There's a new Pokémon Pocket deck racking up tournament wins, but the community doesn't seem to have caught on yet. This Eeveelutions deck centered around the new Espeon ex card from Wisdom of Sea and Sky is winning contests, yet so far very few people are playing it.
The deck runs a bunch of Eevee cards, so makes use of both the new Find a Friend Eevee and Eevee ex. You use Sylveon exs to dig deep, Espeon exs for a strong attack and the ability to heal 30 HP each turn, and a single copy of regular Sylveon - which can do 130 damage if you have a full bench and wipes Oricorio away. You also have the versatile Eevee Bag - not to be underestimated - for extra healing and damage output.
This deck has not only been helping players make it to Master Ball, it's also been seeing super consistent results in tournaments. Though the first Ursiiday tournament with the new set hasn't quite wrapped up yet, the Espeon deck will either take first or second place, and with a 57% win rate it's already confirmed as the most consistent build. Yet it made up just 4% of the meta.
The psychic type has also performed well in other, smaller contests, indicating this is not just a one-off. It came second in the Underground Pocket special tournament, with 118 competitors, and first in the FrogEX Weekly cup. Almost everywhere I look the outcome is the same: a win% well above 50 and a metagame share well below five percent.
So why is this deck so undervalued? Well, I think there are a few reasons. Firstly, when the card was leaked it was incorrectly believed to heal 20 HP per turn - which would be significantly weaker. So there wasn't as much hype built up for it as for its goth sibling Umbreon, whose Cyrus-like ability is more flashy.
I also think many players have opted to prioritize the Ho-oh pack first over Lugia. Its ex cards seemed to have more potential, from the forced-switching of Umbreon ex to Crobat's poison, to Donphan's consistent damage. Some of the Lugia pack's top cards like Kingdra ex are considered duds, and even Ho-oh itself has more utility than Lugia. But Espeon ex could be a huge reason to switch over.
Of course, right now this deck has the element of surprise. While Espeon ex is still relatively unpopular, no one is looking for a way to counter this strategy, and people aren't used to dealing with it. Perhaps once people see how well the deck is doing its performance will become a tad less dramatic.
Still, right now, this is the deck I most want to build… If I can open some decent ruddy cards for a change. 'Til then I'll have to settle for blasting fools in the face with Magcargo.
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