Baby Mario
Top 4 UK Nats |
Rayquaza C
Ok, I know there are going to be people out there who
will TRY and make Rayquaza C LV X work. That 200 damage
is tempting, even if the Energy requirement is
hilarious. Really, if they are going to attempt that in
Modified, they need all the help they can get, so will
they get any from the Basic form of Rayquaza C?
. . . ummmm . . . . no.
Rayquaza C DOES come with a nice 100 HP and a Resistance
to Fighting, but it also has a Retreat cost of three, X2
Weakness to Colourless (making it a nice breakfast for
Flygon, Ditto, Ninetales MT, or Garchomp C), and, worst
of all, two attacks that are terrible in Modified. Trash
Burst requires mass Energy discarding, and Twister does
an unimpressive 50 for four Energy, and can fail on coin
flips. Ok, there are ways of using the discarded Energy
to power up the LV X (such as Rotom MD) but, just like
with yesterday’s card, the amount of work this takes,
combined with the fragility of the Pokémon involved,
makes Rayquaza a bit . . . well, rubbish really.
In Limited, though, it’s a different story. Here, Trash
Burst can be a great attack as hands full of useless
Energy are common. If you pull it, try a deck with 1
Rayquaza C and 39 Energy . . . I dare you!
Rating
Modified: 1 (does its LV X no favours)
Limited: 3.5 (could actually work here)
|
drtomoe123
Professor
League Leader |
Rayquaza C
Supreme Victors
Holo Rare
As we saw, Rayquaza C Lv. X has the potential to be an
extremely dangerous card. In a deck that's based
completely around it (and runs well), the card can
consistently do 200 damage! While its HP may not have
been the most amazing thing in the world, causing the
card to lose value in a format where its ability to
stick around for a few turns is key, it really poses a
threat in the current metagame. That's the Level X card,
however. Now, we're going to talk about the original
card, Rayquaza C. If it's not paired with the Lv. X, is
it really worth any hype whatsoever?
Not really.
Sure, the HP is right up there with other SP legendaries
like Dialga G, coming in at a nice, healthy 100HP. It's
x2 Weakness to Colorless can pose some problems (looking
at you Flygon...and even Staraptor FB Lv. X...and yes,
you too, Porygon Z!), but it isn't as hindering as say,
a weakness to Lightning or Fire right now. (Blazeray and
LuxRape, I'm looking at you). The -20 Resistance to
Fighting is pretty normal...protects against Machamp's
Hurricane Punches, Primeape/Mankey, blah, blah, you
know...the usual. Yeah, the Retreat Cost of a whopping 3
is not something that you like to see...and that's
really where this card starts to show its true colors.
Unfortunately, it's all downhill from here.
Trash Burst is the one thing that makes the normal
Rayquaza C interesting. For one Colorless, you can
discard up to 5 Energy Cards from your hand, and for
each card you discard, the attack does 10 more damage.
So, if you discard all five, you get to do a nice 60 for
one Colorless (or most likely an Energy Gain in this
situation). This attack has TONS of combo potential.
First of all, you've got the obvious synergy with
Rayquaza C Lv. X, which makes this attack great so it
can charge up the Lv. X so you can use the huge 200
damage attack. Then, you've got combos with cards like
Electivire SW and and Electivire FB Lv. X. Discard some
Lightning energy and do a nice chunk of damage, PokeTurn
Rayquaza, bring out Electivire SW and use Motor Drive
and you've got an extra energy. With Electivire FB,
you've got more energy to bring out of the discard, so
it works great there. It also works with Typhlosion MT,
allowing you to do practically the same thing as
Electivire, but with Fire Energy. There are plenty of
these "pull energy from the discard" combos out there,
and Rayquaza works great in this aspect, because unlike
Felicity's Drawing or Volkner's, you actually get to do
damage at the same time. It also works with other cards
that place Energy on top of the deck like Delcatty PL,
so you can have some constant, cheap damage. However, be
careful, because if you want to get Rayquaza C out of
the Active spot, you HAVE to have PokeTurn or Super
Scoop Up because it's really not worth the Three Retreat
cost, especially when Rayquaza is relatively frail.
Now, its other attack, Twister, is barely worth
mentioning. For FOUR Colorless (or three and an Energy
Gain...not much better) you have the POSSIBILITY of
doing 50 and discarding two energy attached to the
Defending Pokemon. Unfortunately, like most Twisters, it
involves FLIPS. If you get two tails, you do NOTHING.
It's just not worth it. If you want energy removal,
stick with Dialga G Lv. X, because at least you're doing
80 guaranteed...it's so much more worth it. Don't use
this attack unless you HAVE to, because the attack is
horrible. Please, stick with Trash Burst.
Ratings:
Modified: 2/5 If you're not using the Lv. X, this card
mainly needs to be used to set up decks that focus on
Pokemon like Typhlosion and Electivire, because Rayquaza
does a GREAT job of getting energies in the discard and
doing damage at the same time. Otherwise, it's not that
great. Without the Lv. X, you're left with a potential
60 damage (and only if you can get some crazy energy
circulation...and most decks only run 10-13 energy to
begin with). The first attack has potential, but
everything else, especially Retreat Cost, brings this
card down.
Limited: 2/5 Same situation here, pretty much. Flippy
cards are common here, so Twister might be a bit better,
but you don't really have ways to get energy back from
the discard here, aside from Palmer's, so you're just
going to waste your energy on Trash Burst. If you DO
want to go the Trash Burst route, Sandslash SV works
great here to get you more energy to discard. Otherwise,
the 2x Colorless Weakness will probably kill you here
because so many people run Colorless...just not worth
it.
That's it for today! If you've got any differing
opinions, combo ideas, anything, feel free to e-mail me
at
drtomoe123@gmail.com, because I'd love to hear them!
:D |
