Table of Contents
Heya everyone! In this guide, I'll cover the Dragonite decks; using a1-185-dragonite as the main carry. This Pokemon has a slow setup, so you have to build the deck with that in mind, having an early Pokemon that can take a couple of hits and slow down the opponent's pace until your win condition is online.
There are different versions of the Dragonite deck out there; I'll cover two of them in this guide while also listing other supporting Pokemon you can include.
Gameplan
Dragonite Frostmoth
You want to have a1-183-dratini and a1-184-dragonair on the Bench as you work on evolving them to a1-185-dragonite. They don't pose offensive pressure since a1-183-dratini needs two Energy to activate Ram and evolving it to a1-184-dragonair will require you 3 Energy to activate Tail Smack. However, Tail Smack isn't too shabby, dealing 80 damage to an opponent's Active Pokemon.
If you're forced to play a1-183-dratini in the Active spot when the game starts, you can use promo-2-x-speed to retreat back to the safety of the Bench and put another stall Pokemon in its place.
a1-185-dragonite is a Stage 2 Pokemon requiring you to evolve a1-183-dratini to a1-184-dragonair before getting it into play. So it can take a while to get the a1-185-dragonite win condition ready, and on top of that, Draco Meteor needs 4 Energy (1 Water, 1 Lightning, and 2 Colorless Energies). Once ready, Draco Meteor unleashes a barrage of attacks, choosing 1 Pokemon 4 times to deal 50 damage to it. This means the Active and Benched Pokemon are not safe from Draco Meteor, threatening to get multiple knockouts to win the game. Getting two attacks with a1-185-dragonite will likely be enough to win the game.
Frostmoth
a1-92-snom is the Basic Pokemon we want in the Active spot at the start of the game. It doesn't pose much threat to the opponent, only dealing 10 damage with Ram. Once evolved into a1-93-frosmoth, Powder Snow deals 40 damage, which isn't putting too much pressure, but you'll be putting the opponent's Active Pokemon to sleep, forcing them to flip a coin to deal damage. This means a1-93-frosmoth can survive longer in the Active spot, allowing it to attack more and buying more time as you set up the a1-185-dragonite win condition.
a1-93-frosmoth's Powder Snow is extremely important for our strategy, however, it costing 2 Energy will slow us down from getting 4 Energy on a1-185-dragonite. Instead, we'll rely on a1-220-misty to give Energy to our Water Pokemon, a1-93-frosmoth. a1-93-frosmoth's retreat costs only 1 Energy, so once a1-185-dragonite is ready, we can retreat it to safety and get a1-185-dragonite to start dealing some real damage.
Dragonite Weezing
This version cuts out a1-92-snom, a1-93-frosmoth, and a1-220-misty for a1-222-koga, a1-176-koffing, and a1-177-weezing.
This list wants a1-176-koffing in the Active spot at the start of the game and quickly evolve it to a1-177-weezing, a 110 HP Pokemon that doesn't get knocked out easily. a1-177-weezing can stick in play for a little while as you set up the a1-185-dragonite win condition.
a1-177-weezing's Gas Leak ability poisons the opponent's Active Pokemon, slowly damaging it every turn, potentially knocking out a low-health Pokemon or setting the stage for a1-185-dragonite to finish the job with Draco Meteor. In most cases, you won't attach Energy to a1-177-weezing as you'd rather put it on a1-185-dragonite to attack with Draco Meteor attack as early as possible.
Since we're not attaching an Energy on a1-177-weezing, we'll make use of a1-222-koga to remove it from the Active spot without relying on Retreat. This lets us move a1-185-dragonite to the active spot and unleash our heavy attack to start winning the game.
Dragonite Deck Weaknesses
- The a1-185-dragonite win condition can be a slow setup. We don't have any cards that accelerate our strategy by attaching more Energy on a1-185-dragonite. For example, a1-220-misty only works on Water-type Pokemon, so we can't rely on it to speed up the Draco Meteor attack.
- Although Draco Meteor is a powerful attack that can crush the opponent's Bench, it does have the randomness factor which can play a big role in whether you win or lose certain games.
Closing Words
The Dragonite deck has a slow strategy, but once online, the Draco Meteor attack can be devastating for opponents. The 50 damage unleashing 4 times on random targets means the Bench is not safe for opponents to retreat their Pokemon, and any low-health Pokemon will be giving you a Match point to speed up your victory.
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