A new solo event was released, giving us access to 5 new promo cards, among them is this stunning variant of Alolan Ninetales. I’ve been wanting to build a deck around this card, so I figured now’s the time. What a thumbnail.

With 110 HP, Blizzard deals 60 damage to the active pokemon and 20 to every other pokemon in the bench. This is a version of Articuno’s Blizzard that deals 20 less damage to the front, but doubles the power dealt to the back. While Articuno may be a basic, Alolan Vulpix makes running a stage 1 evolution worth it. Call Forth Cold will ramp water energy onto Vulpix, enabling a blizzard attack one turn earlier.

I tried all kinds of different combinations, yet always found myself struggling due to a lack of bulk and overall damage output. Alolan Ninetales Blizzard can be powerful, but 110 HP for a high end attacker is less than desireful. I then realized I was searching for a teammate who could function with little energy investment while also providing us with enough bulk to make up for Ninetails lack of resilience.

Today’s deck combines Alolan Ninetales with Crabominable, in an upload that makes me feel dishonorable. Yes, I netdecked the solo event deck. I’m so disappointed in myself. But hear me out! This is actually a really good deck. There are 3 main reasons.

Combining these 2 pokemon together provides us with a great opener for going first and second. Going first we can lead off with Crabrawler, evolve onto Crabominable to begin striking insatiably from our very first attack. Going second, we can lead off with Alolan Vulpix, Call Forth Cold to then fire off a Blizzard on our second turn. This pokemon combination also has a really good energy curve, while Ninetales Blizzard is expensive, Crabominable is not. This allows you to make use of Crabominable’s bulk while you build up energy onto Ninetales without sacrificing early game force. The third reason is Oricorio. This stupid bird may hard wall our Crab, yet Ninetales Blizzard will give it a good smack, without being weak to a Zzzzap.

The trainer card distribution is overall very useful, providing us with a toolbox of supporters, all of them potentially crucial.

When it comes to Alolan Ninetales, the solo event deck is the way. It pains me to say, we’re netdecking today.