Name:
Salamence
Set:
Dragons (10/97)
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Stage 2 (Evolves from Shelgon)
HP:
120
Weakness:
C
Resistance:
Fire, Fighting
Retreat:
CC
Poké-Power:
Dragon Wind
Once during
your turn (before your attack), if Salamence is your
Active Pokémon, you may switch one of your opponent’s Benched
Pokémon with 1 of the Defending Pokémon. Your opponent chooses
the Defending Pokémon to switch. This power can’t be used if
Salamence is affected by a Special Condition.
Attack#1:
(CC) Agility [20]
Flip a coin.
If heads, prevent all effects of an attack, including damage,
done to Salamence during your opponent’s next turn.
Attack#2:
(RWCC) Dragon Claw [60]
Name:
Salamence
Set:
Dragons (19/97)
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Stage 2 (Evolves from Shelgon)
HP:
100
Weakness:
None
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
CC
Poké-Body:
Intimidating Fang
As long as
Salamence is your Active Pokémon, any damage done to your
Pokémon by an opponent’s attack is reduced by 10 (before
applying Weakness and Resistance).
Attack:
(RWC) Dragon Flame [40+]
You may
discard an Energy card attached to Salamence. If you do,
this attack does 40 damage plus 20 more damage.
Name:
Shelgon
Set:
Dragons (20/97)
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Stage 1 (Evolves from Bagon)
HP:
80
Weakness:
C
Resistance:
Fire, Fighting
Retreat:
CC
Attack#1:
(C) Scrunch
Flip a coin.
If heads, prevent all damage done to Shelgon during your
opponent’s next turn. (Any other effects of attacks still
happen.)
Attack#2:
(RWC) Rolling Attack [50]
Name:
Shelgon
Set:
Dragons (41/97)
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Stage 1 (Evolves from Bagon)
HP:
70
Weakness:
None
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
CC
Poké-Body:
Energy Guard
As long as
Shelgon has any basic Energy cards attached to it, damage done
to Shelgon by an opponent’s attack is reduced by 10 (after
applying Weakness and Resistance).
Attack:
(CC) Rollout [20]
Name:
Shelgon
Set:
Dragons (42/97)
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Stage 1 (Evolves from Bagon)
HP:
70
Weakness:
None
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
CC
Attack#1:
(WC) Granite Head [20]
Damage done to
Shelgon by an opponent’s attack is reduced by 10 (after
applying Weakness and Resistance) during your opponent’s
next turn.
Attack#2:
(RCC) Flare [40]
Name:
Bagon
Set:
Dragons (23/97)
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
C
Resistance:
Fire, Fighting
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(W) Paralyzing Gaze
Flip a coin.
If heads, the Defending Pokémon is now Paralyzed.
Attack#2:
(RC) Combustion [20]
Name:
Bagon
Set:
Dragons (49/97)
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Basic
HP:
40
Weakness:
None
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Headbutt [10]
Attack#2:
(RC) Flare [20]
Name:
Bagon
Set:
Dragons (50/97)
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
None
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Risky Kick [10]
Flip a coin.
If tails, this attack does nothing.
Attack#2:
(RW) The Defending Pokémon is now Asleep [20]
Attributes:
Say hello to Salamence. Today we look at the holographic
version. There is a second, non-holographic version, and we’ll
find out later if they go together. I’ll also be comparing them
through out the review.
To begin with,
both are Stage 2 Pokémon, and as such, better have some nifty
tricks that make them worth the comparative hassle of playing
over comparable basics. Since certain basics (especially in
Unlimited) can hit the max HP and similarly have great
Attributes, said “tricks” will have to be in the Abilities.
While on the topic of its Stage, let’s see where it comes from:
it evolves from Shelgon which in turn evolves from Bagon. We
have 3 versions of each. I’d use a 50 HP version of Bagon,
though nothing has real great attacks on any of the lower
stages-at best, you get what you pay for. For a Basic, that is
fine; for a Stage 1, it’s a bit of a let down. The Shelgon’s
are a bit better than the Bagons, though Rare Candy is probably
a good choice to use.
Coming to the
more concrete stats, we have all Colorless Pokémon-this means
you don’t have to worry about natural Resistance: “artificial”
Resistance exists through certain card effects in Unlimited.
Also of note, thanks to cards like Salamence, we now have some
Pokémon weak to Colorless. Overall, I’d say a decent-type. The
holographic Salamence has a perfect (for a non-Pokémon ex) 120
HP. The non-holographic version clocks in at a respectable
100HP. The holographic version is weak to Colorless Pokémon,
but the non-holographic has no Weakness, which is the only good
weakness. ;) However, the holographic version has both Fire and
Fighting Resistance, while the non-holographic has nothing (the
worst Resistance). Fire can be useful in Modified-most Fire
Pokémon can do the damage to KO you, but will have to use the
attacks that discard large quantities of Energy. Fighting
frustrates Tyrogue in Unlimited. Finally, both have a
manageable retreat of two-low enough you can pay, but high
enough you’ll want to try and avoid it.
Abilities:
The holographic Salamence has two attacks and a Poké-Power.
We’ll start with the attacks, because they are the least
important. Agility is a solid attack: 20 for (CC) is fair, so
the effect is added on free as a “bonus”. Its main purpose is
to buy time while you power up the next attack, and it serves
its purpose well. The second attack, Dragon Claw, is a fairly
priced straight forward attack: (R) yields 15, as does the (W).
Each (C) yields 10. Finally, since we have two different Energy
types required, we tack on a 10 damage bonus. So it’s a fair
attack. Finally, we come to the Poké-Power, Dragon Wind. Since
Gust of Wind is not allowed in Modified, this is incredible.
What little Trainer-based Bench Disruption we have is weak in
this format, so this power will often hurt a decks strategy.
Bring up something small or not powered-up, and then KO it. So,
we have a great (we get a very useful ability) Poké-Power, one
discounted effect, and one solid (fairly priced for a basic).
How does this stack up to the non-holographic version? Simply
put, it’s good, but not as good: one fairly useful Poké-Body and
one solid (only with the discard though) attack.
Uses/Combinations:
You could use Salamence in Unlimited, but there is not much
point to it. If you do, I would combo it with Dark Vileplume:
by denying Trainers utterly, you can make the holographic
Salamence’s Poké-Power more useful. Toss in the right stadium;
Healing Fields to give Salamence longevity, or Mirage/Rocket’s
Training/Broken Ground Gym to make retreating harder on your
normal Unlimited fair of Big Bad Basics. For Modified, I would
do my normal thing and toss in some Sandstorm Xatus for
healing. While you could run it with Expedition Vileplume to
try for some sick fun, Expedition Victreebel might be better
since it has a similar, flip-based “Gusting” Poké-Power but
matches Vileplume’s Energy Type. Then there’s Cradily which has
an attack that does both automatically for a cost of just (G).
One thing though, when you run one Salamence, TecH in a copy of
the other. They compliment each other by having similar
requirements but difference end results.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.5/5-Even if you get it to work, Unown N/Sprout Tower would
start appearing everywhere.
Modified:
4/5-A free “Gust of Wind” is great. Someone just needs to find
the right support for it.
Limited:
4.5/5-Take it. This is a format where it is common to retreat
an injured Pokémon to rob an opponent of a prize.
2-on-2:
4/5-Same score, different reasons. Here, it loses some potency
since your opponent chooses which of their Actives gets
benched. The thing is the normal Salamence shows strong
potential here. Why? I couldn’t find a ruling, but I believe
Intimidating Fang is cumulative if you have two of the
non-holographic Salamence active, making it with Xatu strong
(-20 damage to all your Pokémon, and heal upwards of 40 for each
of you Active Pokémon each turn. @_@) So the holographic
Salamence receives a bonus as nice TecH against Fighting and
Fire.
TMP:
4/5-Again, we have some good and some bad changes that balance
out. If one opponent has a good Pokémon and one has a bad, you
can “Gust” out the good one and set up for your partners
attack. The bad news is that both opponents’ may have a good
Pokémon out, hampering the Defensive value of the Poké-Power.
Summary
Another strong
card looking for a good home. Just watch out for Crystal Shards
and Zangoose.
-Otaku (nintendotaku@hotmail.com)
