It is time to rush into another new card from Fates Collide! You bet that there is going to be collision when you play this card! It will speed right into the victory because of all the knock outs it will take. This card can quickly change shifts in order to do preform what is needed. May it be going back on the bench or simply blasting knock outs. This card can do it. It is geared up to attack and drive you right into victory. This week we are going to put the pedal to the metal as we feature Genesect EX from Fates Collide!
Genesect EX is a Metal type Pokemon from Fates Collide with 180 HP. It has a weakness to Fire type Pokemon and resist Psychic type Pokemon by twenty. Genesect EX has an ability call Drive Change where you are able to return a Pokemon Tool attached to Genesect EX back to your hand. You may use this ability once per turn. If you wish to attack with Genesect EX then it will cost three Metal Energy to use Rapid Blaster. This attack does a base 100 damage plus twenty more damage for each Metal Energy you wish to discard attached to Genesect EX. Lastly, this Pokemon has a two energy retreat cost.
The Pros
One of the main pros that Genesect EX has is the Drive Change ability. Players are constantly facing the decision where they need to discard Pokemon Tools in order to use a Sycamore. Some of the Tools that players may end up discarding in the early game include Float Stone which has proven to be handy later in the game in order to get a heavy Pokemon like Hoopa EX or Bronzong out of the active after a Lysandre stall tactic. You can attach that Float Stone to Genesect EX to help save it and use Sycamore. Once you get your new hand, you can simply take the Float Stone off Genesect EX and attach it to a more appropriate Pokemon.
Genesect EX’s Drive Change ability can also give some flexibility in using it too. If you use Genesect EX’s Rapid Blaster attack and discard all three Metal energy attached to it then you will be dealing 160 damage. Most likely you will be attaching Fighting Fury Belt in order to give Genesect EX extra HP and to do 10 extra damage to hit 170 damage. This is enough damage to knock out Greninja BREAK, GiratinaEX or Yveltal EX.
Though sometimes you may find yourself fighting against Ho-oh EX, Darkrai EX and Seismitoad EX who have 180 HP. You may have your Fighting Fury Belt attached to Genesect EX which won’t be enough damage to knock out these Pokemon. That is when you want to use Drive Change to remove the Fighting Fury Belt and attach a Muscle Band. So all you would need to do is simply refuel Genesect EX with Metal Energy and get him back into the active to use Rapid Blaster to deal out 180 damage and knock out Ho-oh EX, Darkrai EX and Seismitoad EX.
Speaking about refueling Genesect EX, there are a few ways to do this and it is all thanks to Bronzong and Float Stone. These two cards are key to ensure that you are constantly firing Rapid Blaster every turn. Bronzong has the Metal Links ability which can accelerate Metal energy on your benched Pokemon. Meanwhile Float Stone helps you retreat to your bench freely. We will be talking more about these two cards later in the article. Just remember that Bronzong is the best thing that Metal decks have right now in support when it comes to energy acceleration and Genesect EX works great with it.
The Cons
Did you know that Genesect EX is weak to Fire? Then you may want to know that Genesect and most forms of Metal decks simply just can’t stand the heat and will get burned by Fire decks.
Luckily Fire decks are not being played too often. Thanks to all the Item lock that is being used to counter Night March, Entei has seen a drop in usage. Though Delphox BREAK from Fates Collide and Flareon EX from Generations is seeing some play together. This deck can accelerate energy quickly thanks to Blacksmith. Genesect EX and the rest of your Metal deck will melt thanks to how fast this deck can start a wildfire. Long story short, just expect to have a hard time with any type of Fire deck.
Genesect EX will not like any kind of Item Lock. This includes Seismitoad EX and Trevenant Item lock. You really want to use Genesect EX’s ability to swap between Tool cards to fit your situation. You may be able to knock out Trevenant BREAK by discard three Metal energy but if your opponent already has a fully equipped Trevenant on the bench to replace their fallen tree then you are stuck with a Genesect in the active that has a two energy retreat cost. If you are playing against a Seismitoad EX then you will want to have a Muscle Band attached to Genesect EX so you can knock out Seismitoad EX with only a three energy discard Rapid Blaster. Though, just like with the Trevenant match up, if your opponent already has a Seismitoad EX on the bench ready to use Quaking Punch then you will have a two energy retreat Genesect EX who is stuck in the active without any ways to power it up for another attack.
You could attach a Float Stone to Genesect EX in order to retreat it back to the bench to use Bronzong’s Metal Links to reattach Metal energy. If you have a Float Stone on two Genesect EX then the match will be more in your favor. Though you will lose the ability to one-hit-KO Seismitoad EX with only three energy if you go with this method.
How to Play It
The key to playing Genesect EX is having a constant stream of Metal energy. If you can do that then Rapid Blaster can be used turn after turn to get knock outs. The most obvious way to charge up Rapid Blaster is to use Bronzong’s Metal Links ability to pull Metal energy from the discard and attach to a benched Genesect EX. If you can use Metal Links twice during your second turn, attach a Metal energy from your hand and follow with a Switch then you will be able to hit 160 damage on your second turn. All you need to do now is attach a Muscle Band to do 170 damage to take a knock out.
If you use Max Elixir then you can use your deck as another source of Metal energy to attach to Genesect EX. You can use Bronzong’s Metal Link twice, attach from hand, a Fighting Fury Belt and use a Max Elixir attachment to hit 190 damage to knock out Zygarde EX.
Those are some pretty big numbers to hit thanks to some well placed attachments. You will struggle to hit big numbers if facing Mega Decks. These decks always have Pokemon with more then 180 HP. Though the plan against those decks is to attack fast and first so that another Genesect EX or Metal attacker such as Heatran or Aegislash EX can be used to take down the hefty Mega Pokemon.
Once you have used your first Rapid Blaster, the issue now because mounting a second attack with Rapid Blaster. This is where you want to have a Float Stone in your hand and another Genesect EX on the bench. You can simply activate Genesect EX’s Drive change ability to remove the Fighting Fury Belt or Muscle Band off the active Genesect EX. Next, you want to attach the Float Stone to the active Genesect and a damage increasing Tool on your Benched Genesect EX. After that you will attach Metal Energy onto your benched Genesect EX via Bronzong and/or hand and swap it out with your active Genesect EX thanks to the free retreat from Float Stone. Simply keep doing this trick until you can take all your prizes. You can use a Float Stone-Stand In tactic with Zoroark or Switch to achieve similar results but it seems like this tactic has caught on with most Genesect EX players.
Genesect EX is a strong attacker that can be used to get some quick knockouts in the early game and beyond. The inclusion of Fighting Fury Belt really gives this deck even more power and HP. It can live hits that would normally knocked out Genesect EX thanks to the additional 40 HP. This could help you out in the Night March matchup where Joltick and Pumpkaboo struggle hitting above 200 damage.
If you really do want to live even longer then Metal decks have access to two great Stadium cards such as Steel Shelter and Reverse Valley. Steel Shelter helps prevents Status conditions such as Poison from Ariados’s Poisonous Nest ability or Malamar EX’s Hyper Hypnosis. This could give you an upperhand against decks that like to spread nasty status conditions to get the upper hand. Meanwhile, Reverse Valley reduces damage from your opponent’s attacks by ten for all Metal Pokemon. That ten HP makes a huge difference between surviving and a knockout on Genesect EX with or without a Fighting Fury Belt.
Another Tool that you can be placed in this deck is Assault Vest. This Pokemon Tool reduces damage from attacks launched by Pokemon with Special Energy. There are plenty of Pokemon who use Special Energy and you can help Genesect EX survive these attacks by using Assault Vest. It may lower your attacking power but it will ensure that you can live long enough to fight again.
Genesect EX is an amazing card that can shift gears on a drop of a dime in order to zoom into victory. It has recently won Italian Nationals and could see a showing in US Nationals. So do not be surprise when you see Genesect EX roaring into battle with all engines revving up.
