Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Glaceon
(Dark Explorers)
Will the
Eeveelution
reviews never end? I thought we got them
all out of the way the other week, but
no. At least this one comes with a nice
sparkly action-pose picture, courtesy of
Ryo Ueda who normally does the artwork
for things like LV Xs and EX Pokémon.
Glaceon is a Water Type Stage 1
with a low 90 HP, meaning it will be an
easy OHKO for virtually any main
attacker. Because it is actually an Ice
Pokémon in the video games, it at least
avoids the dreaded Lightning Weakness.
Instead, it’s weak to Metal, which sees
very little competitive play at the
moment: even the occasional
Klinklang
and Durant aren’t used as attackers so
that shouldn’t be a worry. The Retreat
cost of one seems reasonable and is easy
enough to pay.
No Abilities here
(sadly), so let’s take a look at what
else Glaceon
has to offer. Quick Attack is something
we have been seeing on cards since Base
Set. This version offers
10 damage for
one Colourless Energy, with a coin flip
for 30 more if heads. It’s not bad for
what it costs, I guess, but your
opponent’s 180 HP EX Pokémon aren’t
exactly going to be trembling with fear
over the outcome of the flip. The same
could be said of
Glaceon’s second attack, Reflect
Energy. Although the cost of [W][C]
is reasonable, and the Energy-conserving
effect of moving one Energy from
Glaceon to a
Benched Pokémon can be useful, this is
again very mediocre, considering the
effort needed to get a Stage 1 into
play.
To the shock of
absolutely no-one,
Glaceon is just another filler
Stage 1.
Underpowered and generally uninteresting
(unless you
really happen to like
Eeveelutions,
of course).
Rating
Modified: 1.5 (one
for the fans only)
Limited: 2.5 (fairly
cheap attacks are never completely
useless)
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virusyosh |
Greetings once again, Pojo viewers! Today we're
reviewing another Stage 1 Water Pokemon from Dark
Explorers, but this one's a final Evolution and a Rare.
Today's Card of the Day is Glaceon.
Glaceon is a Stage 1 Water Pokemon. Water-types are rare
in Modified for reasons I've been saying for the past
few days, the most common of which is the Lightning-type
Weakness that most members of this type share.
Fortuitously, Glaceon doesn't share that problem. 90 HP
is just about average for a finally-evolved Stage 1,
with enough HP to survive a weak hit as well as just
hitting the cut off for being searched out with Level
Ball. Metal Weakness is great to have, as Metal Pokemon
are exceedingly rare these days (except for the
occasional Klinklang, a support Pokemon, or Cobalion,
which doesn't see much play anymore). To round out the
bottom stats, Glaceon has no Resistance and a Retreat
Cost of 1, both of which we'd expect and are fairly
average.
Like a majority of Pokemon in the Pokemon TCG, Glaceon
has two attacks. Quick Attack starts off at a paltry 10
damage for a single Colorless Energy, but can deal 30
more if you flip heads. 40 damage for a single Energy is
decent, but 10 damage for that price isn't even average
anymore. While you won't get any significant mileage in
Modified with this attack, it's quite serviceable in
Limited, with Colorless Energy requirements and a fairly
decent potential damage output. Reflect Energy is
Glaceon's other form of offense, dealing 40 damage for a
Water and a Colorless while moving an Energy from
Glaceon to one of your Benched Pokemon. 40 damage for
two Energy is solid (but not great) in both formats,
with the Energy moving effect somewhat unnecessary for
that attack's damage output. In Modified you're better
off using Tornadus EP for an attack resembling this one,
or even better off using something like Klinklang or
other Energy-moving Pokemon as an Ability.
Alternatively, you could skip Energy movement altogether
and go with Energy acceleration, which is often a better
strategy.
Modified: 1.5/5 Glaceon's combination of low HP, being a
Stage 1, and disappointing damage output mean that it
won't see play here except maybe in dedicated
Eeveelution decks, where Reflect Energy can move around
Energy (and not just Basic Energy!) to your various
Eeveelutions to power them up. In this way, you can
easily move a Prism or a Rainbow to one of your Benched
Pokemon, making sure they're ready to attack once
Glaceon goes down. Outside of this limited scope, there
are generally better options.
Limited: 3/5 Glaceon is decent in Limited. Quick Attack
is fairly lackluster, but Reflect Energy is good for
powering up your Benched Pokemon, even though 40 damage
is somewhat disappointing for the big attack on a
fully-evolved Pokemon. Overall, if you're running Water
(or Eeveelutions) and would like to have a way to move
your Energy around, it won't hurt to give Glaceon a try.
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