Welcome to the next part in my How to School the Competition series. For part 3, I decided to focus on Gyarados.
Gyarados was a nearly unknown deck until it made it to the top 16 at Worlds 2009. After that, people went crazy over Gyarados, looking for the Worlds list and trying to get any information they could about it. Apart from placing second in the Seniors Division and a Regionals win, it didn’t do that great last year.
However, most players believe that Gyarados, along with newly released cards such as Junk Arm and Rescue Energy, now has a chance to do some serious damage. Without further ado, here is my take on how to play Gyarados:
Note: I know that a lot of players are asking for articles aimed at more advanced players, but I hope this article is one that can help out players of all ranks, including more experienced ones.
Gyarados
Versus LuxChomp
LuxChomp generally has an edge over Gyarados, mainly because it can hit you for weakness with Luxray GL LV.X. So, in order to regain that edge, you will need to know what you’re up against, what tactics your opponent will try to use against you, and what tactics you yourself should be using.
LuxChomp’s easiest way to OHKO you is to use Luxray GL + Lucario GL + “Flash Bite”, which, unfortunately, is a very effective tactic. First things first though, watch your Expert Belt drops. Even though you can use things like Super Scoop Up and Seeker to rescue your Gyarados, there are a few things you need to remember. Super Scoop up is not a guaranteed thing; even if you have 2 to 3 in your hand, there still is a chance that you’ll whiff on a heads. While that is unlikely, it still is possible, which means it’s something you need to prepare for. Secondly, if your opponent OHKOs you, those scoop up cards don’t do much.
There is a time when playing Expert Belt is a smart and necessary thing to do in this match, allowing you to reach the magic 110 damage, but you will need to learn when that time is.
Your greatest strength is swarming out main attackers faster than they can. If you’re facing a good player, they should know this and will avoid KOing Gyarados like the Mafia avoids the cops. One strategy that can be effective is to use your SSU/Seeker to pick up your vulnerable benched Pokemon, making it much more difficult for your opponent to avoid your Gyarados.
So, you’re probably thinking, “What do I do then?” Scoop up Regice. A common move LuxChomp players will use is to “Bright Look” a Regice on your bench active and use Garchomp C LV.X to snipe around it. There will be times when its Poke-Power could help you against SP, but I ask that you think really hard about putting Regice in play unless you have a few Warp Energy/Warp Point to switch out Regice or 2+ SSU/Seeker in your hand.
Versus VileGar
This is a difficult match-up for Gyarados for a lot of reasons, but the biggest ones are Trainer-lock and “Fainting Spell”. Not to fear, there are some things that you can do and remember that will give you a fighting chance. However, many of the anti-VileGar tactics are situational, meaning that they’ll only be useful at certain times in the game. On the bright side, very few of these require you to change your list to use them, which allows you to use your space for teching against other matches or making your deck more consistent.
A common thing that Gyarados players will do with a Sableye start is use it to “Impersonate” a Pokemon Collector for two Magikarp and a Regice to discard them. This move is especially effective early game against a Spiritomb start, because, with “Regi Move”, you force them to switch their Spiritomb with a benched Pokemon, giving you a turn to play Trainers, which should help to give you a fighting chance.
However, this play has two downfalls. First of all, it only works against a Spiritomb-lock, not a Gastly one. Secondly, if your opponent has two Spiritomb in play, they’ll just bring up another one, making your effort to escape the lock useless. So, while it’s not a surefire thing, it is a situational way to get a turn that you can use Trainers.
Like I stated in my LuxChomp article, the standard ways to avoid “Fainting Spell” are Crobat G, Uxie, or perhaps Promocroak, which, odds are, you’re playing at least the first two and perhaps even the third one. However, you do have one advantage with Crobat G that a lot of decks don’t, and that’s being able to reuse “Flash Bite” with Seeker, which is a supporter and thus can be used under Trainer-lock.
Also, like the LuxChomp match-up, you need to be very careful about playing Expert Belt onto Gyarados because, if they KO it or get heads on “Fainting Spell”, your opponent will get one extra prize card. I’m not saying don’t use it, I’m saying you typically don’t want to attach Expert Belt and then go and risk a “Fainting Spell” flip.
As for “Poltergeist”, your biggest advantage is having 130 HP, meaning they’ll require you to have 5 Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums to be in your hand or 4 along with a Crobat G drop. The typical counter, Bebe’s Search, can be used in a 3 to 4 count here, which is a nice benefit.
Since this is a Gyarados deck, you will most likely be playing Regice, which not only is good early-game (explained a few paragraphs up), but it is extremely useful late-game because you can drop up to two Trainers each turn, which should make it nearly impossible for your opponent to OHKO you.
With that being said, I bring you to my next point: stop OHKOs. Like I stated above, a big challenge for this deck can be avoiding “Fainting Spell”. If you can make sure they’re unable to OHKO Gyarados, it helps to soften the blow of losing a Gyarados to “Fainting Spell” as you will hopefully be ahead on prizes.
Keep your bench as target-free as possible. Gengar’s first attack, “Shadow Room”, will be able to KO Azelf and Uxie (with a “Flash Bite”), so you will want to be very careful when placing them on the bench without a way to add them back to your hand.
Finally, I strongly recommend playing at least three Rescue Energy, or four if possible. Since your Trainers will be locked, your Pokemon Rescue will be useless, and this will be your best way to recover Magikarp from your Discard Pile.
Versus DialgaChomp
Some people think that this is a difficult match-up. Frankly, I’m not quite sure why. However, despite my opinions, here’s how to make sure this match favors you.
One very important thing to remember is Dialga G and Garchomp C LV.X’s damage output is usually capped at 80 damage, which is far from Gyarados’s 130 HP. This is a huge edge and will allow you to use Expert Belt with a lot less risk involved. This is very important as it will allow you to OHKO Garchomp C LV.X. Depending on how many Special Metal Energy are involved, you may be able to OHKO Dialga G LV.X with the aid of one or two “Flash Bite”.
Unlike LuxChomp, which excels at sniping your bench, DialgaChomp will be forced to charge into Gyarados a large portion of the time. This means that all of your Gyarados recovery can be used to their full effect.
Rescue Energy, which was brought to us along with the rest of Triumphant, is one of the best ways to recover Gyarados. However, Dialga G LV.X’s “Remove Lost” attack has the ability to send Rescue Energy to the Lost Zone, thus negating its effect and leaving your KO’d Gyarados and Magikarp in your discard pile.
Obviously, the best way to recover Gyarados in this match-up is to use Pokemon Rescue and Combee. However, if you find that the only recovery card you have is Rescue Energy, there’s something you need to remember when facing a Dialga G LV.X: don’t place Rescue Energy on a full HP Gyarados.
You see, “Remove Lost” does 80 damage, which means they can only 2HKO you. Each time they use “Remove Lost”, they get to flip until they get tails. If you attach it right away, they have a 75% chance of removing Rescue Energy. However, if you wait a turn until its HP is within KO range, they have only a 50% chance. While this situation is not ideal, you will sometimes find yourself in it, so I think it’s a good idea to be aware of this. It seems obvious, but I’m constantly surprised at how many people forget it.
Versus Mirror
The Gyarados mirror match can be a tricky as it is usually decided by whoever gets the fastest start. While each deck’s start is obviously important, you will need to know how to play the match when it’s Gyarados versus Gyarados. If both decks get about the same start, it then becomes a competition of who can consistently have a Gyarados ready to attack each turn. There are a few ways to turn the Gyarados match-up in your favor.
If you avoid attacking Gyarados, hitting a benched Pokemon can be a great idea. For every Pokemon you KO on their bench, it’s one less Gyarados you need to beat. A good card to do this is Pokemon Reversal. If you prefer to avoid more coin flips, Poke Blower + would work as well.
Expert Belt can be a great tool for OHKOing an opposing Gyarados (along with two “Flash Bites”: 90 + 20 + 10 + 10 = 130). However, if you lose a Gyarados with an Expert Belt attached, you will often lose because of it. Make sure you have a way to save your Gyarados if you use an Expert Belt.
Disrupting your opponent can be a great idea as well. If you are able to leave them without a way to recover a Gyarados for even one turn, it can be a great help to you. Perhaps the best way to do this is playing 2 Looker’s Investigation, which you can use to refresh your hand or disrupt your opponent’s. However, you should only do this when the opposing Gyarados doesn’t have a Rescue Energy attached, as that will allow them to recover the Gyarados.
Finally, I personally like the card Twins. Even though you have to be losing for it to be useful, it can often turn the game around. If you get a slower start than your opponent, it is a great way to get those last cards you need to get going.
Versus Machamp
Before Triumphant, you would be very happy being paired against a Machamp deck. Unless they can get the donk, you had just been handed an auto-win. However, with the release of Triumphant came Machamp Prime. While that card still doesn’t make this an unfavorable match-up for you, you will now need to be a bit more careful.
First off, you should note that once you get a Gyarados set up Machamp SF is nearly useless. However, Machamp Prime is the problem as you cannot OHKO them. On the bright side, they cannot OHKO you either. Describing this match won’t take long as there isn’t really anything you need to do that any good Gyarados player doesn’t already know and try to do each match. Just keep a string of Gyarados to overwhelm your opponent.
Most of the time, your opponent will use its second attack to do 100+ damage to you. However, unless they can add another 50 damage, they won’t be able to OHKO you. The biggest annoyance in this match-up would be Machamp’s first attack, which discards Special Energy, namely Rescue Energy. Much of the time, you won’t be using Rescue Energy to revive your Gyarados. Instead, you’ll be using it for retreat cost or something like that.
There is one way that Rescue Energy can be beneficial to you though. If your opponent uses “Champ Buster” and only does 100 damage (not as uncommon as you’d think, especially if they don’t play Donphan Prime), attach Rescue Energy to it. Your opponent will then have three options:
- Kill it with Champ Buster, which will let you rescue Gyarados.
- Discard the Special Energy but let your Gyarados stand for another turn.
- Figure out some other way to add 10 damage to it.
While the latter situation will be the most common, I felt that this situation is something to note. If you play smart and are conservative with your resources, you shouldn’t have much trouble winning this match.
