Art by Ryo Ueda
Furious Fist has been release and Fighting type Pokemon have received a huge boost in the metagame with Pokemon and support. While Fighting Pokemon are taking the main stage, there is one non-Fighting type Pokemon that is hoping to make a name for themselves. This one is ready to barge into the battle and hit hard. For this week’s featured card, we have one that will barge in to show us it’s stuff. So prepare for a rush with Dragonite EX!
Dragonite EX was release in the recent set, Furious Fists. It is a Dragon type Pokemon with 180 HP and a weakness to the Fairy Type. It has a single attack called Jet Sonic that cost two Grass and one Lightning Energy can cause does 80 damage. If you discard an energy attached to Dragonite EX then you can do an additional 40 damage to hit the opponent’s Pokemon for 120 damage. Dragonite EX has an ability to help assist attaching energy to it call Barge In. This ability allows you to attach any basic energy attached to your Pokemon onto Dragonite EX once you put it on your bench. If you do this then you can move Dragonite EX into the active position.
The ability Barge In is Dragonite EX’s bread and butter and the reason why it is being featured this week. This ability may sound plain but it is rather amazing with what you can do with it. Barge In gives Dragonite EX the ability to be powered up and ready to attack your opponent for 120 damage in the same turn it is played. You can then use this ability to cure your active Pokemon of any status aliments such as Poison and Sleep. Both of which are fairly common thanks to Hypnotoxic Laser. Barge In acts like a one-way Keldeo EX Rush In except it helps powers up your Pokemon.
So how can we use this interesting ability to take knock outs? To do that we must make sure we pair up Dragonite EX with strong cards to help it succeed. The first card to consider in a Dragonite EX deck is Virizion EX who can draw energy from the deck. The Grass energy from Virizion EX’s Emerald Slash doesn’t need to go on Dragonite EX. It could go on any bench Pokemon and be moved to Dragonite EX once it hits the bench and Barge In. All that would be required at that point is the Lightning Energy which shouldn’t be too hard to get if you have a Professor Letter in your hand. You can even move the energy off of Virizion EX to help power up Dragonite EX. This does not mean you can’t place Dragonite EX on the bench early without using it’s ability. Virizion EX can always Emerald Slash to Dragonite EX early game. Then it can manually move into the active or be used to instantly power up another Dragonite EX. Virizion EX can also provide support to Dragonite EX by preventing status effects from being afflicted to any Pokemon with a Grass energy on it. This is all thanks to Virizion EX’s Verdant Wind ability. This can really prolong Dragonite EX’s staying power to hit hard.
Emolga EX can also be used to provide early game energy acceleration. This little Pokemon has an attack called Energy Glide which allows Emolga EX to attach an energy to itself from the deck and onto itself. Emolga EX then goes back to the bench. This Pokemon also has free retreat which is always a nice thing to have in a deck. It could also be handy against Yveatal EX by attacking for damage using Electron Crush.
Lastly, if you want to play a little on the risky side then you can always consider Milotic. Simply find ways to discard energy and set up a Milotic on the bench. Once there is enough energy in the discard, you can use Milotic’s Energy Grace ability to knock out Milotic and attach Grass and Lightning Energy to any non-EX Pokemon on the bench. Then you can put Dragonite EX on the bench and Barge In to draw to it.
If you wish to give Dragonite EX some more power then there are some options. The first one is Altaria which will still be in format thanks to a shiny version of the card being release in Boundaries Crossed. Altaria has the Fight Song ability which boost all Dragon type Pokemon attacks by 20. If you have three Altaria on the bench then that is an additional 60 damage to the 120 damage that Dragonite EX is doing. That is enough to knock out any EX Pokemon.
You can also look at Trainer cards to help give Dragonite EX more hitting power. If you attach a Muscle Band to Dragonite EX then it will be hitting for 100 damage on anything without discarding an energy. The Virbank-Laser combo is also viable in this deck. This combo may also be one of the few ways Dragonite EX can handle Pyroar and it’s Intimidating Mane ability that prevents Dragonite EX from hurting it. This strategy will involve Dragonite EX to take hits and well timed Barge In but eventually poison will take Pyroar out.
Two other cards to consider in this deck to really bring the most out of Dragonite EX’s ability: Super Scoop Up and Scoop Up Cyclone. These two cards will return Dragonite EX to your hand and any cards attached to it with the latter being based on a coin flip. Do you have a Dragonite EX with heavy damage in the active with energy still attached? Simply put down a fresh Draonite EX from your hand and Barge In to put the damage one back on the bench. Your opponent may think that the damaged Dragonite EX will be perfect Pokemon Catcher/Lysandre fodder later in the game but you can burst their bubble by using Super Scoop Up or Scoop Up Cyclone. This will prevent your opponent the opportunity to gain more prizes from knocking it out while giving you a fresh Dragonite EX to play later in the game once the active one gets heavily damaged.
So what can damper Dragonite EX’s chances of barging into the battle? This card is weak to Fairy but currently there are no Fairy Pokemon that are popular to use. You do need to worry about Pyroar’s Intimidating Mane and Garbodor‘s Garbotoxin. As mention before, Pyroar won’t get hurt from Dragonite EX but it can at least Poison stall for knock outs. Adding a Raichu line will help take quick knockouts against this match up. As for Garbodor, the best thing you can do is well timed Startling Megaphone and knockouts. Lastly, Dragonite EX doesn’t like anything that can one-hit KO. That means energy that can’t be reused on another Barge In Dragonite. This may be what determines if this card stays and excel into serious competitive play.
A lot of interesting and unique plays can be done using Dragonite EX to take knock outs. It literally barges into battle with many things at its disposal and then runs away using cards such as Scoop Up Cyclone. If you play your cards right then you can literally chain Dragonite EX after Dragonite EX to continue the draconic onslaught. So keep an eye out for Dragonite EX or you will soon find this card barging into a battle near you!
Good luck with adjusting your decks for the new format which officially hits on September 3rd!
