Baby, It’s Cold Outside – Plasma Freeze Set Review

Hello, my name is Brandon Smiley and this is my first article for SixPrizes. I’ve been playing since the release of Majestic Dawn, back in 2008. I didn’t really get competitive until the Cities of 2010-2011, where I used Gyarados to get a few 2nds, but nothing that great.

Fast forward to 2012, still in Seniors, I won Texas Regionals with Mew/Terrakion/Yanmega. I really didn’t expect that to happen, as I had really hated the new EX’s and really didn’t plan on playing until my TO said she would give us a ride down to Houston. (Love you, Christine!)

After winning that Regionals, I piloted Darkrai EX/Mewtwo EX to a Top 4 at US Nationals, which is pretty much my greatest accomplishment in the game. Earning a free trip to Hawaii is pretty sick, and was a great experience, considering my cousin also Top 4’d with a Darkrai EX/Terrakion NVI/Exp. Share variant.

For the first time, I actually spent hours playtesting and perfecting my list for a tournament, something I’d never really done before. I felt it was pretty necessary, considering it was Worlds, and I didn’t want to do horrible my first time there. The deck I had decided on from the start was Accelgor DEX/Chandelure NVI/Vileplume UD, which I actually started working on the way back home from Nationals.

Leading up to Worlds, I only tested Accelgor and Eels, which I felt were the two strongest options for my division. The few weeks before Worlds, I had started to give up on Accelgor, fearing that I just wouldn’t be able to set up fast enough. But, the morning of, I decided that it was my best option considering I spent so many hours testing it and that I had a very nice list, so I went with it.

I went 5-2, barely making top cut as the 14th seed, to be doomed to playing Darkrai/Mewtwo in Top 16. It was a super close match, and if I hadn’t drawn dead I probably would’ve been able to win Game 3, but I’m not complaining.

Moving forward to my first year as a Master, I expected to play a full season and try to get my invite. Sadly, I missed 2 States and 2 Regionals, and bombed the States and Regionals I did go to, meaning that I pretty much failed to get the invite. (I’m sitting at ~230 CP at the moment.)

Anyway, enough of my background, I’d like to start my review of Plasma Freeze.

POKEMON

Heatran-EX

pokegym.netI’m not really a fan of Heatran, mainly because of his Weakness to heavily played Pokémon like Kyurem PLF and Keldeo-EX, but also because his attacks aren’t that great.

His first attack, Heat Boiler, does 60 damage for RCC, and does 60 more damage if Heatran is affected by a Special Condition. While this is more common now due to the popularity of Hypnotoxic Laser, he won’t always be affected by a Special Condition, which means you have a big Pokémon hitting for 60 damage for 3 Energy, which isn’t spectacular by any means.

His second attack, Dynamite Press, does 80 for RRCC, and if Heatran has a Plasma Energy attached to him, it does 10 more damage for each damage counter on the Defending Pokémon. After using Heat Boiler, this pretty much guarantees that you Knock Out their Pokémon with Dynamite Press. Which is nice, but it still takes a while to set up and its stats aren’t really the best.

I doubt he will see much competitive play, but maybe as a fun deck.

Chandelure PLF

I think Chandelure is a decent card, but the fact that it’s a Stage 2 makes it nearly impossible to play in this format. (Unless you run hot enough to get multiple in play on Turn 2, like one of my friends did against me.) Flare Navigate is a sick Ability, and I definitely think it would be playable if the format wasn’t full of huge Basics who have their own acceleration.

It may see a little use at Battle Roads, but that’s as far as I think it can go.

Kyurem PLF

This guy is my favorite card in the set. His first attack is awesome, being able to hit for 30 and snipe for 30 for just WC. Being a Plasma Pokémon, it gets to abuse Colress Machine, making it able to use Frost Spear on turn one.

My favorite part of the card, though, is the second attack, Blizzard Burn. In a Plasma-based deck, this card can 1-shot any EX in the format (unless it has Giant Cape/Eviolite/Aspertia City Gym in effect). The base damage of 120, plus 30 damage added from Deoxys-EX’s Power Connect Ability, combined with a Hypnotoxic Laser and a Virbank City Gym adds up to the perfect number of 180.

It has a slight drawback, where Kyurem can’t attack the next turn, but it can be worked around with Switch or Keldeo-EX and Float Stone. Of course, the combo does require a few cards and doesn’t always happen turn two like you’d love for it to, but it is definitely possible. Another plus about Kyurem is that he isn’t an EX attacker, which means he only gives up 1 Prize, while also having a fair amount of HP, at 130.

Electrode PLF

pokegym.netI’m personally a fan of this card, but not a huge one. I’ve been playing him in my Weavile/Exeggcute deck just to give it a decent drawing engine. (And you can discard Voltorbs/Electrode to power up Vilify, as well.) He’s not really the best card, but he is one of the few draw engines we have in the current format.

You could just use Bicycle instead, which in most decks, I’d honestly prefer that. I don’t think he will see much play at all.

Thundurus EX

This card has received tons of hype for a while now, and it’s definitely a good card. His first attack, Raiden Knuckle, does 30 for L and allows you to attach any Energy from your discard pile to one of your benched Plasma Pokémon.

While being a decent attacker, which can do a possible 70 damage on turn one (if you have 4 Deoxys-EX in play, of course), he is also a great Energy accelerator. After using Ultra Ball and Professor Juniper to discard Energy, you can use Raiden Knuckle to put out some decent damage as well as powering up cards like Kyurem PLF, Lugia EX, Snorlax PLS, and many other great Plasma Pokémon.

His second attack isn’t that bad either, doing 90 for LLCC, and if Thundurus has a Plasma Energy attached, you get to discard an Energy attached to their Pokémon. It can do decent damage and can be powered up quickly with Colress Machine and Double Colorless Energy, and provides a little bit of disruption.

Deoxys-EX

The main card in the set, and for good reason. His Ability “Power Connect” makes all of your Team Plasma Pokémon do 10 more damage to the Defending Pokémon. This helps cards like Kyurem, Thundurus EX, Lugia EX, and others reach huge damage. He’s also one of the most expensive cards in the set, making him slightly harder to get. (And most Plasma decks run 3-4-of him!)

His attack is great as well, being able to do big damage to anything with multiple Energies on it. I’m pretty sure we will see plenty of decks centered around Deoxys’ Ability at Nationals, because it’s just that strong.

Weavile PLF

pokegym.netThis card is decent, but not really that playable. I see him being used more by newer players, or players who are just at tournaments for fun. I’ve been messing around with Weavile/Exeggcute a small bit recently, but that’s just because I’ve had nothing better to do.

Vilify is a really cool attack, and I think it’s awesome to discard a bunch of Exeggcutes and Knock Out an EX in one shot. But the deck has its problems, mainly being that its main attacker only has 90 HP, and that you require a bunch of low HP Pokémon to get set up.

Absol PLF

Absol has seen a small amount of hype lately, which was probably because so many people overlooked it at first glance. Its first attack, Mind Jack does 20 damage +20 more for each of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. I see this being useful mainly against Plasma Decks and Eelektrik decks because they tend to fill up their bench pretty quickly.

I see Absol mainly being used in Darkrai variants, but I’ve seen a few people adding it into their Plasma decks as well. I think it’s definitely a good match with Darkrai, since it can abuse Dark Claw and Dark Patch as well, while also being a hard hitting non-EX attacker. This gives Darkrai a good out for Klinklang based decks, and a quick attacker in harder situations.

Kingdra PLF

I don’t have too much to say about this card, other than that it is receiving a small amount of hype. I don’t think it’s all that great, mainly because it’s a Stage 2. Dragon Vortex does 20 damage times the number of Lightning and Water Energy in your discard pile, and then shuffles all of them back in. This can be cool to pull off big attacks to take out your opponent’s attackers, but it’s not that reliable in my opinion.

Its second attack is decent as well, doing 30 damage to three of your opponent’s Pokémon for just one Water Energy.

Latias-EX

Bright Down is a neat Ability, which prevents Latias-EX from being attacked by Pokémon with Abilities. This can be great against cards like Darkrai EX, Keldeo-EX, and well, pretty much anything else with an Ability. The downside to it is the mediocre attack and only 160 HP. One Fire, Psychic, and a Colorless to do a flat 70 isn’t that strong, but it is also not affected by Weakness, Resistance, or anything else on the Pokémon.

Overall, I think it’s cool but not worthy of being a deck on its own.

Kecleon PLF

pokegym.netOne of my friends told me to cover this card, mainly because he found it to be fairly interesting. I didn’t really see it as that great, but after spending a little while longer, I realized that it has decent potential.

Its attack, Imittack, allows it to copy one of the Defending Pokémon’s attacks and use it as its own as long as it has the Energy needed. This is great in Eelektrik decks, Blastoise decks, and sometimes even Darkrai decks for the mirror match. Using Color Change, you could copy Rayquaza EX’s type and then use Dragon Burst, giving up only 1 Prize in exchange for their two.

The same situation goes for Black Kyurem EX in the Blastoise mirror match, where it only gives up 1 Prize and does the same thing. It’s not as great in Darkrai decks, but it is still nice because it can use Night Spear and only give up 1 Prize.

Tornadus EX

I wouldn’t say he is being overlooked, but he definitely isn’t bad. Its first attack is decent, allowing you to shuffle your hand into your deck and draw 6 cards. This is nice, but Tropical Beach is a better alternative in most cases. It allows you to counter Virbank City Gym, doesn’t use up an attachment, and doesn’t have a two Retreat Cost. But, it is a decent alternative for those who don’t have money to blow on Tropical Beach.

His second attack, Jet Blast does 60 + 30 damage for each Plasma Energy attached to Tornadus EX. This allows him to do up to 180 damage, but it isn’t always that easy to get 4 Plasma Energy on him. It is possible though since you can use Colress Machine and Thundurus EX to get Plasma Energy onto him pretty quickly.

TRAINERS

Float Stone

This Tool is pretty neat, and can replace Switch in some decks. The only downside is that you can’t use Float Stone to get around Special Conditions, which can happen frequently with Hypnotoxic Laser seeing plenty of play. He also gives Garbodor a new Tool to abuse, which makes it much easier for him because he has a hefty 3 Retreat Cost.

I definitely think this will see play in quite a few decks, especially when combined with Keldeo-EX to get around Special Conditions.

Frozen City

pokegym.netWhile this card isn’t great, it does a decent job at countering Blastoise decks. When a player attaches an Energy from his hand to one of their Pokémon, excluding Plasma Pokémon, you put 2 damage counters on that Pokémon. Those 2 damage counters can add up quickly when they need to deluge a lot to continue doing damage with Keldeo-EX and Black Kyurem EX.

It’s also good against Darkrai EX and Eelektrik decks, allowing you to add up damage before going in with cards like Lugia EX and Kyurem. But, Darkrai and Eelektrik can also get around it, because their form of Energy acceleration comes from the discard instead of from the hand.

Ghetsis

When I first saw this card, I thought it would be devastating to the game. I thought it would be horrible and would change the way people played everything. After doing some testing with it at 1-2 copies in decks, I’ve found that it’s nice, but it isn’t the best card out there.

If used at the right time, you can completely destroy your opponent’s hand and net a nice number of cards. But if you use it at a bad time, you can hardly mess with your opponent and won’t net very many cards at all, which can be harsh when trying to set up.

Shadow Triad

Definitely not the best card out there, but it isn’t the worst. Being able to grab any Team Plasma card from the discard is nice, but usually Plasma decks need more than one card to get everything going, which is also why I stay away from Skyla in my Plasma decks.

Superior Energy Retrieval

A reprinted version of Super Energy Retrieval from Neo Genesis. I think it’s only really playable in Blastoise decks, because they are the only ones who need a large amount of Energy at one time. It allows you to discard two cards from your hand and get 4 basic Energy (not including any you discarded with SER) and put them into your hand.

This is great when paired with Black Kyurem-EX PLS, allowing you to use Black Ballista over and over again with ease.

Team Plasma Badge

This Tool allows you to make any Pokémon a Plasma Pokémon, which means it can abuse Deoxys-EX, Colress Machine, Thundurus EX’s Raiden Knuckle, and Frozen City. That makes it pretty neat when combined with cards like Landorus-EX, who can do heavy damage before adding in Deoxys-EX and the Energy acceleration from Colress Machine.

Team Plasma Ball

I love this card, but it is only usable in Plasma decks, sadly. It gives you an easy search with no drawbacks, unlike Ultra Ball. But the fact that it can only grab Plasma Pokémon makes it less useful, and can only be played in one type of deck.

Life Dew

As an ACE SPEC, I think it’s a cool card. It makes your opponent take one less Prize card when they Knock Out one of your Pokémon, which can be great in straight EX decks to throw off your opponent’s Prize count and essentially make them Knock Out a 4th Pokémon-EX. The main downside to this, is that it can be removed with Tool Scrapper, which could see more play if people start playing Garbodor frequently.

I still think that there are better ACE SPEC choices, but I definitely don’t see anything wrong with someone using Life Dew.

Rock Guard

The last card of the set that I’m going to cover, is pretty much a buffed up Rocky Helmet. When your Active Pokémon takes damage and has Rock Guard attached, you put 6 damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon. This is nice, adding up quite a bit of damage, but like Life Dew, it is a Tool that can be discarded by Tool Scrapper.

BONUS – NEW BLISTER PROMOS

Landorus

pokebeach.comWhen I first looked at the card, I completely dismissed it as unplayable. And I still pretty much do. I don’t think it really has much potential at all, besides being the only Plasma Pokémon that is a Fighting type.

The only benefit it really gets from that is being able to do some decent damage against Darkrai EX and some Tynamos. It also gets to abuse Colress Machine and Deoxys-EX’s Ability Power Connect, letting it do decent damage for two Energy as early as T1.

The downside to that is that it only does 20 damage unless you have the same number of cards in your hand as your opponent. And even if you do, 50 damage isn’t the best you can do for two Energies on a Plasma Pokémon.

Its second attack, Rock Tomb, does 90 for FFCC, and doesn’t allow your opponent to retreat next turn. This is nice, but not that great. The main positive to Landorus is that he is a non-Pokémon-EX that does a fair amount of damage. Even with that, I still don’t see him seeing much, if any play.

Druddigon

A Plasma Pokémon with 100 HP, and a Pokémon Catcher type attack. Taunt does exactly the same thing as Pokémon Catcher, but it ends your turn. I suppose it’s nice, but they could just retreat or Float Stone away, while you waste an attachment and an attack.

Its second attack, Boost Claw, isn’t that great. For WFC, it does 60, and during the next turn, Druddigon’s attacks do 30 more damage. It’s not bad, but there are definitely better choices.

CONCLUSION

pokemon-snap.tumblr.comThis concludes my review of Plasma Freeze, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. As my first article, I do hope you go easy on me, as I’ve never really written anything this long.

I plan on writing a longer article about my findings while testing this format soon, and maybe it’ll come out soon after this one!

Thanks,
Brandon