Introduction
Magnezone is an important metagame card that has rose from relative obscurity. Starting from Magnegatr, Magnezone has seen itself in two tier 1 decks (Magneboar early BW era, and Megazone in the post Canadian Nationals), has countless potential partners, and even won it all in 2011 Worlds. Having one of the best built in draws of the game and a theoretically unlimited damage cap, this pokemon has a lot going for it and is one of the few stage 2s still considered worth playing in the Pokemon Catcher meta.
Breaking down the card, Magnezone Prime has 140 HP, comfortably above the magic 120, although not so impressive when the EX pokemon come out, being just within their KO range. Magnezone is one of, if not th only pokemon in the history of the trading card game, that fills both the role of draw power and attack, and fulfills both roles exceptionally well. Magnetic Draw is, without a doubt, the strongest pokemon based draw in the modified format, only slightly weaker than the one drop Uxie from last format. The attack also holds great potential, as it does 50 damage for energy energy thrown into the lost zone. The damage is good but the attack is costly, and it can be difficult to thin your hand out enough to draw the most out of Magnetic Draw, rendering the power worthless. However, this format has a lot of cards that seem custom tailored for Magnezone to use, either for it's pokemon power, or its devastating attack.
Combo Pairings
Magnezone has a peerless number of potential combinations in the current format, many which have made their way to Tier 1 decks and many which are being hyped with the recent NV release. There are enough combinations that I will probably miss a couple, but the key ones you're most likely to see are these:
(Attack Based Combos)
Feraligatr Prime The original partner of Magnezone Prime. The concept of the deck was to drop multiple energy to fuel Lost Burn, while simultaneously emptying the hand of said energy, allowing Magnezone get more out of Magnetic Draw, either getting more energy or more cards in order to set up with. Magnegatr was originally a tier 2 deck that could tangle with SPs when online. In the current format, this deck is considered vastly inferior to Magneboar, as it has less partners than the Fire Pig can bring (Reshiram, RDL), and cannot Rain Dance onto Magnezone itself. This deck could have some interesting options with Kyurem and Jirachi techs. Kyurem could be used as an early attacker to spread damage, Jirachi to devolve, and Magnezone to hit hard and allow greater abuse of N and Judge plays. Rainbow energy would be a must in my opinion, since running three types of energy is bound to get clunky very quickly. This does run the risk of putting Magnezone within one pluspower of the KO, however. Jirachi could be foregone for straight Magnegatr/Kyurem, where Kyurem could quickly put pokemon in the two energy KO range, which is already worth consideration. It also gives Kyurem a late game which it could really use.
Emboar Magneboar, the 2011 Masters Worlds winning deck. Like Magnegatr, it uses Emboar to accelerate energy and empty the hand for Magnetic Draw. One thing that makes Emboar infinitely better, however, is the ability to use its power on any pokemon, unlike Feraligatr which could only Rain Dance onto water pokemon. In other words, Emboar can be used to turn a two drop attack on Magnezone into a one drop attack, and can drop fire energy onto multiple Magnezones at once, priming each of them for the lightning energy drop. This is nice because now the deck doesn't have to drop all its energy onto one or two pokemon, meaning energy can be dropped with relative impunity, getting more out of Magnetic Draw. It also has the option of using Reshiram for the early game, RDL for the late game, and BadBoar as a heavy hitter that doesn't throw energy into the Lost Zone. The deck is very soft to Pokemon Catcher, however.
Pachirisu This is a light energy acceleration engine most commonly found in Megazone (as far as Magnezone variants are concerned). Dropping two energy allows Magnezone to put two extra energy in the lost zone in a pinch for a quick 100 damage. It also empties three cards from the hand for Magnetic Draw, is fairly expendable if dragged out with Pokemon Catcher, and is a Basic, so its power can be used whenever needed. On the downside, Pachirisu's Self Generation can only be used once, needing a SSU or a Seeker to reuse. Getting two energy and Pachirisu at the same time can be moderately difficult, and more importantly, this card does nothing to accelerate Magnezone's own energy drops, meaning Lost Burn still needs two turns in order to be used unless Pachirisu is working with Shaymin to move the energy to Magnezone. This has greater speed, but at the cost of bench space. If Pachirisu can't be scooped up, it takes of a space on the bench until killed and is ultimately a liability and a cheap prize after Self Generation is used. It is a good card and is worth using, but use it wisely.
Floatzel Another light energy accelerator. This pokemon allows you to attach one extra water energy to it per turn, making Floatzel a lot more useful once it is dropped. This power stacks, meaning that energy can be dropped with startling speed. However, like Pachirisu and Feraligatr, it cannot put energy onto Magnezone. It's weakness is also really bad, making it a cheap prize to other Magnezones and Zekrom, preventing it from seeing more use. Being a stage one that is more reusable than Pachirisu, but has less instant power than any of the previous energy accelerators, it is ultimately the middle ground tech that really didn't catch on in the current meta. Low HP, bad weakness, needing the energy in the hand, and only dropping one energy per Floatzel were all pretty important drawbacks, and didn't warrant the commitment to multiple Floatzels.
Eelektrik A new and relatively popular light energy accelerator, this pokemon attaches one additional energy per Eelektrik per turn, just like Floatzel. So what makes this one more popular? It can attach from the discard to any benched pokemon. This is good for a lot of reasons. The first is that it can attach directly to Magnezone, allowing it to Lost Burn sooner. The second advantage is that it pairs seamlessly with some of the best cards in the format: Sage's Training and Junk Arm, as they can be used to discard lightning energy. The synergy with Junk Arm is perfect for a Magnezone/Eelektrik deck as Junk Arm can be used to empty the hand of energy for Magnetic Draw, and then use that energy in the discard for energy acceleration, much in the spirit of Magneboar and Magnegatr, only with a stage one. Thundurus can be used as an early attacker to further aid with the energy acceleration while putting damage on the board and possibly taking quick KOs. Lastly, attaching from the discard gives Magnezone better recovery. If an active Magnezone/Thundurus/Zekrom is knocked out, Eelektrik can immediately get that energy back to fuel up followup attackers or Lost Burn. Not being able to attach to the active is a pain, but a free retreater or manual attachment to the active can quickly setup a followup attack, keeping the pressure going where other Magnezone variants may be slowed down by a sudden loss of the active attacker. Being able to accelerate lightning energy with regularity is also nice, as now there is little risk of not being able to satisfy the energy cost to attack (as opposed to having a fist full of fire/water energy, but no lightning).
Jirachi Another possible tech most commonly associated with Megazone. This pokemon uses Stardust Song to get psychic energy out of the discard. This can either fuel Lost Burn from the get go, or be used for Time Hollow if several opposing pokemon are heavily damaged and can be devolved. This strategy is very effective in Megazone decks, but is vastly inferior to Eelektrik in a Lost Burn centered deck. Stardust Song is flippy, can only attach to Jirachi, and only recover Psychic energy. While I think Jirachi still has uses in the current format, the slight fall out of Yanmega upon NV's release paired with more reliable energy accelerators means that Jirachi and Magnezone might become more distant partners instead of the close rapport they shared in the past.
Electrode Prime I have never really seen this card with Magnezone, but I could see it potentially work. This card can provide decent acceleration while setting up the Twins engine to quickly get out Magnezone. The problems however are twofold: one, it puts an already slower pokemon down in prizes, and two, the deck would still need another energy accelerator since Energymite is a one time use. I could see a 2-2 tech being used in the early game, but the question is whether the pokemon is worth the card spots. Based on the lack of play it has seen thus far with Magnezone, I'm going to lean more towards the negative.
Typhlosion Prime This is another pokemon that you really don't see being used with Magnezone (especially with the release of a more compatable Eelektrik), but it is a possibility as an energy accelerator that gets energy out of discard. Due to a fairly low retreat cost and the ability to attach to the active, Typhlosion can get out of its own way if dragged up with catcher. It's attack is also passable at 70 and discarding an energy. Due to Magnezone putting energy into the lost zone, and due to being a stage 2 (as opposed to Eelektrik's stage 1 or Emboar's multiple attachments), this card doesn't see much use in competitive play with Magnezone.
Yanmega Prime Megazone was a very successful deck starting with Canadian Nationals and is still a very viable deck. Yanmega attacks for free provided the hands of both players are even, not a hard task with Magnetic Draw and Judge on your side. This can buy Magnezone time to set up energy, soften up pokemon for Lost Burn, and snipe Oddish/Vileplume to remove trainer lock from the picture. Yanmega is best in the early game but can be used in the late game if energy starts running low. The card is very versatile and is worth considering as a partner. It doesn't help Magnezone attach energy faster, however. To overcome this, some (but not all) Megazone variants run Pachirisu or Jirachi to speed up the attachments.
Kingdra Prime This card only really has one use with Magnezone: placing damage counters with Spray Splash. This is another potential partner of Megazone, but its use can be more directly applied to Magnezone itself due to the fact it can make some Lost Burn KOs a one or two energy attack. The most notable of these examples are against Donphan Prime (where two spray splashes make it a 3 energy KO), and Tornadus and Yanmega a
one energy KO, which is great in the Megazone and ZPST matchup as it saves energy for the bulkier main attackers with Magnezone and Zekrom.
Reshiram/Zekrom/Kyurem/Thundurus/Tornadus While none of these cards directly help Magnezone, all of them can work as an early game attacker to soften up pokemon (Kyurem is the best of these for Lost Burn follow up), and each of these can act as secondary attackers to KO pokemon without hurling energy into the Lost Zone. This lets a Magnezone player cut back overall energy from 17-18 to a more reasonable 10-15, which allows a player to squeeze in more consistency cards. With consistency and speed being so important, Magnezone players should consider running at least one of these pokemon as an early attacker.
It goes without saying, but Reshiram is for Magneboar or possible Magnephlosion decks, Zekrom and Thundurus are best with Eelektrik but can be used with Pachirsu/Shaymin, Kyurem is for Magnegatr or maybe even Magnetrode, and Tornadus can fit pretty well into any of these, but may necessitate the use of DCE if not used with Emboar.
(Draw Based Combos)
Judge Judge does two things for Magnezone. It disrupts the opponent's hand, and makes your hand smaller, letting you get to six cards immediately. This card is useful at almost any stage of the game Magnezone is out, and works with most Magnezone variants pretty well. It's not the best card in the early game before Magnezone, however, because the actual setup can be very difficult with four cards in hand.
PONT This card does nothing to disrupt your opponent, but it does give you six cards. People may ask what good that does with a pokemon that only draws up to six, but in Magneboar and Magnegatr decks, that extra two cards could be extra energy to drop, followed up by a magnetic draw, letting you thin out the deck more. It also has a better early game refresh to set up Magnezone more quickly, which I think is enough to warrant running a least a couple, certainly before NV.
N This is, in my opinion, the best refresh card for Magnezone to use. It gives you 6 cards in the early game, putting it on par with PONT, and it disrupts your opponent like Judge would. The real power, however, comes from the late game, when both players are in a heated prize exchange. Magnezone can drop N, put each player into a 1-2 card hand, then draw up to six cards. This can be game changing as a small hand can really ruin the momentum of faster decks and decks without internal draw like Tropical Beach or Magnezone Prime, while thinning your hand to make the most of of Magnetic Draw. This card can be used at any stage of the game and can be expected to help you. It is an excellent card that is seemingly custom tailored for Magnezone, and any Magnezone player should consider running 3-4, the card is too helpful for Magnezone not to run.
Junk Arm This card is nice because it can reuse trainers to set up Magnezone while emptying the hand of cards you don't need, allowing you to draw more with Magnetic Draw, and get back a trainer you
do need. With the right energy accelerators, you can also use Junk Arm to speed up energy attachments. Like N, this is a really important staple in Magnezone, and most decks I think should run 4. 3 at an absolute
minimum.
Drawbacks
Magnezone has a couple really big downsides that discourage some players from using it in competitive play. The most important is that this card is a Stage 2 pokemon. Stage 2s have a really hard time in this format due to the Rare Candy errata, the two Dragons (Reshiram/Zekrom), and Pokemon Catcher. Magnemites on the bench are not safe from being dragged out and killed, empty Magnezones can be dragged out for the opponent to stall, and with the rare candy errata forcing people to wait a turn to evolve to the stage 2, Dragons vastly outspeed this deck. Running extra copies of Magnemites, Twins, and Swtich can all help with these drawbacks, but all of these are less consistent than running straight consistent setup from Reshiplohion or ZPST, even if the late game is probably better than the aforementioned dragon decks.
The other drawback is fighting weakness. Donphan and a pluspower can quickly remove all the hard work it took you to get a Magnezone in play. Given Donphan's speed to setup and the fact it takes four energy to KO a Donphan, this was a really huge problem for Magnezone. NV has allegedly seen the downfall of Donphan, so this fighting weakness may not be as big a deal as it used to be. Fighting pokemon will always be in the format, but none of them have had the speed of Donphan or the ability to hard counter Magnezone so severely.
Wrapping Up
Overall I give Magnezone an 8.5 out of 10. The card is versatile, has amazing draw power, and exceptional attack power. However, being a stage 2 slows it down and can make it frustrating to get out, and its bad fighting weakness can undo all the hard work you took to get it done. In addition, Magnezone is not a card that can be splashed into most decks, as it is a Stage 2 and has such an energy hungry attack. However, Magnezone is still a very good card, especially in the hands of very good players, and this can be seen with the sheer number of recent tournaments claimed by Magnezone, whether we talk about recent Regionals or the ultimate prize in Worlds.
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