Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket’slatest expansion was announced yesterday,Eevee Grove. It will, as you might expect, focus on Eevee and itseight evolutions- Vaporeon, Flareon, Jolteon, Espeon, Umbreon, Glaceon, Sylveon, and Leafeon.
Much like thereal-world Pokemon TCGwith expansions likePrismatic EvolutionsandEvolving Skies, Eevee Grove is set to be a popular one.
But while many of the cards are likely to be highly desirable, especially theImmersive Rares, whatever they may be, some concern has already been expressed from within TCG Pocket’s community that it won’t be as impactful on the game’s metaas some recent expansions.
However, although that certainly may be the case, it could at least be the final nail in the coffin for one of the game’s most historically significant decks — Giratina ex and Darkrai ex.
The Giratina ex and Darkrai ex Downfall Looks Set To Continue With Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket’s Eevee Grove Expansion
Giratina ex and Darkrai exformed Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket’s most popular, most successful deck for a significant period of time. The pair combined perfectly to make a deck that would see it stay at the top of the meta for the best part of two expansions, but its downfall has been coming over the last month or so.
Following the launch of Celestial Guardians,two decks knocked Giratina ex and Darkrai ex from the top of the rankings, and Extradimensional Crisis compounded things further, withthe deck falling out of the top ten most successfulfor the first time since its inception. It looks like that downfall will continue if the deck doesn’t adapt to Eevee Grove, as two new cards serve as perfect counters.
The Utility Of Eevee Grove’s Espeon
Giratina ex and Darkrai ex’s whole game plan is to generate as much energy as possible. A fully equipped play area with two Giratina ex and two Darkrai ex would require a total of 14 energy, but you can probably expect to see eight or so attached to Pokemon after the first four or five turns. This is where Espeon comes in.
Espeon’s Energy Crush attack only requires a single Psychic-type energy, and it can theoretically one-hit KO both Giratina and Darkrai.
The Pokemon does 20 damage for the total number of energy cards attached to opposition Pokemon so, if as predicted, the opponent has eight spread across their two Pokemon, Espeon can OHKO either.
It does have a slightly lower health pool to limit its utility, but it’s also a single-prize Pokemon, meaning it’s not as fatal to use it. And then there’s Umbreon.
Umbreon Can Instantly Brick Giratina ex And Darkrai ex Decks
Provided you attack with your Umbreon before your opponent’s Giratina ex or Darkrai ex can attack, assuming their deck follows the standard archetype, you’ve effectively bricked them.
Umbreon’s Dark Binding stops any Basic Pokemon from attacking during their next turn, and considering both Giratina and Darkrai are exactly that, they’ll never be able to attack. Sure, they’ll be able to chip away at you by attaching energies and using Darkrai ex’s Nightmare Aura ability, but as long as you have a healing item or two ready, you’ll be able to withstand it.
It looks like it’stime for this deck to evolve, or it will be left behind.
