Gyarados -- Burning Shadows Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Gyarados from the Burning Shadows Pokemon Card Set.  Gyarados is a Stage 1, Water type Pokemon card, with a HP of 150. It has a x2 weakness to Lightning type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a four Colorless Energy card retreat cost.  This card does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move on this card is called Venting Anger, for two Colorless Energy cards, this move does 50 damage times the number of Magikarp cards in your discard pile.  Gyarados' second move is called Splash Burn, for four Energy cards, two each of Water and Colorless, this move does 160 damage, however the move also does 30 damage to each of your Benched Pokemon

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Gyardaos is a Stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Magikarp into play (I reviewed Magikarp from this set yesterday) and then evolve Magikarp into Gyarados.  If you read yesterday's review of Magikarp, you'll know that I thought it was an average card overall and easily one of the best Magikarp cards out there, since it could for sure do 10 damage every turn plus it gave you a chance at enduring more than a turn in the Active Pokemon spot if you flipped a heads when attacking, preventing all effects of attacks by your opponent's Pokemon during their next turn.  Knowing this about Magikarp and looking at this Gyarados card, if you are okay with including 4 Magikarp cards in your deck, then this card can do up to 150 damage per turn for only 1 Double Colorless Energy card, if you're using Venting Anger and you have 3 Magikarp in your discard pile, if you use enough Ultra Ball Trainer cards, you can easily have Magikarp in your discard pile.  This strategy takes up too many spots in a deck to be effective, but if you want to do 160 damage per turn for three Energy cards, this card works well, plus you can use it every turn, since Splash Burn doesn't require Gyarados to discard any Energy, but you either may want to have limited Pokemon on your Bench, or have a Pokemon that either heals all damage at once, or has an increased attack if your Benched Pokemon have damage on them.  No matter the strategy you take with this card, it will require time to set up and it does have a very high retreat cost, requiring lots of resources to retreat it.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion, this is an average Stage 1 Pokemon card from the Burning Shadows set.  Like I mentioned above, this card definitely has some possibilities when in a deck, it can do major damage when using either of its moves, however it is slow to set up these moves and it has a high retreat cost, so while it may be powerful, I probably wouldn't use this line in a deck, even though both Magikarp and Gyarados received 3 out of 5 ratings from me, the same rating I would give both Pokemon together.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Gyarados from the Burning Shadows set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Marill, which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
True or False? Gyarados was the first Pokemon card I ever had in my collection.
Please respond with the correct answer and a link to your YouTube channel. 24 hours from now I will be randomly selecting a correct response to my question and sending a private message to this person with a free code on YouTube.

Gyarados -- Evolutions Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Gyarados from the XY Evolutions Pokemon Card Set.  Gyarados is a Stage 1, water type Pokemon card, with a HP of 130. It has a x2 weakness to lightning type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost.  Gyarados does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Bubble Beam, for three water energy cards this move does 50 damage, plus paralyzes the defending Pokemon if you get a heads when flipping a coin.  Gyarados' second move is called Dragon Rage and for four water type energy cards this move does 180 damage, however you must flip 2 coins when using this move, if either coin is tails, the move does nothing.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Gyarados is a Stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Magikarp into play (I reviewed Magikarp from this set yesterday) and then evolve Magikarp into Gyarados.  If you read yesterday's review of Magikarp, even though I thought it was one of the better Magikarp cards out there, it was still extremely poor overall, with a very low HP and a move that is very restricted in when it can actually do damage.  So knowing how bad Magikarp is and looking at this Gyarados card, there is really no way in my opinion I can recommend playing this line in a deck, specifically using these two Pokemon from the Evolutions set.  Of course if you were playing this line you would want to evolve Magikarp into Gyarados on the bench and then get the energy onto Gyarados so you could move it into the active Pokemon spot right away and start attacking.  The problem with this strategy is that even though Gyarados has two moves, both are really slow on the attack, Gyarados' first move Bubble Beam does below average damage, and its second move, Dragon Rage, can potentially do well above average damage, but there is a high likelihood of not being able to do damage at all when using it.  I guess if you have to use this card in your deck, try and use a Trick Coin trainer card with Gyarados to give you a better shot at doing damage with Dragon Rage.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 2 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion, this is a below average Stage 1 Pokemon card from the XY Evolutions set.  Even though Gyarados has a strong HP and two moves, with one move being able to do major damage, this card is just too slow on the attack and too risky when attacking to merit use in a deck.  Combine it with the perpetually weak Magikarp and this line gets a 1 out of 5 rating from me.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Gyarados from the XY Evolutions set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Pikachu, which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
At what level does Magikarp evolve into Gyarados?
Please respond with the correct answer and a link to your YouTube channel. 24 hours from now I will be randomly selecting a correct response to my question and sending a private message to this person with a free code on YouTube.

Gyarados 21/98 -- Ancient Origins Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Gyarados from the Ancient Origins Pokemon Card Set.  This is the second of the two Gyarados card reviews from this set.  Gyarados is a stage 1, water type Pokemon card, with an hp of 130.  It has a x2 weakness to lightning type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost.  This Gyarados card has an Ancient Trait called Double that says this Pokemon may have up to 2 Pokemon Tool cards attached to it.  Besides the Ancient Trait, Gyarados has two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Full Retaliation, for two colorless energy cards this move does 30 damage plus 30 more damage for each damage counter on each of your benched Magikarp.  Gyarados' second move is called Thrash and for four energy cards, two each of colorless and water, this move does 100 damage plus 30 more damage if you get a heads when flipping a coin, or if you get a tails it does 30 damage to Gyarados.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Gyarados is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Magikarp into play (I reviewed Magikarp from this set two days ago) and then evolve Magikarp into Gyarados, since there are two Gyarados cards in this set I'll be comparing the two later in this post.  If you read my review of Magikarp, you'll know that I thought the card was very poor, just like all Magikarp cards are, having a very low HP, and a very low chance of actually doing any damage when attacking, so you'll definitely want to keep Magikarp on the bench at all times.  So knowing this about Magikarp and looking at this Gyarados card, it quickly reduces the chances of me wanting to use Full Retaliation, because to do more than 30 damage with this move you need to have damage on Magikarp and with only 30 HP, that is just asking for Magikarp to be knocked out.  Gyarados' second move is a bit better, but I would rather use yesterday's Gyarados card for well over 130 damage a turn every single turn without risking damage to Gyarados.  So if I had to choose between the two Gyarados cards from this set, I would use yesterday's all day long.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 2 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is a below average Stage 1 Pokemon card from the Ancient Origins set and one that is much worse than yesterday's Gyarados card.  I wanted to look this card quite a bit, but it is just too underpowered in my opinion and slow on the attack.  Combined with Magikarp from this set, I can only give these cards a 2 out of 5 rating.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Gyarados from the Ancient Origins set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Vaporeon, which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
True or False?  Gyarados from Base Set was the first Pokemon card I ever obtained.
Please respond by including your YouTube username and link to your YouTube channel.  If the question is quite tough, the first correct comment will win, otherwise I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner.

Gyarados 20/98 -- Ancient Origins Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Gyarados from the Ancient Origins Pokemon Card Set.  This is the first of two Gyarados cards I'll be reviewing consecutively.  Gyarados is a stage 1, water type Pokemon card, with an hp of 130.  It has a x2 weakness to lightning type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost.  Gyarados does not have an Ability or Ancient Trait but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Berserker Splash and for three energy cards, two colorless and one water, this move does 80 damage, plus this card does 10 damage to each benched Pokemon in play, yours and your opponent's.  Gyarados' second move is called Aqua Tail and for four energy cards, three colorless and one water, this move does 90 damage plus 30 more damage for each heads you get when you flip a coin for each water energy attached to Gyarados.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Gyarados is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Magikarp into play (I reviewed Magikarp from this set yesterday) and then evolve Magikarp into Gyarados, there are actually two Gyarados cards from this set, and I'll be reviewing the second one tomorrow and then comparing the two.  If you read yesterday's review of Magikarp, you'll know that I thought the card was very poor, just like all Magikarp cards are, having a very low HP, and a very low chance of actually doing any damage when attacking, so you'll definitely want to keep Magikarp on the bench at all times.  So knowing this about Magikarp and looking at this Gyarados card, if you're building a water type deck and need some power, this card may be worth a look.  I would not use more than one of these in a deck however just because it is so slow on the attack.  There are two different things you can do with this card, the first would be to use Berserker Splash often, but you would want to be able to either quickly remove the damage you do to your own Pokemon or take that damage and apply it to your opponent's Pokemon.  The second thing you could use Gyarados for, would be its Aqua Tail move, this is the move I would use most times, attach four water type energy cards to it, and potentially do 210 damage a turn, Trick Coin is definitely a card you'll want to attach to Gyarados to have a better chance at doing so much damage.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 4 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is an above average Stage 1 Pokemon card from the Ancient Origins set.  The only downfall on this card is that it is so slow on the attack, but because Magikarp is so slow, you're going to want to set up this line on the bench anyway, other than that this card has a high HP and two very good moves, you can't go wrong using this card in a deck.  Together with Magikarp, I would give these two cards a 3 out of 5 rating.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Gyarados from the Ancient Origins set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of the second Gyarados card, which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
True or False?  Gyarados from Base Set was the first Pokemon card I ever obtained.
Please respond by including your YouTube username and link to your YouTube channel.  If the question is quite tough, the first correct comment will win, otherwise I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner.

Gyarados -- Legendary Treasures Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Gyarados from the Legendary Treasures Pokemon Card Set.  Gyarados is a stage 1, water type Pokemon card, with an hp of 130.  It has a x2 weakness to lightning type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost.  Gyarados does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Howling Rampage, for two energy cards, one each of water and colorless,  this move does 20 damage times the number of Prize cards both players have taken.  Gyarados's second move is called Hydro Splash, this move requires five energy cards, two water and three colorless, and does 120 damage per turn.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Gyarados is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Magikarp into play (I reviewed Magikarp from this set yesterday) and then evolve Magikarp into Gyarados.  If you read yesterday's review, you'll know that I thought Magikarp was extremely bad and should not be used on its own, so knowing this if you choose to use Gyarados in your deck, you'll definitely want to evolve it on your bench before putting it into the active Pokemon spot.  Not only will you want to do this because Magikarp is bad, but because Hydro Splash takes a long time to develop and the longer you keep Gyarados on the bench, the more likely Howling Rampage will do more damage.  So I would consider putting a 1-1 line of Magikarp and Gyarados in a water type deck, I would keep Gyarados on the bench, get five energy cards on it, and wait until late in the game to use it, depending on which move does more damage, that would determine the move I would use.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is an average stage 1 Pokemon card from the Legendary Treasures set.  This card has a great hp, and two very powerful moves.  However both moves take quite a while to develop so this card isn't much better than average in my opinion.  Overall, I would still give Magikarp and Gyarados a 3 out of 5 rating, even though Magikarp received a 1 from me by itself.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Gyarados from the Legendary Treasures set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Piplup, which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
What was the first Pokemon card I ever had in my collection?
Please respond by including your YouTube username and link to your YouTube channel.  If the question is quite tough, the first correct comment will win, otherwise I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner.

Gyarados -- Dragons Exalted Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Gyarados from the Dragons Exalted Pokemon Card Set.  Gyarados is a stage 1, water type Pokemon card, with an hp of 130.  Gyarados is the stage 1 evolution of Magikarp, there is a Magikarp card in this set and I reviewed that card yesterday.  Gyarados has a x2 weakness to electric type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a three colorless energy card retreat cost.  Gyarados does not have an Ability but it does have two moves, the first move is called Sharp Fang and for three energy cards, two colorless and one water, it does 60 damage.  Gyarados's second move is called Swing Around and for four energy cards, three colorless and one water, it does 60 damage plus 30 more damage for each heads you get when you flip a coin.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since this is a stage 1 Pokemon, you'll first have to evolve Magikarp into Gyarados to use this card.  Like I said yesterday, you'll want to keep Magikarp on the bench until you evolve it into Gyarados, once that happens you can move this card into the active Pokemon spot when it has at least three energy cards on it.  As far as strategy goes, it is really a no-brainer with this card, you'll want to do the most damage possible every turn, so you'll want to attach four energy cards to Gyarados and use Swing Around every turn, and some luck your way can do some major damage, because if you get two heads when using Swing Around it will do 120 damage instead of 60 damage that turn.  Since Gyarados is a slow Pokemon that has the potential to do a fair amount of damage, I would not put more than a 1-1 line of Magikarp and Gyarados in a water type deck.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  Even though this card can do 120 damage a turn (if you're lucky) and has an hp of 130 for a stage 1 Pokemon, I'm still giving this card an average rating.  I'm doing this because this card is just too slow in my opinion, plus once you get it in the active Pokemon spot it takes three energy cards to retreat it, so if you don't have enough energy cards on this card in the active Pokemon spot this can wreak havoc on your own team.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Gyarados from the Dragons Exalted set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Wailmer from the same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Y8T-S5DL-YFC-NWW
VG7-VY7U-59H-S36