Time to sing a song!
Today we have a card that wants to sing it loud and proud! It is beautiful and fluffy but do not let appearances fool you! This Pokemon can put you in a tough situation if you are not careful. You can do some pretty nasty things once you get the right cards up. The dragons are coming and this card can help lead the fleet! Get ready as we talk about Altaria GX!
Altaria GX is a Stage One Pokemon GX card from Dragon Majesty. It has 200 HP and is a Dragon type Pokemon. Altaria GX has an attack that cost a Fairy and another energy called Bright Tone. It does 50 damage but also prevents damage from your opponent’s GX Pokemon attacks. For a Water, Fairy and another energy you can use Sonic Edge. This attack does 110 damage and isn’t affected by effects on your opponent’s active Pokemon. Altaria GX’s final attack is a GX Attack called Euphoria GX. This attack cost a Fairy and Colorless energy. Euphoria GX heals all damage on your Pokemon and puts your opponent’s active Pokemon to sleep. Altaria GX is weak to Fairy type Pokemon and cost a single energy to retreat.
The Pros
- Stage 1 Pokemon
- An attack that provides protection
- Syncs perfectly with a Pokemon that provides support
The Cons
- Low damage output for an attack
- Lackluster GX Attack
- Difficult to balance between attack and support
- Non GX attackers
Altaria GX’s first attack, Bright Tone, is what makes Altaria GX worth talking about. This attack can provide protection against damage from GX Pokemon the turn after it is used. You can even do 50 damage with the attack. That is also a negative with using Altaria GX. Though, we will get to that later.
You will also notice that Altaria GX also have some support with Altaria from Dragon Majesty. This Altaria has the familiar ability Fight Song. This ability allows your Dragon type Pokemon to do 20 extra damage when they attack. That means your Bright Tone attack now does 70 damage if you have one Altaria on your Bench. If you attach a Choice Band on Altaria GX then you are doing 100 damage to a GX Pokemon. That is close to getting a two hit KO on most GX Pokemon.
What makes things even better is that you can evolve into Altaria GX and Altaria with Swablu!
Now time for the bad news: The damage output and Benched Pokemon.
Bright Tone has an amazing effect that will put your opponent’s GX Pokemon into a bind. Especially if they are playing an all GX deck. The problem is that you are not hitting hard enough. Especially if you do not have damage modifiers in play such as Fight Song Altaria and Choice Band.
The other problem you will have is streaming attackers. You will surely need to play four Swablu in your deck but pick and choose which one will become Altaria GX and Altaria. The idea is to have two Fight Song Altaria on the bench to give a solid attack boost. The problem is getting your Altaria GX ready to attack with energy. Bright Tone only takes two energy to use but you will need to make sure you have your Altaria GX ready to attack and defend.
One last negative about the deck is how easy it can be to undo the effects of Bright Tone. All your opponent needs to do is use Guzma to force your active Altaria GX with a new Pokemon. Once that happens then the effects of Altaria GX is gone and they can damage the new active Pokemon.
How to Use It
There are still solid reasons to use Altaria GX overall. The ability to trap your opponent into not damaging you is strong in a meta that is filled with GX Attackers. If you can force your opponent to use their weaker non GX Attackers then Altaria GX can stand a pretty strong chance.
You will want to start out with a Bench filled with Swablu. This could be done with Nest Ball and other ways to put Pokemon on your Bench. That way you can evolve them into Altaria GX and Altaria.
Attaching an energy during your first turn will be key! Bright Tone only need two energy to attack with. If you put an energy on to an Altaria GX during your first turn then all you need is a second energy to start hitting for your next turn. The best part is that it will ensure that your opponent’s GX pokemon won’t hurt you outside of using Guzma.
If you are playing against of Buzzwole and/or Shrine of Punishment deck then you will want to rely on Altaria GX’s Sonic Edge attack. It does 110 damage but more if you can get up at least one Fight Song Altaria on the board. If you do then Sonic Edge now does 130 damage. That is enough to knockout Buzzwole.
A few notable techs to ensure that Altaria GX can keep up it’s symphony of pain can be Devoured Field, Max Potion and Acerola.
Devoured Field can be useful to help boost Altaria GX’s damage but also get rid of any unwanted Stadiums. I am mostly talking about Shrine of Punishment. It is bad enough that decks using Shrine of Punishment are getting around Bright Tone’s protection. No need to let them get even more damage on Altaria GX. That is why you play at least two to help get rid of Shrine of Punishment but also hit harder.
Max Potion and Acerola could also be nice additions to the deck. This will help heal any of your damaged Altaria GX so they can live to fight another day. Though, if you are using Max Potion then will suggest that you use it when your Altaria GX is safe on the bench. Also, make sure you have an energy ready to attach to it.
Also, you may want to put in one or two Rescue Stretcher in the deck. This is more of a necessity then a tech. After all, your opponent may try to knockout your Swablu to prevent Altariia GX from getting on the field.
If you want to make some music with your Pokemon then Altaria GX is your card. You will be singing all the way to the finish line with a chorus of your opponent’s groans when they find out they can’t damage your Altaria GX.
