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WHOOP!
Gyarados: Energy cost is terrible, damage is OP, GX attack wrecks face.
Alolan Golem: Energy cost is bad, but it could work, damage is excellent, recoil isn't, GX attack is: ARGUABLY THE BEST.
Counter Catcher: Hold on. This card exists?!?! BOOOOOOOOOOOYAH!!! (Only works if your opponent has taken more prize cards makes Thebes's card more balanced.)

Goomy is very pleased with the offering you have brought him today, Pokémon Company. You may pass in peace.
 
Gyarados has potential, but suffers from Gardevoir GX AND insane 5-energy attack cost. If Gyarados is KOd then how would it recover?
 
Might just be me, but I feel like water is very underwhelming lately.

I don't like Gyrados GX at all in terms of competitive standing. Still gets OHKO'd by Fire (Ho-Oh GX, Choice Band, Steam Up), and does it much more quickly with no risk of special energy removal. Gyrados GX needs 5 energy and a stadium to OHKO back. I guess you would run mandatory Skyla for Stadium searching, but Skyla is pretty pointless in a Stage 1 deck.

5 Energy for attack is free picking for Gardevoir GX, Tapu Bulu decks benefit greatly from Tapu Koko GX which OHKOs for 3 energy, 2 hit KOs on Metagross GX which can 2 hit KO in return much more easily.

If playing Gyrados GX, I would say that Palkia EX is mandatory for energy acceleration without diversifying your energy pool into fire for Kiawe or Grass/Electric for Vikavolt's strong charge. The 40 damage widdling away at your opponent with Aqua Turbo may also set you up for some interesting follow up KO's with Gyrados's first attack. I would play literally no DCE and rely completely on Palkia EX and Max Elixir to accelerate your Palkia EX. This then synergizes well with Brooklet Hill as Brigette can only grab you one EX Pokemon as well.

What I do like about Gyrados GX is that it's the first Pokemon to seriously take advantage of Lusamine's effect. 2 Lusamine in the deck means that you could just Lusamine for Brooklet Hill and something else, then Lusamine for a Lusamine and Brooklet Hill again, giving you an infinite stadium loop for 200 damage per turn, but that can be interupted by an N, but that's pretty obvious at this point.

As for Golem...

Play N. GX attack. Laugh.
 
Gyarados GX: Dread Storm is nice but the main attack costs too much to be able to stream them. Even with Palkia EX to accelerate this seems too slow. Lapras GX is a much faster and less conditional attacker and Alolan Ninetales GX is much more versatile and also has a better GX attack. Kiawe is an option to accelerate to the first Gyarados GX but it is still slow and attaching four energies to Magikarp asks for troubles.

Alolan Golem GX: The attacks a much better than Gyarados GX but since it still takes four energies to attack on a stage two Pokémon it will be much slower than other decks out there at the moment.

Counter Catcher: Can see that card work in several decks that are fast but use attackers that are easier to knock out.
 
Kyrushi said:
Im going to LOVE this in my Koko deck!! I run Electrode in it to accellerate my energy and used to run Ace Trainer when it was standard. Now instead I can force the opponent to take a prize so I can abuse Counter Catcher! This way I can force a switch and then have my supporter slot open for hand freshing or disruption.
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That is a brilliant use for this card.
 
Good card, I hope they don't print it with the man covering the set number and illustrator however
 
Dark Espeon said:
Counter Catcher: Can see that card work in several decks that are fast but use attackers that are easier to knock out.
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The opposite is true.

You want a slow deck that gives up early prizes so that you can consistently be behind your opponent, but also have pokemon that are hard to knock out so that you can catch back up in prizes.

So stage 2 decks like garde.
 
That Alolan Golem-GX move though.....I like both these cards....maybe won't be meta but will definitely be fun to play with
 
Ramo0927 said:
Woah that HP on Gyarados tho.



I think both are meh, for Golem you would rather be using Koko GX, and Gyarados's 2nd attack is a bit too high(2 DCEs on it makes it vunerable to Kartana).

Still waiting for my Shiinotic GX

EDIT: If that GX attack on Golen is accurate, then forget what I said about it being meh.
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I agree. I think that Gyrados is a bit rough. That's such a high attack cost for 100 damage at worst and 200 at best. I can't see playing it. The golem is cool though. With the electrode attachment and a double colorless you can be up pretty quickly. The GX attack is pretty cool though too.
 
I think that Counter Catcher is pretty darn good!
Gyarados would be a fun deck I bet, but not too good. You would need to use Max Elixirs and Aqua Patches onto benched Magikarps for it to work- but I think it could be a good tech in Expanded Gyarados decks!
I don´t think Alolan Golem is that good at all. The energy requirement is way too high for what it does. The disruption seems good but is outdone by Pokemon Ranger, and whats the point of locking your opponent but not doing good damage for a GX attack for 4 energy??? Will not be played.
 
This is just me... I wish there was an ability that directly targets energy variable attacks, and nullifies all added damage from them. I say this because if it weren't for them, an unbelievable number of cards in this meta would be so much more viable.

Instead, the creators somehow want to punish high energy attacks, like on Gyarados-GX, instead of rewarding the player's efforts of attaching FIVE energy to make the attack work. -_-
 
Heavy Rock-GX is probably the best GX attack of all time, but sadly I don't think that is enough to justify the card. Its attacks are mediocre at best, and taking 50 damage to the face is a huge let down.

Gyarados is awesome. In this slow format I think it will have a place as a tier 2 deck. With a Choice Band it can one hit Gardy, and massive energy cost didn't stop Primal Groudon. In fact, we have a much slower format than back when Groudon was a thing, so I'll expect to see a lot of this card in the future.
 
I think Counter Catcher will be a staple one-of in every deck, maybe more in Volcanion and other mixed attacker decks.
 
GekkisaiDaiNi said:
Oh good god, your opponent can't play any card from their hand until the end of their next turn?! AND 100 DAMAGE?! Golem could actually see some play...
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The attack is too expensive. It is not specialised enough IMO to see play. Which strategy would you build around this? Golem + Hammers? Possibly. But I think it might be too clunky.
 
I like that Alolan Golem is being shown some love, but I don't think it's playable sadly. High energy cost and being a Stage 2 is rough. Gardevoir will tear through it. I do like Gyarados. It's HP is massive for a Stage 1. Sadly, Gardevoir rips through it as well and Gyarados does most of the work for Gardevoir since it's attack cost is huge. It's sucks that everything going forward has to be compared to Gardevoir, but it is what it is. I wish they would make a Top Tier competitive Electric-type Pokemon. I feel like it's been the most neglected type for awhile now.
 
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