SotS said:
THE NUMBER OF OOHS AND AHS OVER DAT ART
THEY'RE UNCOUNTABLE
Am I wrong in seeing a good 40% of this set('s fully evolved/EX's/Rares) as playable? I mean I haven't played in years, but unless things have completely changed I'm seeing so many good cards. Basics and Stage 1 are still kind of a stepping stone that won't see play, but so many Stage 2's and basically all of the EX's look like you could do something with them. Out of all of them, Gardevoir EX looks mad fun.
I see Primal Groudon (barely), Acro Bike, Teammates, Shield Energy (barely), Ancient Trait Swampert, Ancient Trait Kingdra (barely), Dive Ball, Repeat Ball (maybe), Birch's Observation (kind of), and most of the Stadiums as the only cards likely to be even somewhat competitively viable. A few others, like Ancient Trait Sceptile, M/Gardevoir EX, M/Aggron EX, Archie's Trump Card, Maxie's Hidden Trick, Primal Kyogre, Wonder Energy, Bouffalant, and Fresh Water Set, might make for fun, and not totally bad, side decks, but I don't see them doing a whole lot.
Most of the EX's are actually pretty bad in my opinion. Mega Gardevoir is a lot like Mega Gengar. It seems really good on paper, but is likely a bit too limited in what it can do. The Primals are OK, but nothing special, which is bad for a Mega. Groudon kind of gets away with it due to its Ancient Trait and the ability to one-shot things, but Kyogre's inability to one-shot EX's (admittedly, it somewhat makes up for this with the bench-hitting, but still), combined with other good water attackers like Keldeo EX and the new Swampert existing, makes it hard to see it being viable. But people will try. Sharpedo would be worth considering if Yveltal-EX and Darkrai-EX didn't exist, but they do, and are much better attackers. The energy denial isn't that useful since you need to keep attaching to do so, and it's not optional. Wailord, Trevenant, Camerupt, and, while fun, Mega Aggron, have no real value to any serious deck.