Hello, and welcome to Thursday of this week of random
Rising Rivals uncommons, and we continue the trend with
Glaceon from, er, Rising Rivals, which I hope you had
already guessed, but it doesn't harm starting the
obvious. Basics of the card first, and it has 80 HP.
It's the same as for other Glaceon's, but I do wish it
was 10 HP higher, since 90 is about average for a fully
evolved Stage 1. +20 Metal Weakness won't make any
Glaceon player lie awake at night, though the odd Dialga
G and Lv.X (PL) might cause problems. No Resistance is
to be expected. 1 Retreat Cost is about average really,
so little to say about that.
Abilities now, and it has 3, so I'll start with the Poké-Body,
Frost Wind. So long as Glaceon if you active Pokémon, it
takes 10 less damage. This does make up a little for the
slight lack in HP, but it's still not great. 90 HP is
hardly that great anyway, since most decks will be able
to OHKO it, so Frost Wind doesn't do that much really,
but I suppose it's nice to have. This also depends
Glaceon's fear of Dialga G Lv.X, as if it would actually
make any sort of difference with or without it's Poké-Body.
Ice Blade is an alright sniping attack. WC for 30 to
anything is alright, but really, many other cards can do
this sort of thing for more damage or less energies. And
it's not as though it's a hard to add a better
sniper/spreader into your Glaceon deck since Jolteon
(RR) and Vaporeon (RR) the job of Ice Blade alot better
than Ice Blade every will. Well, I suppose it might be
slightly better that Vaporeon until you can spread some
damage around, but still, it's a bit pointless.
If I'm honest, I like attacks like Ice Bind. WCC for 50
is, quite frankly, rubbish. To make it worthwhile, it
needs a good effect. And if I'm honest, it actually
isn't that great. You opponent gets to choose if they
want to discard a card from their hand. If they don't,
then the Defending Pokémon is Paralyzed. It sounds nice,
automatic Paralysis, but your opponent gets to choose
when it happens, which means if their Pokémon is going
to be KOed anyway, they may not bother with the discard
since it won't effect anything. It sounds as though it
may be quite a dilema in other situations, but it still
isn't, since your opponent may have a useless card in
their hand to discard, or just want to draw more with
Claydol (GE) or Uxie (LA) due their next turn. Either
way, it isn't as effective as it first sounds.
Combos? Well, your main one is with Glaceon Lv.X (MD).
You then get a 100 HP Lv.X who shuts off your opponents
Poké-Powers and takes 10 less damage from attacks, and
can spread or snipe or go for Paralysis. It sounds nice,
but is shut off by Diagla G Lv.X (though it isn't seeing
alot of play at the moment though, I suppose), and is
slightly hard to set up due to it's speed, and you need
a 3 energies for it's best (I say best) attacks. It's
not going to break the format any time soon.
Counters, and I suppose fairly obviously due to the
amount of times it's been mentioned in this review, and
Dialga G Lv.X is the main counter, shutting off Frost
Wind (irrelevantly) and OHKOing it with Second Strike if
Glaceon already has a damage counter on it. Claydol and
Uxie are also kind of counters to this card, making Ice
Bind rather pointless since you can then just draw
another card with Cosmic Power or Set Up. Ice Bind
doesn't like Unown G either, since then your opponent
doesn't have to discard a card to stop the Paralysis,
and Ice Blade doesn't like Manectric (PL) or Basitodon
(MT) due to their bench protecting abilities.
Ratings:
Modified: Frost Wind does nothing really, a 10 damage
reduction really won't effect anything, Ice Blade is a
sniping attack that is outclassed by countless other
Pokémon, and Ice Bind is rubbish with low damage output
and an easy negated or worked around effect. Even if you
are the one in a million person who wants to play
Glaceon Lv.X, this is not the Glaceon you'll want to
play. Instead, it's better to use the holographic one
from Majestic Dawn, who can prevent effects for a whole
turn for W and have a reasonably good second attack.
1.5/5
Limited: Still rather meh here. Frost Blade is nice
since it adds to the limited sniping you can play in
this format. Frost Wind is quite nice due to the often
low damage output of Pokémon you'll find here. Ice Bind
is better here. It's still got low damage output and is
rather expensive, but there are fewer cards your
opponent will want to discard to stop Paralysis, not as
though that will always be needed. 3.5/5
Baby Mario Top 4 UK Nats
Glaceon
Eevee and the Eeveelutions are some of the most popular
Pokémon there are. Not surprisingly, people are always
trying to make decks using them, but right now they
always seem to fall just short of being competitive.
Glaceon from Rising Rivals isn’t going to change all
that. With just 80 HP on a Stage 1, it just doesn’t have
the staying power it needs to survive. Even if you Level
up and boost HP with a benched Espeon MD, you still max
at 120. Glaceon can reduce damage by 10 while it is
active, but of course that, and all of the useful
Eeveelution PokeBodies, are easily shut down by Dialga G
LV X.
Glaceon’s attacks are also not quite effective enough to
make the card competitive. Ice Blade’s 30 snipe for [W][C]
isn’t terrible, but it isn’t going to win many games
either, and Ice Bind is horribly expensive at [W][C][C]
for just 50 damage. Yes, you can Paralyse your opponent
if the don’t discard a card, but more often than not, it
will not be such a problem for them. They can simply
discard something they don’t need and they will be able
to draw an extra card with Uxie LA or Claydol GE next
turn.
Of the three Glaceons that are in the current modified
format, this one is the weakest. If you want to play it
in Eeveelutions, then stick to the MD Glaceons.
Rating
Modified: 1.25 (there are TWO better Glaceons out there,
so there is no need to play this at all)
Limited: 2.5 (Better attacks here, and Water type is
good as RR has a lot of Fire Pokémon)
Meganium45
Dear Glaceon RR. Without you I would have never finished in the top
16, nevertheless top 2 at the Professor Cup 2009.
Love forever. M45
80 HP eeveelution that in my mind is a better stepping stone for a
Glaceon Deck than the older released Glaceons.
Problem is…Glaceon Level X is not necessarily strong enough to play.
But for this card…80 HP, a body that reduces your opponent’s attacks
by 10 (good bye bench spread hitters), along with an
attack that hits 2 for 30 to anyone on the board. Not
bad, but not overpowered. Would have liked 2 for 40,
but I am just greedy like that.
3 for 50 forcing the choice where the opponent discards or is
paralyzed. That may come in handy from time to time.
Great limited card, with major potential. Weakness to Metal, well,
as if Dialga G Level X wasn’t Glaceon’s nemisis already…
Resistance to nothing, retreat cost of 1…just a bit underpowered in
this envio.
Ratings.
Modified…2.5/5…not sure if this is even the BEST Glaceon to use…
Limited…5/5…The eevees will be competitively drafted, but this is a
game changing card. If I could get 3 eevees and 2 of
these (with any other eeveelution, I just might not put
ANY other Pokemon in my deck!!!!
