XY: Evolutions - Cards to Buy

WastedSkyPirate

WastedSkyPirate

...
Member
Hello all.

A few weeks before a new set is released, I like to put together a list of cards I think are worth purchasing. As a general rule, I don't buy boosters simply because the amount of money I have to spend to statistically pull X card is typically in excess of the cost of buying the card outright.

With that in mind, which cards do you think are worth buying straight away? Bear in mind that I'm approaching this from a competitive perspective, not a collector's one.

Here's my provisional list:

Electrode

Energy acceleration is always useful but we'll have to wait and see whether Electrode's drawbacks (giving up one prize as part of the Ability, being a Stage 1 Pokemon, etc.) will outweigh its benefits. However, I can see this being used in new Lightning decks (a type that needs some more support).

Mewtwo

Baby Mewtwo is a splashable to check to M Mewtwo-EX thanks to it's Psychic attack. Unfortunately, I think it falls just short of being a catch-all counter. Psychic will only OHKO a M Mewtwo-EX (Y) that's accumulated 5 or more Energy (or 4 or more Energy if Baby Mewtwo is equipped with a Fighting Fury Belt); this makes it fairly easy to play around.

Clefairy

Metronome is Zoroark BREAK's Foul Play but on a Basic Pokemon. That's a very interesting prospect and one I think will fit into a few decks. I can see Clefairy being especially good in decks that run Ninja Boy, giving you another trick up your sleeve. For me, this is the real sleeper hit from this set.

Rattata

This is a top percentage Rattata if ever I've seen one. I can see this slotting into M Gardevoir-EX (STS) decks as well as Rainbow Road. Rattata's 'Trick Fang' Ability is a welcome nuisance factor and will be especially good for removing Fighting Fury Belt from big Basics.

Raticate

Raticate has two good attacks, both for [C], which makes it splashable and playable in virtually any deck. It's real value comes from it's second attack 'Shadow Bite', which itself is dependent on the amount of Special Energy in the meta. Compared to pre-rotation decks, there seem to be less decks reliant on Special Energy at the moment but still lots seem to be playing at least some Special Energy, meaning Raticate shouldn't be overlooked.

Dragonite-EX

I can see Dragonite-EX being the most commonly used EX from XY Evolutions. It automatically fits into M Gardevoir-EX (STS) decks and could see use in M Rayquaza-EX, Volcanion-EX and Rainbow Road decks too. Its one drawback is the [C][C][C] retreat, making it Lysandre-bait.

Super Potion

It's worth picking up a playset of Super Potion, if not just to fit into future tanky decks.

Pokédex

Pokédex has a good effect but, in a metagame stuffed with N, it probably won't see too much play outside of decks that can make best use of it (e.g. by running it along side Acro Bike). That being said, it's worth buying a playset to have in your back pocket.

Brock's Grit

I think Brock's Grit will fit into a lot of decks straight away as a 1 of. It's a double Super Rod that you can access throughout the game with VS Seeker, buffing your Max Elixirs, stopping you from decking out, re-fueling your Pokemon count in the late game or after a Parallel City (looking at you M Rayquaza-EX).


I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions too! Let me know which cards you will be buying on release of XY: Evolutions.
 
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This is Just me, but I thought about Buying the Mega Pidgeot line for possible viability. Both the regular EX and the Mega seem fun to play.

But thats just my opinion
 
rayquazatopaz34 said:
This is Just me, but I thought about Buying the Mega Pidgeot line for possible viability. Both the regular EX and the Mega seem fun to play.

But thats just my opinion
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i agree with this, as it plays kinda simillar to mega audino, though can be played i variety of other ways as well
 
I think Charizard can be good with Magnezone and will be Valuable in the future I'm hording as many as I can
 
Just going to say Mega Pidgeot plays nothing like Mega Audino. I have about six list made for it and they are nothing alike.
 
I played the deck once before in the DPP format and nothing much has changed except cards are more powerful now. I'll have fun when I can get the cards for the deck.
 
Emskas said:
As I tested Pidgeot, I found it's flaw is that it can't decide what it wants to be. It's not fast enough to be a stage 1 killer deck, but not big or supported enough to be a 2hit K.O. machine. It could be good to just make a fun disruption deck out of, but beyond that, i'm not sure how it could work.
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Then you are playing it wrong. The best thing about the card is you can choose the pace of play with it.
 
Emskas said:
The card/deck is certainly not something that is able to pick and/or choose it's own pace, i'm not sure any deck can do that.
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This is the best thing about Pidgeot EX because you can do this. Wait for my article on it where I go into detail about it.

What I was trying to point out was that the format right now is fast, and Mega Pidgeot is not.
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Pidgeot is fast and can apply the same pressure your opponent is putting on.

It's a card that gets overwhelmed by a lot of stuff, and is weak to some very important threats right now (Jolteon, Raichu).
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Yeah, that is true but mega ray is also weak to these same things. The other meta decks are also weak to something that cross into auto loss. Just the nature of the game. This isn't just true for Pidgeot.

Plus, 130 damage + a switch of your opponent's Pokemon isn't even something that should be considered good in the first place, it just seemed like something that could have potentially become a tier 3-4ish deck archetype from the Evolutions set, which has pretty much none right now.
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I see. 130 for 3 and optional disrupt is anything but bad. 130 hits a common HP limit of non EX attackers. Sure M Pidgeot ex isn't M Rayquaza EX and we dont want it to be but you're not using Mach Cyclone, you're using Mirror Move and using the bigger attacks when its needed. Pidgeot EX is a surgical card.

It's not that I am playing incorrectly, but that I could not seem to draw the conclusion that the deck was worthy of being a sparring partner to the top tier decks.
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That means you're playing the card wrong. You can't play it like you would Rainbow Road or Mega Ray.
 
I'll reserve judgment until I read your article, but I don't see this card making that much of an impact. Mirror Move is cool but not being able to retaliate for Weakness is sad. With a million and one ways to move Pokemon out of the Active position, Mach Cyclone also seems disappointing. It does 2HKO Megas though which is its only saving grace.
 
Yikes, what a war. Let me attempt to resolve both sides.

1. Whilst Mega Pidgeot is an interesting card, it does not seem to be that that could of a top tier deck. This doesn't mean it's bad, it's just not suited for high level play at the moment. Maybe it'll find it's place down the road. I'm not sure.

2. The Mega Pidgeot deck, although not revolutionary, is nothing like base set Spearow! The goal of the deck is to use Pidgeot to disrupt and put your opponent into a less than optimal position, whilst surviving hits and dishing the damage dealt to you by smaller threats back at them, for a lethal amount of HP loss.

@crystal_pidgeot Do not be discouraged. Pidgeot seems really fun. Best of luck.
 
Saksme said:
Yikes, what a war. Let me attempt to resolve both sides.

1. Whilst Mega Pidgeot is an interesting card, it does not seem to be that that could of a top tier deck. This doesn't mean it's bad, it's just not suited for high level play at the moment. Maybe it'll find it's place down the road. I'm not sure.

2. The Mega Pidgeot deck, although not revolutionary, is nothing like base set Spearow! The goal of the deck is to use Pidgeot to disrupt and put your opponent into a less than optimal position, whilst surviving hits and dishing the damage dealt to you by smaller threats back at them, for a lethal amount of HP loss.

@crystal_pidgeot Do not be discouraged. Pidgeot seems really fun. Best of luck.
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Oh, not at all. I think Pidgeot EX is something between tier 2 and 2.5 at best. The way I suggest to play it has no real bad matchup but Greninja and breaks even with a few decks but everything else is pretty much an auto win.
 
crystal_pidgeot said:
Oh, not at all. I think Pidgeot EX is something between tier 2 and 2.5 at best. The way I suggest to play it has no real bad matchup but Greninja and breaks even with a few decks but everything else is pretty much an auto win.
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I agree with you. Simply a fun, decent deck. Nothing more.
 
Just a thought, but could this be a fun tech/secondary attacker in a mainstream ray list (megearna/all colourless)? I can see both the regular EX and the Mega being fun to play. If so, could someone post a list of it please?
 
Honestly, the only cards I wanna buy out of Evolutions are foil DCE, foil energy, a playset of foil Switch, and possibly a playset of foil Rattata, because the tool remover. Other than that, I don't really see much I'm interested in.
 
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