Vaporeon – Vivid Voltage
Date Reviewed: December 7, 2020
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 1.25
Expanded: 1.88
Limited: 2.50
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Vince
This review will be in all three of those Eeveelutions:
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Vivid Voltage brings in three more Eeveelutions: Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon. What they have in common is that they each have an ability that turns off abilities from certain types as long as it has a Memory Capsule Pokémon Tool Card. We’ve looked at Memory Capsule here and this item card does show promise due to being one of the methods of accessing older attacks from its previous evolution. How useful this card would be depends on the Pokémon in question: those three Eeveelutions would NEVER benefit accessing older attacks! The closest thing to a Eevee card that deals the most damage is the one from SM Ultra Prism, whose Palette of Friends cost CC and deals 10 damage for each different type of Pokémon in your Bench. The most you can do is 50 damage (or 80 damage with Sky Field and one of each TCG types). So, you should never have any of those Eeveelutions attack unless you have no other option.
Vaporeon’s Torrential Awakening turns off all abilities from Fire Pokémon. Jolteon’s Thunderous Awakening, turns off all abilities from Water Pokémon. Flareon’s Incandescent Awakening turns off all abilities from Grass Pokémon. While those abilities could be pretty game-changing SHOULD you encounter such types, they are also useless against most of other decks who aren’t using such types. It also isn’t a good idea to use three of those Eeveelutions at the same time because those abilities turn off each other. Assuming those Eeveelutions have Memory Capsule attached to it: Jolteon will shut down your Vaporeon’s ability lock, making Fire Pokémon use their abilities again. Vaporeon will shut down Flareon’s ability. Flareon won’t affect any of the Eeveelutions. So, you could run two of the three Eeveelutions without compromising the other, that being both Jolteon and Flareon. However, the real kicker is that none of the Eeveelutions can shut down some of the Pokémon whose abilities provide either draw power or consistency. Dedenne-GX, Crobat-V, two Jirachi cards, and even the banned Shaymin-EX aren’t affected by the Eeveelution trio.
I can’t seem to process how those three Eeveelutions would be viable in any format because they are so specialized, restricting, and even detrimental. Not to mention it faces competition from other Stage 1 Eeveelutions from various formats. Expanded brings in – but not limited to – two more trio that also consists of Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon. The trio from Ancient Origins had abilities that adds a type to Stage 1 in addition of its existing types. A Stage 1 Pokémon – assuming all three are in play – can also have Water, Lightning, and Fire type to exploit multiple weaknesses. Another trio from Cosmic Eclipse also contains Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon, whose abilities support GX counterparts of Eeveelutions. Vaporeon’s Vitality Cheer grants +60 to its Max HP; Jolteon’s Speed Cheer shaved off attack costs by C; and Flareon’s Power Cheer makes Stage 1 GX Eeveelutions deal 30 extra damage. They were released near the end of the SM-era, so helping those Eeveelutions out as their last hurrah is nice indeed! While you could have up to nine opportunities to get your Stage 1 Eeveelutions in play (4 Eevee, 4 Eevee-GX, and 1 Ditto (*)), those group of Eeveelutions might be able to be played.
Ratings: (collective)
Standard: 1.5
Expanded: 1.75
Limited: 2
Out of the other Eeveelution trios that we cumulatively have, this seems to be the worst of the group. It tries to disrupt certain plays, but they didn’t do the job well. If they shut down abilities from your opponent’s Pokemon but not yours, then it might worth consideration. But that’s not the case here.
Otaku
Today we have three reviews for you, and this time, it isn’t due to an error on my part. We’ll be looking at Flareon (SW – Vivid Voltage 026/185), Jolteon (SW – Vivid Voltage 47/185), and Vaporeon (SW – Vivid Voltage 30/185). “Eeveelutions”, Eevee and the various Pokémon that evolve from it, are always related in the Pokémon TCG, but these three have a lot of overlap. Just not enough for me to be comfortable doing some kind of mega review that covers everything about all three at once. As such, we’ll highlight one at a time, starting with Vaporeon (SW – Vivid Voltage 030/185).
Vaporeon is a baseline Pokémon: worth only one Prize when KO’d, and possessing no specialty mechanics like being an Ultra Beast or Prism Star Pokémon. Water-typing is handy because most Fire types are Water Weak… and being a Fire type is good in part because nearly all Metal Pokémon are Fire Weak and Zacian V decks are just so good! The Water type also has some decent support, but rarely has to worry about type-based counters or Resistance (the latter barely being a factor in Expanded). As a Stage 1 Pokémon, Vaporeon ought to be relatively easy to run; not as nice as just a Basic, but far easier than a Stage 2. As a bonus, the Eeveelutions tend to be easier to run as a split evolution line, and mixing and matching them can make them greater than the sum of their parts.
Vaporeon has 110 HP. This is a low for a Stage 1, but not terrible. There is a small, small chance an Active Vaporeon can survive, such as against more technical fighters or an incomplete set up, but the vast majority of the time it is getting OHKO’d. At least this is enough it isn’t especially fragile on your Bench. It won’t matter on the Bench, the card’s [L] Weakness but while active, a mere 60 damage can OHKO Vaporeon, and the Lightning type is pretty good at hitting hard and fast. No Resistance is typical, though technically the worst. Jolteon’s Retreat Cost of [CC] is also common, and neither good nor bad. Air Balloon isn’t really an option here because Vaporeon needs a different Tool.
Vaporeon has the Ability “Torrential Awakening”. It only works if this Vaporeon has a Memory Capsule Pokémon Tool attached to itself. With that condition met, all Fire Pokémon in play (for both players) are treated as if they no longer have Abilities. This won’t affect [R] Pokémon in the deck, in your hand, in your Prizes, or in your Lost Zone; only those that are on the Bench or Active. Maybe it would be worthwhile shutting off the Ability of something like your own, but I really doubt it. In a vacuum, it looks solid, but if there aren’t any worthwhile Water Abilities to shut down, Thunderous Awakening becomes rather pointless. Vaporeon knows “Aurora Beam”; [WC] scores 70 damage. It’s overpriced, but at least it only costs two Energy and only one needs to be [W]. Still, 70 would barely be worth a Twin Energy in a pinch. Even when exploiting Weakness, you’re not hitting hard enough to OHKO things your main attacker couldn’t handle even without Weakness.
I’m not actually sure there are any Fire types worth countering with Vaporeon in the Standard Format. I have some high hopes for Charizard (SW – Vivid Voltage 025/185; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH066), and some may still use Heatran-GX to support other Fire attackers… but the best Fire decks are built around Fire types without Abilities. Things are a bit better in Expanded. Vaporeon lets you disable stuff like Magcargo (SM – Cosmic Eclipse 24/168), and a few competitive, but not widespread decks using a Fire type as support. In both cases, there are other ways to counter these Abilities. Garbodor (BW – Dragons Exalted 54/124; BW – Plasma Freeze 119/116; BW – Legendary Treasures 68/113), Garbodor (XY – BREAKpoint 57/122), Alolan Muk (Sun & Moon 58/149), Power Plant, and Silent Lab all offer varying forms of Ability negation. In the Limited Format, Vaporeon’s saving grace is that, if you pull Eevee, Vaporeon, and Memory Capsule, you probably have room for it, but as much for it as an attacker as for a niche counter to the Flareon and Charizard mentioned earlier in this review.
Ratings
- Standard: 1/5
- Expanded: 2/5
- Limited: 3/5
Vaporeon has an interesting Ability, but the need for Memory Capsule hurts, while the option of running a split Eeveelution line definitely helps. Did I really need to take so much space to explain all that? Yes! This is a counter card, so if what it counters suddenly becomes appropriately significant, and there isn’t a better alternative, Vaporeon can show its stuff! It is just that, right now, there’s basically one Standard and no Expanded decks it counters, and the former is better countered by alternate attackers. There’s also the chance that future Eeveelutions could offer more support to this line.
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