I've actually really enjoyed post-ban expanded so far. There are pretty obvious good decks, but every once in a while I run into something really weird that totally kicks my ass.
Discussion State of the meta
- Thread starter Mistadirtyziggy
- Start date
I think that the PTCG community has a tendency to overreact (myself included). The format is not truly ever solid, and lost thunder will prove that. The meta will change. And, to contradict TLS comment, Dedenne GX will ONLY be good if it:
- has more than 120 HP- this is mostly due to the fact that it will be Easy KO’s for some of the best pokemon if it has 120 or less (Zoroark, Blacepalon [2 energy + band], Ray with only 4 attachments, Lost march with just 6 pokemon, or 5 and band, Sceptile GX, etc)
- Is fairy type and not lightning- buzzwole is, and will always be a thing
- If it has less than 2 retreat
- has more than 120 HP- this is mostly due to the fact that it will be Easy KO’s for some of the best pokemon if it has 120 or less (Zoroark, Blacepalon [2 energy + band], Ray with only 4 attachments, Lost march with just 6 pokemon, or 5 and band, Sceptile GX, etc)
- Is fairy type and not lightning- buzzwole is, and will always be a thing
- If it has less than 2 retreat
I think its ability alone will solidly place it in most decks. My evidence: Shaymin EX was almost always easy to knock out in the XY era, yet most decks still ran 2-3.
Yes, but the only problem was that shaymin had both a resistance to fighting, and an irrelevant weakness, as well as only one retreat
Eh, a lightning weakness was very relevant once Night March came into its own. One Battle Compressor and Joltik was a Shaymin killing machine. Hell, there was a period of time where a common one-of in Night March was Target Whistle, just so you could Lysandre up Shaymin a second time and knock them out again! And people still played 2-3 Shaymin. If you didn't play it, your opponents who did ran circles around you.
Here's the big thing that I always noticed back then: if you were knocking out a Shaymin, it was usually for one of a few reasons: 1. Lysandre Shaymin for win, GG. 2. You have no relevant threats and the rest of your cards are single prizers, so I'm going to speed up the game. 3. There's nothing else I can do, so I'm just going to go fishing for some prizes and hope it works out.
If you're attacking a Shaymin (or eventually, a Dedenne), you're either winning or losing, and nothing really in-between. Overall, getting a better setup is much more important for winning than giving your opponent two prizes that they could probably get off another Pokemon anyways if they just dug a little harder.
What in the meta has changed in the past ~2 years to make Guzma overpowered? Before we had Lysandre which no one complained about, and Guzma is basically a weaker Escape Rope. I haven't followed the TCG in a while and I'm recently considering getting back into it.
It's hard for me to really quantify, to be honest. The easiest way for me to explain is that it's harder to stall, in addition to the fact that Guzma has 2 effects. In past formats, you could Lysandre stall and have a slightly higher chance of your opponent whiffing what they need to move both their Pokemon and the Pokemon they want to gust into the active. It makes for some awkward plays sometimes (which is why I don't think it's outright broken), but overall a double gust is more powerful than a single gust.
Guzma is not a weaker escape rope. It's a better escape rope. How many modern format decks have you seen play escape rope recently? Ok. Now compare that to the amount of decks that play Guzma. You will find that Guzma is usually played as a 3-of in most decks, while escape rope is never seen in the competitive scene.
Now, you may ask, why is Guzma played more than escape rope? Aside from the obvious fact of it being a lysandre + escape rope, it doesn't seem all that overpowered, does it?
But Guzma allows you to play 1 card that does 2 things. It allows you to make one of your opponent's benched Pokemon active, and it allows you to bring up one of your own. Now that is an extremely good card, because some decks need a benched Pokemon to come active, and while your at it, bring up 1 of your opponent's damaged pokemon for the knockout (golisopod). It also can be Tapu-Lele'd and that usually is for the game. Also, if you have a really bad active pokemon (tapu lele) you can switch it without wasting an energy attachment.
TLDR, its overall a good movement card and it is far superior to escape rope
My bad, I mis-remembered what Escape Rode did, assuming the user had control of everything. I see now, so it's more of Lysandre + 1 extra function. Thanks for the help!