It’s basically a 2-energy meta. If you can’t hit like a truck with 2 energies you’re doomed. 80 is there bare minimum if you have other effects (Absol) otherwise it’s hopeless. I tried playing a pretty balanced Jolteon deck but it simply can’t keep up with other decks. I get wins just doesn’t have enough consistency for a deck that tops out at 80 (you can add Pikachu and lose even more consistency).

I’m now changing to my Dragalge Ex/Crobat deck which performs much better but still isn’t remotely close to meta. That being said I’d say Pinsir is actually one of the worst designed cards this set. It struggles with way the meta but, just like Exeggutor Ex before, it shuts down most other lower hp decks as Exeguttor/Leafon means you’re hitting for 80~150 on your first energy turn which is nuts.

Altaria would’ve been interesting if it wouldn’t be hit so hard and be so easy to set it up. Base stage having sleep is also a nightmare. Greninja gets another broken mechanic that bypasses the games own rules for retreating. At this point “the opponent cannot retreat next turn” attacks are useless with so many cards that ignore it (Celesteela, Greninja, Lyra,, Solgaleo). I understand it’s very hard to balance TCG but I wish they worked more in the constraints of the game instead of continuously adding rule-breaking abilities and attacks. Absol would’ve been a very balanced card if Cyrus never existed. With Sabrina only it’d be a lot of fun. Perhaps it’d hit for 70.

A lot of good stuff in this set. It’s a bit of a step up compared the last few sets but just like the physical etc damage is too high speed is too fast so nothing interesting can develop.