Gyarados – Pokémon TCG Highlander

Gyarados is a mighty bruiser with well above-average HP and great damage potential with all three of its attacks. Opponents will have to be careful about how they approach and fight against this savage of the seas.

Strategy Points:

• “Tail Revenge” serves as a constant threat for opponents, who will have to be careful with how many Supporters they play. But because Supporters tend to grant a lot of important consistency for building a board, this move will often be hitting for pretty high damage in the mid- to late game.
  • Mill decks appreciate the High HP on Gyarados paired with the zero Energy cost on this attack that can easily be bolstered by milling Supporter cards.
  • This attack helps with Gyarados being an effective team member in multitype decks that aim to hit a lot of matchups for Weakness.
• “Berserker Splash” does great damage for its cost, even before the potential spread damage.
  • You can run bench protectors like Cloyster, Bastiodon, Manectric, and Dugtrio to stop the damage done to your own bench.
    • On the opposite end, you can run Pokemon like Gallade and Gigalith that take advantage of the amount of damage counters on your board.
    • Star Piece is a great card to take advantage of the damage done to your bench here.
• “Enrage” provides a lethal effect that allows you to pick a card and discard it for each heads flipped from this attack.
  • Running N, Iono, Judge, Red Card, Roxanne, Farigiraf, Talonflame, Exeggutor – Level X, or Grumpig – Level X right before this attack could have you discarding your opponent’s only Supporter in hand. Putting a potential damper on your opponent’s momentum while adding damage for “Tail Revenge.”
  • EXP. Share works well for Gyarados to build up towards this attack. Even if you don’t get a lot of Energy, the threat of “Tail Revenge” provides a factor that can alter your opponents strategies in having to deal with your board while gauging how to build their own.
• Magikarp’s “Call for Friends” grants a great bolster to your bench with potentially two Basic Pokemon played that can be evolved next turn. If your opponent doesn’t Knock Out Magikarp, they could have to deal with a 100 HP increase and early attack from Gyarados.
• Mega Gyarados:
• “Mold Breaker” grants shred properties to Mega Gyarados’s attacks, making for a 150 HP rampaging sweeper towards your opponent an easy plan of execution.
• Do to dual typing, Hiding, Dangerous, and Special Darkness Energy all provide Water Energy for Mega Gyarados’s attacks in addition to the effects they provide.