Pokemon Card of the Day #2596: Dark Dragonair (Team Rocket)
Not too many evolving Stage 1 Pokemon have had a serious role in the game. One exception that did a very obvious useful think was Dark Dragonair, a Pokemon that was built to get other Evolved Pokemon. This could snowball rather quickly, and while there was certainly competition with both Pokemon Trader (especially backed by Good Manners) and to an extent, The Boss’s Way, Dark Dragonair could turn a single one of those searches into multiple Pokemon over time, giving some extra value if a deck that needed that much set-up ended up being good.
The stats were a mix of good and bad. 60 HP was a little low for a Stage 1, which was unsurprising for a Dark Pokemon as those always had low HP. The Psychic Resistance was nice, being most important right when Dark Dragonair was released due to the popularity of Mewtwo, but also having Rocket-On use with both Dark Gengar and Espeon being good. Dark Dragonair didn’t really want to be Active, though, and with the Retreat Cost being 2 you’d want to have a good way to switch it out if it was targeted by Gust of Wind (unless, of course, you were playing it alongside Dark Vileplume, which changed a lot).
Evolutionary Light was a very cool Pokemon Power for the right deck. Once during your turn, you could search your deck for an Evolution card to put into your hand. This could start on the path to getting multiple Evolution lines up and running starting on turn 2, which was good for decks that really needed to get a lot of those in play. Being on an Evolved Pokemon did limit the usefulness of the Pokemon Power to some extent, as trying to build with everything needed was hard to do. It was most likely to get use in Rocket-On where the game had a lot of Stage 2 Pokemon or in Prop 15/3 where there were limited Trainers and therefore more of a deck could be used for Pokemon.
Tail Strike wasn’t that impressive, mostly due to the luck involved. 20 damage was low for 3 Colorless Energy, though the coin flip, if heads, could add 20. This averaged out to the same as Scyther’s Slash but on a less accessible Pokemon and with more variance.
Dark Dragonair had a very defined purpose, and if you needed a way to get a ton of Evolutions in play over time it was there for that. Actually building with it was a giant pair due to its Stage 1 status meaning you’d usually use several deck slots. The best place to try it out was in decks where you wanted to block Trainers with Dark Vileplume and set up something else (think Donphan or Dark Alakazam to pivot out to Baby Pokemon), where you wouldn’t be using Pokemon Trader or The Boss’s Way after the early turns but could still want to find some more Pokemon once Dark Vileplume was up. Other decks would likely be able to make things work without, so Dark Dragonair wasn’t that common. It was never going to be dead weight in any deck that could use its traits, though, meaning that it was worth using if you had spare deck space.
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i know we're one archon off just enough to make the eight gym leaders in a pokemon au, but consider another approach: the archons as champions ft. some story ideas, i put a concerning amount of thought into this --
mondstadt champion venti (flying • fairy) is fought in secret, since no one can guess he's the champion. the mondstadt elite four are eula (ice • dark), klee (fire • fairy), jean (flying • grass) and finally diluc (fire • flying). venti is friends with celebi - as is nahida - and istaroth manifests as dialga. albedo is kind of like the professor for mondstadt, sucrose gives you your pokedex :] durin is yveltal. dvalin is rayquaza. no one knows about it, but kaeya is friends with articuno.
rhinedottir explores the abyss which is basically the genshin equivalent of the distortion world headed by giratina, aided by her signature hydreigon. dragonspine is our mt silver lol. alice has a delphox (klee has a fennekin) and mismagius. barbeloth, of the hexenzirkel, has a xatu. albedo has a garchomp. for some reason, i picture nicole with hatterene. mona has a cosmog!
zhongli is similar (rock • dragon). the order is hu tao (fire • ghost), yelan (water • dark), ganyu (ice • fairy) and finally xiao (flying • dark). childe boss, but he has like three typings - (water • dark)/(electric • dark)/(electric • water). he has a wailord and probably attempts to fight kyogre with his bare hands in fontaine. oh and his foul legacy is from palkia. the adepti are like pokemon rangers btw! and guizhong, after her death, appears also as a cosmog maybe? xiao has an absol, ganyu has suicune, hu tao has trevenant and spiritomb. azhdaha is groudon guys i'm sorry. ningguang is our professor archetype for liyue, and the pokedex is delivered by keqing on the orders of ningguang.
inazuma has two champions - one as the raiden shogun puppet (electric • steel), and one as ei herself (electric • fighting). ayaka (ice • steel), then kazuha (flying • steel) - but he gets exiled, and is replaced by ayato (water • steel). followed by kokomi (water • dragon), and finally yae miko (electric • fairy). yae miko has ninetales and zoroark, kokomi has milotic and nihilego! yes i know that's an ultra beast shhh. professor trope is yae miko, and you have to smuggle your confiscated pokedex with yoimiya and sayu's help.
sumeru champion nahida (grass • psychic), who is heeded by wanderer (flying • dark) as her deputy. wanderer is like n from pkmnbw, you fight him instead of the champion, the pseudo-champion. btw his signature would be a mega evolving banette. the first elite four member is dehya (fighting • fire), followed by cyno (electric • dark), then nilou (water • grass) who was recently appointed! and finally alhaitham (grass • flying). nilou's position used to be tighnari's (grass • poison) but since he left the akademiya, nilou took it. dehya has a female pyroar, nilou has lilligant. nahida and venti are familiars to celebi and the two formes of shaymin! rukkhadevata manifests as xerneas. apep is zygarde lol. token professor looks to be tighnari, but is really just nahida, and collei gives it to you.
for fontaine, i imagine furina (water • fairy) as the champion who sacrifices her position - and her life - so there's no seat of champion left. she later adopts the (water • dark) typing. the fontaine elite four is fought in this order: navia (rock • dark), wriothesley (ice • fighting), clorinde (electric • steel), and finally neuvillette himself (water • dragon OBVIOUSLY). alternatively, neuvillette assumes champion position and his seat as last member of elite four is supplanted by arlecchino (fire • dark)! neuvillette has a dragonair and is a familiar to kyogre, furina has lapras and manaphy/phione, arlecchino has a houndoom. additionally, lyney (fire • dark), lynette (flying • dark) and freminet (ice • steel) fight for arlecchino. ooh but imagine if they get ahold of latios and latias somehow, and use those to fight you! their signatures are gardevoir (lyney) and gallade (lynette) other than a pair of meowstic, and freminet has an empoleon as well as an espurr. sigewinne has a signature azumarill, and she's the professor! the pokedex you were meant to receive falls in the water, so freminet fishes it out for you.
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I'm reviving the pokemon au
Kuai Liang is the current ice type gym leader with a: Regice, Frosslass, Glaceon, Sneasel, Lapras, and Aurorus
The Regice was originally his mother's and the Froslass was one he caught while stranded on the top of a mountain during a blizzard, whom he privately believes to be his dead sister, Lian, and has named accordingly, as she died on that same mountain and it is believed that Froslass are born from the souls of women who die in the snow. Lian the Froslass saved his life by fighting off the pokemon who wanted to kill him and guiding him back down the mountain.
Frost is training under Kuai Liang and acts as a kind of mini-boss to challengers with a team of: Alolan Vulpix, Sneasel, Frosmoth, Cubchoo, Glalie and Cloyster
Her Sneasel, named Crimson, was a gift to her by Kuai Liang when he found her outside his gym one night, having run away from home. It was her first pokemon and still obviously her favorite, though she denies it to anyone who asks.
Bi-Han used to be the ice type gym leader, but after an accident that left his pokemon team dead, he abandoned the gym and vanished for years. When he resurfaced, he was the dark type gym leader with a team of: Weavile, Mandibuzz, Absol, Zorua, Umbreon, and Murkrow
The Absol, named Snow, was the first pokemon he caught after the incident and he maintains to this day that Snow caught him, not the other way around. He was originally never going to train pokemon again, but Snow pushed him
Hanzo is the dragon type gym leader with a: Dragapult, Drampa, Vibrava, Kommo-o, Noivern, and Dragonair
He is a descendant of the Draconid people and is one of the few who still maintains their traditions to this day, teaching anyone who wants to learn if they agree to join his gym as trainers.
Takeda acts as Hanzo's mini-boss, with a: Goomy, Gible, Deino, Bagon, Axew, and Applin
Kenshi left him in Hanzo's care when he was asked to join the Elite four by Raiden, fearing that the league was no place to raise a child and since Suchin had been a Draconid too and a member of Hanzo's gym, it was a way for Takeda to stay connect to her, even after her passing
The Fire Type gym leader is Liu Kang: Blaziken, Cinderace, Infernape, Armarouge, Hisuian Arcanine, and Talonflame
He was originally asked by Raiden to be the champion, but declined as he felt that such a position should be earned and not granted, instead working his way up to be leader of the gym.
Raiden is the electric type gym leader and runs the league with a team of: Morpeko, Elekid, Alolan Raichu, Magneton, Jolteon and Ampharos
He refounded the league after it had fallen out of use as he wanted trainers to be prepared for the dangers to come
Mileena is the Fairy type gym leader with a team of: Mawile, Mimikyu, Grimmsnarl, Granbull, Hattterene, and Sylveon
Sick of living in her sister, Kitana's shadow, Mileena founded her own gym and became one of the strongest trainers out there, with many trainers complaining that her gym is the hardest to beat. The sylveon evolved from an Eevee Kitana had caught her when they were kids (before The Incident where they fell out) and as Sylveons evolve into that form due to how much they love their trainer, the Sylveon is her favorite as it is proof that she can be loved
Jax and Sonya are the Joint fighting type trainers with Jax's team being: Hawlucha, Gallade, Sawk, Lucario, Hitmonlee, Machamp. and Sonya's being: Throh, Hitmonchan, Sneasler, Toxicroak, Primape, and Poliwrath
Sonya originally wanted to be the water type gym leader but as there were already 8 gyms, she instead joined Jax at his, working her way up to be his co-leader and training all their underlings to be even stronger
Jacqui is their miniboss with a team of: Breloom, Conkledurr, Scrafty, Heracross, Crabominable, and Falinks
She doesn't want to be a fighting type gym leader or trainer though, she would much prefer to be a normal trainer doing her gym challenge but Jax is overprotective and won't let her go until she's "Strong enough" Despite the fact that he has gone three months without a battle bc she kept defeating every trainer to challenge them
Kitana is the flying type gym leader with: Skarmory, Sensu Form Oricorio, Swanna, Aerodactyl, Swellow, and a blue Minior
She inherited the gym from her mother and is doing her best to uphold the late leader's legacy although some of the things she is discovering about Sindel are unsettling
Jade acts as one of Kitana's trainers, fighting with a Tropius and a Tropius only, though she is still hard to beat
Of the Elite Four we have:
Nightwolf, the rock type, who has three Lycanorocs, one of each form, a Terrakion, Rhydon, and Regirock
Kung Lao, who is determined to be the next champion and uses steel type: Bisharp, Aegislash, Aggron, Metagross, Bronzong and Tinkaton
Kenshi, psychic type: Reuniclus, Oranguru, Hypno, Alakazam, Delphox, and Espeon
And Jade, the grass type: Tropius, Rillaboom, Venusaur, Torterra, Meganium, and Serperior
The current champion:
Cassie Cage, with a team of: Hitmontop, Beedrill, Golurk, Cyclizar, Toxtricity, and Gyarados
Rain is trying to create his own gym, water type, but as it is unofficial nobody counts his badge as meaningful though many trainers do fight his gym just to prove they can.
His team is: Milotic, Relicanth, Kingdra, Lumineon, Vaporeon, and Slowking
Johnny runs a pokemon rescue/pokemon nursery and was once a famous pokemon trainer and actor though he has since settled down. He doesn't have a full team anymore, just a Cinccino from his movie days and a Sableye that keeps breaking into his house to eat his jewelry
Shao Khan runs Team Hammer (I couldn't think of a better name) and seeks to turn the league into his own personal army by becoming champion and disposing of any gym leaders who won't fall in line. Shang Tsung, Skarlet, and Kano + Kano's black dragon goons all work for him and cause havoc wherever they can
lemme know if y'all want more of this AU, bc I can do more, also, feel free to add on or use this idea as you please
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