I mean, sorta. Gambling averages things out and depending on the deck the downside isn’t that much. We can complain about celebi but if you play enough energy you’re going to hit the 50% threshold more often than not
One thing I didn't mention in the video is that the clefairy on the right appears to be using metronome while it's unclear if left clefairy is. This certainly presents some unique value worth considering
@@Bafael We need a Pokémon with the Metronome attack, where it attacks using any of all other moves in the game, that would be pure chaos and I would love it
5:40 not only that. If you want to clear the solo mission about "win with a deck that only consists of 1, 2 and 3 star cards" promo cards are not allowed to be used for this. I had to find out myself with promo mankey. So always use non promo cards for missions
@@Darbzilaexcept when it’s the coin flip to move first. In that case I’m always flipping heads, and then getting one shot since my opponent draws a card with a high damage attack for 1 energy and I draw a low hp basic mon
Imo, the single energy attack snivy does not out weigh the cost of getting ohko'd my mewtwo psy sphere + giovanni. In general, 60hp is a really important benchmark that alot of decks are trying to hit, so that extra 10 on island snivy can really come in handy. Like you said, you never really want this thing in the active to begin with
Fair, Island snivy additionally lives 2 zebstrika attacks on the bench or something like 20+40 on the field which can be helpful, 70 HP is a big deal and was worth mentioning.
To add to this, when it's the late game and you have serp, the 70HP snivy can attack for 40 using one energy. Just a nice quirk, the risky threshold of 60HP you already elaborated is the main reason though for me as well.
@@Bafaelyou forgot to add that Apex Pikachu doesn't discard 3 energies but all the energies it has. So you can only use it once with Surge which moves all the energy from bench Pokemon to raichu, which I think is a major set back.
Curious, I never would have thought to do this. Unfortunate that the geodude and graveler will be useless but it's funny to imagine bringing fire+water energy and 2 druddigon to hide behind as you evolve, and potentially using the druddigon as attackers
Thanks for the video! I believe that you may have missed Magmar A1a #012 and Magmar A1 #044. I'd love to hear your thoughts on them considering the similarities in stats and attack cost, but different damage values with drawbacks etc. Big fan of both the fighting game and ptcgp content!
wow I did miss those. Island magmar cleans up but I think it's mostly a worse version of ninetales, while apex magmar is basically a slower version of rapidash. In both instances it's taking up less slots in your deck and less reliant on evolving but both are viable in blaine decks, I think the island one is just good if you want help cleaning in late game and the apex one is good if you want a moderately bulky early game attacker that doesn't take much investment. I don't think either card is stellar but probably island magmar has more potential? Hard call, the team basically dictates which one you'd use
@@Bafael Island Magmar + Blaine can get rid of Celebi ex. It's useful as a backup plan in case Ninetales doesn't show up. I use only 1 Magmar so my deck doesn't brick that much. 110 damage on turn 2 is still very scary. Very often, just placing 1 energy on Magmar is enough to force the opponent to use Sabrina, which in turn also helps you out as Magmar has a 2 energy retreat cost.
I actually faced my first MI raichu yesterday, and was so confused when my bench was damaged and it didnt lose its energy. MI raichu is definitely slept on.
Exeggcute- I agree with your assessment pretty much 100% Exeggutor- Theres next to no reason to use the Apex Exeggutor because of Exeggutor EX. Island Exeggutor has a small niche, and can hit good numbers, so it has a place in some decks. Snivy- The 70HP Snivy is miles above the 60hp one. The attacks will rarely come into play, but the 70hp is extremely important to avoid certain knockout ranges. Ponyta- No argument here. The one that can do 40 damage is better. Rapidash- The 2 energy Rapidash is worse. I want to keep these to all one sentence, so theres not enough space to explain why. I'll do a follow up comment if anyone asks. Salandit- I agree here. If you have poison, use the one that benefits from poison. Salazzle- Both Salazzle are pretty underwhelming. Again.. If your deck capitalizes on poison, use the poison one. Magikarp- Leap out Magikarp is the only one that should even be considered. Vaporeon- Maybe in some gimmicky stall deck the Apex Vaporeon could do something, but for the most part the Island Vaporeon is much better. Pikachu- Island Pikachu can hit 30 damage pretty easily. This means it one shots Staryu, and can one shot Finneon, and Froakie with a Giovanni. Island Pikachu has way better numbers. Raichu- Both Raichu are very different, but both can be used in specific cases. The 140 Damage Raichu is still probably more useful overall in more relevant decks. Electabuzz- Not many Decks would have a reason to run Apex Electabuzz. Hitting the bench with Island Electabuzz is a bit more valuable. Clefairy- You have pretty much perfect reasoning here. Haunter- Do I want the Haunter that faints to Weezing tackle + two poison ticks? No. The 80hp Haunter is better because that extra 10 hp is more important. Mankey- Obviously use the self damage Mankey if you use Apex Pimeape. If you use Island Primeape then you might want the higher hp one because a lot of psychics hit for 30 damage. Geodude- If you are actually at the point where you have to attack with 2 energy Geodude, then you're probably going to lose. Use 1 energy Geodude. Graveler- Same with Geodude. Use the lower attack cost Graveler. Golem- Island Golem put Golem decks on the map. It's really good. However, if you're feeling cheeky you can have one Apex Golem to improve your matchup against Mewtwo decks. Koffing- Literally a toss up. I have used both quite a bit, and I find the division Koffing maybe marginally more useful. Use Whichever you like more. Weezing- Island Weezing isnt that bad per se.. But the Apex Weezing is an absolute icon. Apex Weezing is the glue in a lot of decks. Pidgey- With Zebstrika and the new Island Pikachu running around, its too much of a liability to use the 50hp Pidgey. After being donked twice in a row, its back to the 60hp Pidgey for me. Pidgeotto- Apex Pidgeotto is so much better its not even funny. Island Pidgeotto is bad and should feel bad. Jigglypuff- I think Sing on the promo Jigglypuff will save your skin more than the extra 10hp from the Apex Jigglypuff. Take your pick, but I vote Promo Jigglypuff. Tauros- Even a Neolithic ape can see that the Island Tauros is better. Theres no contest here. Eevee- I know I shouldnt.. I know the other two Eevee are technically better.. But I hear the continuous steps in my dreams.. They call to me..
Rapidash: I run both in my Blaine deck. Apex R, great going first. Low energy. Can put my energy on bench Vulpix instead of bench Ponyta and can still attack with Apex R next turn if I don't draw Ninetales. The thing is there's not that much energy usage in the deck. If I have Ninetales out and attacking early, it's usually winning. Usually I end up with sparing an extra energy at some point. Raichu: I also run 2. Often I am attacking with Pikachu Ex. Or have a Zapdos out. But spare energy can be directed to Pikachu on the bench. And often by the time I am able to attack, I have the choice of both to evolve into to see which is best in the current situation. Eevee: I think the continuous flip Eevee is best. Expected damage is the same. Often 20 damage doesn't matter to break points. In such a case Apex E does 100% of nothing. Flip E does 75% of nothing, and a non-zero chance of something/killing. Very rarely 20 damage is important/even kills, but as long as this is less that 1/3 of the time you are attacking with Eevee, Flip E offers better value. So let the coins talk to you.
@wolffang21burgers all good points. I have also seen people run both Rapidash and both Raichu, and it makes sense depending on what you want. New Raichu is noticeably tankier, and can set up your opponent's bench to be sniped with Zebstrika later, so it's an ok tech card. I prefer 1 energy Rapidash because of tempo. In Blaine decks I spend my energy attachment each turn to keep powering Ninetales, and if Ninetales goes down I don't want to be caught flat footed. Sometimes you can just lose instantly with a Blaine deck if you can't revenge kill an enemy because they can just get back to back KO's due to the frailty of Blaine decks. Eg. You hit a Starmie for 90 with Ninetales, but they KO you next turn. If you have 1 energy Rapidash, you KO them back, if you have 2 energy Rapidash, they just roll you. Not to mention the 2 energy Rapidash isn't even guaranteed to do more damage. Continuous steps Eevee is worse than the 20 damage Eevee, and the Growl Eevee on paper. In practice, it's better than the 20 damage Eevee, but still worse than growl Eevee. Growl Eevee is actually deceptively good. It can save you from early damage and KO's consistently. There are a lot of 1 and 2 energy attackers that can KO Eevee either by doing 60 damage, or by hitting it's weakness. This is enough of a reason in my opinion to say that Growl Eevee is technically the best. That being said, my inner gambler will always prefer Continuous steps Eevee.
Rapidash: Kind of a toss up because they're more different than people think. One is a go-first card like Exeggutor EX (A "Raticate" as I like to call those), the other prefers to go second. Is one of those cases where I wish I could use more than 2 Rapidash. Mankey: With "Plenty of psychics" I guess you mean mostly Mew + Giovanni KOing 50 HP mankey, which is indeed a massive concern considering how popular Mewtwo EX decks are. Haunter: Also, Apex Haunter has higher average damage output. Also, I like to practice the 50x-90% rule when evaluating random effects; you see, when you try to toss a coin 50 times there's around a 90% chance to get 21 or more heads (42% or more). Estimating the worst luck of that 90% scenario makes you prepare better for luck's unpredictability, while still valuing it somewhat realistically. The more tosses per try, the closer it is to the average. Haunter gets 21, Ponyta gets 22.6, Kangaskhan gets 26.4, Moltres ex gets 1.37, 6 energy Celebi gets 140, and Misty gets around 0.77 energy. *Graveler:* I feel is less about the energy cost, and more about the fact it curves better from the better Geodude; 30 extra damage means higher damage output even with the evolution delay so is worth considering. There are decks who use both Gravelers specially at high level play, while almost no deck uses island geodude. Koffing: You can also use 1 apex Koffing and 1 Island koffing, because if you have 2 of them you don't want to use division meaning is not good to have 2 Island ones, only 1-1 or 2 apex.
Island Eevee, like Misty, has an expected number of heads equal to one, so it's expected damage is already equal to Apex Eevee, but with unlimited upside on a given turn, as you mentioned.
If you take into account the fact that pokemon don't have infinite health (and random number generators don't generate infinite runs), the expected damage is actually a tiny bit less than 20. But yeah it's basically the same, so the decision ultimately comes down to if that 20 damage helps hit a lot of breakpoints or not. If not, Island Eevee is definitely the way to go.
@@rivetace yeah thats true, i hate that level or rng but i can't see how good island eevee is, i still prefer promo one, because i always prefer Stat reductions or effects (My fav cards are island golem and kabutops for any wonders)
This only applies for infinite series. In our cases, since Pokémon’s don’t have that much health and it caps out as twenty. Island evee average expected damage is actually slightly lower that regular evee. Regardless, there isn’t a clear choice which is better. If your deck can hit certain thresholds with 20 dmg, run normal evee. If it can’t, run island evee. So I would actually run normal evee for a Gyrados deck. (Not like it really matters, cuz vaporeon gyrados is way less popular than greninja gyrados)
About the two Weezing, the MI Smokescreen one is much worse, Smokescreen only affect the active pokemon that got hit, so if you switch out, you don't have its effect anymore, and can attack freely with the new active pokemon. I am not sure if evolving also negates the Smokescreen effect or not, but I can confirm that switching works
I've played a LOT of Pidgeot decks and I can honestly say I'm not really sure which of the Pidgey's and Pidgetto's are better. GA Pidgey has lower damage but it is not meant to attack regardless. The 60 HP helps it tank like at least one attack more if you have too. Those moments come up often enough for it to matter from what I've seen. Pidgeotto is a different issue altogether. 50 for 3 Energy is absolutely atrocious, however, 90 HP does allow it to survive some stray hits like a 1 Heads Marowak ex, Aerodactyl ex, Greninja + ability and a couple of Gio'd 70s. 30 for 1 Energy is great, like you said but that 80 HP is scary though. Because I can never really decide, I just run both of them and if I have the option to choose, I'll pick whichever is better for the situation. Pidgey line isn't really meant for tanking anyway. Maybe if you have two Pidgeot ex's, at least then you can tank somewhat lol.
As someone who has played almost exclusively Weezing decks since launch, the attacking koffing benefits from having 1 retreat compared to the 2 retreat of the division koffing because it's alot easier to pivot without wasting an energy attachment or a leaf/x speed, which can be huge in games where you dont find Weezing early but do get an early scolipede. Also attacking koffing can 2 shot a ralts/kirlia which is nice
I prefer Division Koffing in my Venoshock deck because it can help thin out draws if I don’t have both pokeballs early. Not drawing my evolution cards early enough is consistently the deck’s leading cause of loss, so having a backup deckthinner for starts without pokeballs helps.
@WillThibault true that is a big plus for division koffing, I've ended up doing a 1/1 split of the koffings in my current version since I think both have ended up being valuable
Which non event cart is it the same as? GA has 3 eevees plus a rare card art eevee that all know tackle, and the MI eevee knows continuous steps. I don't see an eevee with growl besides the event one
In Blaine decks you would want the Apex Rapidash if you’re also running Ninetales and Magmar. It’s harder to get the necessary energy into play for Ninetales and Magmar if you need an extra turn giving Island Rapidash’s two energy. Apex Rapidash could be on the active spot dealing a decent 40 or 70 damage on one energy while you’re spending turns building up whatever combo of Ninetales and Magmar you have on the bench.
To build off this, the gamble of Island Rapidash’s coinflip makes it incredibly difficult to properly use Blaine. The true strength of this deck is its consistent early power, and Island Rapidash throws a wrench in that. More consistent early chip with Rapidash to combo into Ninetales or a Blaine-fueled Rapidash usually beats out committing to Rapidash and taking a coin flip
Thanks for making this video, I'm surprised at just how many I forgot have different versions. I'm up for this card game arc! In another comment that mentioned magmar, I don't think any are that great either, but MI magmar can notably one-shot celebi with blaine, which I'm sure is its intended purpose. I have only one in my blaine deck for when I simply cannot draw ninetails, since it's basically a fire-and-forget attacker anyway. Not always useful, but it's come in clutch occasionally enough that I can't see myself removing it right now. I also use one version each of the rapidash line because of the different use cases and the apex one having a full-art version.
I agree with all of these except for Snivy, with the popularity of bench attackers that do 30 damage the 70HP on the mythical island snivy means it takes 3 turns for them to snipe on the bench rather than 2 which imo is more valuable than being able to do 20 damage with one energy
Appreciate the video. Just wanted to point out that continuous steps has the same average damage as tackle for eevee. Just did the math on it and the result surprised me.
For times where a card is referenced outside of ones on screen (so not ones that get their own slide like salazar), adding it to the screen woukd be nice, something like pigetoto being between or next to the pidgeots. I lack the context to know what it adds to the line cause i only play the regular cardgame.
While promo snivy's attack is undeniably better, and 60 hp isn't bad, genetic apex snivy has 70 hp, which is a notable increase. For example, this lets you take two hitmonlee attacks, or a mewtwo psychic sphere with giovanni, or a bunch of other things targetted at killing 60 hp basics. Snivy is meant to evolve asap and not attack things, so I think I'd rather have the extra bulk.
Generally with Koffing, I like 1 of each for versatility as starting MI Koffing is good to set up both Koffing for your Weezing Koga combo early and the GA Koffing of course has early damage if you open it. GA Weezing is hands down the best Weezing.
Never tried it, but I think smokescreen weezing with koga can be really annoying. You either take no damage or just reset. GA weezing is just good ol' reliable. Poison is really annoying and 30 damage is just enough. (And venoshock can 1 shot things)
I agree GA Weezing is better in most cases however I've been running a MI Weezing deck with Hypno and Mew EX and it's been dominating. The fact that Weezing and Hypno can stack stalls is crazy and Mew EX can sweep anything Koga can't save your Weezing from.
Once I used Ml kofing and I went against a mewtwo deck. Could not find weezing and ended up losing when I could have done early pressure since the beginning. I won't ever use that thing again
@flaviogutierrezllanos3330 This is why I personally play 1 MI and 1 GA Koffing overall, I think 2 of MI Koffing is Too much as you can't attack with it if you don't see Weezing, but not having it you might not see the other Koffing to loop your Weezings on time.
9:53 I would like to see a complication of pokemon evolution lines that are good going first like this one or A1 Rapidash and A1a Primeape mentioned prior, mons with attack costs of 1/1 or 1/1/2. Scolipede and Greninja immediately comes to mind, but I would like to give a shout out to Mawile because it's energy discarding effect is irrelevant going second.
Flipping heads with Eeve and outputtung huge dmg must be on of the most satisfying things in Pokemon TCG. Like it can be a game winning card on round 2! My highest achievement was damaging an articuno turn 2 for 80
i do wonder if apex golem could pop up again later if some double colorless energy stuff comes into the game since it only requires 1 fighting energy that can be supplied by brock in any deck but i cant even imagine a deck that would feel the need to bother
On the koffing one, you can just run both at 1. You will either search an extra guy that maybe will do cheap damage or already have the one you need. And sice apex weezing is mostly used for the poison instead of raw damage having extra consistency to keep the koga stall going is nice
I also use the 60 HP Snivy, because it can do 20 damage with a single energy even if you don't have Serperior out (which would require a second Snovy line in your deck), which can often take out a weakened Pokémon.
Interesting to see you talking about M̶o̶d̶e̶r̶n̶ V̶s̶ c̶l̶a̶s̶s̶i̶c̶ mystical island vs apex cards, because i agree with most, if not all of it. Always wondered if they introduced cards with a different typing. For example, what if quagsire has a water card and a "fighting" (ground) card? With both having different weakness and utilities. Idk if that will contribute/affect the meta much, it will probably benefit the "collecting" aspect more.
In my scolipede weezing deck i use one copy of each koffing, because the version i use has Tauros, 2 venipede lines, 2 koffing (only one weezing bc I can’t pull a 2nd, but it works fine nbd), and one salandit. Lots of basics so the searching koffing saves a use of my pokeball
I disagree with Golem. It is a late game card like Charizard ex, not a stall card. The 150 damage version can defeat most Pokémon ex, what the 120 damage version cannot. The self damage does not matter at all.
Which version should you play? Why not both? In case of Exeggcute, Exeggcutor and Rapidash I prefer to play both cards in the same deck, so I have one for early game and one for mid/late game. When I have the choice I evolve Damage Exeggcute into Exeggcutor EX and the other one into Island Exeggcutor. If I get the "wrong" one it's not much of a problem. I've tested the deck with all combinations and I've concluded that in my case different Eggs are better than having one of them twice. Similar with Rapidash. I would play the card twice either way so having both of them I can sometimes choose depending on the situation. 😌
I think new exeggcute is really cool because it’s amazing for dual type decks. Heck, maybe even triple type decks… Imagine Grass/Water/Electric, with Exeggutor Ex and Dragonite!
@ if you’re attacking with it while it’s a dratini, something is wrong. Pop an X speed and switch to something with more HP while you set it up so you can Dragonite later. You have 4 energy rolls to get 2 types of energy, you’ll get it
I don't know what eeveelutions will come out in the next set but Mythic Island Eevee feels better in decks running offensive Eeveelutions while Promo Eevee feels better for Utility Eeveelutions. But that's my take
Exeggcute is best to use mystical island version, even if you only use ex exeggutor. Your opponents will think your running mystical island egg and get surprised when you bring out ex and can mess up their strategy.
11:35 The average damage is technically higher than Apex Eevee. Now one might say that the expected damage is 20 * (1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + ... ) = 20. But they're forgotting that if you flip > 40 coins you can skip your oppenents choose of switch in after it kills. And most likely, if you get enough heads it would take so long to send the flip animation to your opponent they will skip their turn entirely. So you can get another attack off. This translates to an average value of about 20.000000000000000000000000000002 (if it takes 100 flips to skip your opponents turn)
I find a one-of single prizer handy alongside its EX for consistent evolution. Great with Exeggutor, Marrowak... Shame we don't have a damaging Aerodactyl to pair with an EX.
I think the attacking Koffing is a little bit superior because attack dark decks asap is a game changer, against other decks, the division Koffing is better
I was going to comment that I didn't think Tauros was underrated considering the Drudd-Tauros-Mew core that I've seen slotted into a ton of decks, but then saw someone in the comments saying it was bad so maybe you're right lol
For the Rapidash, I'd much prefer using the first version, because it only has 1 energy cost and it fits better in a deck that's supposed to be very fast. The problem with the second, aside of its cost of 2, which can put you in trouble, is that you'll most likely miss the flip, since it's heavily rigged in this game, so I prefer the safest and quickest option.
From my limited experience with Golem you want both. Island golem is way better at taking on multiple 1-2 energy attackers but eats dirt against 140+ Hp 3-4 energy attackers. Apex Golem smashes pokemon like Zapdos Arcanine and Mewtwo but trades poorly against low investment 60-90 damage attackers. I've also seen and ran Exeggcutor lists with two Exeggcute and 3-4 Exeggcutor. Each one are such good mons that it can be worth it have the spread of options. Even non-ex apex requires significant investment to KO tor only 1 point.
I am unsure about my golem conclusion since Apex golem dies so easily on the crackback to similarly invested mons and seems unlikely to get first strike on the targets he wants. Maybe I was just confirming a bias off having only one of each. Hard to test what with golem being so inconsistent in the first place. I can report playing 3-4 exeggcutors plus fossils is very fun and surprisingly effective. It is super nice to consistently start Exeggcute every game and have a very high chance of evolving into Exeggcutor. It also lets mythical island cute be more likely to survive and fix your energy if you roll non-grass.
I think island mankey's ability to pick up T2 kills on 50hp pokemon (you can even risk giovanni against 60hp pokemon, it's often worth it) makes it far superior than the other 2 mankeys in an island primeape deck
Blaine is one of my favourite decks, and I personally like the old Rapidadh a lot more. I really want most of.my energy for Ninetales, and not for the inconsistent Rapidash, there is nothing worse than flipping tails and then having too little energy on Ninetales. I do use one of the new Magmar as a Ninetales light if the draw is horrible and doesn't give you Ninetales.
Psychic as a move is super scary. I think it's a bit slept on, because it is the only thing in the game that punishes the opponent for having energy. Whereas, getting as much energy asap is really really important. It's why serperior is that good and people run misty despite 50% of getting 0 energy.
@ Then everybody must have pulled the same first EX. It's literally 40% of the decks i see, the other 40% being mewtwo. You HAVE to be seeing the constant mirror match, there's no way Not hating or anything, but yeah I totally hate celebi players so much it's unreal lol Honestly haven't even seen pikachu that much. Just celebi and mewtwo. Sometimes pikachu, starmie, gyarados, or jank. Sometimes. Mostly celebi and mewtwo. So much celebi and mewtwo. celebi and mewtwo. celebi and mewtwo. celebi and mewtwo. It never ends
I feel like apex rapidash is the winner. That one energy cost is a huge deal in my book. If you go first and you pull apex rapidash you can immediately get tempo back with 40 damage on your next turn. Also I feel the card has more synergy with ninetails since they aren’t competing for energy as much.
Yea I agree apex rapidash works way better with ninetails since you dont need to sacrifice a turn to get it set up if you already have ninetails out and attacking
Vapreon apex is really only useful in mult-energy decks, and more specifically Dragonite decks. Meanwhile Rapidash island is useful in mid range decks, and honestly should be no where near aggro Blaine. Turn 2 70 damage is just too good to pass up, and can win games. Meanwhile island Rapidash can be used in something like Charizard decks for a surprise alternative
mythical island ponyta is, i believe, the only mythical island coin flip card that has a higher average damage than it's non flip counterpart. mythical island manky comes close but, promo manky has a stronger attack than mythical island manky's average
10:49 for me it is not that good, having to waste 3 energys in a pokemon that the rival can easily outplay by not attacking with an ex pokemon is very costful, and pikachu ex can set up earlier and kill all ur mons while u are setting tauros, maybe this card will be useful if they add double colorless energy somehow
I've been playing a lot of tauros lately and I can say for many decks, not attacking ever with an EX mon is extremely detrimental. You run it with other attackers and either invest in it or not based on what your opponent brought.
I think the 120 damage is just "good enough". I think it's a card where people forget it exists so you can catch them off guard. This tauros should be the back up back up plan. It can land good damage, and losing only 1 point is a decent trade off
Tauros is especially good in decks running druddigon and stage 2 decks. Druddigon gives Tauros time to set up and chips the basic and Stage 1 EX's down to 120. It's indispensable in lists like Pidgeot EX for saving your bacon when your stage 2 doesn't show up. It also pairs well with Mew EX since Mew can usually beat a lot of the pokemon that beat Tauros. Just put your energy on which one will counter the pokemon your opponent is powering up.
Fun fact, the more trials you do on this type of coin flip based move, the average dmg increases because of extreme outliers. So, over an infinite number of trials, the average damage will near infinity
That isnt true, extreme outliers dont bring the average up, half the time eevee deals 0 damage still, the original comment is right, continuous steps average damage is 20, similar to how misty's average energy given is 1@@A_Name136
@@Rosatrice no, Misty's MEDIAN energy is 1 and continuous steps' MEDIAN damage is 20, i.e 50% of the time you'll deal 0 and 50% some higher number The AVERAGE is indeed infinite
@@FaliusArenNo, the expected outcome, and thus the average if you were to trial this infinitely, is infinitesimally less than 20. 20 is the asymptote. You’ll notice if you do the math that each step up creeps the average closer to 20 but never passes it. The average will only skew high if you stop immediately after getting a disproportionately high outlier. Otherwise it’ll slowly drop back down to 19.99…9
Apex rapidash, also useful for building other bench pokemon, whist dealing out 40-70 damage with 1 energy card. After i have one energy on that rapidash, i put other energy on vulpix/nintales or island rapidash. Very similar to your primape commentary actually. One of my favorite pokemon in the game, i personally run 1 apex rapidash and 1 island rapidash. Island rapidash is needed for lucky killing some pokemon/getting a lot of damage out, such as ex mew/ex mewtwo/ex pikachu, ex starmie etc.. What are your thoughts on Magmar, still now worth it?
I actually use Island Tauros in every deck, as almost everyone plays EX Pokemon... And even without that, its still a 100Hp basic Pokemon thats not EX... It can be used as wall while charging another Pokemon in your bench...
Are you able to indicate which pokemon is the one thats better by like highlighting it or something? Im new to the game so idk which ones are from which packs. If not its alright i guess...
As I said in the opening I put the apex ones on the left and the island ones on the right, but I tried to use descriptions to say which one was better too, like saying apex pidgeotto "with the cheaper attacks" was better
I think I disagree on Snivy. Since you usually want it on the bench, Apex Snivy can survive two hits from Hitmonlee while Promo Snivy cannot without a Potion or Erika.
promo snivy is worse, it gets guaranteed killed by rapidash via 40d + 20d from weakness promo snivy also gets killed by mewtwo ex + giovanni regular snivy can take a regular base hit at 70hp same goes for 80 hp haunter over 70 hp haunter
Yeah, I find 50 more likely to hit a valuable threshold, but it's not like I've played my gengar deck a ton and I don't think gengar is very good anyway
The damage done per turn only matters when its a Pokemon you want to keep on the field, having Haunter as your active for too long can be detrimental to your Gengar plays. It's really meant to evolve, use an attack with its energy if it needs to, then evolve again into Gengar.
It's specifically the first players 2nd turn that's important cuz the second player never gets the chance to evolve to raise their hp and dodge kill thresholds. "turn 3" is always accurate and "on your second turn as player one only" is very awkward. Use the words the game uses.
@@AlexH274 yes, and TCGP uses a different term, which is good for me because I can use it to describe a specific moment which "turn 2" in your suggested sense does not capture.
What I've learnt from this video is that the dude loves gambling
he also doesnt worry about getting revenge killed apparently
I mean, sorta. Gambling averages things out and depending on the deck the downside isn’t that much. We can complain about celebi but if you play enough energy you’re going to hit the 50% threshold more often than not
Gaming=Gambling
The amount of times in the Blastoise CPU Event that the fricking Eevee hit 80, 100 or even 120 damage.... It killed my Pikachu EX once!
I once almost killed a Celebi with it it is so funny
Damn that is the epitome of bad luck😂😂
For me it was mostly 0 or 20 damage from eevee
it does a big steppy
To me, it mostly did 0, but there was one time it did 140 and one shot my zapdos ex. That thing is evil
ur not alone
Love the clefairy analysis
The most important part of the video for me
One thing I didn't mention in the video is that the clefairy on the right appears to be using metronome while it's unclear if left clefairy is. This certainly presents some unique value worth considering
@@Bafael We need a Pokémon with the Metronome attack, where it attacks using any of all other moves in the game, that would be pure chaos and I would love it
I think left Clefairy is conducting for the other Clefairys, setting the pace for the dance, like an actual metronome
loving the bafael ptcgp arc
It’s great
Samesies, this niche content is epic
@LuaShine W pfp
5:40 not only that. If you want to clear the solo mission about "win with a deck that only consists of 1, 2 and 3 star cards" promo cards are not allowed to be used for this. I had to find out myself with promo mankey. So always use non promo cards for missions
this guy ranks cards like he never flips tails
6:44
"I'm confident at flipping heads!"
You: always flips tails
Opponent: always flips heads
@@Darbzilaexcept when it’s the coin flip to move first. In that case I’m always flipping heads, and then getting one shot since my opponent draws a card with a high damage attack for 1 energy and I draw a low hp basic mon
Imo, the single energy attack snivy does not out weigh the cost of getting ohko'd my mewtwo psy sphere + giovanni.
In general, 60hp is a really important benchmark that alot of decks are trying to hit, so that extra 10 on island snivy can really come in handy. Like you said, you never really want this thing in the active to begin with
Fair, Island snivy additionally lives 2 zebstrika attacks on the bench or something like 20+40 on the field which can be helpful, 70 HP is a big deal and was worth mentioning.
To add to this, when it's the late game and you have serp, the 70HP snivy can attack for 40 using one energy. Just a nice quirk, the risky threshold of 60HP you already elaborated is the main reason though for me as well.
Yup, the 70HP Snivy is superior (no pun intended)
@@Zutentudude that isn't even a good point. Who is going to use snivy when you have serperior already.
@@Bafaelyou forgot to add that Apex Pikachu doesn't discard 3 energies but all the energies it has. So you can only use it once with Surge which moves all the energy from bench Pokemon to raichu, which I think is a major set back.
8:15 just a point to be brought up, but genetic apex golem can be slotted into any deck, u do not need to bring fighting energy due to brock
Curious, I never would have thought to do this. Unfortunate that the geodude and graveler will be useless but it's funny to imagine bringing fire+water energy and 2 druddigon to hide behind as you evolve, and potentially using the druddigon as attackers
@Bafael if only brock worked with pre-evolutions would golem be a actual powerhouse
@@abhinandhari7812 Yeah, that would make the 2 energy geodude and 3 energy graveler REALLY good too
Thanks for the video! I believe that you may have missed Magmar A1a #012 and Magmar A1 #044. I'd love to hear your thoughts on them considering the similarities in stats and attack cost, but different damage values with drawbacks etc. Big fan of both the fighting game and ptcgp content!
wow I did miss those. Island magmar cleans up but I think it's mostly a worse version of ninetales, while apex magmar is basically a slower version of rapidash. In both instances it's taking up less slots in your deck and less reliant on evolving but both are viable in blaine decks, I think the island one is just good if you want help cleaning in late game and the apex one is good if you want a moderately bulky early game attacker that doesn't take much investment. I don't think either card is stellar but probably island magmar has more potential? Hard call, the team basically dictates which one you'd use
@@Bafael
Island Magmar + Blaine can get rid of Celebi ex. It's useful as a backup plan in case Ninetales doesn't show up. I use only 1 Magmar so my deck doesn't brick that much.
110 damage on turn 2 is still very scary. Very often, just placing 1 energy on Magmar is enough to force the opponent to use Sabrina, which in turn also helps you out as Magmar has a 2 energy retreat cost.
I actually faced my first MI raichu yesterday, and was so confused when my bench was damaged and it didnt lose its energy. MI raichu is definitely slept on.
Really loving the pokémon content. Always a huge fan of all your discussion based videos
Exeggcute- I agree with your assessment pretty much 100%
Exeggutor- Theres next to no reason to use the Apex Exeggutor because of Exeggutor EX. Island Exeggutor has a small niche, and can hit good numbers, so it has a place in some decks.
Snivy- The 70HP Snivy is miles above the 60hp one. The attacks will rarely come into play, but the 70hp is extremely important to avoid certain knockout ranges.
Ponyta- No argument here. The one that can do 40 damage is better.
Rapidash- The 2 energy Rapidash is worse. I want to keep these to all one sentence, so theres not enough space to explain why. I'll do a follow up comment if anyone asks.
Salandit- I agree here. If you have poison, use the one that benefits from poison.
Salazzle- Both Salazzle are pretty underwhelming. Again.. If your deck capitalizes on poison, use the poison one.
Magikarp- Leap out Magikarp is the only one that should even be considered.
Vaporeon- Maybe in some gimmicky stall deck the Apex Vaporeon could do something, but for the most part the Island Vaporeon is much better.
Pikachu- Island Pikachu can hit 30 damage pretty easily. This means it one shots Staryu, and can one shot Finneon, and Froakie with a Giovanni. Island Pikachu has way better numbers.
Raichu- Both Raichu are very different, but both can be used in specific cases. The 140 Damage Raichu is still probably more useful overall in more relevant decks.
Electabuzz- Not many Decks would have a reason to run Apex Electabuzz. Hitting the bench with Island Electabuzz is a bit more valuable.
Clefairy- You have pretty much perfect reasoning here.
Haunter- Do I want the Haunter that faints to Weezing tackle + two poison ticks? No. The 80hp Haunter is better because that extra 10 hp is more important.
Mankey- Obviously use the self damage Mankey if you use Apex Pimeape. If you use Island Primeape then you might want the higher hp one because a lot of psychics hit for 30 damage.
Geodude- If you are actually at the point where you have to attack with 2 energy Geodude, then you're probably going to lose. Use 1 energy Geodude.
Graveler- Same with Geodude. Use the lower attack cost Graveler.
Golem- Island Golem put Golem decks on the map. It's really good. However, if you're feeling cheeky you can have one Apex Golem to improve your matchup against Mewtwo decks.
Koffing- Literally a toss up. I have used both quite a bit, and I find the division Koffing maybe marginally more useful. Use Whichever you like more.
Weezing- Island Weezing isnt that bad per se.. But the Apex Weezing is an absolute icon. Apex Weezing is the glue in a lot of decks.
Pidgey- With Zebstrika and the new Island Pikachu running around, its too much of a liability to use the 50hp Pidgey. After being donked twice in a row, its back to the 60hp Pidgey for me.
Pidgeotto- Apex Pidgeotto is so much better its not even funny. Island Pidgeotto is bad and should feel bad.
Jigglypuff- I think Sing on the promo Jigglypuff will save your skin more than the extra 10hp from the Apex Jigglypuff. Take your pick, but I vote Promo Jigglypuff.
Tauros- Even a Neolithic ape can see that the Island Tauros is better. Theres no contest here.
Eevee- I know I shouldnt.. I know the other two Eevee are technically better.. But I hear the continuous steps in my dreams.. They call to me..
Rapidash: I run both in my Blaine deck.
Apex R, great going first. Low energy. Can put my energy on bench Vulpix instead of bench Ponyta and can still attack with Apex R next turn if I don't draw Ninetales.
The thing is there's not that much energy usage in the deck. If I have Ninetales out and attacking early, it's usually winning. Usually I end up with sparing an extra energy at some point.
Raichu: I also run 2. Often I am attacking with Pikachu Ex. Or have a Zapdos out. But spare energy can be directed to Pikachu on the bench. And often by the time I am able to attack, I have the choice of both to evolve into to see which is best in the current situation.
Eevee: I think the continuous flip Eevee is best. Expected damage is the same.
Often 20 damage doesn't matter to break points. In such a case Apex E does 100% of nothing. Flip E does 75% of nothing, and a non-zero chance of something/killing.
Very rarely 20 damage is important/even kills, but as long as this is less that 1/3 of the time you are attacking with Eevee, Flip E offers better value. So let the coins talk to you.
@wolffang21burgers all good points.
I have also seen people run both Rapidash and both Raichu, and it makes sense depending on what you want.
New Raichu is noticeably tankier, and can set up your opponent's bench to be sniped with Zebstrika later, so it's an ok tech card.
I prefer 1 energy Rapidash because of tempo. In Blaine decks I spend my energy attachment each turn to keep powering Ninetales, and if Ninetales goes down I don't want to be caught flat footed.
Sometimes you can just lose instantly with a Blaine deck if you can't revenge kill an enemy because they can just get back to back KO's due to the frailty of Blaine decks.
Eg. You hit a Starmie for 90 with Ninetales, but they KO you next turn. If you have 1 energy Rapidash, you KO them back, if you have 2 energy Rapidash, they just roll you.
Not to mention the 2 energy Rapidash isn't even guaranteed to do more damage.
Continuous steps Eevee is worse than the 20 damage Eevee, and the Growl Eevee on paper.
In practice, it's better than the 20 damage Eevee, but still worse than growl Eevee.
Growl Eevee is actually deceptively good. It can save you from early damage and KO's consistently.
There are a lot of 1 and 2 energy attackers that can KO Eevee either by doing 60 damage, or by hitting it's weakness. This is enough of a reason in my opinion to say that Growl Eevee is technically the best.
That being said, my inner gambler will always prefer Continuous steps Eevee.
2 energy Rapidash is BUSTED
@AlexH274 nah.
Read my other comment for an explanation. At best you can run one of the 2 energy Rapidash, but even then it's iffy.
Rapidash: Kind of a toss up because they're more different than people think. One is a go-first card like Exeggutor EX (A "Raticate" as I like to call those), the other prefers to go second. Is one of those cases where I wish I could use more than 2 Rapidash.
Mankey: With "Plenty of psychics" I guess you mean mostly Mew + Giovanni KOing 50 HP mankey, which is indeed a massive concern considering how popular Mewtwo EX decks are.
Haunter: Also, Apex Haunter has higher average damage output.
Also, I like to practice the 50x-90% rule when evaluating random effects; you see, when you try to toss a coin 50 times there's around a 90% chance to get 21 or more heads (42% or more). Estimating the worst luck of that 90% scenario makes you prepare better for luck's unpredictability, while still valuing it somewhat realistically.
The more tosses per try, the closer it is to the average. Haunter gets 21, Ponyta gets 22.6, Kangaskhan gets 26.4, Moltres ex gets 1.37, 6 energy Celebi gets 140, and Misty gets around 0.77 energy.
*Graveler:* I feel is less about the energy cost, and more about the fact it curves better from the better Geodude; 30 extra damage means higher damage output even with the evolution delay so is worth considering. There are decks who use both Gravelers specially at high level play, while almost no deck uses island geodude.
Koffing: You can also use 1 apex Koffing and 1 Island koffing, because if you have 2 of them you don't want to use division meaning is not good to have 2 Island ones, only 1-1 or 2 apex.
Island Eevee, like Misty, has an expected number of heads equal to one, so it's expected damage is already equal to Apex Eevee, but with unlimited upside on a given turn, as you mentioned.
If you take into account the fact that pokemon don't have infinite health (and random number generators don't generate infinite runs), the expected damage is actually a tiny bit less than 20. But yeah it's basically the same, so the decision ultimately comes down to if that 20 damage helps hit a lot of breakpoints or not. If not, Island Eevee is definitely the way to go.
@@rivetace yeah thats true, i hate that level or rng but i can't see how good island eevee is, i still prefer promo one, because i always prefer Stat reductions or effects (My fav cards are island golem and kabutops for any wonders)
I read "Island Eevee, like Misty, has an expected number of heads" and started laughing before reading the rest of the comment. So true.
This only applies for infinite series. In our cases, since Pokémon’s don’t have that much health and it caps out as twenty. Island evee average expected damage is actually slightly lower that regular evee. Regardless, there isn’t a clear choice which is better. If your deck can hit certain thresholds with 20 dmg, run normal evee. If it can’t, run island evee. So I would actually run normal evee for a Gyrados deck. (Not like it really matters, cuz vaporeon gyrados is way less popular than greninja gyrados)
And honestly missing out on a single 20 damage attack before you evolve your eevee isnt that big of a deal
About the two Weezing, the MI Smokescreen one is much worse, Smokescreen only affect the active pokemon that got hit, so if you switch out, you don't have its effect anymore, and can attack freely with the new active pokemon.
I am not sure if evolving also negates the Smokescreen effect or not, but I can confirm that switching works
Evolving probably works. I know that if you trap someone with Galvantula or Arbok and they evolve, they can switch out.
Evolving removes all effects from a pokemon, so yes it gets rid of smokescreen.
Yea its just a way worse sleep
I've played a LOT of Pidgeot decks and I can honestly say I'm not really sure which of the Pidgey's and Pidgetto's are better. GA Pidgey has lower damage but it is not meant to attack regardless. The 60 HP helps it tank like at least one attack more if you have too. Those moments come up often enough for it to matter from what I've seen. Pidgeotto is a different issue altogether. 50 for 3 Energy is absolutely atrocious, however, 90 HP does allow it to survive some stray hits like a 1 Heads Marowak ex, Aerodactyl ex, Greninja + ability and a couple of Gio'd 70s. 30 for 1 Energy is great, like you said but that 80 HP is scary though. Because I can never really decide, I just run both of them and if I have the option to choose, I'll pick whichever is better for the situation. Pidgey line isn't really meant for tanking anyway. Maybe if you have two Pidgeot ex's, at least then you can tank somewhat lol.
Island Salazzle's card art is making me VERY uncomfortable. Also, keep the TCG Pocket vids coming, they're really good!
That was from Guardians Rising btw
fancy meeting you here, stranger
hmm, i think this guy wants to bone salazzle 🤔
Salazzle's always been like that
@@WeezerEnjoyer 🤠
they aren't different versions of cards they're different cards of the same pokemon
Hmm true let me rethink the title
🤓👆
Semantics
You said the same thing twice are you deaf (/slightly hj)
dont think it is always the same mon, so it is actually different cards of the same species of pokemon 😏
As someone who has played almost exclusively Weezing decks since launch, the attacking koffing benefits from having 1 retreat compared to the 2 retreat of the division koffing because it's alot easier to pivot without wasting an energy attachment or a leaf/x speed, which can be huge in games where you dont find Weezing early but do get an early scolipede.
Also attacking koffing can 2 shot a ralts/kirlia which is nice
I prefer Division Koffing in my Venoshock deck because it can help thin out draws if I don’t have both pokeballs early. Not drawing my evolution cards early enough is consistently the deck’s leading cause of loss, so having a backup deckthinner for starts without pokeballs helps.
@WillThibault true that is a big plus for division koffing, I've ended up doing a 1/1 split of the koffings in my current version since I think both have ended up being valuable
I appreciate these Pokemon vids hella! :D thanks!
Island Eevee is probably better than Apex Eevee, but the full-art for Apex Eevee is really cute so I run that instead
Really great video, I like how you see some value for each card.
Promo eevee is the same as a regular eevee card, so it's not actually event exclusive
Which non event cart is it the same as? GA has 3 eevees plus a rare card art eevee that all know tackle, and the MI eevee knows continuous steps. I don't see an eevee with growl besides the event one
@Bafael I thought it was a non event card too wtf
This one convinced me to sub, really liking your views
Been really loving the content! Subscribed 🎉
In Blaine decks you would want the Apex Rapidash if you’re also running Ninetales and Magmar. It’s harder to get the necessary energy into play for Ninetales and Magmar if you need an extra turn giving Island Rapidash’s two energy. Apex Rapidash could be on the active spot dealing a decent 40 or 70 damage on one energy while you’re spending turns building up whatever combo of Ninetales and Magmar you have on the bench.
To build off this, the gamble of Island Rapidash’s coinflip makes it incredibly difficult to properly use Blaine. The true strength of this deck is its consistent early power, and Island Rapidash throws a wrench in that. More consistent early chip with Rapidash to combo into Ninetales or a Blaine-fueled Rapidash usually beats out committing to Rapidash and taking a coin flip
Thanks for making this video, I'm surprised at just how many I forgot have different versions. I'm up for this card game arc!
In another comment that mentioned magmar, I don't think any are that great either, but MI magmar can notably one-shot celebi with blaine, which I'm sure is its intended purpose. I have only one in my blaine deck for when I simply cannot draw ninetails, since it's basically a fire-and-forget attacker anyway. Not always useful, but it's come in clutch occasionally enough that I can't see myself removing it right now. I also use one version each of the rapidash line because of the different use cases and the apex one having a full-art version.
really enjoying the tcg content even tho i dont play it, keep up the good work
I agree with all of these except for Snivy, with the popularity of bench attackers that do 30 damage the 70HP on the mythical island snivy means it takes 3 turns for them to snipe on the bench rather than 2 which imo is more valuable than being able to do 20 damage with one energy
I don’t think that M. Bison guide’ll be out anytime soon. Time for more Pokémon.
Appreciate the video. Just wanted to point out that continuous steps has the same average damage as tackle for eevee. Just did the math on it and the result surprised me.
For times where a card is referenced outside of ones on screen (so not ones that get their own slide like salazar), adding it to the screen woukd be nice, something like pigetoto being between or next to the pidgeots. I lack the context to know what it adds to the line cause i only play the regular cardgame.
The full art Vaporeon has superior card art than regular MI Vaporeon
Needed this vid!! Thanks!!!
While promo snivy's attack is undeniably better, and 60 hp isn't bad, genetic apex snivy has 70 hp, which is a notable increase. For example, this lets you take two hitmonlee attacks, or a mewtwo psychic sphere with giovanni, or a bunch of other things targetted at killing 60 hp basics. Snivy is meant to evolve asap and not attack things, so I think I'd rather have the extra bulk.
TCG Pocket is the best fighting game.
Modern golem is a slept on top tier
i really like these vids, im new to this game and card games in general it would be great if you did some kind of deck building guide/examples!
Helped me so much with SF. just scrolling and see tcg content as well lol so sick and unexpected
Generally with Koffing, I like 1 of each for versatility as starting MI Koffing is good to set up both Koffing for your Weezing Koga combo early and the GA Koffing of course has early damage if you open it. GA Weezing is hands down the best Weezing.
Never tried it, but I think smokescreen weezing with koga can be really annoying.
You either take no damage or just reset.
GA weezing is just good ol' reliable. Poison is really annoying and 30 damage is just enough. (And venoshock can 1 shot things)
I agree GA Weezing is better in most cases however I've been running a MI Weezing deck with Hypno and Mew EX and it's been dominating. The fact that Weezing and Hypno can stack stalls is crazy and Mew EX can sweep anything Koga can't save your Weezing from.
Smokescreen is easier to get around than the poison and requiring an extra energy makes it a deal breaker for me. Love running Apex Weezing decks
Once I used Ml kofing and I went against a mewtwo deck. Could not find weezing and ended up losing when I could have done early pressure since the beginning. I won't ever use that thing again
@flaviogutierrezllanos3330 This is why I personally play 1 MI and 1 GA Koffing overall, I think 2 of MI Koffing is Too much as you can't attack with it if you don't see Weezing, but not having it you might not see the other Koffing to loop your Weezings on time.
9:53 I would like to see a complication of pokemon evolution lines that are good going first like this one or A1 Rapidash and A1a Primeape mentioned prior, mons with attack costs of 1/1 or 1/1/2.
Scolipede and Greninja immediately comes to mind, but I would like to give a shout out to Mawile because it's energy discarding effect is irrelevant going second.
5:59 You should also consider that Giovanni and weakness are not applied when the move fails. The 30 damage Haunter is better in most scenarios.
Flipping heads with Eeve and outputtung huge dmg must be on of the most satisfying things in Pokemon TCG. Like it can be a game winning card on round 2! My highest achievement was damaging an articuno turn 2 for 80
i do wonder if apex golem could pop up again later if some double colorless energy stuff comes into the game since it only requires 1 fighting energy that can be supplied by brock in any deck but i cant even imagine a deck that would feel the need to bother
Someone in the comments said in the same line. You can bring Apex golem in any deck with needing fighting energy if you have brock.
On the koffing one, you can just run both at 1. You will either search an extra guy that maybe will do cheap damage or already have the one you need. And sice apex weezing is mostly used for the poison instead of raw damage having extra consistency to keep the koga stall going is nice
I also use the 60 HP Snivy, because it can do 20 damage with a single energy even if you don't have Serperior out (which would require a second Snovy line in your deck), which can often take out a weakened Pokémon.
I think pretty much everyone who plays snivy plays 2 of the whole line actually
up next should be a video comparing card art/talking about cute ones because you mentioned it in every tgcp vid so far
2:00 I always play Apex Ponyta with Island Rapidash, gives me both consistency and huge damage outputs with Blaine
Interesting to see you talking about M̶o̶d̶e̶r̶n̶ V̶s̶ c̶l̶a̶s̶s̶i̶c̶
mystical island vs apex cards, because i agree with most, if not all of it.
Always wondered if they introduced cards with a different typing. For example, what if quagsire has a water card and a "fighting" (ground) card? With both having different weakness and utilities.
Idk if that will contribute/affect the meta much, it will probably benefit the "collecting" aspect more.
3:36 this is a weird example but if you have magikarp and they have Mewtwo and you use splash then the enemy is in KO range with gyarados ex
In my scolipede weezing deck i use one copy of each koffing, because the version i use has Tauros, 2 venipede lines, 2 koffing (only one weezing bc I can’t pull a 2nd, but it works fine nbd), and one salandit. Lots of basics so the searching koffing saves a use of my pokeball
Ive personally never seen an island eevee ever flip heads
I disagree with Golem. It is a late game card like Charizard ex, not a stall card. The 150 damage version can defeat most Pokémon ex, what the 120 damage version cannot. The self damage does not matter at all.
would be nice to get a video on regular vs ex
Which version should you play?
Why not both? In case of Exeggcute, Exeggcutor and Rapidash I prefer to play both cards in the same deck, so I have one for early game and one for mid/late game. When I have the choice I evolve Damage Exeggcute into Exeggcutor EX and the other one into Island Exeggcutor. If I get the "wrong" one it's not much of a problem. I've tested the deck with all combinations and I've concluded that in my case different Eggs are better than having one of them twice.
Similar with Rapidash. I would play the card twice either way so having both of them I can sometimes choose depending on the situation. 😌
That Tauros is going to be nasty when Dialga comes out
I think new exeggcute is really cool because it’s amazing for dual type decks. Heck, maybe even triple type decks… Imagine Grass/Water/Electric, with Exeggutor Ex and Dragonite!
It's hard enough reliably getting elec/water onto a dratini as it is lmao
@ if you’re attacking with it while it’s a dratini, something is wrong. Pop an X speed and switch to something with more HP while you set it up so you can Dragonite later. You have 4 energy rolls to get 2 types of energy, you’ll get it
I don't know what eeveelutions will come out in the next set but Mythic Island Eevee feels better in decks running offensive Eeveelutions while Promo Eevee feels better for Utility Eeveelutions. But that's my take
Yeah the way I run them is promo eevee for MI Vaporeon and MI eevee for the other GA eeveelutions
Exeggcute is best to use mystical island version, even if you only use ex exeggutor. Your opponents will think your running mystical island egg and get surprised when you bring out ex and can mess up their strategy.
11:35 The average damage is technically higher than Apex Eevee. Now one might say that the expected damage is 20 * (1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + ... ) = 20. But they're forgotting that if you flip > 40 coins you can skip your oppenents choose of switch in after it kills. And most likely, if you get enough heads it would take so long to send the flip animation to your opponent they will skip their turn entirely. So you can get another attack off. This translates to an average value of about 20.000000000000000000000000000002 (if it takes 100 flips to skip your opponents turn)
I find a one-of single prizer handy alongside its EX for consistent evolution. Great with Exeggutor, Marrowak... Shame we don't have a damaging Aerodactyl to pair with an EX.
I think the attacking Koffing is a little bit superior because attack dark decks asap is a game changer, against other decks, the division Koffing is better
Personally, I run one of each Weezing on my Dark Deck since they're both super useful in very different ways.
I was going to comment that I didn't think Tauros was underrated considering the Drudd-Tauros-Mew core that I've seen slotted into a ton of decks, but then saw someone in the comments saying it was bad so maybe you're right lol
I will always run continuous steps eevee after watching it one-shot an opponents mewtwo ex on turn 2 winning me the game
For the Rapidash, I'd much prefer using the first version, because it only has 1 energy cost and it fits better in a deck that's supposed to be very fast. The problem with the second, aside of its cost of 2, which can put you in trouble, is that you'll most likely miss the flip, since it's heavily rigged in this game, so I prefer the safest and quickest option.
From my limited experience with Golem you want both. Island golem is way better at taking on multiple 1-2 energy attackers but eats dirt against 140+ Hp 3-4 energy attackers. Apex Golem smashes pokemon like Zapdos Arcanine and Mewtwo but trades poorly against low investment 60-90 damage attackers.
I've also seen and ran Exeggcutor lists with two Exeggcute and 3-4 Exeggcutor. Each one are such good mons that it can be worth it have the spread of options. Even non-ex apex requires significant investment to KO tor only 1 point.
I am unsure about my golem conclusion since Apex golem dies so easily on the crackback to similarly invested mons and seems unlikely to get first strike on the targets he wants. Maybe I was just confirming a bias off having only one of each. Hard to test what with golem being so inconsistent in the first place.
I can report playing 3-4 exeggcutors plus fossils is very fun and surprisingly effective. It is super nice to consistently start Exeggcute every game and have a very high chance of evolving into Exeggcutor. It also lets mythical island cute be more likely to survive and fix your energy if you roll non-grass.
I think island mankey's ability to pick up T2 kills on 50hp pokemon (you can even risk giovanni against 60hp pokemon, it's often worth it) makes it far superior than the other 2 mankeys in an island primeape deck
I got 7 heads in a row with continuous steps one time, absolutely wild.
You forgot G. Apex Golem can be slot on other energy-type deck since Brock can cover that 1 fighting-type energy.
Blaine is one of my favourite decks, and I personally like the old Rapidadh a lot more. I really want most of.my energy for Ninetales, and not for the inconsistent Rapidash, there is nothing worse than flipping tails and then having too little energy on Ninetales. I do use one of the new Magmar as a Ninetales light if the draw is horrible and doesn't give you Ninetales.
I LOVE island exeggutor. Without access to Sabrina in my Celebi deck I run it because it is amazing in the mirror match.
Celebi deck players deserve each other
@ I just built a deck off the first good ex I got when I installed the game :(
Island exeggcutor carries my celebi deck vs mewtwo decks and pikachu decks. Psychic is a good counter against the energy hungry sweepers.
Psychic as a move is super scary.
I think it's a bit slept on, because it is the only thing in the game that punishes the opponent for having energy.
Whereas, getting as much energy asap is really really important.
It's why serperior is that good and people run misty despite 50% of getting 0 energy.
@ Then everybody must have pulled the same first EX. It's literally 40% of the decks i see, the other 40% being mewtwo. You HAVE to be seeing the constant mirror match, there's no way
Not hating or anything, but yeah I totally hate celebi players so much it's unreal
lol
Honestly haven't even seen pikachu that much. Just celebi and mewtwo. Sometimes pikachu, starmie, gyarados, or jank. Sometimes. Mostly celebi and mewtwo. So much celebi and mewtwo. celebi and mewtwo. celebi and mewtwo. celebi and mewtwo. It never ends
You missed the amazing full art on the 20atk Eevee. I run that just for the art, even if it is slightly worse
I feel like apex rapidash is the winner. That one energy cost is a huge deal in my book. If you go first and you pull apex rapidash you can immediately get tempo back with 40 damage on your next turn. Also I feel the card has more synergy with ninetails since they aren’t competing for energy as much.
Yea I agree apex rapidash works way better with ninetails since you dont need to sacrifice a turn to get it set up if you already have ninetails out and attacking
The average damage for Island Eevee is the same as Apex Eevee (geometric dist expected value) so no reason not to run Island as far as I can tell.
Vapreon apex is really only useful in mult-energy decks, and more specifically Dragonite decks. Meanwhile Rapidash island is useful in mid range decks, and honestly should be no where near aggro Blaine. Turn 2 70 damage is just too good to pass up, and can win games. Meanwhile island Rapidash can be used in something like Charizard decks for a surprise alternative
I use the 70 HP snivy because of sniping pokemon are popular right now.
I lost a full health golem with the -30 damage effect on it to a Continuous Steps attack during the solo event. I hate that card
mythical island ponyta is, i believe, the only mythical island coin flip card that has a higher average damage than it's non flip counterpart. mythical island manky comes close but, promo manky has a stronger attack than mythical island manky's average
10:49 for me it is not that good, having to waste 3 energys in a pokemon that the rival can easily outplay by not attacking with an ex pokemon is very costful, and pikachu ex can set up earlier and kill all ur mons while u are setting tauros, maybe this card will be useful if they add double colorless energy somehow
I've been playing a lot of tauros lately and I can say for many decks, not attacking ever with an EX mon is extremely detrimental. You run it with other attackers and either invest in it or not based on what your opponent brought.
I think the 120 damage is just "good enough".
I think it's a card where people forget it exists so you can catch them off guard.
This tauros should be the back up back up plan. It can land good damage, and losing only 1 point is a decent trade off
Tauros is especially good in decks running druddigon and stage 2 decks. Druddigon gives Tauros time to set up and chips the basic and Stage 1 EX's down to 120.
It's indispensable in lists like Pidgeot EX for saving your bacon when your stage 2 doesn't show up. It also pairs well with Mew EX since Mew can usually beat a lot of the pokemon that beat Tauros. Just put your energy on which one will counter the pokemon your opponent is powering up.
@@Quicksilvir its funny, i actually fought a druddigon deck with tauros but it was a dragonite one and it couldnt really do much
11:38 Island Eevee average dmg isn't lower, it's the same 20
I've had an Island eevee one-shot my pikachu ex so I'm going to say the average damage should be considered higher
Fun fact, the more trials you do on this type of coin flip based move, the average dmg increases because of extreme outliers. So, over an infinite number of trials, the average damage will near infinity
That isnt true, extreme outliers dont bring the average up, half the time eevee deals 0 damage still, the original comment is right, continuous steps average damage is 20, similar to how misty's average energy given is 1@@A_Name136
@@Rosatrice no, Misty's MEDIAN energy is 1 and continuous steps' MEDIAN damage is 20, i.e 50% of the time you'll deal 0 and 50% some higher number
The AVERAGE is indeed infinite
@@FaliusArenNo, the expected outcome, and thus the average if you were to trial this infinitely, is infinitesimally less than 20. 20 is the asymptote. You’ll notice if you do the math that each step up creeps the average closer to 20 but never passes it. The average will only skew high if you stop immediately after getting a disproportionately high outlier. Otherwise it’ll slowly drop back down to 19.99…9
Apex rapidash, also useful for building other bench pokemon, whist dealing out 40-70 damage with 1 energy card. After i have one energy on that rapidash, i put other energy on vulpix/nintales or island rapidash. Very similar to your primape commentary actually.
One of my favorite pokemon in the game, i personally run 1 apex rapidash and 1 island rapidash. Island rapidash is needed for lucky killing some pokemon/getting a lot of damage out, such as ex mew/ex mewtwo/ex pikachu, ex starmie etc..
What are your thoughts on Magmar, still now worth it?
One magmar can be OK as a backup attacker, maybe the MI one
I had a game where I was clearly going to win and island eevee flipped 10 heads in a row and destroyed me
I actually use Island Tauros in every deck, as almost everyone plays EX Pokemon... And even without that, its still a 100Hp basic Pokemon thats not EX... It can be used as wall while charging another Pokemon in your bench...
Weezing decks with Salandit are real.
You forgot the 2 versions of nidoran.
...Wait a minute, this isn't Third Strike!
That demonic fiend that is island eevee...
Island Golem could be an Ex card and nobody would probably bat an eye.
Correct me if I'm wrong but dont both apex and island eevee have the same average damage output? Like mathematically I mean
Are you able to indicate which pokemon is the one thats better by like highlighting it or something? Im new to the game so idk which ones are from which packs. If not its alright i guess...
As I said in the opening I put the apex ones on the left and the island ones on the right, but I tried to use descriptions to say which one was better too, like saying apex pidgeotto "with the cheaper attacks" was better
Oh ok thx i didnt hear that part cus i probably had something distract me at that moment 😅 my bad @Bafael
I think I disagree on Snivy. Since you usually want it on the bench, Apex Snivy can survive two hits from Hitmonlee while Promo Snivy cannot without a Potion or Erika.
promo snivy is worse, it gets guaranteed killed by rapidash via 40d + 20d from weakness
promo snivy also gets killed by mewtwo ex + giovanni
regular snivy can take a regular base hit at 70hp
same goes for 80 hp haunter over 70 hp haunter
I have a Blaine deck eith only ninetailes and rapidash. Because theres so much switching, i orefer the Apex rapidash with only 1 energy cost.
5:59 promo does an average of 25 per turn compared to apex’s 30 per turn also apex has more hp
Yeah, I find 50 more likely to hit a valuable threshold, but it's not like I've played my gengar deck a ton and I don't think gengar is very good anyway
The damage done per turn only matters when its a Pokemon you want to keep on the field, having Haunter as your active for too long can be detrimental to your Gengar plays.
It's really meant to evolve, use an attack with its energy if it needs to, then evolve again into Gengar.
Pro Snivy is NOT it. The 10 extra ho is everything. Like you said you don’t want to keep snivy in the from lines. You should be retreating with snivy
So what I'm taking away from this video is that
Gambling is cool
Anyone take out a mewtwo ex on first turn going second with that eevee.
Let’s Go!!!!
I really hope we get the jigglypuff promo card again. The other jigglypuff is useless!
What about Magmar?
Saying "turn 3" as the second turn of player who went first is so confusing. Just say "on your second turn"
It's specifically the first players 2nd turn that's important cuz the second player never gets the chance to evolve to raise their hp and dodge kill thresholds. "turn 3" is always accurate and "on your second turn as player one only" is very awkward. Use the words the game uses.
@@Bafael Turn 2 is a term in the TCG for the entire second turn, both players.
@@AlexH274 yes, and TCGP uses a different term, which is good for me because I can use it to describe a specific moment which "turn 2" in your suggested sense does not capture.
Snivy with 70 HP is better in the current meta with kicklee and Zebritze