It's been a couple of days since Nihil Zero released in Japan, so it's a good time to check out how this new Pokémon set might affect the competitive scene. So far, despite a lot of naysayers calling this Pokémon card trash, Mega Starmie ex is seeing consistent results in City League tournaments. It's tangling with the top-tier decks and pulling off loads of second and third place finishes and even some competition wins!
This Stage 1 Mega Evolution is a potent threat thanks to its ability to start sniping the bench super early. The card's single-energy attack, Jet Blow, can hit the active spot for 120 and a Pokémon on the bench for 50, allowing you to apply immediate pressure to your opponent's game plan. The stadium card Risky Ruins, which damages Pokémon that enter the bench, combos nicely with Starmie to hit the magic number - 70 HP - allowing for some quick and easy KOs.
So what does the rest of a Mega Starmie deck look like? Well as you can probably guess, the bench-targeting theme continues. Munkidori is a must, but after that we have two trails that deck builders are blazing down.
The first is using Dusklops (but, intriguingly, no Dusknoir) for additional bench-targeting and a Mega Kangaskhan to jump in for extra power when needed. The other, and so far more successful, route is using Froslass to apply extra damage counters (also applying damage for Munkidori), and Mega Froslass ex as your big hitter.
While Kangaskhan has the advantage of being a basic Pokémon, it seems neater and less clunky to use the same evolutionary line for both your
Another deck that seems to have gotten stronger in the fresh meta is Festival Lead, which relies on a set of Twilight Masquerade cards which can attack twice when the stadium Festival Grounds is on the board. That's because single-prize decks have a new hot trainer card, Poké Pad, which can grab any non-ex, non V Pokémon from your deck. This makes the strategy, which depends on multiple single-prize evolution lines far more consistent.
What Pokémon decks are you hyped to play when rotation comes in just a few months? Let us know over on the Wargamer Discord.