Pokémon Pocket: Eevee Grove Review - First Impressions!

Just last week, the Pokémon Company introduced us to the new Pokémon Pocket set, "Eevee Grove", with a brand-new trailer. Most Pokémon in this new animation were "eeveelutions" (all Pokémon that evolve from Eevee).

Let's see the cards they showed us so far, and review them. Are they any good?

Eevee ex is a great frontline Pokémon for any future "Eeveelution" lists. It is a basic Pokémon that has a lot of HP and can evolve into a non-ex Pokémon in the future. The great thing about this is that this basic Pokémon is stronger than usual and evolves into another Pokémon that won't give your opponent two points when they Knock it Out.

Furthermore, Eevee ex's attack is quite cheap, effective, and often very annoying early on. Overall, this is a great card, as well as most likely the main star of this new set. It will definitely be a part of the new eeveelution archetypes.

Sylveon ex's attacks aren't extremely powerful, but its ability is one of the most useful in the entire game: when you play it from your hand to evolve an Eevee, you'll draw two cards.

Drawing cards in Pokémon Pocket, unlike in Pokémon TCG on tabletop, is actually quite difficult. The decks are relatively small, but we frequently lose matches because we can't draw enough cards. That's why Professor Oak is one of the most popular cards in the entire game.

Now, Sylveon ex is another way to draw cards and basically change the course of the match. You can even use this Pokémon exclusively to draw cards and basically ignore it as your main win condition. Sylveon ex will probably be one of the best cards in the entire game really soon.

The main idea behind eeveelution archetypes is to be fast and deal just a bit of damage early on. However, they also use powerful attacks to disrupt the enemy strategy.

This Umbreon, for instance, for just one Darkness energy, prevents the opponent from attacking on the next turn if you use its attack on a basic Pokémon. It is a direct way to counter Giratina ex, Arceus ex, and any other deck that uses Pokémon ex that don't evolve.

This Espeon works just like many other Psychic Pokémon, though it's a bit stronger. It deals damage based on how many energies are attached to enemy Pokémon. Usually, this effect only considers the energies attached to the Pokémon you attack, but Espeon considers all energies on the enemy board, including the ones attached to their Benched Pokémon.

This Jolteon, which is perhaps one of the weakest Pokémon in this entire set, deals 20 extra damage if you attack with it on the same turn you evolve it. Its attack is quite cheap, as it only costs one energy, but it only deals 60 damage at most, even when you activate its effect and deal 20 extra damage. This isn't a lot of damage, considering it only evolves once. As such, Jolteon will probably not be very relevant.

Glaceon deals 50 damage to any enemy Pokémon. This type of sniper mechanic is quite relevant in the meta, but Glaceon might be a bit too slow. Currently, we can play faster options that deal almost the same amount of damage and don't need to evolve or two energies to do it.

Dealing just 70 damage for 3 energies is definitely quite weak, but this attack also forces the opponent to discard energies from their Pokémon, and this can be incredibly useful. Currently, we can build a deck centered entirely around forcing the opponent to discard their energies, and Vaporeon could be a critical piece in it. Unfortunately, this strategy relies a bit on luck, as you need to hit your coin flip to force the opponent to discard their energies.

As most Water decks rely on luck, this Vaporeon fits Water archetypes really well.

This Leafeon deals 10 damage plus 20 extra damage for each Grass energy attached to it. If you attach 3 energies to it, it will deal 70 damage, the same as Vaporeon.

Unfortunately, this Pokémon might not be that relevant because Celebi ex does the same thing it does, but more efficiently. Maybe we can use it as a support card in Celebi ex archetypes. However, the problem is that Leafeon ex is also relevant in this type of list, and will certainly take Leafeon's place. For this reason alone, this card might not see any play - not because it's bad, but because we can use better cards in this archetype.

This Flareon ex is one of the few Fire Pokémon that can attach energies to itself with its ability. The issue is that it isn't strong enough to be the main win condition in your deck. We'll need a frontline Pokémon to attach Fire energies to it.

Flareon ex's ability recycles Fire energies from your discard pile and lets you attach them to it. This means you'll need to discard Fire energies first.

This setup might be too specific and counter-intuitive, considering the current state of the meta. Nowadays, there's no reason to let your opponent Knock Out your Pokémon on purpose because this will give them a huge advantage. Flareon ex's effect is also not strong enough to make up for losing an allied Pokémon. It only attaches one energy per turn, whereas, for instance, Charizard ex attaches three energies and doesn't force you to do anything else.

This is the first card in the game with a "Pick One" effect.

This card lets you pick between making all cards that evolve from Eevee deal 10 extra damage, or healing all those cards by 20 HP.

It will be essential in the Eeveelutions archetype next season. It might also be a great card in the NOEX format because, in this format, any heal or buff makes a huge difference. However, in the regular format we all play, it will be a bit redundant because we can play better heals, and the +10 damage buff might not be all that relevant as well.

Penny is a great trainer who lets you look at one trainer card in the opponent's deck and activate it as this card's effect. She is a great "filler" if you have a few empty slots in your deck, as she's very versatile.

She might not be that popular in competitive decks, which are extremely concise and centered around a specific synergy. However, in the NOEX format, which is slower, she could stand out and let you set up elaborate strategies.

These three Pokémon are all part of the same archetype, which centers around an attack called "Sweets Relay". This attack deals 20 extra damage if you have used it on the previous turn. Both Milcery and Swirlix have this attack.

Alcremie, however, deals 40 damage for each "Sweets Relay" you've used in the entire match.

This archetype is quite fun and concise, but it's a bit weak and will only be competitive in the NOEX format.

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