Is The Competitive Meta Basically EX vs Non-EX Decks?

TheSandTrap

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hello, I'm a new Pokemon player who has been playing for about three weeks now. I like to get very competitive in card games and have been playing a lot online. After many games, I wanted to know if my initial impression is correct: is the competitive meta basically EX Pokemon vs Non-EX Pokemon decks?

More specifically, it feels like it's decks that can go Ultra Ball --> Hoopa --> 2 EX Pokemon that are the basis of the deck + 1 Shaymin, and decks that can't. This series of plays is so easy and yet it seems like it is the best play any deck can do in the game right now (plus, consider the Sycamores, Max Elixers, Fighting Fury Belt/Float Stone, etc.). It makes me feel like it's so powerful that every competitive player has to use an EX-based deck.

I feel regret buying a Greninja Break deck as my first deck and then seeing many decks going off attacking on their first turn with a full board and full hand just off of one Ultra Ball. Am I wrong about this? What am I not seeing?
 
Hello, I'm a new Pokemon player who has been playing for about three weeks now. I like to get very competitive in card games and have been playing a lot online. After many games, I wanted to know if my initial impression is correct: is the competitive meta basically EX Pokemon vs Non-EX Pokemon decks?

More specifically, it feels like it's decks that can go Ultra Ball --> Hoopa --> 2 EX Pokemon that are the basis of the deck + 1 Shaymin, and decks that can't. This series of plays is so easy and yet it seems like it is the best play any deck can do in the game right now (plus, consider the Sycamores, Max Elixers, Fighting Fury Belt/Float Stone, etc.). It makes me feel like it's so powerful that every competitive player has to use an EX-based deck.

I feel regret buying a Greninja Break deck as my first deck and then seeing many decks going off attacking on their first turn with a full board and full hand just off of one Ultra Ball. Am I wrong about this? What am I not seeing?
I can understand how you might feel with so many players taking a "cookie-cutter approach" to decks and game openings. The opening moves you've seen are quite common/popular to facilitate a early, fast setup across many decks, but not all decks. Case in point, I only use 1 Shaymin EX in all my decks and no Hoopa EX at all. On the other hand, good, solid, proven techniques are worth repeating, right? Despite the repetitive openings, I believe the game has now arrived at a more "fun" stage with this new season. Also, some online game websites have not been completely updated with the new Standard format cards and mechanics; so, you may still see a lot of last season's game plays.

Going into this new Standard format season, the decks I'm seeing and/or hearing about the most generally involves one of the following decks:

Darkrai EX - Garbodor
Darkrai EX - Yveltal EX
Darkrai EX variants
Greninja (player running this deck took 2nd place at the recent World tournament)
Mega Alakazam EX
Mega Mewtwo EX - Garbodor
Mega Rayquaza EX
Mega Sceptile EX
Mega Scizor EX
Primal Groudon EX - Carbink
Primal Kyogre EX - Articuno - Glaceon EX - Manaphy EX - Palkia EX - Regice (aka Water Box)
Volcanion EX
Xerneas variants
Zygarde EX - Carbink
Although the above deck list is dominated by EX Pokémon, there are still a few decks in which there may be only a few EX Pokémon featured or used at all. In addition, most of the EX decks above utilize some non-EX Pokémon in key roles too. Still, the EX Pokémon, as intended, are usually the most "powerful" and attract lots of players.
 
The Ultra Ball into Hoopa play is so common because it's incredibly good. It maximizes your output for a minimum number of resources. It also makes Mega-based decks a lot more consistent. The fact that Hoopa can pull out Shaymin to replenish your hand is also incredible and just speaks volumes as to how important Hoopa-EX is to EX-based decks. It's possible to run them without him, but he fills your board up so quickly that it's almost criminal not to do that.

On the other hand, there are cards out there that can take full advantage of this. Zoroark is a one-prize attacker hits these type of decks for huge damage. Fright Night Yveltal disables Float Stones so he can lock Hoopa up front, forcing his owner to blow two Energy retreating or watch as Yveltal spears himself four prizes.

Greninja in particular isn't looking to be a strong play right now, but that's not the fault of any Pokemon-EX.
 
Hello, I'm a new Pokemon player who has been playing for about three weeks now. I like to get very competitive in card games and have been playing a lot online. After many games, I wanted to know if my initial impression is correct: is the competitive meta basically EX Pokemon vs Non-EX Pokemon decks?

More specifically, it feels like it's decks that can go Ultra Ball --> Hoopa --> 2 EX Pokemon that are the basis of the deck + 1 Shaymin, and decks that can't. This series of plays is so easy and yet it seems like it is the best play any deck can do in the game right now (plus, consider the Sycamores, Max Elixers, Fighting Fury Belt/Float Stone, etc.). It makes me feel like it's so powerful that every competitive player has to use an EX-based deck.

I feel regret buying a Greninja Break deck as my first deck and then seeing many decks going off attacking on their first turn with a full board and full hand just off of one Ultra Ball. Am I wrong about this? What am I not seeing?

Hello!

Something useful when asking a question is to be careful not to make it leading. Yeah, I already sound like a condescending snob but its a mistake. Frequently! ^^' Either I don't recognize my bias or I want to demonstrate that "Yeah, I know what I'm talking about and I'm just asking to make sure!".

So... few decks lack Pokémon-EX entirely, but because giving up one Prize where your opponent is giving up two is naturally better, sometimes it will feel that way. The true metagame is (or will be once we figure it out):

...

(wait for it)

Strongest versus strongest!

If that sounds stupid, let me explain; a lot of players (new and old alike) have a bad habit of playing the scapegoat card, and this isn't even Yu-Gi-Oh! Lame joke aside, what I mean is that instead of identifying real problems, they will end up blaming something that isn't really causing the problem, just benefitting from it. In this case, while some of the most powerful cards are Pokémon-EX, a lot of Pokémon-EX aren't that good. Instead, the "competitive card pool" or metagame is composed of the best of everything else. It isn't always the same ratio of the various ways you can classify cards, but it means the top 10-30% of the card pool is what you'll be seeing the most. You'll be seeing the strongest Pokémon-EX cards, the strongest non-Pokémon-EX, the strongest Basics, the strongest Stage 1 cards, the strongest Stage 2 cards, the strongest BREAK Evolutions, the strongest Dual Types, the strongest Trainers, the strongest Special Energy cards...

...basically the only thing I can think of where the strongest of it isn't worth considering would be Restored Pokémon. I mean specifically that Stage, so not including Pokémon which Evolve from Restored Pokémon. Their best so far hasn't managed to be good enough.

Edit: Also "strongest" doesn't just mean lots of HP or high damage output. Call it what you will, but sometimes it involves hitting hard, sometimes it involves hitting strategically, usually it involves hitting fast, sometimes for a lot of Energy and sometimes for very little, etc.
 
Kabutops, Omastar, and Aerodactyl are all really good. If there was a better way to get them into play, they would be tier two at worst.
 
Kabutops, Omastar, and Aerodactyl are all really good. If there was a better way to get them into play, they would be tier two at worst.

Was this in response to what I said?

...basically the only thing I can think of where the strongest of it isn't worth considering would be Restored Pokémon. I mean specifically that Stage, so not including Pokémon which Evolve from Restored Pokémon. Their best so far hasn't managed to be good enough.

Kabutops and Omastar are not Restored Pokémon, but Stage 1 Pokémon which Evolve from a Restored Pokémon, hence me mentioning I wasn't counting such cards. You also could put them into play via Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick (Kabutops) or Archie's Ace in the Hole (Omastar). Archeops (BW: Noble Victories 67/101; BW: Dark Explorers 110/108) already has made good, long after its original release thanks to Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick. Aerodactyl though I had hoped would finally be a Restored Pokémon that made good, but yeah, the current "Fossil" Pokémon mechanic is just so nerfing.
 
Back
Top