2013-06-12 PLF Metagross 052

[waynegg]

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[gal=54714]2013-06-12 PLF Metagross 052[/gal]​

 

[MegaVelocibot]

Upon my first reading of Metagross, I was reminded of another card from the past: Pidgeot from EX:FRLG. However, there are some immediate differences that must be addressed. Pidgeot was a Colorless Pokemon, with a Retreat Cost of 0, that could easily fit into many decks with Stage 2 Pokemon thanks to the old Rare Candy rules that allowed for immediate evolution of a Basic Pokemon.

Times have changed. Rare Candy's reduced efficiency in an era of heavy-hitting Pokemon EX makes for unpleasant times for Evolved Pokemon. Coupled with Metagross's Ability to only select Team Plasma cards, and not any one card (including none of the non-Plasma earlier stages of the Pokemon) severely hampers Metagross from becoming the 2-1-2 line that was common to see in the EX block's era of Pidgeot.

I've used Metagross in a similar role, though with far less efficiency, with Crobat (Plasma) and Deoxys EX (Plasma), where Crobat serves as the primary attacker, though the deck could easily work almost as well without Metagross.

EDIT: Clarified what I had meant.

 

[Phadrex]

Plasma card. Doesn't have to be Pokemon.

It's a neat idea of an ability.. I like the potential.

Stage 2, psychic weak, and a trashy move doesn't help it at all though.

4/10.

 

[pokedan24]

8/10

I'm surprised this doesn't see more play. I compiled a list of 11 best plasma pokemon. Most of them are ones those that see play, but this still made number 9. Ignore the sucky attack and all the other mediocre stats. This is all about the ability. A few things this can fetch you,

-Ghetsis for hand disruption
-Colress for mass draw
-Colress Machine (for acceleration)
-Deoxys or lasers for added damage.
-Kyurem/Thundurus/or any plasma beatstick you need.
-Shadow Triad to reuse it again.

Built right, you can make a toolbox style deck that can get you just what you need at the right time. Sure, it's a stage 2, but once you get it going, it pays for itself with it's versatility.

Even if it's not good now, I expect this to get good when future sets are released (I'm looking at you Genesect with G booster). No matter what the format it, an ability like that is too good not to see some play.

 

[Otaku]

I often hear Metagross [Plasma] compared to Pidgeot (EX: Fire Red/Leaf Green): both are Stage 2 Pokémon with a non-attack effect that allows you to add a card from your deck to your hand, once per turn... period, as opposed to once per turn per copy of the Ability.

Pidgeot was an amazing card, and was legal when I was actually, actively competing in the game (though a lack of travel funds kept me from attending anything large) and I can tell you first hand, it was a card you either played or you countered... and sometimes that you even played with counters, to shut it down once you had a good set-up. This was because the card was broken. Few people agree with me on this, but I stand by it: Pokémon cards seldom have significant "to play" costs, and it was terrible having a fun strategy shut down because your opponent could grab the perfect counter card at the drop of a hat. This includes generic "come-from-behind" cards like Scramble Energy.

Metagtoss [Plasma] is in no way broken. Pidgeot existed during a time when overall offense was slower and rarely hit anything close to modern damage output, and yet Evolutions were faster (due the original Rare Candy text and rulings); this meant even when you had a good offense, it was very hard to outpace the set-up provided by Pidgeot. As it could fetch anything and often survived for two turns, it was also easy to "break even" with two uses of Quick Search - the failing of many "set-up" Pokémon is that they take too much effort to set-up themselves!

Metagross [Plasma] has proportionately about the same HP, but it can only snag Team Plasma cards. There are many potent Team Plasma cards, but not enough to build a full deck using just them. Most problematic is that there is only Plasma Energy for Energy cards, and while there are Supporters, said Supporters aren't the best for reliable set-up. I do believe Metagross [Plasma] has untapped potential, but I do not know how extensive this is; you need something where a Bench-sitting Stage 2 (the attack isn't worth using) speeds it up/makes it more reliable than the next equivalent build. Frankly, I think they should have allowed the effect to be used more than once-per-turn-per-copy.