Are you ready to take a bite out of the competition?
We are soaring into tournament season and there will be plenty of strong decks and players who will want to win a top spot. What will you do about them? Play some strong cards in your own strong deck! The Pokemon we are going to feature today is ready to bear it’s fangs and chomp down the competition. It is a quick Pokemon that will bring fear to your opponent. Get ready to see a beast of a card as we will be talking about Salamence EX!
Salamence EX is a promo card that was recently release in the Mega Salamence EX Premium Collection box. This card has 180 HP and is a Dragon type Pokemon. Salamence EX has two strong attacks at its disposal. The first attack is called Beastly Fang which does a base 10 damage but 50 more for every EX Pokemon on your opponent’s side of the field for only a Fire and two other energy. Salamence EX’s second attack is called Dragon Strike. This attack does 130 damage at a cost of Fire, Water and two other energy. If Salamence EX uses Dragon Strike then it can’t use it again next turn. It has a weakness to Fairy type Pokemon and a two energy retreat cost.
The Pros
Salamence EX is one of the last EXs that we may see before the release of Pokemon Sun & Moon but it is ending the EX era with a bang. That is because Salamence EX has one of the most powerful attacks in the game and it only cost three energy.
That attack is call Beastly Fang and it only cost you a Fire and two other energy. That is only a Max Elixir and your choice of Double Dragon Energy or Double Colorless Energy from your hand.
So why is Beastly Fang so strong and worth considering Salamence EX in your deck? This attack does a base 10 damage plus 50 more for each EX Pokemon on your opponent’s side of the field. Considering that we are still in an EX Pokemon heavy format, this can do a lot of damage pretty fast.
Just look at the decks that topped the European Internationals. Seven out of eight decks in the top eight were EX decks. Two of them was Volcanion EX while the other five were Yveltal EX variants. Those decks have at least five EX Pokemon and would love to flood the bench with their heavy EX Pokemon hitters. If your opponent put down at least one Shaymin EX and two other EX Pokemon then Salamence EX can take a huge 160 damage bite into your opponent’s active Pokemon. Slap on a Fighting Fury Belt on to Salamence EX and there is a possible knock out.
The Cons
The usefulness of Salamence EX really matters on the type of deck your opponent is playing. If your opponent is playing a non-EX Pokemon heavy deck then Salamence EX role will be best played in the discard. Maybe your opponent would play some Shaymin EX in their deck but it won’t be worth playing down Salamence EX down when it is better to invest resources into another attacker.
Also, Salamence EX’s damage output is dependent on your opponent. Even if your opponent is playing an EX Pokemon heavy deck, they can simply decide to not play down to many EX Pokemon. So if you play down your Salamence EX too early in the game then they will simply avoid putting down their EX Pokemon in order to keep the damage of Beastly Fang low. They can also employ tactics like placing Parallel City down to where their bench will be lower to three. This will give them the opportunity to discards easy knockouts like Shaymin EX and Hoopa EX. That will drop Salamence EX’s Beastly Fang damage down by 100.
There has also been a rise in usage for Enhanced Hammer. You will most likely use Double Dragon Energy or DCE to fuel up Salamence EX’s Beastly Fang. If your opponent uses Enhanced Hammer then it may set you back.
Also, Salamence EX has a pretty bad Mega. Don’t play M Salamence EX.
How to Use It
You will not be using Salamence EX as a main attacker but that is okay. It really shines better as a revenge attacker against EX heavy decks. Your opponent will put down their EX Pokemon and you will simply play down Salamence EX on the bench. Your main attacker goes down but earlier in the game you place an energy down on Salamence EX. Simply promote Salamence EX into the active and place down a Double Dragon Energy. After that, just go wreak your opponent as their EX Pokemon will be used against them. Salamence EX will bite into their defenses as you take prize card after prize card.
Salamence EX can also be used as a deterrent for your opponent to place down too many EX Pokemon. This could slow down their set up and make it easier to set up without worrying about your opponent’s heavy hitting EX Pokemon.
So what kinds of decks will be playing Salamence EX?
The first type of deck to play Salamence EX will be the Giratina-Darkrai decks. These decks already play Double Dragon Energy because of the inclusion of Giratina EX. Most of the time they will play the DDE to help give a quick 40 damage boost to their Darkrai EX’s Dark Pulse attack. Though sometimes that Giratina EX goes into battle to take out some Shaymin EX or simply wall a Mega Pokemon deck.
So what Salamence EX does in this deck is that it acts as another recipient to DDE and a quick revenge attacker once Darkrai EX falls to an EX Pokemon. You can put it down on your bench and simply attach a DDE and if the opportunity to use Salamence EX comes up then you will take it. You may not attack with Salamence EX in all your matches in this deck but it can put your opponent in a scary situation where they are facing down a hungry dragon. Either Salamence EX will be sitting on your bench holding all those DDE or it could clean up a match because of all those EX Pokemon on your opponent’s bench fueling up Beastly Fang.
A second deck that Salamence EX can be fitted into is Volcanion. This may sound like an unusual choice but it is possible. It plays Fire energy which can be used to fuel Beastly Fang. Salamence EX has a powerful attack which can be used to take a revenge KO without risking one of your Volcanion EX.
Maybe you will attach Fire energy to Salamence EX from your hand but you could also use Volcanion’s Power Heater to attach Fire energy from the discard. When your opponent’s EX Pokemon knock out the Volcanion then simply promote Salamence EX into the active and attach the third Fire Energy it needs to attack with Beastly Fang. The Volcanion EX in the deck are needed as they are the fire that keeps the deck going and help provide the math to take knockouts. If you do this then you won’t risk putting your Volcanion EX in the line of fire. Salamence EX could play a role in a Volcanion EX’s mirror match since this deck rely on a bench filled with Volcanion EX that can be used to fuel Beastly Fang’s damage output. Volcanion EX is weak to itself so having a Pokemon that isn’t weak to Water could be wanted in this deck.
Also, one of the Volcanion EX decks that made top 8 at London’s Internationals played a Salamence EX. So maybe that player was on to something.
Salamence EX will be acting as a benchsitter for some games but when you put him in then you better get ready to see some results. This Pokemon will chew up your opponent and spit them out in a matter of seconds. It can become a real beast when put in the right situations which can be possible. So make sure to give Salamence EX a chance if you can fit it into your deck! Best of luck in your tournament pursuits!
