Skarmory (A2 111, P-A 039) – Space-Time Smackdown
Date Reviewed: February 23, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Soaring into Sunday, we begin1 the week with Skarmory (A2 111, P-A 039)! It’s a Metal Type, Basic Pokémon with 80 HP, (L) Weakness, a Retreat Cost of (C), and the attack “Metal Arms”. For (M), Metal Arms lets Skarmory hit the opposing Active for 20 damage. However, Metal Arm’s effect states the attack does +30 damage if Skarmory is sporting a Pokémon Tool. Skarmory is available at the ♦♦ and promo rarities.
Skarmory’s Metal Typing doesn’t do it a lot of favors. In terms of exploiting Weakness, only 20 total Pokémon2 are (M) Weak, and none of them are currently competitive. Nor does the Metal Type enjoy any Type-specific support3. Even if we were to count Dialga ex (A2 119, 188, 205, 207), Skarmory doesn’t need two Energy. At least there are no anti-(M) effects in Pocket.
Basic Pokémon are the most space efficient Stage, and don’t have to wait to evolve in order to hit the field. Deck staple Poké Ball (P-A 005) can snag them from your deck, albeit randomly. Though barely played right now, remember your opponent could use Poké Flute (A1a 064) to toss an unneeded Skarmory on your Bench, and Victreebel (A1 020) can force a Benched Skarmory into the Active position with its Ability.
80 HP is decent, if not kind of good for a Basic Pokémon only worth one point. While hardly a wall, it’s not easy to one-shot Skarmory early game, or later than that when one’s setup is wanting. (L) Weakness can be dangerous; it allows some supporting attacks to score a OHKO, while making some existing OHKOs easier or more reliable. Skarmory’s Retreat Cost of (C) is low and relatively easy to pay. If you don’t want to pay, even one X Speed (P-A 002) zeroes it out.
Skarmory’s Metal Arms attack is easy to power, at least in decks running only on (M) Energy. The effect of the attack does require you attach a Tool to Skarmory, but in the current metagame that’s a reasonably common, relatively reliable opening play. When facing a Skarmory, expect it to have a Giant Cape (A2 147) or Rocky Helmet (A2 148) equipped. Which will allow Skarmory a sweet 50-for-one attack. That’s enough to OHKO smaller, evolving Basics, and a Giovanni (A1 223, 270) let’s you one-shot the abundant, evolving 60 HP Basics.
I believe Rocky Helmet is preferred; 100 HP doesn’t last much longer than 80, but forcing something to take 20 to 40 damage dealing with an opening Skarmory, while Skarmory itself is attacking for 50 damage, quickly adds up. The good news for Skarmory is that we’ve got a decent selection of decks running on Metal Energy, thanks to Dialga ex. The bad news is, those decks are likely to want Dialga ex to open, to fuel the deck’s main (or at least, heavy) attacker. Might want to save Tools back for that as well…
…but the even better news is those aren’t where Skarmory is finding success! At the time I’m writing this, Magnezone (A2 053)/Skarmory is the seventh most-played deck in terms of metagame share, and but has the third highest Win %.3 Use Skarmory to apply early pressure, while Magneton (A1 098) Uses its “Volt Charge” Ability to attach (L) Energy to itself, while also manually building another attacker on your Bench. Like Heatran (A2 120, 174).
Rating: 3/5
Skarmory is a good card, though some of it is being in the right place at the right time. Given how quickly the metagame has been shifting and a new set releasing this Friday, Skarmory may just be enjoying its 15 minutes of fame.
1Some parts of the world consider “Sunday” to the first day of the week, while others consider Monday, Friday, or Saturday to be the first day.
2This number excludes multiple releases of the same card.
3Based on the data from LimitlessTCG. You can also head over to Poké Zone to see their thoughts on Skarmory decks.
We would love more volunteers to help us with our Card of the Day reviews. If you want to share your ideas on cards with other fans, feel free to drop us an email. We’d be happy to link back to your blog / YouTube Channel / etc. 😉 Click here to read our Pokémon Card of the Day Archive. We have reviewed nearly 5000 Pokémon cards over the last 25 + years!