Finding a Dance Partner for Glaceon GX

Greetings FlipSiders!  The upcoming Ultra Prism set will be legal for the first time at the Collinsville Regional Championship.  The set has a lot of players excited about new decks and new tools for old archetypes.  It looks to be the strongest set we have had since Guardians Rising.

            One of the most interesting cards in the new set is Glaceon GX.  Glaceon’s ability, Freezing Gaze, has the potential to redefine the meta.  It turns off the abilities of your opponents Pokemon EX and Pokemon GX.  Glaceon’s first attack is Frost Bullet.  For a Water Energy and a Double Colorless, it does 90 damage to the active and 30 damage to a benched Pokemon of your choice.  The GX attack, Polar Spear, does 50 damage for each damage counter on the opponent’s active.  Because it shuts off Zoroark’s ability to draw, Glaceons success could very well spell the end of the “Tord Engine” of thick Zoroark lines and low counts of Professor Sycamore.  Glaceon is definitely a deck that most players are testing, and it should be considered when making a deck choice for upcoming tournaments.  The question is, which version is best?

There are three different versions that I immediately considered when testing for the new format.  The first was obvious.  The best partner for basically everything is Zoroark GX, so I started there.  Here is the list I tested:

I assumed the deck would be extremely consistent.  Glaceon has inherent consistency because of Eevee’s ability to search for it, and Zoroark adds consistency to any deck.  Overall, the deck is consistent, but the problem is in finding the turn one lock.  If you use Briggette, you often have trouble finding both a Water Energy and a Float Stone (if you don’t start Eevee).  Going first and finding Glaceon shuts down most decks in most situations.  Even if you go second, getting Glaceon active is a must.  You often have to choose between Brigette and Glaceon lock.  Giving up either of them hurts your game plan considerably.  While both Zoroark and Glaceon can hit good numbers after two Frost Bullets, it feels a bit underwhelming to go that route with so much healing in the format.

Zoroark Glaceon should do well against other Zoroark decks, but I would argue that both Zoroark GX and Glaceon GX have better partners available to them.  Glaceon takes up so much more space than Golisipod or Lycanroc.  You need way more energy, and a much thicker line of Glaceon than Golisipod or Lycanroc (at least most versions).  Glaceon also doesn’t provide the same one shot potential as Lycanroc or Golisipod.  Its GX attack, Polar Spear GX, requires damage on the defending Pokemon for it to do damage.  This has obvious synergy with Frost Bullet, but there is too much healing in the format to expect it to work regularly.  Zoroark also takes more space than Glaceon’s other partners (or the partnerless version) without providing enough damage to make it worth the inclusion.  I even considered Octillery, but without Brooklet Hill, since Eevee is not water, Zoroark is a better option.  Someone may build a solid list for this eventually, but I couldn’t find it myself.

The second partner I tried was Lapras GX.  Lapras offers one shot potential against many decks, especially after a Frost Bullet or two.  Additionally, cutting the Zoroark lines for Lapras opened up a lot of space in the deck.  I was able to fit in Max Elixirs and more Water Energy, increasing the likelihood of a turn one Glaceon GX.  It doesn’t need Brigette, so finding a water Energy and a Float Stone is much more likely with a turn one draw supporter.  In a pinch, Lapras can also be used to draw.  This version has tested much better for me so far.  This is my current list:

I will spend more time with this one since I have spent more time testing it.

2 Lapras GX: Glaceon is almost always my early attacker, so I only need a couple Lapras to set up for the late game sweep.  Surprisingly, I found myself using Ice Beam GX more than Polar Spear GX.

2 Tapu Lele GX: I would play only one if I knew I wouldn’t start or prize it.  I only play two because I really want to start Eevee.

3 Professor Sycamore:  Discard draw seven is very powerful.  I have Super Rod if I end up having to discard a couple Glaceons, and I need Sycamore to dump Water Energy for Aqua Patch.  I decided to only go with three because I can use Ultra Ball to discard, and sometimes I have too many valuable resources to play Sycamore.

2 N:  This is a pretty aggressive deck, and I hope to be taking early prizes.  However, a couple Ns are needed for games when you get behind or just need to reduce or change your opponent’s hand.

2 Cynthia: Cynthia gives me an option for mid to late game that doesn’t force me to discard, gives me a nice sized hand, and won’t push me close to decking out.

1 Lillie: This is my most common turn 1 supporter.  I can usually draw 6 or seven cards without discarding something that I would like to keep.  From time to time I get to draw the full eight.

3 Guzma:  I originally played four to drag up damaged targets and reset Lapras’s attack, but I chose to drop one for a Switch in my current list.  I may end up going back to four, though.

2 Enhanced Hammer:  This card is so good against so many decks.  I try to fit it in anything that has open spaces.

1 Super Rod:  Super rod allows me to get back needed Pokemon or Energy for Max Elixir.  Lapras is my usual target, but sometimes you can attach to Eevee or Lele.

1 Switch/ 4 Float Stone:  I dropped the fourth Guzma for a switch in order to have another way to get Glaceon active turn 1, which is paramount.  These cards also help you reset Lapras without discarding too much Energy.

10 Water Energy: I originally had eight, but it simply wasn’t enough.  Ten allows me to have enough in deck, attached, and in discard pile to give me a decent shot at evolving to Glaceon and attaching via Max Elixir and Aqua Patch.

The last version I am trying is a pure Glaceon GX version with energy denial.  This list focuses on having an unbreakable ability lock (on GX Pokémon) while preventing attacks and large amounts of Damage via Enhanced Hammer, Team Flare Grunt, and Plumeria.  Here is the list:

The more I worked with this list, the closer it became to the list from Omnipoke.  I definitely suggest checking out that video as well.  I want to point out a few of the major differences between our lists.  The first is that I chose to play Enhanced Hammer over Crushing Hammer.  So many decks use special energy.  I suspect the two biggest decks that will not use special energy cards are Volcanion and Dusk Mane Necrozma with Magenzone.  You should beat Volcanion either way and lose to Necrozma either way.  The other difference I wanted to speak to was my use of Plumemria.  Plumeria allows me to get energy off of benched Pokemon without Crushing Hammer.  It also allows me to discard cards.  I often want Water Energy Discarded for Aqua Patch, and a low count Professor Sycmore with zero Ultra Balls can make that difficult.

Hopefully these lists give you a good launching pad for your testing with and against Glaceon GX.  I look forward to seeing how the deck performs at Collinsville, and I hope to see a lot of other new archetypes find success as well.  Good luck to everyone who will be attending!