Articuno EX is a popular lead for any Water deck featuring the dreaded Misty card. Flip coins and if you get lucky with multiple heads, the same number of Energy goes to Articuno. 

So regardless of whether you go first or second, Articuno EX can start hitting at the get-go and even secure the victory in no time with a neat 40 or 80 damage. That’s not all as it also does 10 DMG to all the opponent’s Benched Pokémon. So if a player doesn’t have an answer for this Bird, a quick loss is inevitable.

While that all sounds cool and dandy, it doesn’t change the fact that dealing only 80 DMG at 3 Energy is sort of meh. Moreover, it’s disappointing if Misty doesn’t click and a concern, especially when its biggest foe: Pikachu EX can technically start attacking in two turns. 

Articuno EX can achieve great tempo if Misty works its magic, but we do think that better Water-type cards will replace Articuno with time. To sum it up, while Articuno EX will always be viable, it is bound to be replaced by potentially better cards down the line.