Mythical Island, the newest mini-set for Pokémon TCG Pocket, came out yesterday, December 17th. With so many cards new to PTCGP, the dust has yet to settle on the meta battlefield. What cards will be viable in the Mythical Island metagame? While that’s currently anything but confirmed, read on, for we may have some preliminary answers!
The Energetic Onion
Perhaps the most boosted Pokémon type in PTCGP, thanks to the new mini-set, is the Grass-type. Celebi ex is a uniquely powerful threat that can, theoretically, deal as much as 400 damage in a single blow just for having four Grass Energy attached with a Serperior on the Bench. As a result, Lilligant, a card from Genetic Apex, is now a lot stronger as well due to its ability to add extra Grass Energy to your Pokémon. Expect that this will be the subject of a deck tech on Card Gamer soon.
Up The (Water) Pressure
The other type that got a serious boost in Mythical Island is the Water-type. While we didn’t get anything quite as absurd as Misty in this set, the new Vaporeon iteration does an excellent job serving a similar role to the Lightning-type Supporter card Lt. Surge. It’s also reminiscent of Energy Trans, a Pokémon Power on the paper Pokémon Trading Card Game‘s Venusaur. Furthermore, Gyarados ex is a new threat that, while evolving from a lowly Magikarp (a card that also got a boosted version) and requiring a lot of Energy to pop off, is seriously worth it to get going.
Love Me, Normally
The newest iteration of Tauros is specifically geared towards knocking out Pokémon ex of various brands. While it requires roughly three turns of setup, if allowed that much time it can sweep the average Pikachu ex deck. If you’re using this Tauros against that deck, remember to save those copies of Giovanni for Zapdos ex!
Pokémon TCG Pocket Trainer Cards
The new Supporter cards Blue and Leaf seem ubiquitously viable. Blue is an excellent anti-Giovanni tech and even better when your opponent doesn’t have a Giovanni handy. Leaf serves as a double-X Speed, but at the cost of taking your Supporter spot for the turn. As our good buddy Professor Oak often says in the Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue video games, “There’s a time and place for everything!”
In addition to these Supporters, we got one more in the form of Budding Expeditioner. Budding Expeditioner is custom-tailored to suit a deck running Mew ex and does an excellent impression of Koga in that deck. And, like with Koga, we must advise players to make sure they have an occupied Bench before they use Budding Expeditioner to return Mew ex to their hand.
Send In The Clones
Mew ex is not the only Psychic-type Pokémon to be lifted in Mythical Island. As a matter of fact, the mere existence of Mew ex bolsters Mewtwo ex & Gardevoir decks by a huge factor. However, that’s not all they get from the mini-set. Mythical Slab is a new Item card that provides additional card selection, or even card advantage depending on the top card of your deck. Mewtwo ex & Gardevoir will continue to be a threat in the PTCGP metagame.
A Mythical Metagame?
With these new cards innovating the way players think about Pokémon TCG Pocket, we must consider that this is only a miniature expansion set. When the fuller “A2” set comes out, the game will no doubt be even more rocked to the core. Are you excited to play with strong Mythical Island cards like Celebi ex or the new Tauros?
