 80.
Also note the first attack on each card. It is now completely possible to immediately use Agility or Destruct Flame on your first turn.
Turn-1 Zapdos EX Agility - This is actually quite decent early game, especially when you throw in a PlusPower. Remember the ever-so-popular Emolga? Guess what its weakness is? With a PlusPower, Agility will one-shot it. Garchomp/Altaria, ZekEels, and Empoleon are all known for running the little electric squirrel, so taking it out turn-1, especially if you're going first, can be absolutely devastating (don't forget that you could donk, too). You've just taken a prize card and now your opponent must find an alternate means of setting up. Other uses include one-shotting Piplups and Swablus or, with a PlusPower, taking out Tynamos or other 40 HP pokemon. You can also drag Gibles or other 60 HP pokemon into range of a KO next turn, which is bad for them if they can't evolve yet.
Turn 1 Moltres EX Destruct Flame - With the expected rise in anti-EX metal decks (namely Colabion/Klinklang), Destruct Flame can put some early game pressure on metal pokemon like Klink. A Pluspower would enable a KO. Hitting a Colabion (normal) also puts it into range of a KO on the following turn. Cobalion EX can work both ways. You can hit them for 60, but they can come right back and hit you for 30 AND discard your precious Plasma energy, setting you back a turn abnd making you reconsider your approach. Beyond the type advantage against metal pokemon, Destruct Flame shares uses with Zapdos EX's Agility. You can still OHKO Swablus and Tynamos with a PlusPower or get early damage on Gibles, etc. Nothing else new here.
Of course, turn-1 attacks alone won't win games. You need something else to help you with the big boys once they get around your little annoying turn-1 30 damage attacks, so lets move on to their second attacks.
Provided that you still have that Plasma energy attached, you're just doing a vanilla 120 with no drawback effects. No energy discards. No damage recoil. With a PlusPower, you can one-shot the ever-so-popular Terrakions (normal), but unfortunately, there's not much else it can one-shot. On the upside, it CAN 2HKO all known EX pokemon, regardless of Evolites (though worth noting that an Evolited Groudon EX will actually survive 2 attacks from Zapdos EX due to resistance).
As far as weaknesses go, Zapdos EX is in a weird position where, as a lightning pokemon, it benefits from NOT being weighed down by a fighting weakness, yet is cursed by lightning weakness, its own type. This can be problematic versus Zekeels, which still promises to remain a popular deck in its own right. Being a Plasma pokemon with convinient access to Plasma Energy, though, there is a way around this problem in the form of Plasma Frigate, effectiovely cancelling the weakness altogether.
Moltres EX's weakness is more typical as a fire type and will be problematic with the rise of Blastoise/Keldeo EX decks. Like Zapdos EX, though, it can also find sanctuary from this threat with Plasma Energy + Plasma Frigate.
Both birds sport a fighting resistance. This allows them to combat Terrakions without much fear of a Retaliate KO happening. A 1 retreat cost is also a somewhat rare sight on an EX pokemon with more than 120 HP. Raikou EX and Tornadus EX are the only known EX pokemon who seem to have such a combination. This allows Skyarrow Bridge to give them free retreat. Unlight Raikou EX and Tornadus EX, though, these birds will have to decide between Skyarrow Bridge and Plasma Frigate, the latter probably winning out.
At the end of the road, however, it comes down to whether or not its worth a spot in your deck. Of this, I can't really decide on yet. Yes, they come with some handy niches that might've been overlooked, but they also come with some glaring weaknesses that could be the end of them. The Plasma Energy + Plasma Frigate combo can so very easily be broken apart. If the opponent plays a new Stadium OR uses an Enhanced Hammer, the entire combo falls apart. In addition, Enchanced Hammer or other Special Energy discard effects (see Garchomp's Mach Cut attack) will strain your deck's resources over time.
Zapdos EX and Moltres EX seem to trade the power which most EXes are known for in exchange for speed and extra utility. Their only true drawback is the reliance on Colress Machine and Plasma Energy. The trouble they face is finding a place in a deck that will embrace this drawback. The "middle ground" which I referred to at the beginning of this post refers to how Zapdos EX and Moltres EX stand between the normal and EX versions of Zekrom and Reshiram. They have the power of the normal versions of Zekrom and Reshiram while having the utility of having a "lesser" drawback (using Plasma Energy and Colress Machine in place of damage recoil or energy discards, similiar to how the drawbacks of Reshiram EX and Zekrom EX were aligned to work more closely with their deck's respective stratagies). The speed that this "drawback" brings gives the EX birds more utility early game, as well, a trend becoming more and more common with newly release EX pokemon.
In the face of a rapidly changing format, it is difficult for me to justify or unjustify the use of these two birds. I wouldn't dismiss them as downright terrible as a lot of players are right now. That said, in an era where power creep is rampant, they seem to be quite overshadowed by the more broken cards that have been released (see Articuno EX or Lugia EX). For the time being, I don't believe that it would be wise to cast my judgement yet. Though admittingly, it is a bit hard to justify a specific engine to make a certain card work, but hey, it worked with SP pokemon. For all we know, there might be other Plasma mechanics waiting for us later that will make or break these cards. Only time will tell.
The only thing I'll say is that, on paper, the EX birds don't SUCK, but they're not GOOD, either. Maybe someone super-dedicated can find the right niche for them.
Great Arceus, that took forever to type....
