EXs: We're back.
Next Destinies is coming up soon, and I can safely say that this is the most hype for a Pokémon expansion I have seen in years. Everything from Mewtwo down is getting a ton of love, and for good reason: we have the return of Pokémon-EX, a new Stadium to ogle over, and even a new engine for decks.
There is a lot of “new,” sure, but how does it impact the “old”?
Well, that’s what we’ll be dealing with. Even though Mewtwo EX is capable of shifting the format upside-down on its own merits, there is still a whole set of cards left to sift through. In the coming days, the remaining authors for this month (myself included) will undoubtedly have a few things to say about the “new” decks; for now, though, we will discuss how Next Destinies impacts present-day archetypes, and perhaps create some State/Territorial/Provincial champions in the process.
Set Predictions, and Ruling Out Cards
…Of course, there isn’t that much we can do without having some idea of what will be in the set.
As a recap, here are the cards we know will be in Next Destinies (spoilers of which can be found here and here):
Shaymin EX
Amoonguss
Moltres
Reshiram (reprint)
Reshiram EX
Articuno
Beartic
Kyurem EX
Zekrom (reprint)
Zekrom EX
Mewtwo EX
Musharna
Darmanitan
Elgyem
Beheeyem
Lucario
Scrafty
Regigigas EX
Cinccino
Based on the above list, we can also make some strong assumptions about what else should be in the set: what pre-evolutions should appear, as well as which pieces to trios should show up.
Foongus
Cubchoo
Zapdos
Munna
Riolu
Scraggy
Minccino
Additionally, we can assume some less certain, but probable inclusions, based on cards that are crucial to the set’s “character” (i.e., what it does to the metagame):
Chandelure
Wigglytuff
Level Ball
EXP Share
Skyarrow Bridge
Heavy Ball
Cilan
Pokémon Center
Ultra Ball
Random Receiver
…And finally, since we have a fancy press release that all but confirms we will only receive twelve total EX cards (the six same Pokémon in both normal and full art versions), we can assume that these two cards will NOT appear:
Kyogre EX
Groudon EX
Clearing out the trash: Cards that are virtually unplayable
Before figuring out how our pre-existing archetypes will change, or even what new decks may appear, we should exclude some items from almost any consideration. I typically hate to do this, but with a limited amount of time before the first State tournaments, we need to expedite the deck building process somewhat.
*Beartic really doesn’t do anything to further your odds of winning against much in the present metagame, especially compared to its Sheer Cold brother.
*Scrafty is virtually unplayable at this point in time, and might not even be a good See Off target for Mew Prime.
*Lucario is “interesting,” especially with Rocky Helmet and/or Vileplume; however, I’m afraid that “interesting” does not necessarily equate to “good.” Perhaps a very inspired deck will come to use it as a way to set up reactive KOs, but for the sake of this article’s topic (archetypes), it does not really do much in the way of progress.
*Cinccino’s Ability is also very interesting, but I have two big issues with the card: it’s an Energy hog in the active position that will inevitably just get Catchered out of the way; and the Ability is too flippy. For those reasons, it arguably does not even have a place in pre-existing Cinccino decks.
Rogue deck builders; please do not take this list as an absolute claim that these will never find their place in the metagame. I’ve seen crazier, worse cards go deep in tournaments, so it would not be unheard of at all to see, say, Lucario do something neat.
“Archetypin’ it Up”
So in essence, we more or less “know” over a third of the set already, and will find out the next two-thirds in less than two weeks. Fortunately, that won’t stop us from planning ahead! How are decks going to change due to these 36 cards? (Or 28 when you take out the eight aforementioned “unplayables.”)
Essentially, these are my miscellaneous musings on how the above cards will impact the game at large, and what our States metagame will look like.
“Ball” Engines
Ultra Ball: Discard 2 cards from your hand. Search your deck for a Pokémon, show it to your opponent, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your deck afterward.
Several years ago, there were alternative search engines to the usual makeup of “4 mass Basic search Supporter with three or six search-for-anything.” These were known as ball engines, featuring cards like Quick Ball, Dusk Ball, and Great Ball (pre-Emerging Powers) to allow for a quicker setup, as it freed up your Supporter for the turn to be used on raw draw.
With the (presumptive) releases of Level Ball, Heavy Ball, and Ultra Ball, we should now have the option to use a more effective modern-day version of the ball engine. In a deck like ZPST, for instance, we could have a line that looks something like this:
4 Dual Ball
4 Ultra Ball
2 Level Ball
Additionally, your “Supporter” line could now look like…
4 Random Receiver
4 Professor Juniper
4 Professor Oak’s New Theory/Bianca
Fast, consistent, and full of deck-thin. This may not be everyone’s preferred way to run a deck, and it will certainly not be the best option in all lists, but this is definitely going to show up more often in the future in a variety of builds – including archetypes.
Musharna
Simply put, Musharna deserves a place in some decks. It might be a good Pokémon Catcher target, and it might not have much in the way of attack power, but it’s one of the only decent draw cards in the format not called Magnezone or Ninetales.
One card a turn is not much to begin with, but over the course of a long game, having that draw power on your side is going to make a massive difference. This is something that Luxchomp players from last year can attest to, as the person who saw an Uxie LV.X stick on the board oftentimes maintained more momentum for the rest of the game.
So where will Musharna find its home? I already see some decks making good use of the card as a 1-1 (Vileplume variants), but I also could envision this card as the full-fledged draw crutch for others (Stage One variations). The sky is the limit with it right now, so I would keep a close watch on it, and test it in a variety of ways.
