Eevee Bag #1 Fan Reporting in!
It’s that day again – a new set has dropped in PTCGP and I’m here to run through the winners and losers of this set. Now, obviously the set has only been out for 2 hours at the time of writing this, so it’s still super early to call what will be popular and what won’t, but after ripping my packs and seeing what this set has in store for us, I feel confident that I can tell you which cards to be on the lookout for!
Side note before we begin, I can’t believe how wrong I was about last month’s list. Buzzwole ex has completely broken the game in a way I never saw coming. This is without a doubt the most wrong I’ve ever been since I started this series back in August, so I’m going to add one more honorary Loser to last month’s list, that loser being myself!
Winner – Primarina ex
Kicking off with a winner, Primarina ex is here, rounding out our trio of Gen VII starters. This card has super high potential to be a popular pick this month, sporting a massive 180 HP and the ability to self-heal for 20 after attacking, Primarina looks set to be the number 1 counter to the currently popular fire types, especially Stoke Charizard, who is currently seeing play alongside Incineroar ex and Silvally. Primarina’s 100 damage Sparkling Aria attack can strip away 120 HP from a defending fire type, now if you also add in the new Hau supporter card, Primarina can deal a huge 150 damage – the only drawback is being a Stage 2 pokemon, but as a water type, Primarina has access to some of the best supporters in the game to power it up, such as Irida, Misty and Lillie.
Loser – Eevee ex
I know, I know, putting the poster child of the set down as a loser? This can’t be! Unfortunately, Eevee ex just doesn’t seem to fulfill a role you’d want from this card. 90 HP and 30 damage on a basic ex pokemon is almost asking for your opponent to take two early points against you. We’ve already seen how powerful Sudowoodo can be, and I think he’s just found his next victim, combined with Red, Sudowoodo can OHKO Eevee ex with a Fighting Headbutt. Right now, I personally believe that if you plan on playing any of the eeveelution decks, stay clear of Eevee ex and choose one of the other single point Eevee options as your basic, because this card is an automatic game loss.
Winner – Snorlax ex
Everyone’s favourite sleepy bear returns to PTCGP now in the form of a hard-hitting, ultra bulky ex card. Snorlax ex is an insanely versatile card from the moment you first start theorycrafting. Full Mouth Manner combined with the new Leftovers pokemon tool would restore 30 HP to Snorlax ex every turn, making it a defensive wall that is incredibly hard to one shot. This card can be combined with a number of different cards to create some great decks, maybe with Solgaleo ex, thus removing the glaring problem of having a 4* Retreat Cost, or alternatively, you could just pick Snorlax ex back up into your hand using Ilima if things get dicey. You could also partner this card with Comfey in a psychic type setup, making Snorlax ex NOT fall asleep after attacking, obviously Lum Berry is an option as a more temporary fix too, but this removes the ability to equip Leftovers. Either way, I can see Snorlax ex making its way into many different decks this month, and eventually one will cement itself as an A-Tier deck.
Loser – Dragonite ex
Ahh, Dragonite, a sad tale for PTCGP players, we first saw the Gen I pseudo legendary appear in the very first set, Genetic Apex, where, while not top tier, a lot of people were still playing the Draco Meteor deck just for the “fun” factor. Months later though, the player base is well aware of the energy system making dual-energy cards difficult to play, difficult to set up and difficult to excuse. Up steps Dragonite ex, a card which at first glance looks very good indeed, 180 HP, 180 damage, what could be the problem? Of course, being a dragon, it gets lumped with the dual-energy requirements, which can heavily slow down your already slow Stage 2 setup. What’s worse is that even after the miracle of actually getting to use Giga Impact has happened, you then can’t attack next turn, more than likely leading to a KO due to being attacked during the process of setting up. Sorry Dragonite, but it just feels like you were never meant to be a star in Pocket.
Bonus Round!
That’s right! Normally I talk about four cards in these articles but this set has made me feel strongly enough about a few things that I have space for two more Winners and a pair of Losers, who could they be?
Winner – Sylveon ex
Okay, Sylveon ex, I’m putting you down as a potential winner, do not disappoint! After the Eeveelutions so far have yet to cause much of a stir, I think Sylveon ex might be the first time we see one become S-Tier. We all know that card draw is the strongest effect in card games, and Sylveon ex‘s Happy Ribbon allows you to draw 2 cards when you play the card from your hand to evolve an Eevee. Using this ability, you can draw 4 cards, or a fifth of your deck just off the back of copies of Sylveon ex. The only reason I’m putting this in the bonus category and calling it a “potential” winner, is that I’m not sure what its best use case would be, obviously draw support for a Stage 2 deck, but what stage 2 deck? I know this card must be good but I just haven’t figured out its best pairing, meaning it still has potential to be excellent for the draw, but only fit into B or C-Tier decks, or maybe somebody finds the winning formula and this card becomes the engine for a new S-Tier deck.
Losers – Espeon and Umbreon
Okay fine, is there a niche wherein you’re against an opponent using an energy-heavy deck, you’re late game and they have a Giratina ex setup with a Darkrai ex who’s been sniping you since turn 1 so you send in Espeon to hit for 140 damage with Energy Crush, OHKO’ing the Darkrai ex? I mean, sure, that could happen, but it’s unlikely your psychic cat will still even be alive by that point in a game. On to Umbreon, my favourite Eeveelution, so maybe I’m biased here but once again, it’s a very niche ability. Is it a counter for the aforementioned Giratina ex? Absolutely! Is it a realistic counter for Giratina ex in practice? Not at all.
I mean, seriously, since the launch of the game we have now seen every Eeveelution get a card in the game, and yes, I know that the original trio didn’t all get the ex treatment, but for all the faults that Gen II has, these are probably the two most popular Eeveelutions and yet they didn’t get given fancy ex cards, instead being very niche cards with scarily low HP numbers for the meta we’re currently in. Now don’t get me wrong, I think we’ll be seeing both of these appearing in a few decks early on as people are testing, and maybe they might end up as one-copies in some lower performing decks, but these two have sadly been made to be forgotten, though I hope I’m proven wrong – someone make an Eevee box deck work in Pocket!
Winner – Eevee Bag
Eevee Bag for life <3
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