Starmie, Gyarados, Blastoise, Articuno, and Palkia have all had genuinely viable EX versions, while Greninja is useful across several decks, and Vaporeon, Manaphy, and of course Misty have each been added to provide very strong, Water-specific support in different forms
One mana to destroy a target artifact is already the best rate we can hope for, but 5 for a one-sided board wipe that's guaranteed to sink that Mishra, Eminent One deck is just excellent
Mela lets to attach a Fire Energy card from your discard pile directly to one of your Pokemon in play, refilling your hand back up to six cards if youre running low
Past sets certainly had chase cards go for more in the early days of the release
Dragon Fodder: #3