Fans Vote on The Best Gyarados Card of All Time
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By: Oliver Copeland
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This past week, the community over at E4, a tight Pokémon card enthusiast club, cast their votes for the best Gyarados card of all time. User inertgeometry gathered every Gyarados card and community members were allotted one vote to each.
The poll closed at a total of 902 votes, and the results are an absolute treat to read through. You can see the original post here.
Remembering the Fallen
We have to first take a moment of silence for the three Gyarados cards that did not receive a single vote.
- Gyarados EX XY106
- Gyarados VMAX 029/203
- Gyarados ex 045/198
Personally, I was surprised by the XY promo receiving no votes, but the VMAX and recent ex just haven’t earned their whiskers yet in terms of nostalgia or reputation.
2nd, 3rd and 4th Place
4th – Gyarados δ 8/110 (54 Votes)
In 4th place, we have the legendary Gyarados δ. This Gyarados card is a lightning/metal type and features unique artwork by Hajime Kusajima.
This card was from the EX Holon Phantoms expansion back in 2006 when Delta Species Pokémon were all the (dragon) rage.
This was also my personal vote for the best Gyarados card of all time.
3rd – Lance’s Gyarados 098/141 (55 Votes)
In 3rd place, we have a Japanese exclusive. Lance’s Gyrados was only released in the Pokémon VS expansion in Japan in 2001. With beautiful artwork by Aya Kusube, we see a colored-pencil drawing of Gyrados’s profile.
Aside from the actual artwork, the card is unique in the fact that it is an e-reader, has Lance’s face on it, and has the big fat ‘VS’ logo in the bottom left.
This card beat the Gyrados δ by only a single vote.
2nd – Gyarados XY60 (62 Votes)
From 2015, we have the promo print of the Ancient Origins Gyarados.
On e4, the image used was actually that of the Japanese Pokémon Center promo, but the artwork is the same as the Egnlish Ancient Origins promo.
It’s not really surprising that this card placed so high. Its artwork by TOKIYA unmatched and shows Gyarados in a state of disdain. Of all the Gyarados cards, this is one of two with its mouth closed. And even then, you could argue that it’s not fully closed.
It’s nice to see just a beautiful card recognized by the community.
1st Place – Shining Gyarados (97 Votes)
Winning by a HUGE margin, we have the one and only Shining Gyarados.
This card as well as the Shining Magikarp were the first Shining card to be released in the TCG and solidified their place as some of the most sought-after cards in the entire franchise.
The artwork is by none other than Ken Sugimori, the godfather of Pokémon illustrations. When you take that into account, this card truly belongs in the number one spot.
We first saw this card in the Neo Revelation expansion in 2001. Today, this card sometimes sells for $6,000+ USD if it is graded a PSA 10 and 1st edition.
Final Thoughts
So those are the top four greatest Gyarados cards of all time voted by the members over at E4. Thanks to E4 member inertgeometry for hosting the poll!
What is your personal favorite Gyarados card?
