art by Ryo Ueda
Fates are coming together to creat a metagame that many will not expect. Prepare to hit the TCG with full collusion as new cards are entering the game. Some of these cards have players scared in their boots but if you can master these cards then you can be king. A storm is brewing and it is up to the great players to ride it out if they want to earn an invite to Worlds. Anybody who want to go to Worlds will need to fight like a dragon if they want to leave behind a trail of victories. Those who do may find themselves with a fate that is amazing and grand. It may involve a lot of colliding with great minds but it will be worth the battles. This week we are going to be looking into a new card from Fates Collide with Kingdra EX!
Kingdra EX is a Dragon Pokemon with 170 HP that has a weakness to Fairy type Pokemon. This Dragon EX Pokemon has two attacks. The first attack is called Big Storm which cost a single energy. Big Storm does 20 damage and it discards any active Stadium. Kingdra EX’s second attack is called Dragon Trail which cost a Water energy and three other energy. This attack does a base damage of 60 damage plus 30 more for each basic Lightning energy attached to Kingdra EX. It cost one energy to retreat Kingdra EX.
The Pros
Kingdra EX is a quick attacker who can attack with a single energy. You can start off with Kingdra EX with no problem thanks to Big Storm which doesn’t care about what kind of energy you attach to Kingdra EX. 20 damage isn’t a lot but you can increase that damage thanks to Muscle Band or Fighting Fury Belt. Muscle Band will boost Kingdra EX’s Big Storm attack to do 40 damage. Meanwhile, Fighting Fury Belt will only boost Big Storm’s output to 30 damage but also raise Kingdra EX’s HP to 210.
Though the big attack you want to use is Dragon Trail. This attack only does 60 damage but that can quickly build up as you attach more Basic Lightning energy on Kingdra. Luckily there are a few ways to attach Lightning energy that varies from format. Either way, if you play your cards right then you can end your second turn by attacking with Dragon Trail for at least 150 damage.
These quick and easy attacks can really help Kingdra EX storm into battle. You have access to things like Double Dragon Energy to help speed up Kingdra to use Dragon Trail or Max Elixir to pull energy from the deck to attach to Kingdra EX.
The Cons
It may sound like a good idea to attach a Double Dragon Energy on Kingdra EX but you would rather not do that. If you attach two Double Dragon Energy onto Kingdra EX then it will help get this Pokemon ready to attack with Dragon Trail by your second turn but it won’t be really strong. Dragon Trail states that Basic Lightning energy will give the attack the extra 30 damage boost. Special energy like Double Dragon Energy, Rainbow Energy, and Blend Energy WFLM will not provide the boost. It is a shame though because these energies will count as both Lighting and Water energy to help use Kingdra EX’s attacks. If you could attach four Lightning Energy to Kingdra EX then you can knock out 170 HP EX Pokemon. Two Double Dragon Energy will help with that. The problem is that Dragon Trail will not count DDE.
Also, you will not want to be using Kingdra EX against Yveltal EX. A fully powered up Kingdra EX that has a Water and three Lightning energy with a Muscle Band attached could knock out an Yveltal EX. The problem is that Yveltal EX with a Muscle Band plus a Darkness energy and Double Colorless can knocked out a fully powered up Kingdra EX. You can hope to get the revenge KO but if you want to win the Darkness match up then you will need to steam Kingdra EX to use Dragon Trail quickly.
How to Play It
Regionals are just around the corner and because of that we are going to be focusing on strategies for Kingdra EX in the Expanded format. There are a few Pokemon that can help Kingdra EX become quite a storm in that format and a surprise for many unsuspected players. One of the Pokemon that can help Kingdra EX comes in the form of energy acceleration call Dynamotor.
Hidden in Expanded is Eelektrik with the Dynamotor ability which allows players to attach Lightning energy from the discard onto their Benched Pokemon. This is just like Bronzong’s Metal Links ability that is currently in Standard and it completely rocked the early BW format in a few ways. You will want to use this old electric engine to help charge up Kingdra EX to burn a wicked trail. If you can set up two Eelektrik on the Bench and attach a Water and Lightning energy to Kingdra EX then you can use Dragon Trail on your second turn for 150 damage. If you attach a Muscle Band then you will be hitting 170 damage.
If you use the Eelekrik energy engine then it will help you stream Kingdra EX if one of them gets knocked out. Simply put a Pokemon with a Float Stone in the active and attach a few Lightning energy by using Dynamotor. Slap a Muscle Band and Water energy to Kingdra EX and then go into battle. This form of energy acceleration gives Kingdra so much speed that your opponents will be hit by a powerful storm in no time.
There are more things in Expanded that we can use to help this deck and that is Keldeo EX. You will not be fighting with this Pokemon but instead use Keldeo EX’s Rush In ability. Simply attach a Float Stone to Keldeo EX and you have free retreat. You can use this method to help power up a Kingdra EX with more Lightning energy in case you need to hit a little harder then 150 damage.
Now if you want to use some things from Standard to improve this deck in Expanded then there are a few options. Your first option is to use Jolteon EX who wouldn’t mind having Lighting energy from the discard to help it attack quickly. The Expanded format is filled with Basic Pokemon attackers and they wouldn’t like being walled by Jolteon EX’s Flash Ray. Jolteon EX would also help in any pesky Night March match ups that may march into Expanded.
The second option to pair up with Kingdra EX is Raikou from BREAKthrough who also wouldn’t mind a Lighting energy charged up from Dynamotor. Thunder Lance gets stronger for every Lightning energy attached to Raikou which means it can hit for 110 quite easily in case you need to stop your Kingdra EX attacks.
Both Jolteon EX and Raikou would pair up nicely with Kingdra as the will quickly clip the wings of Yveltal EX. This will force them to attack with another option which Kingdra EX can quickly take care of with Dragon Trail.
If you are wanting to play with Kingdra EX in Standard then it is still possible. You will need to drop Eelekrik and Keldeo EX and instead replace them with another form of energy acceleration. You have a few options such as using M Manentric EX’s Turbo Bolt attack or Magnezone’s Magnetic Circuit ability. Both are good options but you may need to rely on M Manentric EX’s attacks and Max Elixir to get Kingdra EX powered up. Meanwhile, Magnezone’s weakness is that you need to evolve it from Magnemite quickly if you want to get Kingdra EX into battle. It basically becomes a race against time as you try to get Kingdra EX but if you can get enough energy attacked to Kingdra EX then you could simply storm through the battle.
Kingdra EX can quickly become king of the battle if you can set him up quickly. There are ways to get this dragon ready to whip up a whirlpool of damage. You just need to have some faith and skills to do it. Once you do then you may end up colliding with victory as Kingdra EX takes up the mantle of victor.
