Flygon (Rising Rivals RR 5) – Card of the Day

pokemon-paradijs.comIf I were to pick a Pokémon that has been represented with the best cards throughout the history of the game, I would without a doubt choose Flygon. There has been at least 6 competitive Flygon printed (I say at least in case there are some I’m forgetting about). The one I chose to review today, Flygon RR, is definitely no exception, having taken three of the top twelve spots at Worlds 2009.

For starters, it has 120 HP, which is pretty average nowadays for a Stage 2. When it was released, a +30 Colorless Weakness meant the only time Weakness would come into effect was during the mirror match, but in today’s format, a Colorless Weakness is terrible. Because of it, Garchomp C LV.X along with a Lucario GL can 1HKO Flygon.

Flygon’s first attack, “Sand Wall”, is still pretty powerful. For CC it does a so-so 40 damage (with an Expert Belt, it can 1HKO a Garchomp C LV.X). In addition, if your opponent has a Stadium in play, not only is it discarded, but it makes Flygon immune to your opponent’s attacks during their next turn. While the effect won’t be too useful against SP since they typically don’t run many Stadiums, it will be very powerful against Gyarados. Eventually, they will run out of BTS, meaning they can’t consistently heal/recover Gyarados.

Power Swing”, which costs a high CCC does 60 damage plus an additional 10 damage for each Evolved Pokémon on your bench. Unfortunately, since Claydol is out of the format, it isn’t as easy to fill your bench with Evolutions as it once was.

On top of these two attacks, Flygon also has a Poké-Body called “Rainbow Float”. For each Basic Energy attached to Flygon, all of your in-play Pokémon of the same type get a free Retreat Cost. That is actually a pretty powerful effect, imagine having a unlimited supply of Unown Q’s on steroids (because even Pokémon with a 2+ Retreat Cost would have it reduced to 0).

I think it’s certainly fair to say that Flygon definitely has some very powerful assets that haven’t really been tapped this season. However, it’s also within reason to suggest that Flygon is definitely a victim to “old age”, (aka Rotations + Power Creep). One of Flygon’s most powerful attributes is its Colorless typing, which allows it to fully participate in the Garchomp war (and since it isn’t a Garchomp, Ambipom and Dragonite will be useless).

My Recommendation: If your area has a high Gyarados presences along with some VileGar and/or LuxChomp, it may not be a bad idea to give Flygon a shot. Plus, you would have the advantage of being unexpected.

My Rating: ~3.5/5 (Right up there with Jumpluff for being a causality of the rotation of Claydol and Roseanne’s Research)

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5 replies

  1. Anonymous

    Flygon’s Rainbow Float also falls victim to the lack of a basic colorless enegry. Were one to exist, it would definitely see a bit more play, giving all your smeargles etc free retreat. Still, the rotation, should it be RR-on, might give this guy another fighting chance, as a bench sitter giving everybody free retreat that can still hit hard should your opponent “catcher” him up.

  2. Daniel Middleton

    I agree, this could be good choice for the upcoming format.
    Didn’t see a mention of Dialga G X which could shut down his semi-useful body, otherwise a great review.

  3. theo Seeds

    why arent you doing the dual cotd like you did for gallade 4?

    Flygon has some potential, but I think the rotation hurt it more than it looks like. Losing Trapinch SW, Ariados, Palkia Lv.X, and others can cripple a deck-out deck, but Maybe you could use Luxray to drag something, Mesprit to avoid Q, Vileplume to avoid warp point/switch/ssu, and maybe even empoleon sf to avoid warp energy, you could re-make Flylock.

    With some of the best basic-stage 1 teams ever, Memory Berry could be great, especially since both Trapinch and Vibrava can use DCE. Since there will be a bunch of retreat energy in the discard, Vibrava is awesaome, and you could use Grind to deal 10 for each type that free retreats.

    I’m not the one with the long comment most of the time, but there’s a lot to say.

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