Impact Crater: Next Destinies

Just can't get enough of Blue Flare

Hey all The Deck Out followers!


Today is the time for 3rd part of the Impact Crater – series (10 points to anyone who guesses where the name is from). As everyone knows, the release of the new set – Next Destinies – is just right around the corner. In the Impact Crater series, I analyze all the new cards that will have an impact on the format when released. If you want to check out my last Impact Crater –series articles and see how well I’ve predicted the impact of the cards, you can check them out here: Emerging Powers / Noble Victories.

Thanks to Pokebeach now having all the scans, I could finally make this entry because there is no more need to guess, which cards are printed in the Next Destinies and which are not. Next Destinies is a set that most of us have been waiting for a long time and I’m very excited about the comeback of the EX cards – it brings a bit more versatility in the format, I hope.

We all know that the hyped Mewtwo EX will be in the set but there are so many other good things in the set that have been completely forgotten because of the over-the-top hype of Mewtwo EX (Which I take the blame for). Let’s see what cards really have an impact on our upcoming format.

Mewtwo EX

Just like always, I want to start with the most obvious. My Eye on Japan: Part 1 is guilty for the hype of Mewtwo EX. Mewtwo EX is probably the most hyped card ever. I don’t really want to go too in-depth with it in this article because I’ve decided to make an own entry for Mewtwo EX and I’ll discussing Mewtwo EX probably the rest of this season.

The most important thing about Mewtwo EX is that it’s an EX-Pokémon. Being EX means that it’s stronger than the usual cards and when it’s KOed, your opponent takes 2 prizes instead of 1. Are EXs really that good that you can give away 2 prizes with them? When it comes to Mewtwo EX, the answer is yes. However, with all EXs the answer isn’t always yes.

Mewtwo EX has huge HP of 170 so nothing really OHKOs it. The OHKO moment of Mewtwo EX is what makes it so good. Mewtwo EX is weak to Psychic and the format doesn’t already have any played Psychic Pokémon. Mewtwo EX has no real counter in the format and ironically Mewtwo EX’s best counter (as too many times already said) is Mewtwo EX. I think Mewtwo EX is the first card ever, which will be widely played and is countered by itself.

When we look at its attacks, it theorymonically seems only mediocre. However, when Mewtwo EX gets into action, it’s unstoppable. The best attack of Mewtwo EX is its first attack called X-Ball. With only DCE it hits for 40. X-Ball hits 20x each energy attached to Mewtwo EX AND your opponent’s active Pokémon. If we look at some of the most played cards in the format, it OHKOs things like Babies, Tynamo and Litwick with only 1 DCE. To OHKO a fully loaded Zekrom that has hit Strike Bolt once, it needs DCE – DCE+ 2 energy depending if they have an Eviolite or not. X-Ball requires any type of energy so Mewtwo EX can be played in any deck. And most decks in the format base on energy acceleration so it’s only logical for Mewtwo EX to be a great card. It will also inspire new energy acceleration engines like Celebi Prime.

Its second attack Psydrive is almost never used. X-Ball does the entire job when it comes to OHKOing Pokémon and it works in every deck. However, Psydrive requires 2 Psychic Energy to be used and hits for “only” 120 damage. 120 isn’t enough and there isn’t really nothing that can prudently energy accelerate Psychic Energy other than the Gardevoir, which I’ll introduce in this entry as well.

Reshiram EX

Yeah, you guessed it, I’ll review every single EX Pokémon in this entry. All of them aren’t as good as Mewtwo EX but they have at least a small impact on the format. Reshiram EX has whopping 180 HP and it hits for 50-80 and for 150. The first attack is nothing too exciting. With flip, it can OHKO most stage1 Pokémons and with 50 damage it can OHKO most basic Pokémons but because nowadays most Basics have 60 HP, it usually goes to a flip.

The more interesting attack is its second attack that hits 150 damage for 2 Fire and 2 Colorless. Any attack that hits for heavy damage and can abuse DCE is very interesting. Reshiram  EX may damage itself with the attack that hits for 50 but a flip decided that. However, as long as you have Eviolite attached to Reshiram EX, you only can hit 30 to yourself. The amount of 150 is very interesting because it OHKOs every non-EX Pokémon in format but it doesn’t OHKO any EX-Pokémons in the format (Excluding Shaymin EX, which already has the weakness to Fire).

Reshiram EX will be a nice addition for decks like Reshiboar and ReshiPlosion and I believe that Reshiram EX – together with Mewtwo EX - will help these decks to make a comeback to their former glory. I have also played around with a deck that focuses only on Reshiram EX but the deck is still in progress. I think this beast sure has potential and will see a bit of play in the format.

Zekrom EX

I’m pretty sure that PCL will never make a bad Zekrom or Reshiram card. Just like Reshiram EX, Zekrom EX has 180 HP and the same first attack as Reshiram EX. Sounds familiar? Well, it sure is, and guess what? Zekrom EX surprisingly hits for 150 damage as well. However, here is the twist. We have accustomed to the old Reshiram and Zekrom that hit for 120 damage and Zekrom hits for itself and Reshiram discards energy. With EXs, it’s the other way around. Zekrom EX hits with 2 Lighting and 2 Colorless Energy for 150 and discards to energy attached to it. Once again, it’s not lighting energy or 2 energy CARDS but just simply 2 energy meaning that Zekrom EX can abuse DCE very well.

In Japan, Zekrom/Eelektrik has been the best deck for 2 sets now and that’s thanks to EXs. Zekrom/Eelektrik was a bit popular in west as well in our current format but it never reached the popularity it got in Japan. With EXs, I believe that Zekrom/Eelektrik will finally claim its tier 1 place in the western metagame as well. Eelektrik is just too good when you can combine it with things like Mewtwo EX and Zekrom EX.


Shaymin EX

Shaymin EX is at the first sight the worst EX in this set. It has horrible 110 HP and it attacks for 30+ something. Well, this something is pretty important when it comes to Shaymin EX. Shaymin EX hits 30 + 30 for each prize card your opponent has taken. Meaning that when your opponent has taken 4 prizes, you hit for 150 damage – with only 2 energy. However, the best part comes when your opponent has taken 5 prizes, you hit 180 – OHKOIng any Pokémon in the format. I wouldn’t focus on Shaymin’s first attack if I would play it in my deck. I would just focus on using Shaymin as a very late game attacker and taking the last prizes. With the energy mover Shaymin you can really surprise OHKO any of your opponent’s Pokémon in the late game.


Level Ball

Level Ball is one of the best balls ever printed. It searches your deck for any Pokémon that has less than 100 HP. There are so many cards that can be sought with it and there is even the possibility that you can search every Pokémon of your deck with Level Ball. This is the situation e.g. in the Leafeon/Amoonguss deck that I mentioned earlier. Level Ball can search almost every stage1 version of the evolution line and it can also search great cards like Mew Prime, Shaymin, Eelektrik and Cinccino(BW). PCL must be very careful with their HPs from now on because Level Ball can quickly become a broken card if they forget it while creating cards. I think that Level Ball can pretty much fit any deck possible because it’s an extra Communication and doesn’t require a Pokémon in your hand to be used. We’ll see a lot of Level Balls in the future decks.

Prism Energy

It’s rare to see a new energy printed that has a big impact on the format. Prism energy doesn’t fit every deck but each deck it fits – it makes the deck 10 times better. A great example would be Six Corners that can take the full advantage of Prism Energy because all of its Pokémons are Basics. Prism Energy’s effect only works on Basic Pokémon so that’s why it doesn’t fit every deck. It’s like a Rainbow energy on Basic Pokémon but doesn’t inflict self-damage. The release of Prism Energy will probably boost the play of Lost Removers in the decks at the same time but don’t expect to see too many Prism Energy around. It’s still a card that functions only in certain decks and doesn’t work at all in the others.


Skyarrow Bridge

Just like Prism Energy, SKyarrow Bridge benefits only Basic Pokémons. It reduces the retreat cost of Basic Pokémon by one and in theory it can be put in every deck. There are Basic Pokémons in every deck, right? In fact, there are decks that are creates just because of SKyarrow Bridge. The best example is any deck with Celebi Prime in it. Celebi Prime was a completely forgotten card but thanks to SKyarrow Bridge it became a versatile energy accelerator for almost all kind of decks. Combining cards like Celebi Prime, Skyarrow Bridge and Prism Energy decks like Six Corners can be modified into very interesting variants. Even things like Thundurus, Virizion and Tornadus have a free retreat after Skyarrow Bridge is played. However, you must be very careful how to play Skyarrow Bridge, in the end it might benefit your opponent more than you.

Amoonguss

This takes me back in the time to EX Legend Maker set where Flareon EX was released. Flareon EX put your opponent’s active Pokémon into burn and confusion. Combined with Ariados (EX Unseen Forces) it created a deck that was annoying and flippy but was fairly played. If we look at our present format, we already have that “Ariados” in the format – Leafeon(UL/CL). Amoonguss puts your opponent into poison and Confusion so it isn’t as flippy as burn but at the same time it reduces the possible 10 more damage to be dealt by Burn. I’ve been playing around with a Leafeon/Amoonguss variant past few days and am still struggling to get it function as well as Flariadios did but I hope that I can make at least a great fun deck from them.

Amoonguss can also be played in a deck we all love and hate- Durant. It works great in Durant because it forces your opponent to use resources in retreating/Switches etc. and after that Durant can give problems even to a ReshiPlosion and ZPST decks. I’m looking forward how Durant will evolve thanks to newly added disruption in the format.






The Small Impact Crater


In the small Impact Crater lies the cards that have only small impact to the format. This is my first Impact Crater where The Small Impact Crater is bigger than the “real” Impact Crater part of the set. I think it tells something about the amount of impact this set has in the format.

Kyurem EX

In my opinion Kyurem EX works the best as a Reshiram EX counter. It attacks aren’t that good, it has a horrible weakness to Cobalion and it “only” has the 180, which doesn’t help it because of its weakness. I’m sure people will try to fir Kyurem in Cobalion/Kyurem/Electrode decks but I don’t really know if it’s worth it. Kyurem EX may also work as an attacker for Six Corners. I’m not loving the card and in my opinion the non-EX version of Kyurem should be worth 2 prizes -  not its EX version.

Regigigas EX

Here is another EX that I don’t like. Its attack are just bad and fighting weakness is always horrible. Even this format has Terrakion that easily OHKOs it. Regigigas EX is by far the worst EX in the whole set and I wouldn’t suggest playing it in any deck (even in a Ross variant).

Shiftry

This is one of the cards that immediately caught my attention in this set. Shiftry’s only good thing is its ability even though it’s flippy. It would be a great tech if the Rare Candy wasn’t nerfed or BTS would be in the format but now it’ll probably not be able to realize its full potential and will be soon forgotten. I won’t give up with this card yet but I’m pretty sure that I soon will. 

Heavy Ball

Heavy Ball isn’t a great card but it isn’t a bad card either.It lets you search for a Pokémon that has a retreat cost of 3 or more.  It’s somewhere between good and bad. It’s true that you can search most EXs, Magnezone Prime, Emboar etc. with it but there is no deck where each of your Pokémon have a retreat of 3 or more. Heavy Ball is a card that has to be tested in each deck individually – it might work well in others but in other decks it might be just a dead draw.

Pokémon Center

Pokémon Center is a Stadium that lets each player heal 20 from one of their Benched Pokémon. In a slower metagame, Pokémon Center would be very interesting but I don’t see any benefit from it in this format in other decks than ReshiPlosion. If ReshiPlosion is able to send out fully loaded, non-damaged, 130 HP Reshirams to the active position every turn, it’s a huge difference. Pokémon Center might also work in a decks that want to play Rainbow Energy but don’t want to take the extra damage of Rainbow Energy. Pokémon Center might work as a tech in any deck but I doubt it will see that much play.

Darmanitan

I just had to mention this card. I was a huge lover of Scrambled Eggs back in the day but unfortunately that kind of decks don’t really do well in this metagame (1 attacker with 100 HP). The interesting part of Darmanitan is its 2nd attack, DarMAXitan that makes you flip a coin for each energy attached to Darmanitan. For each heads you hit for additional 50 damage.

I’ll certainly build something like Darmanitan/Electrode Prime/Victini, Celebi Prime/Darmanitan/Victini etc. to honor the memory of Scrambled Eggs. Who knows, maybe I can get it working.

Wigglytuff

There are 3 Pokémon in this format that have the attack Round. I think that even though Round-deck is very interesting, it needs so much resources to work well that it doesn’t work well enough in this format. I think that’s the theme of this set – there are lot of combos and cards that “might” work but they usually die because of the “Luxchomp-syndrome”. Remember last season, whenever you invented a great deck and then somebody said “Yeah but Luxchomp..”? It’s the same with this idea – it’s a great idea but doesn’t function well enough to be a true tier1 deck.

Musharna

Not much to say about this. It’s just like Uxie LV.X. Its ability is still good in this format but the problem comes to its attack. It could be this format’s Uxie LV.X if its attack had even a mediocre base damage but since it only hits for 40 it’s no match to Mewtwo EX and thus it’s no use in this format.

Chandelure

Some people think that this Chandelure is just what Chandelure needed to become stronger in this format but I – as a very experienced Chandelure player – must disagree. It lacks everything that the old Chandelure has and most importantly it only has 120 HP. Even if this fire Chandelure had 130 HP, I would be a bit skeptic about it just because it needs Fire energy for its attacks. You can’t go putting Rainbow Energy to Chandelure because they will destroy the deck’s main idea – magical HP of 130. 120 HP isn’t enough in this format as long as you are a stage2 Pokémon.

Gardevoir

Gardevoir is my 3rd favorite Pokémon and thankfully every Gardevoir ever printed has been at least ok. This set’s Gardevoir is a bit too weak for this format. Even though it’s ability seems at first just what Mewtwo EX needs (doubles each of your Basic Psychic energy in the play), in the end it doesn’t match in versatility to cards like Typhlosion Prime, Celebi Prime or Eelektrik. I have an article coming up about Mewtwo EX/Gardevoir deck that was played in Japan and I think it has potential but I also think that it still struggles with the best Mewtwo EX variants. As long as you can’t attach 2 Psychic Energy per turn, even Gardevoir’s ability doesn’t keep you up with fast pace of the current metagame.

EXP Share

EXP Share is a reprint and it was never that used. There were some decks that tried using it but they failed miserably. I see a future for EXP Share in this format although there is one card in the way preventing the full power of EXP Share – Pokémon Catcher. If Catcher weren’t around the energy moving effect would be great in a metagame this fast as the current but thanks to Catcher, you can always eliminate the Pokémon that has the EXP Share on it. EXP Share will probably see some play but I don’t think it will be the new number 1 trainer card that will see play in every deck.


Conclusion
The theme of this set is the “Luchomp-syndrome”. It has so many potential combos and cards but they just aren’t competitive enough. They either have too low HP, too big energy requirement or are just too slow to set-up. This set has a huge impact on the metagame, deckbuilt-wise but in the end it’s mainly because of some certain cards like Mewtwo EX, Skyarrow Bridge and Level Ball. The set has over 100 cards and the amount of Impact that this set has to the metagame isn’t as much as I would hope for. If every card of this entry would be able to make it to at least tier2 decks, I would be happy but in the end that might not even happen.

Thanks for reading, I hope you learnt a thing or two and feel free to leave a comment!