Pokemon Catcher/Junk Arm was what got some of my friends to quit the Pokemon TCG, and Mewtwo EX seems like it might be the breaking point for some of my playerbase that still play but I don't see it in my meta at all. Really I think the problem is the 1st Turn Rule changes and the Rare Candy nerf, I can see Catcher/Junk Arm causing problems but the hinderance on Stage 2's is what's hurting the game and TPCi thought Stage 2's were unbalanced when last format Machamp SF was used to keep SP's in check to save the game. I tried to get that point across with Otaku which was a failed effort indeed...
Well, your friends really should have quit due to
Pokemon Reversal/Junk Arm, since the protection this offered really was all about coin flips, about luck.
I agree the first turn rules are unsatisfactory... or alternatively, that the current card pool seems ill suited to such rules. Of course since I've long lobbied for Rare Candy to be allowed to rotate out of the format and to instead bring Pokemon Breeder back, I have no qualms with the Rare Candy errata. Even now, I am uncertain if Pokemon Breeder or the current Rare Candy makes much if any sense. How can that be? Aren't Stage 2 Pokemon are far too weak?
I reject this argument because it is only one interpretation of the data, and it conflicts with other data. It isn't Evolutions that are too weak, but overly effective Bench disruption and Energy acceleration... or alternatively the damage output-to-HP ratio of so many Pokemon.
I keep saying "alternatively", why is that? Pokemon is about balance, and as long as certain elements are balanced out, even if they seem obscenely powerful it still works. Pokemon Catcher is balanced when it lacks all the benefits of the current format. I don't believe any card lets you search it out save Twins, but of course a single copy can be re-used by Junk Arm quite handily, and Junk Arm is a potent card in its own right. The damage output of the most commonly played Pokemon is so high that with Type-Matching, nothing is safe, and without it, only the largest Evolutions and Pokemon EX are safe from a OHKO. The Energy acceleration of the format allows Pokemon to tap pretty much any attack, in the correct deck, in a single turn.
On the other hand, in a slower format where you're not seeing a Stage 2 until a player's third turn, inexpensive attacks struggle to OHKO the smallest Pokemon, and little if any Energy acceleration is available those first few turns, Pokemon Catcher becomes the strategic tool it was meant to be. It prevents someone from hiding a Pokemon the whole game on the Bench, but even when it is used will require skill (or at least a build up of resources that took a few turns) to OHKO whatever target was thrust forward.