Salamence
Vital Stats:
Type: Colorless
Stage 2: Evolves from Shelgon
HP: 100
Weakness: None
Resistance: None
Retreat Cost: (C)(C)
Attacks/Pokemon Powers/Bodies:
Poke-BODY: Intimidating Fang
As long as Salamence is your Active Pokemon, any damage done to your Pokemon by an opponent's attack is reduced by 10 (before applying Weakness and Resistance).
(R)(W)(C) Dragon Flame 40+
You may discard an Energy card attached to Salamence. If you do, this attack does 40 damage plus 20 more damage.
Background Info:
Set: EX Dragon
Rarity: Rare (Non-Holo)
First, the stats:
Type: Colorless: Normally, being colorless means that you can throw a card into darned near any deck and they'll work. Salamence is differant because he more or less forces you to run either a Fire or a Water deck, preferably both. However, with the new Dragons that are weak against colorless, Salamence can be a big help.
Stage 2 : Evolves from Shelgon: Well, a Stage 2 card isn't going to be inplay until at the earliest the 2nd turn, I think. The only way to pull that off in my house it either A.) Pokemon Breeder or B.) Wally's Training a Bagon into a Shelgon 1st turn then Salamence on the second.
HP: 100: 100 is a nice amount for the average player. It's not outstanding but with Intimidating Fang you'll last a while.
Weakness/Resistance: None: Not much to say here. No weakness is a VERY good thing and no resistence isn't major.
Retreat Cost: (C)(C): Not the best retreat, not the worst. If you want to bring out another Pokemon, it's alright but I'd use Switch. If you're damaged and want to avoid getting KO'd, as long as it's not your opponent's last prize, I advise just using a final Dragon Flame to damage the opponent.
Poke-BODY: Intimidating Fang: A VERY good 'body, Intimidating Fang protects you from 10 damage to not just Salamence, but TO YOUR ENTIRE BENCH!! This negates a large portion of most Earthquake-type effects and will help soften the blows from things like Stretch Kick, Feint Attack, and the like. The only downside is that Salamence must be active for it to activate.
Dragon Flame: Salamence's only attack and it isn't too bad. Now, I have always played this as you can only discard 1 energy card. I couldn't find anything on Compendium about it and that seems to be how it is worded so that's how I play it. Anyways, 40 damage isn't that great, especially for 2 differant energy types. The discard effect, however, makes it a very nice situational attack. Need to do 60? Discard one of your energy. Can KO in 40 or less? Just attack normally. A decent attack.
Strategies: This card works very well in a 2 vs. 2 format. You can either pair it up with another Salamence and double it's protecting ability OR you can combine it with a Crawdaunt (#3 Dragon) and not only have 10 less damage done to you but 10 MORE done to your opponent.
Final Score:
All in all, a pretty good Stage 2, not the greatest but it works pretty darned well. Intimidating Fang can be a life-saver and Dragon Flame is fun to use, but a little costly. I give this card a 8.5/10
Next Card:
Nidking (EX: FireRed/LeafGreen)