Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Drapion Level X: A Second Look?

ArmoredMewtwo

ArmoredMewtwo

New Member
I originally was with the 'Drapion Level X is bad' crowd, mostly for the fact that it doesn't have a good Drapion to work with...

Then I took a moment to look at it, and then run it in a deck... After which I grinned mischievously. I'd learned the secret, the big Unown G Phobia that everyone'd been arguing against it is naught but a sham! Well, in regards to the SF Drapion, anyway. Here, let's take a look...

http://pokegym.net/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=41026

... Note the second attack. It's flippy, yes, but take a closer look. See what I see?

Flip 4 coins. This attack does 20 damage times the number of heads. If 2 or more of them are heads, the defending Pokemon is now poisoned.
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Normally, this would be a bad effect to have canceled-out. However, with Tri-Poison in effect, this is a good thing to ignore. Especially with the 'new poison canceling out old poison' ruling, which would nullify Tri-Poison if you got more than one of those flips as a 'heads'. Potential of 110 damage before the start of your opponent's turn? Yes, please. (Not including Special Dark Energies, which can add up to 40 damage to that, or Darkrai, which could pump you up even more. With just the Special Dark, that's 150 damage.)

Note, this is if your opponent has an Unown G attached to the active target.

Granted, there are other obvious flaws to this Pokemon, but I'm trying to find ways to work around them. My Drapion deck did fairly well after League today (Note: I didn't have it until the end of League), and (seeing as I don't have the cards for my Power-Body Lock deck) I may be running it for States.

So what are your thoughts on this issue? Have you discovered any ways to get around Drapion's weak points that you could share with the public, and would?
 
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Pachi said:
just bad soo bad . period:nonono:
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Oh, really? No one liked Gigas until it took states, now did they?

I don't mind you stating that you believe it's a bad card, but please bring a real argument when you do so. State your reasons why you believe such things and I will receive you in a more.... Appropriate manner.
 
I think that it has potential. A darkrai/drapion deck would be pretty good. I mean, at least 80 to the active and 40 to a benched? Add to that 30 (or 40+, if you decide to tech in Weezing GE) in between turns? THATS pretty broken.
 
^ Exactly. And it's easy to get it powered up rather quickly. Weavile, anyone?

It's definitely a fun deck that can be powerful. One of its main problems though is double weakness to Psychic.
 
Lets compare Gigas and Drapion.

Gigas has-

Built in energy acceleration, bench clearer
Frequently set-up Turn 2
Palkia Can drag up any threat
Ability to discard from hand and top of deck
150 Hp
a Basic
Bad Weakness

Drapion has-

No built in energy acceleration, must rely on Weavile
A power capable of dealing 3-9 damage depending on if they retreat after the initial poison
2 Cost flippy attack
3 Cost average attack
4 cost underpowered attack
130 hp
stage 1 Lv.X
Bad weakness

Drapion, lacking energy accleration of it's own, either sacrifices prizes to get set-up, or loses to the decks that set-up faster then it. 4 for 40-40 and no retreat is average, and even with 4 special darks, regigigas still has a better attack.

Drapion's power can be good, but not with G's and a bunch of free retreat running around. 3 damage counters are good, but not enough to make up for drapion's shortcomings.

G's will probably be the most seen deck at States, they don't run Unown G, meaning if you do land the triple poison, you can't attack with cross poison, and are stuck using Scorpion Eye/Derail, neither of which gives you the magic numbers you need for a OHKO. In addition, poketurn makes this matchup incredibly difficult, as well as power spray.

Being 2x Weak to ToxiTank also ensures a One hit KO if you remain active.

Ampharos/Manectric shuts down your power, preventing the main reason for running the deck.

Gigas outspeeds it, and heals itself with it's "Recover Mechanism" body.

TTAR Builds up on the bench, then sweeps through them and shares your free retreat with moonlight

Machamp/Rampardos might be even Matchups, i really don't know.

Dusknoir hits for weakness and snipes your bench.



I don't know how often I say it. The main draw for Drapion X is being able to hide behind something big, and flip your coins to add damage. It is not an exceptional attacker, and is outclassed by most things in the format.

I wouldn't run it for states, it has mostly bad matchups and sets up too slow to be able to hold its own.
 
Yes, the weakness to psychic is rather annoying. But if worst comes to worst, Darkrai isn't that bad of a secondary attacker. Plus you can still poison from the bench.
 
ShadowTogetic said:
if you get all 4 heads, you only do 90, providing no SP Dark are used
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Read the post. When your opponent uses Unown G, the thing most people worry about in this regard, it nullifies the Poison effect of the attack.


The Knee said:
Lets compare Gigas and Drapion.

....

I wouldn't run it for states, it has mostly bad matchups and sets up too slow to be able to hold its own.
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Woah, woah, woah. I was making the statement as a generalization. I'm not saying that it is as good as Gigas, I'm just making the point that it is under-rated.

Slow... Slow? I got this thing up and running on turn two, pal. Don't talk to me about slow.
 
ArmoredMewtwo said:
Read the post. When your opponent uses Unown G, the thing most people worry about in this regard, it nullifies the Poison effect of the attack.
Click to expand...

ArmoredMewtwo said:
Then I took a moment to look at it, and then run it in a deck... After which I grinned mischievously. I'd learned the secret, the big Unown G Phobia that everyone'd been arguing against it is naught but a sham! Well, in regards to the SF Drapion, anyway. Here, let's take a look...


Normally, this would be a bad effect to have canceled-out. However, with Tri-Poison in effect, this is a good thing to ignore. Especially with the 'new poison canceling out old poison' ruling, which would nullify Tri-Poison if you got more than one of those flips as a 'heads'. Potential of 110 damage before the start of your opponent's turn? Yes, please. (Not including Special Dark Energies, which can add up to 40 damage to that, or Darkrai, which could pump you up even more. With just the Special Dark, that's 150 damage.)
Click to expand...

I did, you only said Unown G, nothing about being attached to the defending. You should be more clear in your stuff
 
ArmoredMewtwo said:
Read the post. When your opponent uses Unown G, the thing most people worry about in this regard, it nullifies the Poison effect of the attack.




Woah, woah, woah. I was making the statement as a generalization. I'm not saying that it is as good as Gigas, I'm just making the point that it is under-rated.

Slow... Slow? I got this thing up and running on turn two, pal. Don't talk to me about slow.
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It is Slow. I'm going to borrow a quote from fire emblem "Personal experience means nothing" We talk theorymon, we can't drag in personal experience. In theorymon, lets look at what you need to set up drapion.

Basic Skorupi
Drapion/Search card
2x Darkness energy
The ability to magically avoid any damage from any decks faster then you.

The first 3 are pretty easy to handle, but the last one is the deal breaker.

Rampardos Has KO'd you by the time you set up 2 energy on a Drapion

G's can One hit you with Toxitank. That's the end of that.

Gigas can 2 hit you,or if it runs Galactic HQ, then it one hits you upon you evolving.

By the time you get those 2 energy to set up a drapion, the other decks are set up. They can all kill you at that point. What can you do?

Flip Flip Flip Flip

Dang, only 2 heads. Heck, all of the above decks are outperforming you even if you roll 4 heads.

Let's go the Weavile route. You Sacrifice an active to attack 2x Special darks to drapion and then Level up the next turn. This is the most efficient course of action.

Rampardos does 80 to you, dies the next turn, brings up a new rampardos

Gigas takes the damage, heals the poison(Tri or Cross) sacrifices, knocks you out in 2 turns.

Toxitank still One-hits you.

Drapion is a tier 2/3 deck. Max. If you want to run it for fun at states, do it. Just don't have delusions of victory because it performs well at league.

League competition /=/ States competition.

Good luck if you go for it though, let me know how it goes.
 
The Knee said:
It is Slow. I'm going to borrow a quote from fire emblem "Personal experience means nothing" We talk theorymon, we can't drag in personal experience. In theorymon, lets look at what you need to set up drapion.

Basic Skorupi
Drapion/Search card
2x Darkness energy
The ability to magically avoid any damage from any decks faster then you.

Good luck if you go for it though, let me know how it goes.
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Theorymon, huh? Alright, here's a theory...

To get a first/second turn set up, you either need the hand provided with a good card to combo or...

Sneasel
Weavile/Search Card
Scorupi/Roseanne's
BTS/Rare Candy

Let's assume you go first and your opponent isn't running a Donk deck. You can get your basic set-up out with Sneasel and Skorupi (possibly attaching an energy to either), keeping Skorupi on the bench. Next turn, evolve and whip out Weavile and/or Drapion and power up until you can get the X.

Now, let's say you're going second. The strategy works fairly similar, but relies a little more on luck than the first. You essentially do the same thing for set up, then play Rare Candy/BTS to get out necessary evolutions. Worry about the Level X in a minute after powering up Drapion.

I really must thank you for the detail you're putting in your posts, as it's giving a good argument to your point. I must also thank you for wishing me luck.


EDIT

Also, don't forget (in the case of your Gigas match-up) that you must consider the potential of Darkrai X. With enough energies attached and Darkrai X's effect, you may be able to void the viability of the Gigas strategy.

I still need an answer to Toxicroak, though... Bubble Coat? I know it's practically useless, but, hey...
 
Kingdra needs four cards as well, however:

Kingdra needs 1 Energy to attack.
Kingdra has more HP.
Kingdra has a less common weakness.
Even with two Special Darks attached, Kingdra has a higher damage output than your average.
Kingdra's easier to swarm than Drapion.
Kingdra has the potential to OHKO big pokemon.

Essentially - it's a neat idea, and can be worked to some degree of success, but nonetheless inferior to some alternatives.
 
Kingdra and Drapion Lv.X have the same HP.

You'd have to play a speed build requiring 2 Weavile SW Shadow Charge attacks. That only takes 2 turns to get ready.

Drapion may have a psychic weakness, but many of the Psychic decks out there, excluding AMU and Toxitank, place counters. Dusknoir and Gengars Damage Even and Shadow Room, are how, most of the time, get plenty of damage in play.
 
Bippa201 said:
Kingdra and Drapion Lv.X have the same HP.
Yes, though that's with the X... I suppose they're going without it, which makes some sort of sense. Though it is a Stage 1 compared to a Stage 2.
You'd have to play a speed build requiring 2 Weavile SW Shadow Charge attacks. That only takes 2 turns to get ready.
Well, that'd get six if you happen to attach each turn, too. ^^;; That'd help it get super-powered, assuming you somehow had Darkrai X out at the same time.
Drapion may have a psychic weakness, but many of the Psychic decks out there, excluding AMU and Toxitank, place counters. Dusknoir and Gengars Damage Even and Shadow Room, are how, most of the time, get plenty of damage in play.
+3 Awesome Points.
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All responses in bold. Thanks, Bippa. :3
 
yeah Stage 1s are easier to set up then stage 2s. Although, that doesn't necessary mean they are ready by them.

Weavile can also grab Special Dark, which gives you 80 active and 40 to bench. Another fun idea is Moonlight Stadium and Palkia. You bring up a bench sitter and it is stuck there, and you're nailing a key part of their strategy, Claydol for example, for plenty of damage, and they can't bring up the Kingdra etc.

I wonder what I can buy with those awesome points
 
Kudos for trying to make Drapion work, as soon as I saw this Lv X I really wanted to use it but I knew it wouldn't be fast enough, yes I have gotten a T2 multiple times with Drapion X but considering the meta game it just isn't that good, nor will it be any better after states since most likely Weavile SW is going to be rotated out, which I dislike.

Who doesn't like free retreat (Weavile+Moonlight)

Regigigas say no..~(If you know what the reference is big plus!)
 
TheDoctor said:
Kudos for trying to make Drapion work, as soon as I saw this Lv X I really wanted to use it but I knew it wouldn't be fast enough, yes I have gotten a T2 multiple times with Drapion X but considering the meta game it just isn't that good, nor will it be any better after states since most likely Weavile SW is going to be rotated out, which I dislike.

Who doesn't like free retreat (Weavile+Moonlight)

Regigigas say no..~(If you know what the reference is big plus!)
Click to expand...

The rotation of sets doesnt occur until after Worlds in August. Weavile (SW) will be with us until the 1st of Sept at the very least. Who knows what will be rotated, if anything this time!

Keith
 
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