Hello, and welcome to the 4th day of our first real
Supreme Victors week, and we continue the week with a
card that has received a little hype, mainly due to one
number, yes, it's Rayquaza C Lv.X! I'll get onto that
number in a bit, but first, the basics of the card.
First off, it has 120 HP, with for an SP Lv.x, is the
tied highest so far. I can't help but think that until
we get a SP Regigigas Lv.X of some sort (probably FB),
we won't see higher for an SP Lv.X, but it's still a
nice number to have. Next, we have a x2 Colorless
Weakness, which is annoying since Flygon (RR) could
still be around, and new Colorless types coud see play
like Staraptor FB Lv.X (SV) and other Rayquaza C Lv.X's.
-20 Fighting Resistance seems nice, but is only really
effective against Relicanth (SV), since the only other
Fighting type that is likely to see play (Machamp (SF))
can just Take Out Rayquaza C Lv.X (unless you Unown G
(GE) Rayquaza C Lv.X, then it's nice). 3 Retreat Cost is
hideous, so make sure you pack Retreat Cost reducing
cards or cards like Warp Point and Switch. Finally, it's
an SP Pokémon, so has access to all that lovely support.
So, it has a good frame to work with, but does it have
the abilities to go with it? The answer is possibly.
Dragon Spirit, the Poké-Body, allows to search your
search your Discard Pile for an Energy Card (doesn't
have to be basic, so it's already nice) and attach it to
Rayquaza C Lv.X whenever it's damaged by an attack, but
not KOed. It makes use of that bulky 120 HP frame, and
gives in-built energy acceleration, so it's not bad.
However, I would rely on it since many Pokémon will aim
for a OHKO or using effects like the placement of Damage
Counters to get round the Poké-Body. However, Unown G
will force your opponents to damage Rayquaza C Lv.X, and
some decks won't be able to do anything but damage it,
so it's not too bad.
Now, I can't hold it off any longer, and I now have to
talk about a number that hasn't appeared on damage for a
card since Mesprit Lv.X (LA), yes, it's another 200
damage attack. Final Blowup (rubbish name) does 200
damage. However, it has a very steep cost. It requires
WPFC (or WPF and an Energy Gain attached) to pull it
off, which is hard enough on it's own, and you have to
discard all energies attached to Rayquaza C lv.X when
you use Final Blowup as well! However, there is a saving
grace, which is that you don;t have to discard any
energies if you have no cards in your hand when you use
the attack. This leads to a very risky little play. Do
you have no hand so you can keep Final Blowuping, but
risk not being able to come back if you lose Rayquaza C
Lv.X, or have a hand and try to keep powering up Final
Blowup?
Well, there are plenty of ways of using either way. For
the no hand way, it may take a while to build up
Rayquaza C Lv.X, but there are loads of choices on how
to empty your hand. Banette (PL), Lunatone (GE), Regice/Steel
(LA), and probably others as well, they all help empty
your hand ready for a massive attack. If you have too
many cards in your hand to be able to do this, use
Looker's Investigation or Team Galactic's Wager to
shuffle your hand into your deck, and then draw 1 card,
and then discard it with something. It's quite easy, but
still very risky. Also, due to the low number of cards
in your hand, Bebe's search is probably not the best
idea, so you may have to revert to other Pokémon
searchers that don't require another card to use. If you
need help getting energies onto Rayquaza C Lv.X, you may
as well use Electivire FB Lv.X (SV), since you are
probably going to be discarding loads of energies
anyway.
For the full hand way, well, you have 2 choices. The
first is to use discard loads of energies and use
Electivire FB Lv.X (again), or maybe try Leafeon Lv.X
(MD) along with Energy Gain. Bronzong (SF) will happily
find any energies you need, and Night Maintenance,
Palmer's Contribution and Aaron's Choice, along with
cards as well probably, will allow you get energies back
into the deck or your hand, so you can use Energy
Forcing to get them back onto Rayquaza C Lv.X (after a
Bronzong Poké-Power to them from the deck if need be).
Both of these ideas seem a little full and clunky, I
suppose, is the best way to describe it, so possibly
kind of slow. However, they could be quite fun.
Counters, well, if you attach Energy Gain, then Machamp
becomes a great counter for OHKOing it for F, but you
could say that for most SP's though. Colorless Pokémon
are probably the main threat though, since any deck
could use one at any time, and so long as it does at
least 60 damage, it's OHKOed Rayquaza C Lv.X. The
placement of damage counters is annoying as well since
it gets round the Poké-Body, though, like I said
earlier, Unown G helps stop that. To be honest, it's
main problem is it's speed. It's very hard to get set
up, so if you can get rid of it before it does get set
up, you'll be fine. Let it get set up, and I see it
being quite hard to bring down before obliterating
numerous Pokémon.
Ratings:
Modified: This card is all about the 200 damage. It
takes alot of setting up though, needing 4 energies
including 3 different types. It's a lot to ask for,
especially if you are trying to do this with no hand.
However, it's once it's set up that card begins to
shine. If they can't OHKO it, then they have to
sacrifice something while they bide some time to set up
a OHKO. That won't necessarily be easy thanks to it's
high HP value. 3.25/5
Limited: I so want to say this will be brilliant here,
but I can't. 3 different energy types is unfeasible,
especially since you have to hope you get some good
Pokémon of those 3 types as well (or make a Colorless
deck, which could be fun), and if you don't, then you'll
be hard pressed for find a reason to play this card
other than saying "It does 200 damage". Also, chances
are you'll only pull a 1-1 line at best, and with the
limited search and draw we have here, it'll be hard to
get out. 1/5
Joshy
Rayquaza LV x C -
"
[Cynthia's] Rayquaza Lv.x has 120 HP, an interesting
Poke-body and one of the most damaging attacks in the
game. But it is any good?
It's poke-body Dragon Spirit allows you to attach an
energy card to it every time its damaged by an
opponent's attack. With so much HP this means you could
get a few uses out of it.
It's attack, Final Blowup is really something else. It
cost is one of the strangest energy requirements I've
ever seen (Psychic, Water, Fighting, Colorless - perhaps
representing the types of Pokemon Cynthia uses) does 200
damage, at the cost of either discarding all energy
attached to Rayquaza or having an empty hand. One of the
most plaining obvious combos I see with is is Banette
(Platinum 19). Banette's power allows you to discard any
number of cards from your hand, so even if you dont have
the energy necessary to use Final Blowup you could use
Banette to discard some of the energy cards then get
them back with Dragon Spirit, and let the fun begin.
Also lets not forget the Lv X rule that would allow it
to use its lower stages attacks, namely Trash Burst.
Which lets you discard up to 5 energy cards from your
hand and deal +10 damage for each energy discarded.
Bottom stats -
Weakness to colorless don't see it being much of a
problem. But it does hurt since colorless pokemon are so
versatile.
Resistance to Fighting hep against machamp.
Retreat cost of 3 is a bit high.
Rating:
Modified: 2/5
Limited: 1/5 - Would probably be difficult to get Final
Blowup working with the weird energy requirement.
Rayquaza C Lv.
X Supreme Victors
Secret Rare
Wow, the "C"
Pokemon are pretty nifty. Not only are they cool because
the "C" stands for "Champion" AND "Cynthia," but most of
Cynthia's Pokemon have some awesome art. Garchomp,
Rayquaza, Lucario, and even Roserade have some awesome
art in this set. Now, tell me, are the Pokemon as
awesome as the art? In some cases, yes...it's too hard
to just come out and say yes or no. Of course, I'll get
to that later...so tell me, do you think that Rayquaza C
Lv. X is as awesome as the art on the cards?
It depends.
Starting with the
card's basics, it's HP is pretty nice for an SP Lv. X,
matching up with Pokemon like Dialga G, coming in at a
slighty above average 120 HP, 20 HP more than the Basic.
Its x2 Weakness against Colorless could pose to be
dangerous, especially with the occasional Flygon out
(the Lv. X won't matter because it'll one-shot Rayquaza
regardless) and the new Dragonite FB (which could
one-shot Rayquaza C Lv. X, also), but I really doubt
we'll see many of those in this format. It's -20
Fighting Resistance can be helpful against the same
fighting powerhouses like Machamp, Toxicroak G Promo,
and even Gallade, but it won't prevent enough to keep
Rayquaza out of KO range (especially in the Machamp
match-up without Unown G.) However, the resistance does
manage to be useful against the current Lv. X counter
(ahem, Luxray GL Lv. X counter), Mankey. Unfortunately,
the three Retreat Cost just rubs salt in the wound, and
it's really bad. At least you've got PokeTurn, right?
Okay, so the
attacks are what make the Lv. X interesting. Rayquaza C
Lv. X has a nice Poke-Body, Dragon Spirit, which lets
you attach an energy to Rayquaza from your discard pile
every time it is damaged by an opponent's attack (unless
it's knocked out, of course). I'll get back to this
later. Then, it's main attack is Final Blowup, which for
a whopping cost of 1 Psychic, 1 Water, 1 Fighting, and 1
Colorless, does 200 damage (whoa!), but also comes with
the consequence of having to discard all energy attached
to Rayquaza C Lv. X...IF you have cards in your hand. If
you don't have any cards in your hand when you attack,
then you're home free and you'll be ready for another
200 damage next turn. Now, if you do have to discard
your energy, you can see how the Poke-Body can be very
helpful, and it can be even MORE effective when you
factor in the Trash Burst attack from the normal
Rayquaza C, which allows you to discard up to 5 energy
cards from your hand. So the first attack and the Lv.
X's Poke-Body have synergy, so that's pretty nice.
Unfortunately, the Poke-Body only works if your opponent
attacks you and damages you, so you're at your
opponent's mercy if you're depending on them to power up
your Rayquaza, which is honestly pretty bad. If you go
this route, you'll probably never get one shot of 200
damage, much less two shots.
However, if you
want to take full advantage of this card, you're gonna
have to build a deck around this puppy, and if you do it
and get it set up, then wow...you're gonna be taking
some names. Rayquaza C Lv. X is just plain BAD in a deck
that isn't built around it. Now, if you combo it with
some cards in a deck, then you've got yourself a pretty
devastating combo, if you can get it set up, of course.
First, you need a way to discard cards from your hand so
you only have to charge up Rayquaza once, and there are
some perfect candidates. Night Teleporter from SV is
perfect for this, if you can get the flip. Flip heads,
get the basic/energy/trainer you need and then you're
hand free and free to do 200 damage. Another, more
consistent, option involves Banette from PL. It gives
you a reliable way to discard as many cards as you need.
Another possibility is Alakazam from MT, especially when
your opponent uses lots of powers (Uxie/Claydol/Unown
G?) so you can empty out your hand that way while
preventing some powers. There lots of ways to slim your
hand down, you just need to find whichever way works for
you. If you can, Rayquaza C Lv. X can be a VERY, VERY
devastating Pokemon. If you're able to get the energy on
it (which can be done in 2 turns with an Energy Gain and
an activation of Dragon Spirit/Flint's Willpower), and
you have a way to keep your hand empty, then you're
going to smash some skulls. Of course, you'll have to
look out for those Flygons, because they're great
Pokemon. Also watch out for Porygon Z, which is still a
VERY formidable deck in this format...because it
completely DESTROYS Rayquaza, with a possibility of over
400 damage due to weakness.
Ratings:
Modified: 3.5/5 I
really like this card because it really requires a deck
to be built around it, and it's not a card that you can
just carelessly throw into a deck as a tech or anything.
If you can consistently keep cards out of your hand,
then this card can be great. You'll just need time to
set up, and games can be so quick today, and that's not
necessarily in your favor, unfortunately. It just makes
it worse that Dragon Spirit requires Rayquaza to be
attacked to attach energies from the discard, because
with only 120HP, it'll be KOed in two turns regardless.
If you can get it set up, it's godly...if not, have fun
with your Banettes.
Limited: 2.5/5
Okay, the 2.5 rating is only applicable because you're
in a format where you can't draw too much (without
Masquerain, anyways) and you've often got a dead hand.
It also helps that Night Teleporter is in this set, too,
so you can get an energy, attack, and it's pretty much
going to be GG. That is, assuming that you're able to
pull Night Teleporters, Rayquaza C, AND the Level X.
However, some kid at my pre-release threw a 1-1 of this
card in the deck with 38 energy...DON'T do that. Please.
I like this card, and I'll probably
build a deck around it. Will it be a common deck? Maybe
until this Fall, but I think that Battle Roads will
determine if this deck is a contender or not.
