Dragonite EX - Pokemon X&Y Furious Fists Ultra Rare Card Review

by Phoenix Desertsong, Old School Duelist

Dragonite EX  easily became one of the most anticipated EX cards in the X&Y Furious Fists expansion set. It was epic  to have a  Dragonite EX  card for the first time since way back in EX Dragon Frontiers. Sadly, this Dragonite wasn't so game-breaking as was hoped.

Still, being a Dragon-Type, this card looks awesome! He does, of course, have a 2x weakness to Fairy-type Pokemon, as with all Dragon-types. He does have an interesting Ability to consider called Bust In. When you play Dragonite EX from your hand onto your Bench, you may move any number of basic Energy attached to your Pokemon to this Pokemon. If you do, you switch him with your Active Pokemon. While that Ability is very strong, what does he then have the opportunity to attack with?

Dragonite EX  only has one attack, Jet Sonic. It requires two Grass Energy and one Lightning Energy to use. It deals 80 base damage, but you may discard an Energy card to deal 40 more damage. 120 damage for only 3 Energy at the cost of discarding one is fairly decent. However, the combination of Energy required greatly limits Dragonite EX's playability. Therefore, despite being one of the more sought-after EX cards to collect from this set, he isn't getting much love in the competitive TCG atmosphere.

---

Fortunately, collectors have the opportunity to acquire a full-art version of this Dragonite EX card, which looks very powerful and deadly. It's unfortunate that Dragonite EX's play-ability is somewhat limited by the clunky Energy requirements.

This isn't to say that Grass and Lightning decks aren't playable - quite to the contrary. There are simply EX cards available that are a bit stronger than this one when it comes to deck-building. However, his ability to literally "Bust In" and deal some quick damage strategically is a fairly powerful move. He just doesn't have a deck that he can truly benefit.

While his limited playability kept his  #74 printing relatively inexpensive, Dragonite's overall popularity has made his full-art printing popular. Either printing is a great addition to any Dragonite lovers' collection. Long-term, you definitely want to have a copy of the full-art ultra rare Dragonite EX, as they're fairly rare, even if they are still relatively inexpensive.

---