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Skarmory
EX
The EX Pokémon that we got in the XY set
haven’t really generated that
much interest (except for the ones named ‘YVeltal’).
On the face of it, Skarmory
seems to be a pretty mediocre card for an EX, but on
reflection could prove to be a useful addition to the
format.
There are two reasons for this and the both revolve
around Skarmory’s attacks.
Joust may only do a poor 30 damage, but it’s easy to use
(costing two Colourless Energy)
and more importantly it has the effect of removing all
Tools from the defending Pokémon
before doing
damage. This means that Plasma decks can use it to deal
with the problem of Dragonite
PLF’s Item lock plus Silver Mirror strategy, which would
otherwise have a virtual autowin
if it set up. Of course, it can also be a useful way of
dealing with powerful Tools like Float Stone and Muscle
Band if Tool Scrapper isn’t available.
Skarmory’s
second attack, Tailspin Piledriver,
has one of the best names I’ve seen for ages. It doesn’t
appear to be all that impressive (80 plus 40 if the
defending Pokémon is already damaged), but because of
Skarmory’s Metal Typing, it
can OHKO any Fairy Type by abusing Weakness with just a
Muscle Band attached. This gives decks using Metal or
Rainbow/Prism Energy a potent Weapon against Fairies,
should they ever become a major threat. It’s not totally
useless against other decks either as it could one-shot
a 170 HP EX with help from Muscle Band and
Hypnotoxic Laser/Virbank
City Gym.
Even so, Skarmory isn’t
really good enough to function as a main attacker.
Instead it can find a useful niche in decks that need an
anti-Tool card and/or a Fairy counter. That makes it a
lot more useful than it appeared to be on release.
Rating
Modified: 3 (useful tech in certain decks)
Limited: 4.5 (yes, you can do the 1 EX, 39 Energy thing
if you want)
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