"Respect for the Dark
Dragon"
I am writing an article about a
seriously underestimated, overlooked, and underused card. I honestly
believe it is because of his Base set brother ruining his reputation.
That's right, I am talking the most dangerous Fire evolution (besides
Arcanine), DARK CHARIZARD. Dark
Charizard is amazing, and granted it has weaknesses but what card dosen't?
I know that a card review isn't what you want to read, but you know what?
I'm doing that and providing a strategy to utilize the Dark Dragon, so please
give it a chance, then refuse to play it. Hey, it's still a free
country.
The weaknesses are simple.
It is water weak. Big deal, water isn't played that much since most water
decks are Rain Dance, and most of those players are afraid of getting whipped by
Slowking, Lass, and Dark Vileplume. It has only 80 HP and it's a Stage
2. 80 HP can be a problem, but it will more than likely take 3 or 4 prizes
before it goes. As far as it being a Stage 2, it only needs two fire
energy to use its best attack (but piling more Fire energy on adds to
the fun), Continous Fireball, or 1 energy of any kind for its alternate attack,
Nail Flick. To solve that problem, two words: Pokemon Breeder.
The other weakness is three retreat cost, but hey who wants to retreat this
monster from the warzone. I also should point out that it is coin flip
relaint, but then again so are Sneasel, Sabrina's Haunter Lv. 20, and many other
fine Pokemon cards.
Now, the amazing part of the
"Dark Dragon." First off, as I already stated, it can be a second turn
monster with Pokemon Breeder and two Fire energy. Continous Fireball can
fry anything on the board with one or two heads. Nail Flick is a decent
backup attack if there is an energy drought. Also, it can use and abuse
Darkness Energy!!! (I bet nobody thought about that.) Sneasel is finished
on one head if a Darkness Energy is attached. Ha! It also has
resistance to Fighting. It can fry Scyther and Rocket's Scyther and even
that little punk Wooper on one heads. Bring it on, you little
lightning-resistant Water Fish. Fried Wooper with a side of Rocket's
Scyther tastes yummy to me. The basics of Dark Charizard are nice,
too. Team Rocket Charmander has a solid 20-for-1 fire attack and a nice
Pokemon Power (Gather Fire), and the Base Set Charmander has a good 50 HP, a
colorless attack like Dark Charizard's Nail Flick, and a good Ember
attack. Some of might ask, "Well, I don't like to use Breeders, what about
Dark Charmeleon?" Alright, here I'll admit that while his possible
70-for-3 looks nice, it's one coin flip and it's all or nothing. At least
with Dark Charizard, I get multiple coin flips for damage, and odds are that I
will get at least 1 head. Dark Charmeleon also has a solid 20-for-2
colorless attack, and that's alright; however, it has 50 HP at Stage 1 and two
retreat cost. That's absurd, and I won't play it. As a policy, I
won't play an evolution where the evolved form has the same amount of HP as its
last form, other than Fossil Gastly and Fossil Haunter. All in all, the
bad overwhelms the good on Dark Charmeleon, and it stinks. Play it if you
want to, but I'll almost guarantee you that it will not survive long enough
to be DARK CHARIZARD. Back to Dark Charizard, the other great thing
about it is that it is a Fire Pokemon, and no Pokemon in existence has
resistance to Fire. Ha! Ha! Ha! (add in about 50 or 60 more Ha, has and
you get the idea).
I hope that some more people
will now use more Dark Charizard, so that I'm not alone in using him. By
the way, I've never lost once with Dark Charizard. In fact, most of the
time it's not even close. Thank you for reading my rant and rave of Dark
Charizard.
-- Emmett Gore, Dark Charizard user and doggone
proud of it