Skip straight to the scores and summary for a concise overview.
Please note that while I denote δ Delta Species Pokémon
by adding a δ to the end of their name, but that said symbol is
not actually part of their name for gaming purposes. For
example, a “Pokémon δ” can Evolve from or into a non-Pokémon δ,
so long as no other rules are being broken. That is, I can
Evolve Dratini δ into a Dark Dragonair, plain
Dragonair, of the “Dragonair δ”. I cannot,
however, Evolve a Dark Dragonair into a Dragonite δ
or a Dragonair δ into a Dark Dragonite.
Name:
Flareon δ
Set:
EX Delta Species
Card#:
5/113
Types:
Fire, Metal
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Eevee)
HP:
70
Weakness:
Water
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Delta Search [10]
Search
your deck for a Basic Holon Energy card and attach it to
Flareon. Shuffle your deck afterwards.
Attack#2:
(RMC) Return Burn [50]
You
may return an Energy card attached to Flareon to your hand.
If you do, the Defending Pokémon is now Burned.
Name:
Eevee δ
Set:
EX Delta Species
Card#:
68/113
Type:
Metal
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack:
(C) Metal Scoop [10]
Search your discard pile for a (M) Energy card and attach it
to Eevee.
Name:
Eevee
Set:
EX Delta Species
Card#:
/113
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Call for Family
Search
your deck for a Basic Pokémon and put it onto your Bench.
Shuffle your deck afterward.
Attack#2:
(CC) Rear Kick [20]
Attributes:
Flareon δ is a Stage 1 δ Delta Species Pokémon. It
Evolves from Eevee. This set contains two different
Eevee: one normal Colorless version and one δ Delta Species
version. Both have 50 HP, a Fighting Weakness, and a Retreat
Cost of one. Of the actually Eevee δ, Metal Scoop
suffers since it is an attack, and the most likely time to use
it is early game before any Metal Energy are in the
discard pile, and it only affects actual Metal Energy
cards. The “plain” Eevee has two “okay” attacks. I
recommend neither, due to the superiority of EX Unseen Forces
Eevee with “Energy Evolution” for Modified. Said Poké-Power
allows you to search for an Evolution matching an Energy card
you attach from your hand to said Eevee. Using Metal
Energy (or any card that provides it), you may search for
any Eeveelution that is part Metal (which is all five Eeveelutions
that aren’t Pokémon-ex in this set). Just be careful since this
Eevee has only 40 HP. For Unlimited use, the Blackstar
Promo with Chain Reaction or Neo Discovery version with a coin
flip determined Energy Evolution may be better: note that the
Chain Reaction Eevee is to be run alongside either of the
Energy Evolution Eevee. The question is whether or not
to risk the slightly lower HP for the better reliability of the
newest version (I feel it is: Tyrogue and most Pokémon
threats can OHKO both of them anyway).
…
What,
nothing has changed on this front since yesterday, right?
Returning to Flareon δ itself, it is a Dual-Type Pokémon:
both Fire and Metal. Fire Weakness roughly “middle of the pack”
at 96 counts in Modified. Fire Resistance, though is limited to
8 Pokémon in Modified, with Darkness (non-existent) and
Lightning (one count) being lower. The Metal aspect increases
the amount of vulnerable Pokémon by 17, but adds 25 Resistant
Pokémon, quadrupling the amount of Resistance you encounter.
Thankfully, we get the wonderful bonus of Metal Energy’s
defensive boost. Additionally, there are no Dual-Resistant or
Dual-Weak cards that match both types; for that matter, the only
Modified legal Fire Resistant cards are all members of the
Salamence line.
Flareon δ
has a mere 70 HP. While not the lowest for a Stage 1, even in
Modified, those that are lower tend to have fantastic or unique
Abilities… or else are a major hindrance for the card, often
making it “bad”. Looking at the actual figures, 70 HP is the
most common for a Stage 1 Pokémon that isn’t a Pokémon-ex and
doesn’t Evolve. That still doesn’t make it good, though. A max
HP score this low means that most serious attackers will be able
to OHKO you unless you are at full health, and many even if you
are. Additionally, the effect of Metal Energy becomes
more critical for defending against the weaker, early game
attacks as they can more easily overwhelm you while at the same
time you get less of a benefit late game since the Metal
Energy will likely be superfluous. That is, you are
dependant upon Metal Energy to survive early in the game,
and late game it won’t offer any real safety.
With
such a low HP, the Water Weakness of Flareon δ… really,
any weakness becomes a serious concern: most Stage 1 Water
Pokémon who rely mostly on doing damage – as opposed to things
such as Special Conditions or bouncing your Energy – will also
score a OHKO. Likewise, supporting attacks on a Water Pokémon
that is a deck focus will also be very, very likely to score a
OHKO.
The low
HP also increases the need for a Resistance. Why is it
different from, say, Metal Energy? Since Resistance is
built in and a guaranteed 30 point reduction in damage (at least
as guaranteed as it can be in Pokémon), even though it’s only
against one type, it will almost completely shut out early game
damage and significantly reduce late game damage (though a OHKO
would still be likely). More over, since this is a part Metal
Pokémon, the combination of the two would have created at least
one favorable type match-up based on Defense.
Finally, we come to a Retreat Cost of one. This is the second
best retreat cost in the game; even if a “naked” Flareon δ
is forced active, you should be able to bench it with ease. Of
course, given the HP score and Pokémon, a free retreat cost
really was needed.
Abilities:
Flareon δ has two attacks. The first, is an okay set up
move, but is rather limited by only being able to grab
Holon
Energy
cards (that would be the three actual Energy cards from EX Delta
Species). Since their effects require Basic Energy to work, it
makes it hard for good combo usage. It’d be nice if it said a
Basic Energy or a
Holon
Energy card. As is, it will still allow you to use Energy
Evolution to Evolve into Flareon δ first turn and, so
long as you can match the specific type requirements, use the
second attack as early as second turn.
The
second attack is relatively solid: after factoring in requiring
two distinct Energy types and being a Stage 1 Pokémon, 50 for
(RMC) seems kinda low. I guess they thought that being
Dual-Typed or maybe the first was good enough to warrant keeping
this tame. At best, you get a slight bonus, but as stated, by
old “+5 for two types” assumption appears to have been low: now
I think that you really need about 10 points of damage as a
bonus, which means that you get nothing for being a Stage 1 from
this attack. There is an added effect; you may return an Energy
card to your hand to Burn the opponent’s Defending Pokémon. Now,
returning the Energy card to hand is a limitation, but not a
horrible one. In fact, if you are about to be KO’d, it’s quite
wonderful. Automatic Burn is nice as well, but I personally
find that it is akin to Sleep: that is, it really is only good
if it is automatic, where as Confusion, Poison, and Sleep are
still useful on a flip.
Uses
and
Combinations:
This card is supposed to be your “fire beatstick” in an Eeveelution
δ deck. It isn’t very high in damage, though the Burn may
help. As is expected, time matching will be important.
Unfortunately, with the low damage yield, you’re going to want
to consider a different Flareon as well just to spike
your damage (probably Flareon ex as it does the most
damage consistently), but it’s still rather annoying to need
this. I am uncertain how well things would go with just this.
At least you can use the first and second attacks to fish out
Holon Energy cards and then get them into hand to put them
where they are needed. As stated, this doesn’t seem like too
good an idea since it means it will be hard to take advantage of
all the Special Energy that would improve the deck. Still, with
Holon Research Tower, it should be feasible to do just
that, and make good use of the Holon Energy to enhance
your Eeveelutions. Flareon δ, adding a
Fire requirement, means you can consider Holon Energy FF
to cancel out your Weakness. Still, with no Fighting in the
deck, you probably can’t use the Resistance bypassing effect too
well.
Ratings
(assuming an Eeveelution δ Deck)
Unlimited:
1/5-Don’t run this deck here, okay?
Modified:
3/5-A solid card in what might be a solid, but probably not
great deck.
Limited:
4/5-Fishing out and attaching Energy is much more useful here,
as are Special Conditions (re: Burn), and the lower damage isn’t
so bad.
Summary
Flareon δ
is a must for an Eeveelution δ deck, but the deck as a
whole seems like more a fun thing than a serious competition
piece. However, I’d be more than happy to be wrong.
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