Featured Card – Eviolite

Eviolite received quite a bit of hype when the card scans for Noble Victories were first released.  While it wasn’t a legal card as of the Fall Regionals and the European Prague Cup, it will soon be legal and played in various City Championships.  A lot of decks are going to be running Eviolite, so we need to know how to play it and how we can counter it.

First, let’s take a look at the text on the card.  One of the first things you will notice is that Eviolite is a ‘Pokémon Tool’ and not just a normal Trainer-Item card.  This means that you can attach it to one of your Pokémon instead of just using it once and then immediately discarding it.  Eviolite is one of two new Pokémon Tools to be released in Noble Victories and arguably the best one.  The effect Eviolite has on the Pokémon it’s attached to is an interesting one.  It reads as follows: “If the Pokémon this card is attached to is a Basic Pokémon, any damage done by attacks to this Pokémon is reduced by 20 (after applying weakness and resistance).”

The first two Pokémon that come to mind when determining who to attach Eviolite to are Reshiram and Zekrom.  Both of these legendary dragons already have 130 HP, which is huge for any Basic Pokémon.  Reducing the amount of damage your opponent will do to either Reshiram or Zekrom by 20 only makes it harder for any Pokémon to knockout either of them.  It also reduces the chance of a ‘one-hit-knockout’ being taken by a Zoroark or another Reshiram or Zekrom with Pluspower.  This will make top tier decks like ‘TyRam’ or ‘TZPS’ much more dominant in our meta-game than they already are.

Tornadus is another great choice to put an Eviolite on.  While it doesn’t have quite as much HP as Reshiram or Zekrom, 110 HP for a basic is still excellent.  Reducing all attacks made on Tornadus by 20, especially in the early game where Tornadus thrives, will put a burden on your opponent to get early knockouts.  Another interesting Pokémon that can use Eviolite is Mew Prime.  Even though Mew Prime only has 60 HP, putting Eviolite on him could prevent a one-hit-knockout from either a Donphan or a Yanmega (in Yanmega’s case, this assumes a Pluspower won’t be played).

We’ve seen what Eviolite can do.  How do we work around it?  One option is to simply play Pokémon that do a lot more damage.  Pokémon like Magnezone Prime or Emboar 19 (Otherwise known as ‘Bad Emboar,’ but I think that’s silly since ‘bad’ Emboar is actually pretty good in the right circumstance ) can do 150 damage and get knock-outs on all Eviolite Pokémon.  However, they take quite a bit of time to set up and are also costly to use energy wise.  You can also Catcher around Eviolite Pokémon.  Take knockouts on other Pokémon that your opponent has benched instead of the one that has the Eviolite.  Establishing a trainer lock before your opponent plays Eviolite can work, but trainer lock generally takes some time to set up.  Special conditions might also work to a degree as poison, confusion, and burn damage get around Eviolite’s effect.

One more option is to play the other Pokémon Tool released in Noble Victories.  Rocky Helmet forces your opponent to put two damage counters on their Pokémon if they decide to attack a Pokémon that Rocky Helmet is attached to.  It can be used to add the damage that Eviolite blocks, but Rocky Helmet has flaws.  Pokémon Catcher can be used to bring up Pokémon who don’t have Rocky Helmet attached to them and take knockouts on those Pokémon.  You are also depending on your opponent to attack you when you use Rocky Helmet, a strategy that really isn’t a good idea.

Eviolite is a powerful trainer card that we will be seeing a lot of in upcoming weeks.  It’s a card that you will want to get your hands on.  Good luck to everyone playing and testing it and thank you for reading my article!