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The 97 new cards in the Pokémon-e TCG: EX Dragon expansion allow you to use many new strategies in your Pokémon TCG decks. Here are a few ideas that will help you develop your own strategies with these new cards. Combine the EX Dragon trading cards with trading cards from EX Sandstorm and EX Ruby and Sapphire for some truly exciting battle tactics!
Beware the Dragons!
As the expansion's name suggests, EX Dragon contains new Dragon-type Pokémon. In the Pokémon TCG, most of the dragons are Colorless-type Pokémon. At the moment, no Pokémon has Resistance to Colorless-type attacks. Furthermore, most dragons have two Resistances and lots of Hit Points, and their attacks inflict large amounts of damage. Because of these advantages, it certainly wouldn't hurt to experiment with dragons in your decks.
Here's an example of one of the dragons: the new Dragonite ex is a Colorless-type Pokémon-ex. It has 150 Hit Points and Resistance to both Fighting-type and Grass-type Pokémon. It can move Water or Lightning Energy from its teammates to itself with its Call to Power Poké-Power. Its Dragon Wave attack can cause 70 damage if you discard one Water Energy and one Lightning Energy, and its Giant Tail attack can cause a whopping 120 damage if you flip a coin and you get heads. Scary, huh?
How can you stop the Dragon-type Pokémon? Here's a couple of Pokémon that can help:
Zangoose, from EX Sandstorm, is a great counter to Dragon-type Pokémon. Zangoose is a Colorless-type Pokémon and can inflict 60 damage on evolved Pokémon. Most Dragon-type Pokémon are evolved Pokémon and have a Weakness to Colorless-type Pokémon, so Zangoose can Knock Out most of the Colorless-type dragons with just one attack.
Shedinja, from EX Dragon, can't be hurt by any of the Dragon-type Pokémon. Shedinja's Poké-Body prevents all effects of attacks, including damage, from evolved Pokémon and Pokémon-ex. All of the dragons in EX Dragon are one of those two kinds of Pokémon. However, Shedinja is vulnerable to Basic Pokémon, so be mindful of your opponent's other Pokémon in play.
Don't forget about Special Conditions! Special Conditions can turn off dragons' Poké-Powers, hurt them, make them miss a turn, or even force your opponent to use Trainers or retreat the Pokémon to get rid of them.
Recycle Your Energy!
Many of the attacks of the Pokémon in EX Dragon require you to discard Energy cards. The new Gyarados can remove Energy cards from Pokémon (up to two per turn in a 2-on-2 battle). Plus, there's always the threat of cards like Energy Removal 2. If Energy is lost in so many ways, how can you find and attach enough Energy to your Pokémon in order to attack?
In EX Dragon, there are several new ways to put Energy cards back into your hand. Vibrava's Quick Charge attack allows you to move up to three basic Energy cards of different types from your deck to your hand, like the Trainer card Lady Outing from EX Ruby and Sapphire. Torkoal's Power Generation can put basic Energy cards back in your hand from the discard pile. Magneton's Magnetic Field Poké-Power lets you move up to two basic Energy cards from your discard pile into your hand, if you discard any one card from your hand. A new Trainer, Energy Recycle System, lets you choose either to take one card from your discard pile and put it in your hand, or to take three cards from your discard pile and put them in your deck.
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