The Pokemon trading card game Pocket received its first expansion to Mythical Island yesterday, and the collection of new cards shook up the meta, seemingly pushing newcomer Celebi Ex to the top.
Celebi Ex is one of five Ex Pokémon added to Mythical Island, a themed booster that brings 68 unique new cards to the digital trading card game. It is a basic grass type with 130 hit points and a weakness to fire and an energy retreat cost.
Its single attack is called Power Bloom and costs one Grass Energy and one Colorless Energy, with the following effect: “Flip a coin for each Energy attached to this Pokemon. This attack does 50 damage for each head.”
This in itself is fine; It’s the equivalent of a Meta Leader Mewtwo ex’s short attack, basically averaging 50 damage for two power, but increasing it to, say, four power, means it does 100 damage on average. There’s some devastating attack potential, with four coin flips potentially presenting 200 (or zero) damage, but it’s another Mythic Island card that puts Celebi over the top.
Serperior is a stage 2 grass type with 110 HP, weakness to fire and two energy retreat costs. It has a single attack called Solar Beam that does 70 damage for one Grass Energy and three Colorless Energy, much less than the standard damage rate.
But it also comes with an ability, Jungle Totem: “Each Grass Energy attached to your Grass Pokémon provides two Grass Energy. This effect does not stack.” This “stack” clause simply means that only one of these effects will be active if two Serperiors are on the board at the same time, but it otherwise doubles the value of every energy attached to other Grass Pokémon, including Celebi Ex.
Having Serperior on the bench, which would take a while for a Stage 2 Pokemon and evolve twice, basically costs Celebi’s Power Bloom card in half. A Grass Energy attached to it will flip two coins, for between zero and 100 damage, two Grass Energy will mean four coin flips for between zero and 200 damage, and so on.
Exactly which cards are best around these two cores will be figured out by players in the coming days and weeks, but Liligant from the original set Genetics Apex could be a valuable inclusion. It’s a stage 1 Pokemon spawned from Petil that has a two Grass Power, 50 damage attack that grants a free Grass Power to a bench Pokemon.
Playing it with an ex-celeb on the bench and building up with a surprior at the same time allows players to pile power on the ex-celeb and then switch it up by threatening to deal serious damage, enough to take away the likes. Mewtwo ex and Charizard ex one turn.
This is the first deck from Mythic Island to emerge as a meta leader, capable of stacking up against these other dominant decks, but there are already other changes, including some that push Pikachu Ex.
Mythic Island arrived on December 17 and is a smaller set than the first Genetic Apex as a themed booster, with a total of 86 cards. Creatures Inc. Still added countless new missions and solo battles for players to interact with, somewhat recreating that opening-day feel of the digital trading card game.
Pokémon TCG Pocket arrives on October 30 and is powered by Creatures Inc. And The Pokémon is a certified hit for the company, earning an estimated $200 million in its first month across more than 60 million downloads.
This huge amount of money comes as Pokémon TCG Pocket follows the standard mobile and free-to-play model of the game, flooding players with rewards for the first few days before soon drying up, with real-world money spending the only real way to relive that early experience. Sometimes sets like this drop outside the thrill.
Completing Genetic Apex, the first set of cards that officially totals 226 but also includes 60 rare alternate art cards, is estimated to take players about two years without spending money, when it rains they can wrap up the collection after it drops. About $1,500
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He would talk about The Witcher all day.