If I were to pick a Pokemon that has been represented with the best cards throughout the history of the game, I would without a doubt choose Flygon. There has been at least 6 competitive Flygon printed (I say at least in case there are some I’m forgetting about). The one I chose to review today, Flygon RR, is definitely no exception, having taken three of the top twelve spots at Worlds 2009.
For starters, it has 120 HP, which is pretty average nowadays for a Stage 2. When it was released, a +30 Colorless Weakness meant the only time Weakness would come into effect was during the mirror match, but in today’s format, a Colorless Weakness is terrible. Because of it, Garchomp C LV.X along with a Lucario GL can OHKO Flygon.
Flygon’s first attack, “Sand Wall”, is still pretty powerful. For CC it does a so-so 40 damage (with an Expert Belt, it can OHKO a Garchomp C LV.X). In addition, if your opponent has a Stadium in play, not only is it discarded, but it makes Flygon immune to your opponent’s attacks during their next turn. While the effect won’t be too useful against SP since they typically don’t run many Stadiums, it will be very powerful against Gyarados. Eventually, they will run out of BTS, meaning they can’t consistently heal/recover Gyarados.
“Power Swing”, which costs a high CCC does 60 damage plus an additional 10 damage for each Evolved Pokemon on your bench. Unfortunately, since Claydol is out of the format, it isn’t as easy to fill your bench with Evolutions as it once was.
On top of these two attacks, Flygon also has a Poke-Body called “Rainbow Float”. For each Basic Energy attached to Flygon, all of your in-play Pokemon of the same type get a free Retreat Cost. That is actually a pretty powerful effect, imagine having a unlimited supply of Unown Q’s on steroids (because even Pokemon with a 2+ Retreat Cost would have it reduced to 0).
I think it’s certainly fair to say that Flygon definitely has some very powerful assets that haven’t really been tapped this season. However, it’s also within reason to suggest that Flygon is definitely a victim to “old age”, (aka Rotations + Power Creep). One of Flygon’s most powerful attributes is its Colorless typing, which allows it to fully participate in the Garchomp war (and since it isn’t a Garchomp, Ambipom and Dragonite will be useless).
My Recommendation: If your area has a high Gyarados presences along with some VileGar and/or LuxChomp, it may not be a bad idea to give Flygon a shot. Plus, you would have the advantage of being unexpected.
My Rating: ~3.5/5 (Right up there with Jumpluff for being a causality of the rotation of Claydol and Roseanne’s Research)
