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Froslass (Arceus)
Froslass has to be one of the strangest looking
Pokémon. I mean . . . what IS it exactly? . . .Weird.
Stage 1 Pokémon have a hard time finding a place in
this format. They don’t have the speed of Basics, nor
the big hits and HP of Stage 2s. This means that
Froslass is going to have to bring something special to
the table if it is going to see much play.
Its stats don’t get it off to a great start exactly:
80 HP is very low and is eclipsed by most playable SP
Basics, so don’t expect Froslass to stay on the Field
too long. Metal Weakness is one of the better Weaknesses
to have, and the single Retreat Cost is neither good nor
bad.
The attack is kind of underwhelming too. Sure it’s
cheap for [W][C], but 50 damage, while reasonable for
the cost, is not going to put the fear into your
opponents, especially as the attack does nothing if a
Stadium is in play (and it often is: Broken Time-Space,
Moonlight Stadium and a few others are fairly common).
Obviously, Froslass was designed to be paired with
Glalie from the same set, an alternative Snorunt
Evolution which does 70 for [C][C] when a Stadium is in
play, and then discards that Stadium, leaving the way
clear for Froslass.
But . . . Froslass DOES have one thing going for it:
The PokePower Snow Gift. This is a coming-into-play
Power that lets you search your deck for ANY one card
and put it into your hand (provided you are not Power
Locked or Sprayed). Clearly this is a very useful Power,
giving you a way of searching out those key cards that
you can’t usually search for (such as Rare Candy, a
second Poke Blower, or a Stadium).
The question is, is the Power good enough to make
Froslass worth running as a tech? The answer I feel is
‘no’. Considering the resources necessary to get a Stage
1 into play, the fact that it occupies Bench space, and
that it is a one-off use, it just isn’t going to be
worth it. If you have the space, I would suggest adding
another Claydol GE line to your deck, as you can use
Cosmic Power every turn to draw into the cards you need.
If Froslass was a Basic, it would probably see some
play as a tech. If it were an SP Basic that you could
PokeTurn, it would be close to broken. As a Stage 1 with
a mediocre attack . . . it just isn’t worth the effort.
Rating
Modified: 1.75 (useful Power can’t save this sub-par
card)
Limited: 3.75 (attack is OK here, and ANY kind of search
is brilliant)
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