aroramage |
Well guys, we're finally digging
into it. We've finally managed to formulate a Top 10
List for the new Ancient Origins set and been able to
compile our lists together to make a fairly accurate
list of probably what may be one of the most powerful
sets to come out in a while. Lots of good cards came in
this set, and it would come as no surprise if several
new decks got formed around some of these cards.
BUT HEY, MAYBE YOU'D LIKE TO HEAR
WHAT ALMOST MADE THE LIST FIRST!!
That's right, we're gonna be weird
with this and start up with runner-ups, starting with...Flareon?
Wait, really? Ummm...okay then!
I can't really talk about Flareon
from this set without also bringing up Vaporeon and
Jolteon. All three of them came together, and true to
Eeveelution gimmicks, they have something in common. The
difference between these new Abilities and other
gimmicks from before is that these actually can be good,
when in the right situation. Each of them has an
"effect" Ability that corresponds to their Typing, and
every Stage 1 Pokemon in play gains that Typing for as
long as the Eeveelution is in play - Flareon gives out
Fire while Vaporeon gives out Water and Jolteon
distributes Electric.
Now not to burst anyone's bubble on
the matter, but I'm pretty sure this doesn't work with
Mega Evos. Sorry, but they count as a different kind of
"evolution" card as far as I'm aware. That being said,
let's assume I'm wrong for a moment and say they'd also
apply to Mega Evos - how does that change the current
game? Well, that depends on which Eeveelution you go
with, and that decision in turn is something you'd make
based on what's popular in the game today. For instance,
Jolteon would probably be a good run since M Rayquaza-EX
seems to be running rampant at the moment, and with the
potential surge of Grass decks thanks to the new Grass
support, as well as the potential for Fire to come back
accordingly, Flareon and Vaporeon are about to become
relevant really fast.
Other than that, Flareon's attack
is okay. Heat Breath does 3-for-60 damage with a 50/50
shot of an extra 20 damage. Compared to his brothers,
he's better than vanilla Vaporeon's Hydro Splash half of
the time, and depending on your view of discarding
Energy, he could be better than Jolteon's Thunder Blast.
I can't really think of too many Stage 1s that get
played right now though - you've got Trevenant for those
Gengar-EX builds, maybe some supports like Slurpuff,
some Night March stuff, but aside from that, most decks
I'm aware of tend to be geared towards Mega Evos.
Ah well, gives a new refreshing
look at a few archetypes, so I'm appreciative of that
much!
Rating
Standard: 3/5 (he'll be relevant
with Grass coming back and subsequently Fire coming back
as well)
Expanded: 3/5 (his biggest weakness
- as that of the other Eeveelutions - is mostly
relevance)
Limited: 3/5 (still, he could do
some neat stuff!)
Arora Notealus: Gotta appreciate
the gimmicks they'll give Eeveelutions. Sometimes
they're golden, sometimes they're "meh," but they're
nothing if not unique and interesting gimmicks.
Next Time: OH YEAHHHHHHHH, TIME TO
GET MACHO
|
Otaku |
We are counting
down the Top 10 cards of XY: Ancient Origins!
However… we are starting with our runners up for the
list, so it is actually a Top 15. As usual, we looked
at the new cards in this set (reprints were
excluded) and tried to whittle it down to the best on
our own, then our individual lists were averaged out to
get the list for the CotD crew to review. I was given
the honors of actually tabulating the results… as well
as breaking ties. As we are now reviewing cards that
will not be tournament legal until the September 1st
rotation, I will of course be scoring them for the
formats as of September 1st. Well, not Limited since
that would be affected regardless.
We begin with
the 15th place finisher, Flareon (XY: Ancient
Origins 13/98). This card actually tied with the
16h place finisher, Primal Groudon-EX (XY:
Ancient Origins 97/98), which was a legal pick
because while almost totally identical to Primal
Groudon-EX (XY: Primal Clash 86/160, 151/160)
they each have different Ancient Traits. Technically
the list containing Flareon had it tying with two
other cards from this set as I initially proposed
officially reviewing the other two Eeveelutions
alongside it but seeing that it was going to be the very
first card of the list, that just seemed mean to the
other staff.
Flareon is a Fire-Type which might be really,
really important as XY: Ancient Origins has some
fierce Grass-Types in it (that have the traditional Fire
Weakness) and some good support to go along with
them. It also allows Flareon to tap Fire-Type
support but said support isn’t that hot with notable
cards like Blacksmith proving tricky to
incorporate into actual play when it was new, though
perhaps it is worth looking at again now that we both
have more non-Supporter draw options freeing up the
Supporter use for the turn a bit more readily. It also
slams most members of the Metal-Type for double damage
as well and doesn’t have to worry about Resistance. I’m
not sure how the Metal-Type will be changing
post-rotation; it has had a solid showing in the
twilight of the current format and while it loses a few
tricks, it retains many others. If it remains at least
a solid choice, hitting most of them for Weakness will
also prove important. All in all, things seem to be
looking up for the Fire-Type, at least if it can deliver
something which capitalizes on most if not all of these
things.
Being a Stage 1
is manageable; right now Evolving is a bad deal but for
better or worse, there are various tricks to take some
of the sting out of it and Stage 1 cards tend to have
access to those tricks while also not having it as bad
as Stage 2, Restored and Mega Evolutions. There are
even some new tricks unique to Stage 1 Pokémon this set,
but more on that later. 90 HP is more than likely a
OHKO right now, with exceptions coming from incomplete
set-ups or perhaps lock decks (not sure if the current
examples of the latter will make the transition) but it
also makes Flareon a legal search target for
Level Ball, which was reprinted (and thus restored
to Standard play) this set. Water Weakness is typical
and could be an issue, but only in those situations
where it wouldn’t already be a OHKO before Weakness, the
mixed blessing of being on the small side. The lack of
Resistance is typical and had there been any it would
have merely been a small bonus, so moving on Flareon
has a Retreat Cost of [C]; easy to both pay and recover
from, at least most of the time.
Flareon has an Ability and an attack. The
former is “Flare Effect” and it causes each of your
Stage 1 Pokémon in play to count as a Fire-Type in
addition to its normal Type. The attack is “Heat
Breath” for [RCC], which does 60 damage plus has you
flip a coin; “heads” means 20 more damage. The attack
is underpowered but it isn’t totally without merit
(we’ve seen worse prove useful in clutch situations),
but the Ability is the impressive thing; the Weakness
mechanic in this game is simply broken because damage
multipliers (as opposed to bonuses that just add a fixed
amount) are prone to that, especially when there aren’t
a lot of damage divisors floating around (in the TCG,
there aren’t any). This isn’t as bad as something that
flat out doubled damage being done all the time, but
when you face Fire Weak Pokémon (most Grass- and
Metal-Types), it can give a huge edge to your other
Stage 1 attackers (the ones normally not
Fire-Types). Seems pretty clear the filler attack is
here because the Ability is expected to be strong
enough. It is also interesting (and probably a good
idea) that the bonus only extends to Stage 1 Pokémon; it
probably won’t do much for Evolving Stage 1 Pokémon, but
it could be a big deal for the fully Evolved ones (and
I’d be quite worried if this effect extended to Basics
or Mega Evolutions!).
I began
grinding through the various versions of Eevee
and trying to mentally prepare as I ran through not only
the other Flareon options but all the other
Eeveelutions that could potentially clash or combo
with this Flareon but while I really,
really want to do it (I’m not kidding when I call myself
“obsessive”) I am afraid that will confuse the issue.
It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that if
you have a Stage 1 attacker that isn’t already a
Fire-Type, a 1-1 line suddenly gives you two more
match-ups (versus general Grass and versus general
Metal) where you can enjoy a sizable damage boost. You
can also scout various Stage 1 attackers with [CC] in
their attack Energy costs and consider whether or not
Blacksmith might help them out… especially among
older cards that predate both Flareon and
Blacksmith and thus couldn’t have been designed with
them in mind. Then comes Jolteon (XY: Ancient
Origins 26/98) and Vaporeon (XY: Ancient
Origins 22/98). They are so similar to Flareon
they create a pattern; while the Retreat Costs and exact
nature of the second attack vary, they each have their
own version of the Ability that adds their respective
Type to all Stage 1 Pokémon in play. If you have all
three of them in play at the same time, every Stage 1 is
its own natural Type(s) plus Fire-, Lightning- and
Water-Typed.
As nothing
currently has multiple forms of Weakness at one time,
overlapping all of them at once might look impressive
but it isn’t too likely to matter. Running one or two
Eevee and then one of each XY: Ancient Origins
Eeveelution means 4-5 deck slots but it
also means hitting three additional forms of Weakness on
top of whatever else the deck can hit. We also have
some new Stage 1 attackers to consider this set, as well
as re-examining some old ones. Vespiquen (XY:
Ancient Origins 10/98) is a Stage 1 Grass-Type
attacker with an attack for [CC] that does 20 plus 10
per Pokémon in your discard pile. Backing it with the
Eeveelution lines is a real possibility, with
“unneeded” Eeveelutions simply being discard
fodder. Of course it might also be the wrong approach
(I lack significant data on the matter). There is also
Golurk (XY: Ancient Origins 35/98) is a
Psychic-Type Stage 1 with an Ability that makes it count
as also being a Fighting-Type. With these Eeveelutions
backing it up, it could enjoy a Type advantage against
almost all Colorless-, Darkness-, Fire-, Grass-,
Lightning- and Metal-Types, plus sizable chunks of the
Fighting- and the Psychic-Types!
You also could
just stick to the Eeveelutions themselves,
especially in Expanded play where you can access the
older and very potent versions of them, as well as
gaining access to more Stage 1 Pokémon to consider. For
Limited, only skip it is you can pull off a good +39
deck or you’re already running nearly all
Fire-Types.
Ratings
Standard: 3.25/5
Expanded: 3.35/5
Limited: 4.75/5
Summary: Flareon isn’t much on its own
but it isn’t supposed to be the focus of a deck, but
instead enable better Type-matching and sometimes killer
combos. This means that even though I’m scoring it only
a little above average, it is a pretty impressive card.
To paraphrase an old commercial slogan “Eeveelutions
don’t make the attacker that scores KOs for your deck;
they provide the Ability that makes your attackers even
better.” Alongside Jolteon and Vaporeon
(and initially planned as a “triple”review), Flareon
snagged ninth place.
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