Lets get adorable and useful!

There are plenty of great cards in Guardians Rising. We have some that are just literal pieces of trash. There are also some that are giant plates of metal. There are deities that can come in and wreak for low costs. Meanwhile, there are some hidden treasures that can have some huge surprises! We are going to be looking at one of those cards who has found a place in every deck thanks to an amazing attack. The card is as cute as a button and can easily be found. It is useful and certainly different from what is expected when ‘top tier’ is talked about. That is why we are going to be featuring Alolan Vulpix!
Alolan Vulpix is a Water type Basic Pokemon with 60 HP from Guardians Rising. It has two attacks with one of them costing no energy. Beacon is an energyless attack and can be used to search your deck for two Pokemon to be placed in your hand. Icy Snow cost two energy to do 20 damage to your opponent’s active Pokemon. Lastly, Alolan Vulpix has a weakness to Metal type Pokemon and a single energy retreat cost.
The Pros
Alolan Vulpix can get work done and that is all because of Beacon costing no energy to use. That is why you want to use Alolan Vulpix! If you can start with Alolan Vulix in the active position then you can use Beacon in the early game to constantly search your deck for any Pokemon you need.
Need an evolution to evolve your Pokemon? Alolan Vulpix can search it out for you! Need a supporter? Use Aloan Vulpix to grab Tapu Lele GX. That way you can use Wonder Tag next turn to find a Supporter. If you play this card right then your bench can get set up in a matter of two turns. That is how amazing Alolan Vulpix can be!
It can be easy to get Alolan Vulpix on the field. You have options like Nest Ball and Level Ball to search out Alolan Vulpix. Though if you wish to not use Items then simply use Brigette to grab Alolan Vulpix and two other Pokemon to put directly on your bench. It is that easy!
Going second and you have a Pokemon with a single energy retreat cost? No problem! Simply search out Alolan Vulpix and attach an energy to your active Pokemon. After that you can retreat to Alolan Vulpix and proceed to use Beacon. That way you can set up your bench during your next turn without using a single energy.
Next, Alolan Vulpix can evolve into Alolan Ninetales. This evolution can make Alolan Vulpix even more useful if you are willing to put some energy on it. Alolan Vulpix gains a massive boost in HP as Alolan Ninetales to outlive most attacks.
Lastly, Alolan Vulpix is adorable and perfect if you want to have a single cute card in your deck.
The Cons
No card is perfect and Alolan Vulpix’s Beacon attack does have a downside. That downside is that the Pokemon you grab with Beacon goes into your hand which leaves them vulnerable to N. During your opponent’s next turn, they can simply use N to get of the Pokemon that you searched for to mess up your set up. You can use Beacon three times and your opponent can N you three times in an attempt to nullify your Beacon.
There are other ways of hand disruption like Judge, Red Card, Ace Trainer and Ilima. All of these cards can undo your Alolan Vulpix’s Beacon search. The thing is that N is commonly used and will continued to be used to disrupt any Beacon searches until it rotates out.
So while it is useful to use Alolan Vulpix’s Beacon attack, it can easily be undone with a single card.
How Would You Play It
At this point you must think I am crazy to delicate a whole article to Alolan Vulpix instead of an impressive GX Pokemon. After all, Alolan Vulpix is a 60 HP Pokemon and a Common Pokemon. Nobody is mentioning how Alolan Vulpix is winning tournaments. So why even write about it?
The reason why is because Alolan Vulpix can be found in most top preforming decks! It was in two of the top eight decks at Madison Regionals! Alolan Vulpix can be splashed into most decks due to the fact that it doesn’t need energy to use Beacon. So you can keep using Beacon to set up your bench while attaching energy to your Pokemon to mount an attack.
I did mention that one of the negative aspects of using Alolan Vulpix was that Beacon can be undone with N. It does become frustrating that your opponent will constantly use N to get rid of your searched Pokemon but there is a positive. What is it? You get a brand new hand and perhaps even better options! Maybe you will get one or both of the Pokemon you searched with Beacon back. Yoou could also get a Rare Candy and the Stage 2 that you want. Perhaps you will get a Supporter card that will help you dig into your deck. The fact of the matter is that your opponent is deciding to give you a brand new hand every time they use N to get rid of your Beacon searched Pokemon. So there is a silver lining when your opponent decides to undo Beacon.
Your opponent will most likely knockout Alolan Vulpix after a few Beacon but that is fine. As long as you get the Pokemon you need to set up your bench then it will be fine. Your opponent may have gained a Prize card but you will be taking plenty of Prizes after having a few Pokemon who are ready to attack and support.
What if you do not want Alolan Vulpix to get knocked out and to be used as more then searching? Then evolve into Alolan Ninetales GX! This card doesn’t have an energyless attack but it does have a simple attack cost in the form of Ice Blade.
Ice Blade cost two energy to use and does 50 damage to one of your opponent’s Pokemon. This attack is perfect to help soften up Pokemon on the bench or take some late game knockouts. Alolan Ninetales also gain a massive HP boost which means it can tank some hits. That is perfect because you can use Alolan Ninetales GX’s GX attack, Ice Path GX! This attack allows you to move all damage counters on Alolan Ninetales to your opponent’s active Pokemon. So if you did allow Alolan Vulpix and Alolan Ninetales GX to take some hits then that damage can come in handy later in the game! And all of this can happen because you decided to put Alolan Ninetales in your deck because you played Alolan Vulpix.
But lets get back to Alolan Vulpix! Where would you play this card? In any decks that wants to set up evolution or a bench without playing Items.
Garbodor from Guardians Rising has changed the game. It has made people want to play less items to help curb Garbodor’s damage output. So people have been playing Alolan Vulpix to search their deck for Pokemon. They may use an Ultra Ball to find Alolan Vulpix but that is worth the cost to get your bench set up or finding a valuable Stage 1 or 2 Pokemon.
Metagross GX decks have been using Alolan Vulpix to search out Metang and Metagross GX. They will use Alolan Vulpix to search out important Pokemon while using it as a shield. Yes, Alolan Vulpix will most likely get knocked out but by that point there should be a Metagross GX or two set up to use Giga Hammer.
Some variants of Tapu Bulu GX-Vikavolt decks have used Alolan Vulpix for similar reasons. They will use Alolan Vulpix to set up their Vikavolt and accellerate energy to power up a few Tapu Bulu GX to attack. The opponent will be trying to knock out Alolan Vulpix without realizing that there are two Tapu Bulu GX who are ready to attack. Now that is scary!
Lastly, Decidueye GX-Vileplume decks have been playing Alolan Vulpix to set up but also attack. They will use Alolan Vulpix to search out their needed pieces to get Decidueye and Vileplume out without using Items. Once they have set up a bit they will then evolve Alolan Vulpix into Alolan Ninetales. After that they will attach a Double Colorless Energy to Alolan Vulpix to do 50 damage to their opponent’s Benched Pokemon and use Decidueye GX’s Feather Arrow to take knockouts. It is a pretty interesting idea and a great way to get the most out of your Alolan Ninetales.
Alolan Vulpix can be cute but it is only hiding terror behind it’s eyes. You may be in awe of a Pokemon with beautiful white fur but it can call for help. Once it does then expect to see some scary things to happen as a snow white beauty will be the source of some scary beasts! So make sure to consider using Alolan Vulpix in your future decks to set up some future frights!
The post TCG Jump: Featured Card- Alolan Vulpix appeared first on Pokémon Crossroads.


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