Pokemon Home

Pokedex

Price Guide Set List

Message Board

Pokemon GO Tips

Pokemon News

Featured Articles

Trading Card Game
- Price Guide
- Price Guide
- Card of the Day
- Professional Grading
- Killer Deck Reports
- Deck Garage
- William Hung
- Jason Klaczynski
- Jeremy's Deck Garage
- Johnny Blaze's Banter
- TCG Strategies
- Rulings Help
- Apprentice & Patch
- Apprentice League
- Spoilers & Translations
- Official Rules
- Featured Event Reports
- Top of the World
- An X-Act Science
- Error Cards
- Printable Checklist
- Places to Play

Nintendo Tips
- Red/Blue
- Yellow
- Gold & Silver
- Crystal
- Ruby & Sapphire
- Fire Red & Leaf Green
- Emerald
- SNAP
- Pinball
- TCG cart
- Stadium
- PuPuzzle League
- Pinball: Ruby/Sapphire
- Pokemon Coliseum
- Pokemon Box
- Pokemon Channel

GameBoy Help
- ClownMasters Fixes
- Groudon's Den
- Pokemon of the Week

E-Card Reader FAQ's
- Expedition
- Aquapolis
- Skyridge
- Construction Action Function
- EON Ticket Manual

Deck Garage
- Pokemaster's Pit Stop
- Kyle's Garage
- Ghostly Gengar

Cartoon/Anime
- Episode Listing
- Character Bios
- Movies & Videos
- What's a Pokemon?
- Video List
- DVD List

Featured Articles

Pojo's Toy Box

Books & Videos

Downloads

Advertise With Us
- Sponsors
- Links

Chat

About Us
Contact Us

Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

		Vanilluxe #29 Noble Victories Date Reviewed: Jan. 17, 2012 Ratings & Reviews Summary Modified: 3.37 Limited: 3.87 Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 being the worst.  3 ... average.   5 is the highest rating. Back to the main COTD Page
Combos With:

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion

Vanilluxe 29/101 (Noble Victories) I know some people don’t like the Ice Cream Pokémon, but they’re completely and utterly wrong to do so. How can this Double Scoop of genius not put a smile on your face? Vanilluxe is a Stage 2 Pokémon with a standard 130 HP, a good Weakness (Cobalion is the only Metal Type you will likely see at tournaments), and a slightly annoying Retreat cost, though retreating Vanilluxe is not likely to be part of your strategy: he’s there to attack. So, what does Vanilluxe offer in the way of attacks? Well the second one is the least interesting, so we’ll deal with that first. Frost Breath costs two Water Energy and does a vanilla(!) 60 damage. That’s pretty average all round, though it can be situationally useful if you ever need the guaranteed 60. Most of the time though, you will be focused on using Vanilluxe’s other option. Which is the infamous Double Freeze. Reasonably priced at [W][C] this attack makes you flip two coins and do 40 damage for each heads. So far, so meh, but there’s more . . . if either of the coins you flipped was heads, the Defending Pokémon is now Paralysed. That’s right, Double Freeze come with a 75% chance of inflicting the best Status Condition in the game (no attacking or Retreating for your opponent’s active Pokémon, leaving Vanilluxe invulnerable for a turn, and more than making up for the relatively low damage output). Play it with Victory Star Victini and the odds go up to a massive 93.75 chance of Paralysis. Combine it with a Vileplume UD Trainer Lock and your opponent can’t even use Switch to get themselves out of trouble. Ok, so it takes a bit of setting up (two Stage 2s and a Basic), but the strategy isn’t hard to pull off and has a lot of great synergy (Vileplume prevents Fliptini from being Catchered out, and makes Vanilluxe tough to OHKO by stopping PlusPower). There are a couple of issues that the deck has, apart from its lack of speed. The first is what happens after Vanilluxe has KO’d the active. Now that the opponent is no longer locked, they are free to send up an attacker to return the favour on Vanilluxe. Vileplume helps against the likes of the Unova Dragons, but is little use against a Magnezone, a Cobalion, or anything that can take it out in one hit. Slow decks like Vanilluxe simply can’t afford to get involved in any kind of Prize trade: they need to tank in order to win. The second issue is that of being at the mercy of the coin flip. Yes 93.75% odds of success are great, but they aren’t perfect. If you attack 10+ times in a game, sooner or later you will fail the flip. It might not happen every game, it might only occur once during a tournament, but it can really hurt the deck (and your chances of winning) when it does. When we got the first images of Vanilluxe over the internet, my first thought was ‘wow, what an awesome looking Pokémon! I hope we get a card that does it justice’. Well, we very nearly did. Vanilluxe/Vileplume/Victini may not be quite top tier, but it’s still a pretty competitive choice and has even picked up one or two tournament wins recently. Is it the very best thing you can run right now? Of course not. But it’s more than decent, and a lot of fun. After all, who doesn’t enjoy KOing massive scary Dragons with just two scoops of ice cream?* Rating Modified: 3.25 (almost as cool as it looks) Limited: 3.75 (the whole Vanilluxe line is good here. Pull a Fliptini, get this out, and you will probably win) *This is why you shouldn’t bother with the silly gimmick version of the deck that plays it with Mew Prime and Unfezant.

virusyosh

Hello once again, Pojo readers! Today we're reviewing the evolution of yesterday's COTD, which also happens to be my favorite Pokemon card in Noble Victories. Today's Card of the Day is Vanilluxe. Vanilluxe is a Stage 2 Water Pokemon. Vanilluxe sees some play in Modified, but is largely overshadowed by Kyurem as a Water-type presence; however, Feraligatr Prime and Beartic EP will also occasionally see some play. 130 HP is fairly average for a Stage 2, but this should still allow Vanilluxe to at least take two hits, which ends up being fairly important in the strategy involved in its deck. Metal Weakness is a problem against Cobalion and the uncommon Scizor Prime and Steelix Prime. Vanilluxe also has no Resistance and an average Retreat Cost of 2, which can be paid if necessary. Vanilluxe has two attacks, Double Freeze and Frost Breath. Double Freeze costs a Water and a Colorless, and allows you to flip two coins, dealing 40 damage times the number of heads, with the additional effect of Paralyzing the opponent if EITHER flip is heads. This comes out as a 75% chance of Paralysis, which can be raised to 93.75% when paired up with Victory Star Victini. Double Freeze is Vanilluxe's main reason to see play, as when paired with Victory Star Victini and Vileplume UD, your opponent will be the recipient of a hard lock, unable to do much of anything. Unfortunately, this attack's damage output is a bit low, but that's not so much of a problem, given the reliable Paralysis rate. Frost Breath deals a vanilla 60 damage for two Water Energy, which is fairly well-costed but somewhat weak for our metagame. Chances are you'll only be using this attack when you're within its KO range, and otherwise sticking to Frost Breath. Even still, it's not so difficult to power up, and is quite efficient for Limited. Modified: 3.5/5 Given the right tools and the right build, Vanilluxe can be incredibly successful in Modified. That being said, it has to have a deck built around it to work effectively. Double Freeze will frustrate many common hitters with Paralysis until they are within Frost Breath's KO range, but there are some things to consider. First of all, Vileplume UD is an absolute must, in order to block your opponent's Trainers, most notably Pokemon Catcher and Switch. Second, while Vanilluxe can work without Victory Star Victini, the inclusion of the Fire-type legend greatly increases the deck's consistency. Finally, some people have used Vanilluxe to great success in builds with Mew Prime, Vileplume, Victini, and Unfezant BW. Those builds can start Double Freezing sooner with Mew Prime, at the cost of Vanilluxe's tanking potential. Not all is great for Vanilluxe, however: Metal Weakness means that Cobalion will cause huge problems for the double-faced cone, and the rare Steelix Prime is a true counter. While it doesn't attack for damage, the speed of Durant can also pose problems for Vanilluxe decks if they can't get their Vileplumes out fast enough. Additionally, while Vanilluxe is very good at locking the opponent up, its damage output can be a bit disappointing, especially if your opponent manages to get a few Eviolites into play. Overall, Vanilluxe is a very solid choice for Modified, but it needs a deck built around it to tailor to its strengths. Limited: 4/5 Vanilluxe is an excellent Stage 2 to run in Limited, and gets even better if you manage to pull a Victory Star Victini as well. Double Freeze is a very strong disruptor in this format, and can easily lock out your opponent's heavy hitter much in the same way as it can in Modified. Likewise, Frost Breath is an excellent attack for the cost in Limited, and should be able to carry its weight on its own. Overall, like many powerful Stage 2s in Limited, if you get it out, you should be able to win. Combos With: Victory Star Victini, Vileplume UD