“It’s Become A Liability”, Pokemon TCG Pocket Players Discuss The Downfall Of One Of The Game’s Former Meta Cards

As Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket evolves and new expansions are released, some of the game’s previous relevant cards become less so. It happened early on when Mythical Island invalidated Genetic Apex’s Ditto, Rapidash, Electrode, and Seadra cards, and it will continue to do so.

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One card which has suffered a spectacular fall from grace, however, is Starmie ex, and players have been theorizing as to why it happened so sharply.

In the early days of Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket, Starmie ex was a nightmare. Lauded for its ability to ramp up quickly and retreat easily when things got too tough, the card was everywhere, especially with the power of the Misty supporter.

Fast-forward a couple of expansions and hundreds of new cards, and Starmie is almost nowhere to be seen. It does still hold one spot in the top ten meta decks, alongside Palkia ex, but its dominance is nowhere near what it used to be.

With things happening so quickly, a new thread on the Pokemon TCG Pocket subreddit has popped up, with players discussing what caused the card’s downfall, and it seems like there are a variety of factors.

One of the first points raised is its relatively low HP compared to other ex cards. Starmie only has 130 HP, up to 150 with a Giant Cape Pokemon Tool, which puts it within reach of an OHKO from many other cards. Even if it manages to retreat to the bench once damaged, the introduction of Cyrus, which can drag Starmie ex back from the bench, means it’s just not as viable. Alongside this, with walls like Drudiggon and tools like Rocky Helmet, any kind of HP chip can be disastrous for Starmie.

User Grobbler21 said, “Starmie has become a liability. You can’t really have an ex sitting on the bench with damage without randomly losing the game on the spot because they drew a Cyrus.”

The rise of Basic exs has also played a part in Starmie’s downfall. To get Starmie in play, you need two cards, Staryu and Starmie ex. Cards like Articuno ex and Palkia ex rely less on RNG and can get straight into the action. With Misty and Manaphy there to help load energies, their higher attack costs are often less of a concern. It’s the reason why we’ve seen so many successful single-Pokemon decks as of late, and the reason Fan Rotom has started to see play.

The final reason players felt Starmie ex is falling into semi-obscurity is the strength of TCG Pocket’s Water-type pool. There are tons of fantastic Water-type Pokemon in the game, arguably more than any other type, so it makes fitting Starmie ex into a deck much harder than it ever has been.

Whatever happens, though, despite its waning popularity, I still run a Starmie ex deck, and it will always have a special place in my heart.

Systems

Released

October 30, 2024

Publisher(s)

The Pokemon Company