wow, Vaporeon really had a go at the BW block :lol:. He basically said what we're all thinking, and this card is no exception.
I looked at Braviary as a tech against Gothitelle decks. You know, Accelgor paralyzes your active and Gothitelle makes you not able to do anything but draw-pass. Because the deck tends to fill the bench (needs a Mew EX, Accelgor, Keldeo EX, and Darkrai EX at the same time), if the only Gothitelle is the active one, Big Wing could be the break though to give you back control of the game. However, unlike other pokemon with a similar effect (I'm thinking Infernape-4 lvX), Braviary's attack is undesirable. I won't say it is bad. :colorless::colorless::colorless: for straight 60 and you can choose to do +20 if you want. Against a Keldeo/Blastoise deck, you could pick off Squirtles before they evolve by using Big Wing to force the Active Keldeo EX back to the bench and making the benched Squirtle become active.
It has to be active though. It doesn't make any sense to make Abilities, which already leave so much to be desired after the mechanic they replaced opened up the game so much, so awkward. Again, unlike Infernape-4 lvX (which had to be active for its first turn in play), Braviary has 2 retreat. At first, I thought it must just be one big bird but it is only 90 lbs!
I don't get it. Pidgeot is only 3 lbs lighter and has never had greater than 1 retreat. Aerodactyl weighs in at 130 and has had 2 retreat in the past. Maybe Braviary just came back to PCL from a large lunch when they decided its retreat cost the day they made the card :lol: . Back on topic, it means you have to pull off some weird plays to get Braviary active, use the ability, and then get it back to the bench.
On top of the retreat cost, it having 100 HP is salt in the wound.
Reprinting Cyclone Energy would have been an all-around better decision. But this card has pretty good artwork so we should have expected it to be bad :nonono:
