Gyarados ex – Mythical Islands
Date Reviewed: January 31, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
We end the month with the best card from Mythical Island, Gyarados ex (A1a 018, 076)! It’s a (W) Type, Stage 1 Pokémon ex that evolves from Magikarp. Gyarados ex has 180 HP, (L) Weakness, (C)(C)(C) Retreat Cost, and one attack. For (W)(W)(W)(C), Gyarados ex can use “Dragon Rage” to hit the opponent’s Active for 140 damage and discard a random Energy attached to a Pokémon in play. Gyarados ex is available as both a ♦♦♦♦ and ★★ card.
First things first: Space-Time Smackdown, the third full set for the Pokémon TCG Pocket, has officially released. Scans were available on both sites I use for reference and I need to update my review schedule, so I am almost done with my next Top Pick lists. I lack the time and space to thoroughly cover ever facet of what has already been with Gyarados ex, and we’ll soon be discussing the new cards in their own reviews. Thus I’ll only mention the new stuff sparingly in this review.
As a (W) Type Pokémon, Gyarados ex has access to Misty and Vaporeon (A1a 019, 072). Both of these cards offer forms of Energy acceleration: successful Gyarados ex decks use Misty or both. (W) Typing also means Gyarados ex does +20 damage to almost every (R) Type in the game. While usually overkill, it allows Dragon Rage to OHKO Arcanine ex (A1 041, 254) without using a Giovanni or similar, small combo. If you can manage a significant combo that adds another 20 or 30 damage, Gyarados ex can OHKO Charizard ex (A1 036, 253, 280, 284) without overkill that would make the Weakness redundant.
Gyarados ex has 180 HP, the largest on a Stage 1 Pokémon ex, and large in general. Only extra heavy attacks can score a OHKO before Weakness or combos. Even with those things, a lot of decks can’t one-shot Gyarados ex, let alone do so rapidly, reliably, and/or repeatedly. Gyarados ex’s (L) Weakness only really1,2,3 matters for 2HKOs. The Retreat Cost of (C)(C)(C) means an Active Gyarados ex is likely to stay an Active Gyarados ex.
Dragon Rage is an expensive attack. Four Energy attack costs are not a common thing in Pocket. Including the latest expansion, only 7%5 of Pokémon need this much to attack. Gyarados ex decks need other Pokémon to open for Gyarados ex for this reason, and another we’ll get to later. You cannot count on Misty showing up in time, or that you’ll flip enough “heads” when she does. The one (C) Energy requirement does not make it worth running Gyarados ex in a multi-Type deck. If an attacker has something other (C) and/or (W) Energy requirements, it isn’t an attacker in a Gyarados ex deck.
You do get a great payout for meeting the steep cost. Dragon Rage does 140 damage, without coin flips, restricted targets, or additional costs. Not much can survive this, and most that do are Evolutions, whether they’re single point or Pokémon ex. Many of the exceptions are key parts to competitive decks, so you will encounter them often, but 140 damage is still good for the Energy.
Dragon Rage discards one randomly selected Energy from all Energy that are currently attached to a Pokémon: Active or Benched, yours or your opponent’s.4 I believe each Energy in play has an equal chance of being selected. How much this hurts or helps you can vary wildly. I’ve had it effectively win the game, as it prevented a key attack from my opponent. I’ve had it cost me the game, when I needed to build a follow-up to Gyarados ex. There will even be times when the Energy discard just doesn’t matter!
Now for what I skipped. As a Pokémon ex, Gyarados ex gives up an extra point when KO’d. Gyarados ex needs to be significantly better than the single point equivalent to compensate. You also need to remember that Tauros (A1a 060) enjoys bonus damage from its effect when attacking Gyarados ex. This won’t lead to a OHKO, but is quite helpful when trying to 2HKO Gyarados ex. It also gives us a reason to quickly look at Gyarados (A1 078, 233), to get a better idea of how much Gyarados ex really gains from being a Pokémon ex!
Gyarados has the same Typing, Stage, and Weakness as Gyarados ex. Where it differs is its 150 HP, Retreat Cost of (C)(C)(C)(C), and attack, “Hyper Beam”. The attack costs (W)(W)(W)(W) and does 100 damage, while also discarding a random Energy attached to your opponent’s Active, unless there are none. I don’t recall hearing about “baby” Gyarados decks, not that they’d have been called that before Gyarados ex released.
Gyarados ex is better almost any place the two differ: +30 HP, (C) less Retreat Cost, +40 to attack damage, and marginally better attack cost. Besides not giving up an extra point when KO’d, or having to worry about Tauros, all “baby” Gyarados has going for it is having no risk of discarding your own Energy. Which isn’t even entirely positive, since it can’t discard Energy from any opposing Benched Pokémon, the way Dragon Rage can.
I’m sure you’ve noticed we haven’t addressed another drawback of Gyarados ex – and baby Gyarados – their Stage. It isn’t just the usual baggage all Stage 1 Pokémon have to deal with. These cards have to go through Magikarp (A1 077) or Magikarp (A1a 017). They’re both (W) Basics with 30 HP, (L) Weakness, (C) Retreat Cost, and one attack. The former can use “Splash” for (C) to do 10, the latter can use “Leap Out” for (W) to switch itself with one of your Benched Pokémon.
Use the latter. There’s nothing in Pocket with a lower HP score, and only Tynamo (A1 107) ties it. You need Magikarp to hide on the Bench more than you need Gyarados ex to chill there until its ready to attack. Magikarp isn’t even safe Turn 2. Weakness means any (L) Type that does any damage will do at least 30 with their attack. Anything that does 20 and isn’t a (L) Type just needs a Giovanni. Yeah, they need to do this for one Energy… but that’s really common.
Even on the Bench, Magikarp is a 3HKO at best. Many snipers can OHKO it. This isn’t the only reason why cards like Greninja (A1 089, Promo-A 019), Electabuzz (Mythical Island 027), Hitmonlee (A1 154) and Zebstrika (A1 106) have been doing so well, but it is a reason. Of particular note, Pikachu ex (A1 096, 259, 281, 285) decks seem to always have something to hit the Bench, as evidenced by the Electabuzz and Zebstrika I just mentioned. As, even with Weakness, Pikachu ex decks struggle to score the OHKO against Gyarados ex.
Gyarados ex is one of the top decks in the game in spite of Magikarp! That’s just how good Gyarados ex is, when properly supported. There are many variants, but I’m going to go with the two that I think are the most iconic… and at least one of which is probably the best overall Gyarados ex deck:
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Articuno ex (A1 084, 258, 275)/Vaporeon (A1a 019, 072)
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Druddigon (A1a 056)/Greninja
These two can also be split so that only one of the two listed Pokémon is present, but they don’t seem to do as well.
The best of these seem to be the Druddigon/Greninja variants. Greninja is probably a little more important than Druddigon, in that it’s easier to replace it with a different meatshield than it is to replace Greninja with a different supporting Evolution. Druddigon buys time for the other two to setup while hopefully leaving some damage counters (or even scoring a point off of) whatever is attacking it. Greninja’s actually a decent secondary attacker, but it’s main purpose is to its Ability to setup KOs, or to finish off something that retreated.
Articuno ex and Vaporeon are also good partners for Gyarados ex. Either can act as a meatshield if they must. Even if Misty is a no-show, Articuno ex is still a good, only slightly slow, attacker. Its second attack can also setup some easier KOs for Gyarados ex if/when it shows up. If you need it to be one, Vaporeon can function as a meatshield, but its intended purpose is avoid wasting (W) Energy. Whether the excess is from an excessively lucky Misty, or just having retreated Articuno ex or Gyarados ex to avoid a KO, and now it’s sitting there with at least one of its (W) Energy still attached.
What does the future look like for Gyarados ex? Hard to say. Before seeing Space-Time Smackdown, I was mostly positive. I’m still fairly positive. There are some new rivals and (potential) partners for Gyarados ex among (W) Types, and some new support. I also saw some competitive looking new snipers and damage spreaders: Magikarp will be at least a little riskier than they already are. There’s also at least one or two promising new (L) attackers. Nothing that looks like it’d make Gyarados ex unplayable, just less dominant.
Ratings: 4/5
Gyarados ex is something of a juggernaut once it gets going. As Magikarp, it’s fragile. Even as itself, Gyarados ex can be slow; Misty and Vaporeon can only do so much, when they can do anything at all. Once it hits the field, though, it hits hard and is hardy. Even the likes of Mewtwo ex (A1 129, 262, 282, 286) decks and Pikachu ex decks try to win before Gyarados ex is ready, because it can OHKO them6, but they can’t OHKO Gyarados ex back.
1Jolteon (A1 102) isn’t competitive, but gains OHKO capacity if you manage to flip all “heads” on the four coin tosses for its attack.
2Raichu (A1 95) can score a OHKO with a combo that delivers an effective +20 damage, instead of needing +40.
3Zapdos ex (A1 104, 260, 276) already scores a OHKO if you flip “heads” for four out of the four coin tosses required by its second attack. (L) Weakness means a simple combo (Giovanni) enables a OHKO with three “heads” as well.
4Even if the opponent’s Active would be KO’d once Dragon Rage completely resolves, the Energy attached to it is still a valid target for the Energy discarding effect.
529 out of 426 unique Pokémon; this includes those from Space-Time Smackdown.
6Yes, you need Giovanni, or a similar simple combo, for Dragon Rage to OHKO a fully healthy Mewtwo ex.
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