Umbreon Prime (UD85) [12/7/2011]

[Celebi23]

Card of the Day: Umbreon Prime from Undaunted

Guiding Questions:
1. How does this card stand on its own (analyze the HP, attacks, Abilities, etc. of the card)?
2. What role does/could this card have in the metagame?
3. What cards, if any, does this card combo with?
4. Give it a rating (out of 10), and explain why you have given it that rating.

You are not required to follow the guiding questions, but make sure your post has informative and interesting content.

 

[Trainerhan1]

Umbreon Prime is a terrible attacker standing alone, and everyone should be able to figure out them selves whiy it is. But defense on the other hand is a whole different deal. Cloud covered moon is a great poke power but is not very reliable.

 

[Magnevire]

1. How does this card stand on its own (analyze the HP, attacks, Abilities, etc. of the card)?

We're not talking about an amazing stand alone card here. Umbreon has a meager 100 HP with a terrible fighting weakness, meaning it is easily KOed by most fighting types, the dragons, Magnezone, and even the Genies with a pair of pluspowers. As a dark type, it rarely hits for weakness, and it's attack costs three energy and caps at 110 damage, which is far from impressive and doesn't OHKO much. The resistance doesn't really matter. It can't OHKO goth, and Mewtwo EX can OHKO it anyway.

2. What role does/could this card have in the metagame?

Other than Leafeon, this is the only pokemon in the Eeveelutions lineup that can hit for more than 70, and as such, it's one of the heaviest attackers Eeveelution decks have. Unfortunately, Eeveelutions lost what playability they had with the loss of key Eeveelutions like Glaceon Level X.

3. What cards, if any, does this card combo with?

Any Eeveelution, as it increases the damage of Umbreon's attack. Espeon Prime can also use Evoblast using its pokebody, making for Eeveelution's only practical Donphan counter. Roserade UL could inflict status, but does so at the cost of ten damage from an Eeveelution.

4. Give it a rating (out of 10), and explain why you have given it that rating.

3/10. This isn't exactly a bad card, but it has no place in the meta. It's too frail and doesn't hit for enough. It's uses are few, and it's ultimately a facet of a deck that has never seen competitive play, at least not in the recent formats.

 

[Vulpix Yolk]

1. How does this card stand on its own (analyze the HP, attacks, Abilities, etc. of the card)?: FFFFFFIIIIGGGGHHHHTTTIIINNNGGGG WWEEEAAAKKKNNEEESSSS. The one retreat cost could be worse, but 100 HP on a stage one with a 3 energy attack cost is pretty terrible. Umbreon is one shotted by just about everything big in the metagame, Zekrom, Reshiram, Donphan, Magnezone. Its attack does 50 plus 10 more damage for each eeveelution that you have out, that is 90 damage max (you can only play four eevees), which is a terrible damage output in this format, and for three energy? No Thank You. Cloud-Covered Moon is an interesting body, that may have some practical uses.

2. What role does/could this card have in the metagame?: The only reason I could ever see this card being played, asides from a joke, would be in a deck with Reuniclus. You could move 90 onto your Umbreon, and then try to return it to your hand with Cloud-Covered Moon. It would be an interesting combo; however, I feel that it is much less effective than some healing cards like Blissey Prime, or even Bellossom, simply because without Broken Time Space, it will take you two turns to lay Umbreon back down, and even then you are at the mercy of a coin flip. This card might be able to combo with Haxorus as well. After retreating a Haxorus with something like Dodrio, you could go into Umbreon and try to Cloud-Covered Moon Umbreon back to your hand, allowing you to bring Haxorus back up so you can Giga Impact again.

3. What cards, if any, does this card combo with?:

• Reuniclus
• Other Eeveelutions
• Haxorus

4. Give it a rating (out of 10), and explain why you have given it that rating.: Outclassed by so many cards, and requires a flip. It has no attacking potential and is easily one shotted by most things. Basically total trash. 2/10.

 

[James]

Umbreon Prime

1. How does this card stand on its own (analyze the HP, attacks, Abilities, etc. of the card)?

Stats
100 HP, x2 Fighting Weakness, -20 Psychic Resistance, and one Retreat make Umbreon Prime's ''body''.

100 HP on a stage 1 isn't really all that impressive anymore, seeing we have basics that have 130 HP, and lots of stage 1's have even better HP these days (even though they only clock in at 10 or 20 HP more). Take into consideration almost anything hits for 100+ damage these days (or can reach the 100 damage cap quite easily with a little help), and you'll realise you got yourself a pretty frail card here.

Umbreon's x2 Fighting Weakness isn't thát horrible; Donphan would make short work of it anyways, and what Fighting types are populair these days...? Maybe the odd tech, but apart from Donphan I don't think you'll have to worry about much.

The -20 Psychic Resistance is nice to have, but with only 100 HP to sport, this virtually gives Umbreon 120 to 140 HP when facing a Psychic opponent. While this might sound good, the most played Psychic types at the moment can OHKO Umbreon anyways (Gothitelle, MewPluff), or they will simply bypass the Resistance (Chandelure, the odd Gengar Prime). To me this makes the Resistance a rather niche thing to have.

One Retreat is ''good enough'', as it has always been. It's not too hefty a price to pay, but free Retreat would always be better.

Power/Body/Abillity

Umbreon Prime also comes with the Poké-Power Cloud-Covered Moon, which is essential a Super Scoop Up built into Umbreon. The catch is you can only use it if Umbreon is your Active pokémon, and it can't be used if Umbreon is affected by a Special Condition.

While a coin flip for a full recovery is actually a good thing, to me it seems it's a misplacement on Umbreon. First of all, it misses the synergy with Umbreon's HP. If Umbreon was able to soak up some damage, the power could come in quite handy. But seeing Umbreon will most likely OHKO'd, you'll never get the chance to try and recover it. Second of all, I think the power shouldn't have been nerfed down by restricting it to the active spot ánd a coin flip. If Umbreon was capable of scooping itself from the bench, it's uses would become a lot wider as well. If Umbreon wasn't restricted to a coin flip, I'm sure the card would be a lot more attractive as well.

Attacks

Umbreon boasts a single attack; Evoblast. For {D}{C}{C} you get 50 damage. It is then boosted by 10 damage for every pokémon you have in play that evolves from Eevee (meaning you'll automatically hit for 60 due to simply having Umbreon on the field).

Evoblast is essentially a ''3 for 60'' gimmick attack, with the option of boosting it up to 90 damage for field presence, and a maximum of 130 damage when factoring in 4 Sp. Darkness Energy. Sounds good on paper, doesn't it? Well, in practice it's horrible. Unless you get T2 Umbreon and 3 other ''Eeveelutions'' in play, along with a Sp Darkness Energy and a DCE on Umbreon, your deck will be a slow low damage deck which takes too long to build up.

Of course, that is if Umbreon is your main attacker. Which it shouldn't be at all! Umbreon should be considered a tech for the Eeveelutions deck, where it can recycle itself, as well as hitting hard when needed. As with all Eeveelutions, you should use Umbreon if you can hit for Weakness, and if Umbreon's damage cap is high enough to warrant play in the current match.

2. What role does/could this card have in the metagame?

At the moment, it doesn't have a ''role'' at all except for binder fodder I guess. It can be used as a tech in the Eeveelutions deck, but to me the ''normal'' version from Undaunted boasts even more useful aspects. Of course it's a nice card for the ''Eevee Fanboys/Fangirls'' as well...!

3. What cards, if any, does this card combo with?

Well, it obviously combo's with the other Eeveelutions. Since it's attack is also ''deck-specific'', I think it has little to no uses at all outside of it's own deck.

4. Give it a rating (out of 10), and explain why you have given it that rating.

''Normal'' Modified Deck: 2/10 (possible built in scoop option could prove useful in some situations, but I think it's still not worth it.)

Dedicated ''Eeveelutions'' Deck: 4/10 (more use from the attack here, as well as being part of the ''theme''. The ''normal'' version has a lot to offer to the deck as well, meaning it gets some competition going on here on which one to choose. But then again, who still plays Eeveelutions anymore with the current cards...? We'll see what the future brings for Umbreon Prime.)