Discussion Which was/is better? Shaymin EX vs. Tapu Lele GX

Mega Mewthree...

Mega Mewthree...

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Hey guys,
I will start us off with a statistics count. Shaymin EX was a basic colorless type from Roaring Skies XY. This card had 110 HP and an attack for 2 colorless energy which returned the card and everything attached to it to your hand after doing 30 damage. It had lightning weakness and fighting resistance as well as a one energy retreat cost. However the most appealing part of this card was its ability, which upon playing it onto your bench from your hand let you draw until you had 6 cards in your hand. This cards price peaked at about $50 during its standard rotation.

Tapu Lele GX is a basic psychic pokemon from Guardians Rising SUM. This card has 170 hp, and a one energy retreat cost with no weakness or resistance. It has one attack which for two colorless energy will deal 20 damage for each energy attached too both active pokemon. It also has a GX attack which for one psychic energy will fully heal two of your benched pokemon. Weakness and resistance does not apply to this attack. As with Shaymin EX the most valuable aspect of this card is probably its ability. Upon playing this card from your hand onto your bench you may search your deck for a supporter card and put it into your hand. The cards price has so far peaked at $45.

There are the objective facts. Which do you think is the best?
 
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SHAYMIN BY FAR

you forgot to mention that shay's attack did 30 damage, which makes it completley broken, as when your opponent's zoroark deck started exeggcute and nothing else, you could donk them right there and then
 
Definitely Shaymin. It is the best (for your opponent).

It has 110 HP, and is a great card for giving 2 prize cards away. Tapu Lele is not a good choice, as it will take some time to hit 170.

Then the attack. Shaymin EX does whopping 30 damage! Tapu Lele can't hold on, doing only 20x damage.

The stats are also well when you look at Shaymin EX: with a (L)-Weakness, you can KO it with Pikachu (10+20 Kukui+30 Choice Band x2 Weakness = 120). And that is great because Pikachu is great. Tapu Lele is meh, it doesn't have any weakness.


But now look at the ability: Shaymin allows you to insta draw up to 6 once. This is nice, especially if it's ya last Pokémon in hand, and doesn't waste your supporter. Lele has a bad ability that doesn't make any sense.

To put it in a nutshell:
Tapu Lele GX is in my opinion better, as it doesn't give free prizes to your opponent, has a more variable ability (can search draw, but also Guzma), and is even a decent attacker.
 
I think they both have their perks and would probably end up playing a 2-2 line.

By the way XCITE, I love you picture.
 
I've only tried to see their worth by their function. Shaymin EX with Set Up(more like Uxie from Legends Awakened) is good for drawing cards back up to a bigger hand. I've been finding that useful in expanded decks where I blow through a lot of cards. There's a chance I can draw a needed item, supporter or even another Pokemon for tech or active. Saves you from having to play a supporter that turn, too. That attack has a useful effect, but I've never used it or have seen it used. Tapu Lele GX is useful for being able to draw a supporter right when you need it, and we all know what those good supporters can do. The standard attack can be useful, but Tapu Lele GX shouldn't be active unless you started with it or you're in a situation that demands it (no other benched, buying time, etc) The GX move seems like a risk to try and use. I've only used it twice this year as I had no other options. Running both at the same time would seem counter productive. Both cards would just sit on the bench and take up space.
 
Both cards do different things and perform two completely different functions.

Shaymin-EX seems to benefit aggressive decks and/or builds that tend to go down to a low hand. But it's value seems to diminish as the game goes along.

Tapu Lele-GX is good at any point in the game and has enough HP to survive most one-hits a opposed to Shaymin-EX.
 
Personally, I prefer Lele. I prefer being able to target a specific supporter instead of chancing luck of the draw. Also, Lele's ability to attack in a clinch with multiple dce's has assisted in some dicey situations.

Lastly my relative nube status lead to my bias for Lele as I've only opened one Shaymin compared to eight Lele's
 
Although Shaymin still has a role in many exapnded decks, and is even preferred in some, Lele's definitely the stronger card, as evidenced by how counts started changing the moment the latter came out. Energy Drive is just a very strong attack (look at how much play X Ball Mewtwo and Aero Ball Lugia saw) and the extra 60 HP means it's not a sitting duck for two prizes either.

That said, I like Shaymin more as a pokemon and so miss winning games by Sky Return loop.
 
birdboy2000 said:
Although Shaymin still has a role in many exapnded decks, and is even preferred in some, Lele's definitely the stronger card, as evidenced by how counts started changing the moment the latter came out. Energy Drive is just a very strong attack (look at how much play X Ball Mewtwo and Aero Ball Lugia saw) and the extra 60 HP means it's not a sitting duck for two prizes either.

That said, I like Shaymin more as a pokemon and so miss winning games by Sky Return loop.
Click to expand...
Which is the better card depends on the format. The real reason Shaymin got dumped from decks when Guardians Rising came out is that people were scared of Trashalanche. This meant people wanted to play less aggressive decks.
In a slower format with Pokemon that attack for high energy attacks, Lele is better as it is more effective for finding key supporters, and Energy Drive can be put to good use. In a faster format with little punishment for being aggressive, Shaymin is better as it allows you to draw through your deck quicker.
 
I have to agree with the "neither" type answers. Both have their value and advantages depending on what you want to do. As others have said, Shaymin is excellent for immediately getting more cards to work with, and multiple can be played in a single turn for immediate advantage. If you've ever had a moment where you needed multiple things to create an advantageous position (Lysandre, energy, choice band, etc) Shaymin is just too good. If the first doesn't get you everything you need, play down your hand as much as possible and play another (if available). Keep going until you have everything you need. Tapu Lele just can't accomplish this since you can only play a single supporter each turn (in most every case though there are some exceptions). If you need both a Guzma/Lysandre AND extra cards, you're stuck with Lele.

On the other hand, Lele guarantees the supporter you want when you want it. It's easy to play a Shaymin and get stuck with a brick hand. Then you have a major liability without being able to do much about it. Lele also gives you several other options. It's a one retreat pokemon, so you can often find a way to retreat it easily if needed. It's attack can do a worthwhile amount of damage while protecting your main attackers, setting up later knockouts that would have been difficult otherwise while being difficult to OHKO itself.

All in all, both are excellent cards. They each have some limitations and while Shaymin has more limitations overall (HP, attack, randomness of draw limited by hand size), both have their strong uses and should not be compared directly. It's really an apples to oranges questions. Kind of like asking which was better: Sycamore or N?
 
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