The Sideboard – Flygon (2009)

Historical Context

As somebody who was in their last year of seniors, and only their 2nd full season playing the game competitively, I don’t think I ever really appreciated just how impactful every new set of 2009 was. Legends Awakened released early, and we saw a metagame where Kingdra and AMU were extremely strong. Then, Stormfront released before states, and with it, several cards that would have an immediate impact on the metagame (Dusknoir, Gengar, and Gyarados, to name a few). Platinum Base released SP Pokemon, and many of the game’s strongest strategies started centralizing around basic pokemon, especially around Dialga G and Palkia G. Every single set COMPLETELY shook up the format, and Cities, States, then Regionals all had completely different metagames than one another.

Nationals would be no exception to this rule – Rising Rivals released in May, and would also, completely turn the metagame upside down. Rising Rivals offered several new tools for SP decks, the most notable of course being Luxray GL LV. X, offering a powerful, re-usable gusting effect, as well as quick damage output. However, something that I think isn’t talked about enough is how balanced the new releases were in this era – yes, basic pokemon SP were very clearly being pushed as a strong archetype, but they didn’t completely shut down the rest of the metagame. Many evolution decks gained new tools in Platinum Base and Rising Rivals as well, such as Broken Time-Space or Nidoqueen, to help stabilize earlier, and more consistently. Flygon (and its Level X) would also release in Rising Rivals, and while SP decks stole the spotlight at the US National Championships, Flygon would find not just one, but THREE variants that brought light back to evolution decks for worlds.

Contents

• Tournament Placings and Notable Decklists
• The Basic Flygon Package
• Shells for 3 different variants
• What the tech?
• 2010 and beyond
• Conclusion

Tournament Placings and Notable Decklists

FlyChamp

Pokemon	Trainers	Energy
1 Flygon Lv. X 3 Flygon RR 2 Vibrava 4 Trapinch SW 2 Claydol 2 Baltoy 1 Machamp Lv. X 2 Machamp 1 Machoke 2 Machop 1 Nidoqueen 1 Nidoran F 1 Azelf 1 Uxie 2 Unown G 1 Ditto 1 Chatot	4 Bebe’s Search 4 Roseanne’s Research 2 Cynthia’s Feelings 1 Lucian’s Assignment 4 Rare Candy 2 Night Maintenance 1 Luxury Ball 1 Premier Ball	4 Call Energy 4 Fighting Energy 3 Upper Energy 2 Psychic Energy

Flygon/Machamp was one of the more iconic ways to play Flygon in 2009. This deck had 2 placements in top 4 of the world championships, the one pictured above is the 2nd place list belonging to Sami Sekkoum (who is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated players of all time). One of the biggest issues that evolution pokemon like Flygon faced in this format was trying to deal with SP Pokemon, as they usually outsped you pretty easily, and could nab some free prizes in the beginning, if not shutting you out altogether with Power Sprays. Machamp made a name for itself very early in this format as a strong anti-SP attacker, as its Take Out attack will KO any unevolved pokemon for just one fighting energy.

On the flipside, Flygon did an excellent job at covering the part of the match that Machamp usually struggled with – the late game. Against opposing evolution decks, Machamp would get outclassed, and even SP decks could use the combination of well-timed Uxie Lv. X, Toxicroak G (non-promo), or Unown G to make Machamp’s life a little more difficult after the first few turns. Flygon could very reliably bat cleanup in these situations, as Power Swing hit for a ton of damage late game once your bench was all evolved, and Extreme Attack could also KO pesky Lv. X pokemon that your opponent might be trying to hide on their bench. Flygon even provides the free retreat for Machamp to escape easily enough.

Sami Sekkoum wasn’t the only one who placed highly at worlds with this archetype – Jay Hornung also placed in the top 4 with FlyChamp, using a slightly different list (and some techs that we will cover later!) Jay has a YouTube account, and in one of his videos, talks about his FlyChamp list, as well as his thought process when he was testing for worlds. You can find this video here. Jay does fantastic retro deck content on his YouTube, and if you aren’t following/subscribed to his channel, I highly recommend that you do so!

Stallgon

Pokemon	Trainers	Energy
1 Flygon Lv. X 3 Flygon 1 Vibrava RR 1 Vibrava SW 3 Trapinch SW 2 Claydol 2 Baltoy 1 Azelf 1 Uxie 1 Chatot 1 Unown G 1 Palkia Lv. X 1 Palkia MD 1 Mewtwo LV. X 1 Mewtwo 1 Nidoqueen 1 Nidoran F	4 Bebe’s Search 4 Roseanne’s Research 4 Cynthia’s Feelings 4 Rare Candy 2 Premier Ball 2 Switch 2 Night Maintenance 2 Memory Berry 1 Luxury Ball 1 Bubble Coat 1 Broken Time-Space	4 Call Energy 3 Psychic Energy 3 Fighting Energy 2 Water Energy

This variant of Flygon is probably the most well-known among the community, as David Cohen’s decklist ended up being printed as a Worlds Deck in 2009. David finished 2nd Place in the Seniors division, but Stallgon also had multiple top cut finishes in the Masters Division. While this version of Flygon could definitely take 6 prize cards if it needed to, it also had an alternate strategy of using Palkia Lv. X to pull up specific pokemon on the bench, and trapping them in the active spot with Trapinch’s Sand Tomb attack. Flygon Lv. X could use this attack with a Memory Berry equipped, while slowly milling the opponent’s deck down to zero cards.

Flygon/Weavile

Pokemon	Trainers	Energy
1 Flygon Lv. X 3 Flygon 2 Vibrava 3 Trapinch 2 Claydol 2 Baltoy 2 Weavile 2 Sneasel 1 Mewtwo Lv. X 1 Mewtwo 1 Dusknoir 1 Duskull 1 Azelf 1 Uxie 2 Unown G	4 Bebe’s Search 4 Roseanne’s Research 2 Cynthia’s Feelings 1 Lucian’s Assignment 4 Rare Candy 2 Premier Ball 1 Luxury Ball 2 Warp Point 2 Night Maintenance	4 Call Energy 4 Darkness Energy (Special) 4 Psychic Energy 1 Darkness Energy (Basic) 1 Fighting Energy

Probably the least talked about version, Flygon/Weavile also had multiple top cuts at the World Championships, including a Top 8 by Tia Toppari, from Finland. Weavile saw success in a few archetypes this season – decks benefited greatly from its ability to accelerate energy into play, as well as its ability to turn the attackers to the Dark-type, bolstering their damage output. Flygon specifically double dipped on this boosted damage, as Weavile gave it another evolution pokemon to stash on the bench for its Power Swing attack. The Weavile version doesn’t get as much leeway with alternate attackers, since Weavile pidgeon-holes you into running several Darkness energy, but Flygon can definitely make up for this with its consistency, speed, and boosted damage output.

The Basic Flygon Package

Pokemon	Trainers	Energy
1 Flygon Lv. X 3 Flygon 2 Vibrava 3 Trapinch 2 Claydol 2 Baltoy 1 Azelf 1 Uxie 1 Unown G	4 Bebe’s Search 4 Roseanne’s Research 2 Cynthia’s Feelings 4 Rare Candy 2 Night Maintenance 1 Luxury Ball	4 Call Energy Some number of Fighting Energy

Normally I like to do a “skeleton” list, where you look at the cards that most versions of a deck have in common, but it’s kind of hard to do this when all 3 versions of this deck function so differently from each other, and there are different techs you can include in each version as well. The above is about as close as you will get to a “skeleton” list, and includes cards you’ll see among all 3 flygon lists, and instead I’ll talk about basic packages that each of the 3 different variations will want below.

Machamp Package

Pokemon	Trainers	Energy
2 Machamp 1 Machoke 2 Machop 1 Unown G 1 Chatot	1 Lucian’s Assignment	4 Fighting Energy 3 Upper Energy

Most FlyChamp lists will come with the package of above cards. The Machamp lineup helps with a lot of SP Decks, and gives you nice OHKO potential early in the match, so their prize lead doesn’t completely snowball out of control. One copy of Chatot MD is very nice in this deck, as setting up 2 different stage 2 lines (more if you include Nidoqueen or Dusknoir!), even in a format with Claydol, can sometimes be a bit clunky. Extra Fighting energy is obvious here, not just to attack with Machamp, but also to grant it (and Claydol) free retreat via the Rainbow Float ability. Upper Energy also works in nicely here, as it will sometimes function as a Double Colorless for Flygon’s Power Swing, or Machamp’s Hurricane Punch, but in the event that it only provides a single colorless, it doesn’t really hurt Flygon’s ability to attack at all. Lucian’s Assignment is a nifty trainer here, as with free retreat, you never really waste energy cards, and it’s possible to bounce all of your energy over to a Machamp for a surprise rage attack (or just to a Flygon to power it up more easily).

Some versions of FlyChamp (including Sekkoum’s) also included Machamp Lv. X – which definitely isn’t a bad inclusion. It turns Machamp into a very threatening late-game attacker, and a lucky flip on Strong Willed could be absolutely backbreaking. Not all versions included it though – Running Machamp Lv. X and FLygon Lv. X essentially gave you two different FOUR stage pokemon to set up, and definitely could be rather clunky at times.

Stallgon Package

Pokemon	Trainers	Energy
1 Palkia Lv. X 1 Palkia MD 1 Mewtwo Lv. X 1 Mewtwo 1 Chatot 1 Nidoqueen 1 Nidoran F	2 Premier Ball 2 Switch 2 Memory Berry	3 Psychic Energy 3 Fighting Energy 2 Water Energy

Palkia and Mewtwo are the two big inclusions here, as they allow you to potentially stall out the opponent indefinitely. Palkia is basically just a free gust effect every turn in this deck, as Flygon just grants everything free retreat. Chatot serves a dual-purpose in this deck – not only is it nice to help set up, but Chatter also has the potential to lock something in place until Flygon Lv. X is ready to take over. In the trainers section, extra switches make it easier to set up multiple Lv. X pokemon, Premier ball makes it easy to keep them all in play, and Memory Berry is arguably the most crucial card in the deck – it allows your Flygon to use the attacks of its previous evolutions – most notably Trapinch’s Inviting Trap, and Sand Tomb attacks. The spread of basic energy is used here to ensure anything can switch out after Palkia’s Poke-Power, so you don’t really have room for Upper Energy.

Weavile Package

Pokemon	Trainers	Energy
2 Weavile 2 Sneasel 1 Unown G	1 Lucian’s Assignment 2 Warp Point	4 Darkness Energy (special) 1 Darkness Energy (Basic)

The pokemon lineup here is much more bare bones – there are some other techs in the above list (which will be talked about below), but there are other options as well. Weavile is here to help power up your Flygons, and is generally the pokemon you want to attack with early, rather than Chatot. An extra Unown G is also pretty crucial here, as Weaviles have poke-powers too, and you don’t want to be giving up too many free prize cards to Gengar. Lucian’s Assignment makes another appearence here – it can move Special Energy as well, so you can potentially use it to add a huge chunk of damage to a Power Swing that your opponent might not be expecting. You want a fairly large chunk of Darkness Energy in this deck, which does limit your pokemon tech options somewhat.

What the Tech?

Flygon is one of the few decks that that can actually take advantage of every member in its evolutionary line. Memory Berry is most remembered for its use in Stallgon, as Trapinch SW’s Inviting Trap and Sand Tomb allowed you to mill people as an alternate win condition, but Memory Berry was useful in all versions of Flygon. Vibrava RR’s Energy Typhoon attack was a very easy OHKO at the end of a match – in the mirror, it could be used multiple times as Weakness gave you easier KOs, but even against other decks, Energy Typhoon at the end of the match could be an easy 6th prize card if you needed it. RR Trapinch also had its uses – its Gather Sand poke-power + Rare Candy could lead to a quick one-turn Flygon that the opponent might not see coming. (Once Expert Belt released, Grind also occasionally came up in matches with Fighting-weak pokemon, like Luxray GL, but not often).

Dusknoir and Mewtwo were less common, but in the right decks they make sense. Mewtwo makes sense in Stallgon, as it has the potential by itself to completely wall SP decks that lack a Mewtwo counter (and Dialga G Lv. X by itself doesn’t cut it, since Flygon Lv. X can just snipe it whenever it pleases). Both cards were featured in the Weavile list that placed Top 16 at worlds. Dusknoir makes a lot of sense here – since Weavile forces you to load up on Darkness Energy in order to operate efficiently, you don’t have a lot of extra space for energy that tech attackers like Machamp can use. Dusknoir is a nice tech card that can sit on the bench and disrupt the opponent, and doesn’t really care about not being able to attack. Mewtwo Lv. X is a more interesting inclusion in that deck, and I do wonder if there might be other attackers that would work in its place.

2010 And Beyond

Flygon fell off pretty hard in 2010, which is weird to think about since Flygon would theoretically be one of the best abusers of Double Colorless Energy. Garchomp C Lv. X played a pretty large role in the bane of Flygon however, since it meant SP decks were always just one turn away from being able to take an easy one-hit knockout in response to anything a Flygon could do. 2 of the biggest archetypes abused Garchomp C Lv. X (LuxChomp and DialgaChomp), and the fact that Regigigas decks saw more play as a response didn’t help Flygon much either. That being said, here are a few considerations if you are planning to try out Flygon in some of the later years of the DP Formats.

Flygon/Torterra was a neat rogue deck that placed in Top 32 of the World Championships – While Flygon itself struggled against the Garchomp-heavy SP decks, Torterra did NOT. The Fighting Torterra cleanly OHKO’s any Luxray you might run into, and the Grass-type torterra was an absolute TANK that was nearly impossible for SP decks without fire to deal with. When combined with Expert Belt, Torterra UL dealt 60 damage (enough to 2HKO almost any SP Pokemon), and healed 60 damage, which means that Garchomp C Lv. X’s Dragon Rush, for example, basically only netted 20 damage. This was reduced further as Flygon/Torterra ALSO used the Rising Rivals Nidoqueen talked about earlier in this article, allowing you to heal 80 damage each turn cycle.

Donphan Prime was another popular choice to combat the SP decks, as it hit Luxray for weakness, and its poke-body made it very hard to OHKO in response. A unique deck placed in Top 8 of Virginia Regionals in 2010, using Donphan Prime, Nidoqueen, and Machamp all as tech attackers for various different situations. I rebuild a slightly different version of this focusing on just Donphan and Nidoqueen, as Flygon’s Rainbow Float combined with Nidoqueen’s Maternal Comfort makes Donphan Prime pretty hard to take down. Donphan is another pokemon that can greatly benefit from Memory Berry by using Phanpy’s Flail attack.

Flygon/Drapion/Vileplume didn’t emerge until the following season, but this rogue deck placed highly at Canadian Regionals. It focused on using Vileplume’s Allergy Flower to prevent easy switch effects like Warp Point and Poke-Turn, while Drapion trapped pokemon in the active and slowly KO’d them with poison. Vileplume by itself was a strong choice in just about any stage 2 deck at this time, as once set up, it severely reduced the options that SP Decks had late in the match.

Closing Thoughts

Flygon has had a ton of strong cards over the years, and the Rising Rivals version is arguably the strongest. As a single prize attacker that possesses very legitimate OHKO potential, it would already be a powerhouse in any DP-era format, but its ability to play a supportive, or even stall-heavy role turns it into so much more. Many of its matches against SP decks are quite enjoyable, as they force players to make difficult decisions early in the match while trying to keep their board state moving forward, and figuring out exactly which wincon you want to use is one of the most interesting parts of this deck. Due to Flygon’s colorless typing, it is also very reasonable that there are some strong partners out there that we haven’t even discovered yet! Maybe this article will push somebody to explore some of those options.

As always, thank you so much for reading! I’ll catch everybody at the next article!