Special guest COTD feature by Kenny Wisdom?! Oh lawd.
pokebeach.comToday’s COTD is Dragonite FB from Supreme Victors. For those of you who are unaware, Dragonite has been used as a mirror-match tech in LuxChomp, and other SP variants, as Garchomp C is weak to it. It was most famously used in Yuta Komatsuda’s World championship-winning LuxChomp list. It’s main use is it’s Mach Blow attack, which for CCC can deal 20 damage, or 80 damage if the defending Pokémon is an SP. While this doesn’t seem like much to the untrained eye, in reality it’s huge.
Not only does 80 damage Knock Out almost any un-leveled SP, but it also KOs Garchomp C and Garchomp C LV.X, because of the aforementioned weakness. The hefty CCC energy cost is also reduced a bit considering it’s a valid target for Energy Gain, and any deck you’re playing it in is likely to be playing 4 DCE as well.
The real greatness of the card though, comes when looking at the LuxChomp vs. LuxChomp mirror match. I played that very match in a finals of a Battle Road last weekend, and I can say without a doubt that it was the Dragonite that lost me the game. Not because it KO’d my Pokémon, but because it’s the essential third threat on the board.
If you don’t have experience with SP or LuxChomp you might not be able to follow, and if so I apologize for that, but I’ll try to keep it simple. Essentially, when you have a Garchomp, you know it can be KO’d by an opposing Garchomp, or an Ambipom (if you have no energies, or the Ambipom has a belt). When these two are on the board, you have the choice of Dragon Rushing one of them, and hoping that the other one won’t get set up (won’t hit their DCEs, energy gains, level ups, etc.).
However, when Dragonite FB is on the board, you have three threats, one of which you can’t 1HKO. When you’re staring at a bench of Dragonite FB, Garchomp C, and Ambipom G, you can be pretty assured that your Garchomp is going down.
Dragonite’s biggest flaw is that it has Colorless weakness, meaning that it’s likely to be 1HKO’d in response to any KO it makes, by an opposing Dragonite or Garchomp. However, again, no matter what happens they have more threats on the board. Choosing to KO the Dragonite in that situation means you’re choosing to let the Garchomp or Ambipom live.
In short, if you’re playing LuxChomp and you’re not playing Dragonite you’ll likely lose to a list that does play Dragonite, in my opinion at least.
Thoughts?
its an amazing card i wouldnt have beaten arceus in t4 without it lol yes i used the 100 damage attack and got heads TWICE!
I remember that many people said a year ago that this card were bad. I said it was ok and even ended playing it on my Typhlosion GS/Prime/Garchomp C deck as a anti-SP tech. At Worlds, about every second of the LuxChomp lists seemed to play one Dragonite FB. At top 32, at least 3 LuxChomp and one Sablelock played it. I’m not sure how many other people used it since this fact were created on about dozen different tournament report. :P
Btw, Dragonite FB can also be used as a wall against some decks. Return Uxie at bottom of your deck against Donphan Prime and bring Dragonite FB lvX front. Even Belted Donphan won’t OHKO it with Heavy Impact unless it gets extra 10 damage somewhere, Ruins of Alph in play, etc. In a worst case scenario, you can stall a turn or two with it and may have to sacrifice a Poké Turn or two meanwhile you dry to setup after a Judge or something. :P
PS: This card is one of the few SP Pokémons I approve. Thanks for this fine article/CotD.
Very nice article, Kenny. You did a great job with the COTD legacy, keep up the good work.
Good analysis Kenny! So in the end I guess you’re saying that it’s a good play because SP still appears to be winning, correct?
Yeah, i’d say so.
Dude Dragonite is awesome… Most people take out ambi for it… I say keep both in because They are both epic and ambis tail code is a great attack
Yeah, Ambi is good, but it’s also a little easier for Garchomp to counter the revenge KO by just getting an extra energy on it.
Yeah, Ambi is good, but it’s also a little easier for Garchomp to counter the revenge KO by just getting an extra energy on it.
i know but not always will they have 3 energy and a gain on it… You also bait the promocroak or dragonite…
Yeah, I know, but I’m just saying that it’s not quite as sure fire as Dragonite.
i know but not always will they have 3 energy and a gain on it… You also bait the promocroak or dragonite…
Wait, you would play Ambipom G AND Dragonite FB? I was under the impression that SP only played ONE Garchomp C LV.X counter, but I guess I’m wrong…
No, you were right. From what I know, they usually play either Ambipom G, or Dragonite, not both. However, they may use Ambipom G & Promocroak or Dragonite and Promocroak, but for a direct Garchomp Counter, they usually only run 1.