Jolteon – Sword & Shield Promo
Date Reviewed: March 16, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 1.75
Expanded: 2.50
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Today we look at our next Eeveelution promo, Jolteon (SW – Black Star Promos SWSH094). As the name all but confirms, we’re dealing with a baseline Pokémon. No Rules Box. No different amount of Prizes for KOing it. No unusual name or additional mechanics. Jolteon is a Lightning type, and that currently isn’t much good for exploiting Weakness, though they do have one or two solid tricks, like Speed [L] Energy. Being a Stage 1 is fine; being a Basic would be better, but you’re only talking an extra card of investment and a extra turn’s wait. Sometimes, not even the latter you can run Eevee (XY – Furious Fists 80/111) or Eevee (Sun & Moon 101/149, 101a/149, SV41/SV94) in Expanded, due to their “Energy Evolution” Ability.
Jolteon has 100 HP, low, but not as bad as it gets. Most of the time, Jolteon is going down in one hit, but it might have been better off with 10 fewer Hit Points. How so? Level Ball. Level Ball is pretty potent when it can fetch both Basics and Evolutions. Jolteon is [F] Weak, and that might be a problem, but probably not. While it does make Jolteon easier to OHKO for Fighting types, they need to hit for 50 to 90 damage, or else they’re still whiffing on the OHKO or they already had it before Weakness. No Resistance is the worst, but it is the most common and – again – with the HP, it wasn’t likely to matter even if it was present. That free Retreat Cost is perfect, though!
Jolteon knows two attacks. For [L], Jolteon can use “Energize” to attach a [L] Energy from your discard pile to itself. This is not a good attack; yes, you’re ahead by an Energy, but not only are you “spending” your attack on it, we already established Jolteon is much more likely to be KO’d than not. It also doesn’t even cover the full price of Jolteon’s next attack. “Thunder” costs [LLC] and does 160 damage to your opponent’s Pokémon, but also 30 to itself. The self-damage doesn’t make much of a difference; yet again, the 100 HP already put it into he “probable OHKO” camp. Like the Weakness, doing 30 to itself just makes even more probable. 160 is a solid amount for three Energy…
…but I don’t think it is enough to make Jolteon a good attacker. The kind of combo that can take a Jolteon from no Energy to Thunder in a single turn can also ready Pikachu & Zekrom-GX’s “Full Blitz”. Maybe you need a single-Prize attacker, but there are options besides Jolteon. Now, Jolteon might be your best bet for a Lightning type Eeveelution in Standard. There are other Jolteon available, but the only one really meant for attacking is Jolteon-GX. The other use for Jolteon outside of Lightning decks is in broader Eeveelution decks. Unfortunately, Jolteon is built around basic Lightning Energy, so such a deck wouldn’t be a good fit for it, either.
Expanded adds more Jolteon options, as well as more competition and combos. As a Jolteon working with other Eeveelutions, I can’t see today’s version being any better here than in Expanded. As the focus of its own deck, though, Jolteon has a slightly better chance. Additional [L] support lets Thunder hit hard enough to matter… and maybe even fast enough as well. Do I think it would be an especially good deck? No, but it might be functional.
Ratings
- Standard: 1/5
- Expanded: 2/5
Jolteon scores very low, because that first attack is near worthless, and we don’t have a good enough means of reliably pulling off a rapid Thunder. I’m surprised it has the potential it does in Expanded. Energy Evolution Eevee to hit the field Turn 2 (Player 2’s first turn), Thunder Mountain {*} on top of other Energy acceleration to power Thunder up that same turn, and Electropower (plus cards like Muscle Band) to hit some high numbers… and I still think that is merely a functional deck, not a competitive one.
Vince
Next Sword & Shield Eeveelution Promo is Jolteon! A stage 1 Lightning type with 100 HP, Fighting weakness, and free retreat, it has 2 attacks. Energize costs L and lets you attach an Lightning energy from the discard pile to itself while Thunder costs LLC for 160 damage while doing 30 damage to itself.
There’s not much Lightning based support and not many damage boosting cards in the Standard Format. However, it is possible – in both the Standard and the Expanded format – to get Jolteon from zero into attacking. For Standard, you’ve got Tapu Koko (*)’s Dance of the Ancients to get one Lightning Energy to Jolteon, use Welder to attach Fire energies to cover the colorless cost, and an manual attachment of Lightning energy, and then Jolteon can instantly swing for 160 damage. The self damage might limit the times you can use Thunder without healing, but I doubt it’ll last long on the field.
For Expanded, there’s more combos that Jolteon can benefit; you’ve got Thunder Mountain (*) to lower the attack cost by L, Electropower for tacking extra 30 damage per use, Triple Effect Eeveelutions from XY Ancient Origins so that Jolteon can be a Lightning/Water/Fire type at once! On top of it all, Eevee’s Energy Evolution ability lets it evolve into Jolteon immediately after attaching an Lightning energy to it.
Ratings:
Standard: 2.5/5
Expanded: 3/5
Jolteon does pack a punch as a single prize Pokémon, and it can be rapidly fueled to start attacking, but it is definitely a glass cannon if I see one.
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