Pokemon Card of the Day: Dragonite ex (EX Dragon)

Today's Pokemon Card of the Day is Dragonite ex out of the EX Dragon set, this is my first ex card I am reviewing so I thought I would include what the definition of an ex card is so that people who aren't sure what it is may know and then they can tell the difference between an ex, lv. x, and prime card. Also I was thinking about having a glossary type section on my blog to define key cards or concepts so you could easily look these things up so if you aren't sure what things do you could just look there, you should give me some feedback if you think I should do this. So this is Bulbapedia's definition of ex cards (this definition and summary is quite long so I made the text smaller so if you already know all about ex cards you can just skip to my review further below):

Pokémon-ex are a variant of Pokémon found in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. They first appeared in the EX Ruby & Sapphire expansion. The ex in the name stands for extra, as indicated by a wide range of attacks that have some sort of additional effect on Pokémon-ex. For example, in the EX Deoxys expansion, there is a Grumpig card which possesses an attack called "Extra Ball", which deals additional damage if used against a Pokémon-ex. The major difference between Pokémon-ex and other types of Pokémon is that when a Pokémon-ex is Knocked Out, two prize cards are taken, as opposed to the standard one. To compensate for this downside, Pokémon-ex are significantly stronger than other types of Pokémon. In the EX Ruby & Sapphire expansion, Pokémon-ex were basic Pokémon with relatively powerful attacks; however, in following expansions, they had taken on a number of other traits. Pokémon-ex may have up to two Weaknesses or Resistances and a Retreat Cost of up to five. Before the Diamond & Pearl Great Encounters expansion, Wailord ex had the title of the most HP--200 HP; although now tied with Wailord in the Great Encounters series. Previously cards had a limit of 120 HP, Pokémon-ex ignored this rule and had up to 200 HP. Additionally, Pokémon-ex are immune to certain effects: for example, their Poké-Bodies are not deactivated by cards such as Space Center from EX Deoxys, but they are also excluded from the benefits of certain cards, such as Sitrus Berry from EX Unseen Forces, which cannot be attached to them. There are also certain cards that only affect Pokémon-ex, nearly always negatively. The most well known example would be Desert Ruins from EX Hidden Legends, which requires each player to put a damage counter on each of their Pokémon-ex with a maximum HP of 100 or more between turns. Being a Pokémon-ex affects a Pokémon's name: for example, Blissey cannot evolve from Chansey ex. However, in EX Unseen Forces, Blissey ex had text allowing it to evolve from either Chansey or Chansey ex. This also occured with Scizor ex. However, Rocket's Scizor ex is only capable of evolving from Rocket's Scyther ex, not Rocket's Scyther. Many attacks, Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies on Pokémon-ex are similar or identical in effect to those found on previous cards of the same species, allowing players to continue using popular strategies and tactics while avoiding the need to reprint cards.

Sorry about the long summary of ex cards, now that I think about it I really should post that summary of terms page. So now to the Dragonite ex review, first off Dragonite ex has 150 hp which is quite good for a Stage 2 Pokemon but for an ex card could be a little higher, I looked at the other stage 2 Pokemon ex cards in the EX Dragon set and the other cards were all 150 hp except for the Golem which was 160 hp. Dragonite does have a x2 weakness to colorless type Pokemon which are quite prevalent, but there at least aren't any very powerful colorless type Pokemon to really worry about inflicting great damage on Dragonite. I like the fact that Dragonite ex has two resistance types, it has -30 resistance to both grass and fighting Pokemon and also that Dragonite's retreat cost is only 1 colorless energy makes it very easy to retreat Dragonite ex in case it gets in trouble. Now on to Dragonite's Poke-Power which is called Call for Power which lets you as often as you like to move an energy card attached to one of your Pokemon to Dragonite ex, this Power complements nicely Dragonite's move Dragon Wave which for two energies, one Electric, one Water do 70 hp damage, the only downfall to the move is that you have to discard 1 of each energy after each use, but by using Dragonite's Poke-Power you can easily have enough energy to do this move on a consistent basis. Dragonite's other move is Giant Tail which does 120 damage for 4 colorless energy cards, but you have to flip a coin and get a heads to even do this move, but at least you don't have to discard any energy to use this move, but at the same time you only have a 50/50 chance of doing any damage to your opponent's active Pokemon. As far as strategy goes I would try and get Dragonite ex onto your bench as soon as possible so you can start loading it with energy cards, and make sure you have supporters/trainers in your deck which allow you to find your energy cards in your deck or discard pile. As far as moves go I would use Dragon Wave more often than Giant Tale just because of the 100% hit factor of the move and by using Dragon Wave twice which will take 4 energy cards total it will do 20 more hp damage than just using Giant Tale once, which takes the same amount of energy. I would only use Giant Tale at the end of the game if you need some miracles to win the game, or you don't have any energy left besides the four on Dragonite ex and you have more than 1 of your opponent's Pokemon to knock out still. But I would definitely try and use this card in a water/electric type deck of mine, just beware that if this card is knocked out your opponent will get to Prize Cards but at least you can retreat this card easily if it is close to being knocked out, but definitely take a look at this card if you need a good water deck and you can use these older cards. So thanks for reading this review and if you have any suggestions for cards I should review make sure and tell me in the comments. And make sure to stay tuned for tomorrow's review which will be on Rayquaza C Lv. X.