What are peoples thoughts on it?
The problems I see are:
Mewtwo EX is essential in any deck other than Durant. You'll either need 2-3 depending on if you run CMT or not. They're expensive.
Again, I've been debating this on the 'gym constantly and frequently as of lately and I'll say it again. Firstly, this is only temporary. Once Dark Explorers is released, Mewtwo will see much less play. Trust me, it'll still see a lot of play - but it's play will drop to nearly half as much as it currently sees.
Secondly, there are many counters to Mewtwo than Mewtwo itself. People fail to realize that Mewtwo gives up two prizes following it's knock out. As long as you take down Mewtwo before you actually lose two non-EX or Legend Pokemon, you're in an even scenario. Not to mention, there's numerous of energy acceleration out there and there's numerous Pokemon with bulky HP as well as discard energy following there attack which decreases Mewtwo's damage output.
Regarding prices, when Yanmega and Magnezone were all seeing heavy play, these were up in the $45-60 market at one point in time to. They've dropped significantly since then as you can obviously see. When a card seems to be winning, the prices of the cards tend to be higher. This has also always been a part of our metagame and it will continue to be. Between card rarities, demand, popularity and how well it's doing along with a few other things to factor, this will also be something that will always be in the metagame. It's part of playing a TCG. This is just what keeps the boosters selling.
Lastly, all in all I have to state that Mewtwo is just another card bringing more strategy and competition to our current metagame.
Durant takes no skill. People can find the lists online with websites like 6 prizes underground. It's either the 3rd or 4th best deck.
Putting it simple, if Durant played no skill we wouldn't be seeing the same Durant players making top cut over other Durant users in the top lists.
In addition this statement I have to say that if you know your matchups and understand how to play, even a Durant mirror match shouldn't be too much of a challenge for you. Even T/S/S are considered techs and outsmarting your opponent by playing intelligently, strategically and being aware should get you by the matchup with an ounce of luck, which is another thing that will always be part of every card game.
Going first is too good.
This is most likely the statement that I agree with the most to be completely honest. This is a major advantage, but the truth is that this has always been an advantage in nearly every card game that's out there. If it's not an advantage to the player going first than it's an advantage to the player going second and nothing is gained either way. I don't see how this could be resolved over the years personally.
Pokemon Catcher is too good.
This card seems extremely broken but I think it's actually bringing a lot of strategy to the metagame. In my honest opinion, Junk Arm is making Catcher appear much more broken than it truly is. Along with the fact that basics can't be rare candied on the first turn like before and we're also dealing with large HP heavy hitting basic Pokemon.
When you think about it, we've always had it around in some way or another. Difference is, it came in different forms. Whether it was bench snipers, Pokemon Reversal, Gust of Wind, etc.
Differences here are that are format is always changing every year and it's because of this that our metagame grows and evolves, as do the players.
Lets take a quick look at this here;
Bench Snipers - We typically forsee this coming because it's usually not a basic. Though, when it has been a basic we typically can see the obstacle as a primary attacker within it's own deck. If it hasn't been a basic, assuming it wasn't strategically fit into it's own deck, the sniper consisted of either energy acceleration, first turn play evolution, or both. Needless to say, this has always been a huge comparison to the same drag to active concept as far as damage output strategy goes.
Pokemon Reversal - Has been around generally since FRLG, which was around the time that the original ex's were introduced. This concept brought an entirely different competitive aspect to the game, however, we have a coin flip to determine the active position rather than a guarantee. However, there was no Junk Arm to gain an unfair advantage point like there is now. I'd much rather prefer Junk Arm + Reversal than Junk Arm + Catcher for this reason. Not to mention, we've had Gust of Wind around before. Though, to my understanding this was during the release of Pokemon and long before the Power Creep had begun - regardless, we had a competitive TCG growing and a metagame established.
Gust of Wind - Been around since the very beginning of Pokemon. This was the exact version to Catcher. However, we had no supporters at this time and the power of supporters now were treated as trainers, or items then. Therefor, the metagame wasn't limited to the potential per turn. Despite the numbers of usable cards and the format being played then.
Basic decks are the only playable decks.
This is basically another thing I have to agree with you on - to an extent. This has brought a twisted strategy to our current metagame. Having to bench two basics to evolve to something that may or may not be OHKO'd by a basic Pokemon the following turn is just ridiculous. But it's the way our metagame is falling into the direction of. Hopefully this is only temporary as there's things hinting in the opposite direction of this as it is already. However, this still has it's own twisted strategies and benefits that help with the growth of the game. I personally can't say I agree with it or like it, but the strategy and metagame has evolved and grown to this now. All this does is make it more challenging for us and limited to our options unless/until something else happens to pop up. Regardless, there's still numerous strategies to be played, tested, discovered and above all else, there's a lot of variety and options for us to choose from.
