Jolteon – Cosmic Eclipse Pokemon Review

Vince

Jolteon (SM Cosmic Eclipse 70/236) is the last piece of support for GX versions of Eeveelutions. It’s ability, Speed Cheer, makes the attack cost of GX Eeveelutions cost one colorless energy less, which could be helpful if the Pokémon in question can exploit that to make it attack earlier. Well, let’s find out.

Espeon-GX

-Psybeam: P > P
-Psychic: PCC > PC
-Divide: PCC > PC

Umbreon-GX

-Strafe: D > D
-Shadow Bullet: DCC > DC
-Dark Call: DC > D

Sylveon-GX

-Magical Ribbon: Y > Y
-Fairy Wind: YCC > YC
-Plea: YCC > YC

Leafeon-GX

-Solar Beam: GCC > GC
-Grand Bloom: G > G

Glaceon-GX

-Frost Spear: WCC > WC
-Polar Frost: WCC > WC

Vaporeon-GX

-Hydro Pump: CCC > CC (while it doesn’t matter most of the time because you’re banking on putting more water energies for more damage output, you can attack early with just WW for 100 damage instead of waiting to attach WWW for 130 damage.)
-Cure Shower: W > W

Jolteon-GX

-Electrobullet: L > L
-Head Bolt: LC > L
-Speed Run: LC > L

Fun fact. With Speed Cheer ability and Thunder Mountain Prism Star active, Jolteon-GX’s attacks don’t cost any energy at all, letting it attack for free!

Flareon-GX

-Heat Stage: R > R
-Bright Flame: RRC > RR (this could greatly help by using Welder to attach RR even after you discarded energies attached to it)
-Power Heater: R > R

So far, reducing the attack cost can actually help certain Pokémon attack earlier while not get punished by opposing Pokémon that can’t wait to hit you hard based on how many energies are attached to it. While the reduced attack cost makes it no longer DCE compliant, there are other energy acceleration methods. Again, Welder seems to be the best one, as its fire energy attachment very well covers the colorless costs of attacks. This is another helpful card to consider in Standard and Expanded, but it does face competition with triple effect Eeveelutions from XY Ancient Origins. It’s own Head Bolt does 70 damage for LC, which could be boosted by Electropower………but there are other better attackers out there.

Ratings:

Standard: 3/5
Expanded: 2.9/5
Limited: 2.5/5

Conclusion:

Cost reduction can help you meet certain attack costs sooner, and Jolteon acts like a conditionally met Counter Gain without the “falling behind” requirement.

Otaku

We’ve already looked at Flareon (SM – Cosmic Eclipse 25/236) and Vaporeon (SM – Cosmic Eclipse 42/236), so it should come as no surprise we’re covering Jolteon (SM – Cosmic Eclipse 70/236) today.  Well, unless you missed the CotD where we mentioned no Throwback Thursdays until the new year (sorry, retro fans).

Jolteon’s defining feature is its “Speed Cheer” Ability, which reduces the attack costs of your Pokémon-GX which evolve from Eevee by [C].  Only one instance of Speed Cheer can be applied at a time, so multiples are just about having spares in case one is KO’d, negated, etc.  As long as the Pokémon in question says “Evolves from Eevee” where the card explains Evolution instructions, it can benefit, even if it did not actually Evolve from Eevee.  On the other hand, cards based on Eeveelutions that don’t ever evolve from Eevee – like Jolteon-EX, Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX, etc. don’t qualify for the bonus.

As a [L] Type, it can tap some nice support and maybe score some nice hits via Weakness.  Being a Stage 1 is expected, but also functional.  100 HP is low, though manageable if Jolteon sticks to the Bench.  [F] Weakness is similar, though the current metagame does seem to favor it.  Any Resistance is better than none, so [M] Resistance is appreciated.  A Retreat Cost of [C] is good, and makes getting stuck up front less likely.  [LC] pays for Jolteon’s “Head Bolt” attack, which does a respectable 70 damage… and while I wouldn’t risk it most of the time, this is just enough if backed by the right support to matter.

What support?  Electropower and Thunder Mountain {*}.  Of course, you shouldn’t be running Jolteon alone in such a deck, but using it to backup Jolteon-GX… and Jolteon-GX isn’t what it once was.  This is pure Theorymon, but it might be worth testing Jolteon-GX in [L] decks again, because we now have two ways to reduce its attack costs, and they do stack with each other.  Keeping Thunder Mountain {*} and today’s Jolteon in play the entire game ain’t happening, but one or the other mean Jolteon-GX attacks for less Energy.  Electropower works on it as well, and maybe Flareon and Vaporeon shift other numbers in your favor.  The catch is keeping them all safe… or a Ditto {*}, Eevee, or Eevee-GX waiting to Evolve.

Which isn’t to say this cannot benefit other Eeveelution-GX cards.  Flareon-GX can use “Bright Flame” for just [RR] instead of [RRC], though you’ll still need to discard two [R] Energy from it as per its effect.  190 (220 if Flareon is on the Bench) for something Welder alone can cover, freeing up manual Energy attachment to go elsewhere.  The other Standard-legal Eeveelution-GX cards also benefit, but it isn’t as pronounced or their past success revolves around incompatible elements.

In Expanded, we gain access to Espeon-GX, Umbreon,-GX and Aqua Patch.  No, I am not talking about some weird combo involving all three at once.  What I mean is Espeon-GX can use this Jolteon plus Dimension Valley to use its second attack and GX-attack for just [P] (the first attack is already priced as such).  Umbreon-GX is in a similar boat, though instead of double-reducing attack costs, we’re just reducing them one and using Dark Patch to makeup the difference.  As for Aqua Patch, its presence here means Glaceon-GX can be run akin to Umbreon-GX… but with Glaceon-GX’s Ability acting as a one-sided Power Plant while it is Active.  None of these are proven ideas, but they’re at least something to get us started thinking.

If you pull Jolteon in the Limited Format, Jolteon is in luck; while its [F] Weakness is more dangerous and its Ability completely useless, the rest of the card becomes a solid Stage 1.  You’ll need to run at least a little bit of Lightning Energy, but you’ll gain something that can punish anyone fortunate enough to have pulled a complete Empoleon (SM – Cosmic Eclipse 56/236) line.

Ratings

Standard: 3/5

Expanded: 3/5

Limited: 3/5

Jolteon is the most promising out of itself and set-mates Flareon and Vaporeon.  The best defense is a good offense, and Energy acceleration can fake being a damage buff by letting you use a more expensive attack sooner.  An attack that ought to either do more damage or have a more beneficial effect or effects.  All three of these Eeveelutions caught my eye, but they come close to making my Top 11 for this set… but they have at least some small bit of potential.