Summary
Much like the physical version of the trading card game,Pokemon TCG Pocketdoes include many so-called “filler” cards that are never meant to be extremely powerful or particularly strong in the meta of the time they are released in. This doesn’t mean that these cards are never used or at least decent in some capacity, with many sleeper meta picks inPokemon TCG Pocketstill needing to be discovered by fans. However, many of these filler cards never make it into decks, or if they do, it’s mostly tied to the FOTM (flavor of the month) experience of a new set coming out. This is exactly the case for one Celestial Guardians Ex card.
There were several great cards inPokemon TCG Pocket’s Celestial Guardians, with one of the most game-changing (if not the) being Rare Candy, as it made many Stage 2 cards and decks that included them worth using and even some of the best in the game. Some Ex cards were also great, such as Lunala Ex combined with Giratina Ex,Solgaleo Ex and Skarmory decks, Decidueye Ex pairing nicely with Meowscarada and now Pheromosa, and so on. However, out of the bunch, Passimian Ex was and still is one of the worst Ex cards in the game for one key reason.
Why Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Passimian Ex May Need to Face the Reaper
Normally, any positive effects triggered by dying in video games or losing key pieces in card games are never truly good because the requirement puts players in a rough spot. This is exactly the core identity ofPassimian Ex, which has the Offload Pass ability, activating only if Passimian Ex is defeated. Offload Pass is not a bad ability in terms of what it does, as it moves all Fighting Energy attached to Passimian Ex onto another Pokemon chosen by the user, but if Passimian Ex is defeated, the opponent already has two points out of three or has straight-up won the game.
With stats like 130 HP and an attack for 60 damage and two Energy, Passimian Ex is far from great already, and while it gives some time to the user to build their bench, it’s not a good or reliable strategy. One could use the tried and true Druddigon and Darkrai Ex stall decks, for example, or evenPokemon TCG Pocket’s new Stoutland cardto stall out the opponent while building the bench, and it would be much better than Passimian Ex simply because those cards don’t provide the opponent two points on KO.
There were some Passimian Ex decks circulating during the Celestial Guardians ranked season, but these were mainly fringe decks with little competitive value, if at all. Abilities that require their respective Pokemon to be knocked out can very rarely be decent, and giving one to an Ex card in a rather fast-pacedmeta inPokemon TCG Pocketwas not a great choice. No matter how good or appealing Offload Pass may seem, its use cases are so few and far between that they don’t make Passimian Ex any more valuable.
Passimian Ex Walked So That Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Electrical Cord Could Run
Still, Offload Pass is indeed a strong ability, as the newElectrical Cord Pokemon Tool inPokemon TCG Pocketproves. Giving Energy to benched Pokemon when one in the active spot is knocked out is a good effect, but Offload Pass would have been great on a non-Ex Passimian card, all while still making perfect sense thematically. As it stands, though, this card is simply not viable in non-casual matches, making it worthless for the most part, which is a shame considering its rarity and the fact that the ability could have had its uses on a different card.
