Pokemon That Are Always "Good."

Alan

No Items. Not Ever.
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It has come to my attention that Pokemon likes to try to keep the same pokemon good. here are some examples.

Hitmonchan: The original was very good being the star of Haymaker.Through the years they have reprinted cards nearly identical to the original with either flipping added or less HP. Hitmonchan ex was a part of the ex RS set of old good cards turned into souped up ex Pokemon.

Sableye: Every sableye card has some sort of use and is frequently seen since the DP days in decks like Sabledonk and Darkrai.

Mewtwo: The original Mewtwo was often seen in Invisible Stall decks and the Promo was as powerful as Hitmonchan with energy acceleration as well. The Lv. X one could only be damaged by evolved Pokemon and Mewtwo EX is a destructive monster. It was also a part of the ex RS set of old good cards turned into souped up ex Pokemon.

Magnezone: The original Lv. X magnezone did 80 for 2 which is pretty strong. However, Magnezone has moved to support with Magnetic Draw as an ability and the new Double Brain ability in Plasma Storm.

Blastiose: Nearly all Blastoise do the same thing, allow endless water energy attachment. It is a useful support Pokemon in decks like Rain Dance from the olden days and more recently Blastoise/Keldeo. I guess Emboar from BW is sort of like Blastoise.

Garchomp: Garchomp and Garchomp Lv. X are pretty powerful cards being able to hit up to 110 for 3 and bringing back Pokemon of any stage with 3 energy too. Garchomp C was part of the famous LuxChomp duo and Garchomp C Lv.X has some good healing for SP Decks.

Vileplume: Ever since Dark Vileplume, Vileplume has become a symbol for disruption. it often times stops trainers and more recently, increases weakness to x4.

So what do you guys think? Agree/Disagree? Feel free to add Pokemon you feel are always powerful.
 
Gengar has been an interesting card the last couple times it was printed. Gengar Lv.X and Gengar SF were pretty big (utility for the first and extra HP, and just a plain good Pokemon in the latter). Even Cursegar was featured in a deck in its time. Gengar Prime didn't make a huge splash here, but it was known to be teched in some Gengar decks too. That's one that stood out to me during the SP heyday.

dmaster out.
 
I''m pretty dang sure Machamp has been excellent since starting from EX: Hidden Legends!

Hidden Legends Machamp dealt an extra 30 damage to any opponent's Pokemon, if that opponent had a Pokemon-ex in play. I wasn't around the metagame at the time, but I imagine there were some Pokemon-ex that were very very popular and powerful, right? So Machamp was around and check and balance them!

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Then fast foward to Legend Maker, we got this Machamp, with Derail costing {F}{C} and discarding a Special Energy card from the defending Pokemon. This obviously countered against the React Energy that was specially designed for the Pokemon in this one set! How awesome! And then we get Swift Blow for {F}{C}{C} dealing 60 damage +20 for each React Energy on Machamp. So that 2HKO's all the Pokemon in the format at the time, right? Epic winjudo, right there!

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A year later, in EX: Power Keepers, we get the Hidden Legends Machamp again xD, LOL!

Still 2HKO's everything in the format barring resistance and high HP, right? ESPECIALLY if your opponent has a Pokemon EX in play, so that rocks!

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Another year later and HEY! Look at that first attack! Why its Revenge, just like Terrakion NVI, and at only {F} cost this time, too!

Then we got Dynamic Punch at {F}{F}{F} with 60 damage and a coin-flip for an extra 30 damage AND confusion. Naturally, the flip aspect made it a bit shakier with that 2nd attack, but I still hear it paired excellently with Lucario at the time, right (they called it "The Mario" Deck.)?

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Stormfront Machamp is still vivid in many minds, and remains a dominant force in unlimited tournaments with its instant-knockout technique, Take Out. It served as a check against the SP engines running around at the time, heh! And now he's the Donk Champ *shakes booty*!

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And finally, there's Machamp Prime, which offered a Poke-Power that offered a way for {F} Pokemon to energy accelerate. This card deserves MAJOR kudos for offering a OHKO on all Pokemon in the format after complete setup, courtesy of its stellar teamwork with Donphan Prime.

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I'm still drooling in anticipation of the next Machamp....
 
Machamps utilty in Unlimited reminds me of him in Streetmons/Glitchmons.
 
I was about to mention Gengar and Machamp since they were missing in the OP, but looks like someone covered those.

A more recent addition to the 'good' crew is Terrakion. For older guys, you have Walrein (debatable), Magcargo (debatable), Camerupt (debatable), Metagross, Gyarados, Uxie, Gardevoir (and later Gallade), and even Crobat. I'm sure there are a few others but those are the ones I remember off-hand.

Oh. Right. Lugia and Ho-Oh have been consistently good too (with only very rare exceptions).
 
We've had 3 different Terrakions. One is god awful. One is great. One was hyped but few people use it now. That's really just 1 instance of it being good, not all incarnations of it.
 
Electrode!
Originally you could knock it out and make it count as 2 electric energy on 1 of your pokemon. Did 30 for 1 in a format were that would be a lot. and the Holon one of course is very good.
 
what about tyranitar?
there is a tyranitar that's playable in almost every format.
except the current as of right now.
 
Dusknoir is one that stands out to me from Gen 4. First we got the Dark Palm Dusknoir from DP, which was ridiculous in itself just as a 1-0-1 tech. You limited how many pokemon your opponent could really play, or they risked having something crucial sent back into their deck.

Then Stormfront came along and Dusknoir became one of the famed trio of titans from that set, the other two being Gengar and Machamp. The Shadow Command Dusknoir provided an amazing draw engine and eventually allowed for spread potential with the Lv. X. The other Dusknoir from Stormfront with Spirit Pulse wasn't a bad tech to have if you wanted even more spread.
 
^Agreeing that Dusknoir has always been a pretty cool dude.

The Pixie Pokémon have only been printed twice and then again in their Lv. X form, but really, all of them were playable except for the silly Uxie from Mysterious Treasures. But otherwise, All 3 Lv. X's (obviously) with a compination of both Mesprits, both Azelfs, and Uxie Legends Awakened. So while they were only printed a few times, all of them were really playable. (Not counting Time-Space Distortion.)

Flygon also has been pretty consistent. Flygon has had 3 EXs, the one from Hidden Legends wasn't the best, but it was still OK. It could self charge itself for 2 energies when it evolved. The Power Keepers EX was pretty good, it could drop the damage done to it by 40, in addition to buffer piece. Flygon EX Delta Species made a pretty good spread deck, and the regular Flygon Delta Species charged energies up for it. And then of course, Flygon in Secret Wonders and the Flygon in Rising Rivals made for a good deck. And there was a Flygon Lv. X too.
 
@DNA
Terrakion NV was great, but it's dying out, Terra EX wasn't ever really played, and Terrakion EP is a joke.
However, it's ridiculous in the VG so I'd say Terrakion is one of them.
I'd also say that Kingdra is one of them. Kingdra LA was good as was Kingdra Prime, which stuck around for a long time.
 
Most Cleffa (especially Neo Genesis and HGSS/Call of Legends) are good, too. As are most colorless Ditto. (Except the ones released alongside ones of other types.) A lot of Mew and Magnezone are, too. To a lesser extent, Ninetales, Nidoqueen, Feraligatr, Gardevoir and Alakazam fit, too.

And then there are Pokemon like Drifblim, Kyurem, Porygon2/Z, Ampharos and Venusaur that are consistently neither crappy nor uber most of the time.
 
Gardevoir x1000
GG was the undisputed BDIF in '08, it won worlds and was this close to winning again. All of the Gardevoir in EX days have been amazing as well.
 
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