History of Espeon in the TCG Pokemon Trading Card Game Overview!

Hey, what’s up everybody SaberWolf94 and welcome to another Pokemon TCG Overview. So I decided to do Espeon this time but because of the nature of eeveelutions I want to explain how I’m going to do things in their case. What I normally do is cover all the last stage pokemon of the line and cover some of the crucial basic or stage 1 pokemon if any while sharing some facts and trivia. Since all the eeveelutions all evolve from, well Eevee, I’m going to cover some of them in this post and eventually when I do another overview on any other eeveelutions cover the others and any new Eevees worth mentioning if they get released by then.

So, when it comes to deciding on a favourite eeveelutions it seriously is easier for me to decide on a favourite chic and that is also one of the most impossible things to decide for too. If I just had to pick one no matter what it would be Espeon, but it’s tough; Umbreon is cool as hell for me, I can’t believe I’m not picking it instead, Leafeon, Glaceon and the original stone trio, they could all seriously take the place of Espeon on the right day. BUT if I had only one choice, I have to choose Espeon. I don’t hate Sylveon but it doesn’t fit in like the other ones for me. It’s like a wackier design, I don’t know how to explain it. Maybe those eyes? Anyway, this is going to be long as all hell, so I’ll have to quit with the filler talk.

Despite being one of the most iconic Kanto pokemon Eevee actually debuted in Jungle and unsurprisingly has a lot of prints just from the Wizards of the Coast era. Freaking 9 if we count all the Japanese exclusive promos. Extended Sheet as usual is going to have a gen 1 promo we didn’t get with pretty unique art with the Eevee walking on a table.

Of course there’s the one from the Unnumbered Series but we got this in English with alternate and pretty cool art as a League promo. Eventually Japan got our alternate art promo as well but as a non holo. This Eevee also has an almost identical reprint bar the retreat from the Japanese Sample Set, created to promote the e-reader. Crazy it’s so close to the same card but they decided to give it one retreat. Despite these Eevees having the very low 30 HP, Chain Reaction is one of those evolution powers that we saw on many Eevees in future prints. If a pokemon evolves that turn you can evolve Eevee from your deck and that’s obviously a good effect.

Neo Discovery Eevee also has an evolution power, Energy Evolution which we saw on Unseen Forces, Furious Fists and Sun and Moon Eevees but since this card is so old you have to flip a coin and get heads but it’s still the nice attach an energy and evolve effect.

Maybe this is cool or disappointing for you but Eevee has an owner’s card too, but only one for Lt. Surge; I suppose to go with his Jolteon. Excluding Aquapolis and Skyridge Eevees which are e-reader sets transitioning to the ex series all of the other WOTC Eevees have a psychic resistance which normal pokemon had back then and was cool.

Now we move into the ex series and Eevee has quite a few prints in this era as well, 5 total. ex Sandstorm starts things off cool with a searching attack, Signs of Evolution, a concept we won’t see the last of, Eevee searching for its evolutions. You can grab 3 in this case and that’s a useful effect too. Plasma Freeze Eevee got the same exact attack and the Rising Rivals print got it for no energy but grabbed 2 cards instead of 3.

Of course the most unique Eevee from this era is the Delta Species metal type one with a very good attack too. Metal Scoop accelerated metal energies from the discard pile and did 10 damage as well. This is gonna get even longer so the last Eevee I’m gonna mention is the first and possibly best one from gen 4, the one in Majestic Dawn. Call for Family isn’t some rare special pokemon attack but it’s special in this case because you could grab as many Eevees as you liked and put them on the bench. This is one of the best attacks you could ask for during those formats on a basic pokemon that can still evolve. There are other Eevee promos to cover but we’ll do this on the next Eeveelution Overview. We’ve got plenty of Espeons to cover so time to get to them.

The first ever Espeons got released in Neo Discovery, that’s right we get 2 right from the start. The rare holo one unsurprisingly is the better one and it’s actually the first card from the small set. I can say 80 HP is solid for that time especially when combined with free retreat. Its 2 for 20 isn’t anything special but Psychic is Espeon’s trademark attack in the TCG. It starts with this first print and you’ll see it use it in numerous other prints. The concept is simple, it’s gonna do more damage the more energy the defending pokemon has.

Neo Destiny gives us the first special Espeon, (that didn’t take too long) Dark Espeon with the fantastically terrible 60 HP for a stage 1 pokemon that other cards shared as well. It seems they thought this was a good idea, but with this crap HP we also get a crap attack to match and a hard to use attack as well. Gouge is a coin flip for a chance to do 20 for 1 instead of 10 whoopee, and Psysplash does 10 damage to each of your opponent’s pokemon times the energy they have. For this to be worthwhile in my opinion your opponent would need to have at least 6 energy in play so you can at least do 60 for 3 in total damage. This attack could have potential late game but the 60 HP ruins this card anyway. It also has free retreat but the rare holo Neo Discovery is just more reliable and more awesome looking in my opinion too.

Since in this case it does 30 for 3 and 10 more for each energy on your target, your opponent’s pokemon would need to have at least 3 for this attack to feel pressuring. It wasn’t that bad back then and it has solid stats so I’d say we’re off to a good start. Combined with the 30 HP Promo Eevee, Porygon2 and some other cards, the concept of exploiting weakness running an Eeveelution deck was not perfect, but it was real and a start, and you best believe this Espeon was a part of those old days. As for the rare Espeon from this set, it was just crap I’m sorry. Damn shame, even if its lower rarity they shouldn’t have made it that inferior this blatantly. Less HP, no free retreat and attacks with less potential relying on luck to work. Moving on.

Aquapolis Espeon is the last Espeon for the neo sets in its deputing generation, in English anyway, Japan has 3 promos that I’ll mention but thankfully this Espeon is at least passable. It has the same great stats as the Neo Discovery beauty and at least does a cool trick. Damage Blast is a luck based attack not worth using at all for 3 energy requiring the opponent’s pokemon to have an annoying amount of damage counters to even have a good chance of working and even for all your trouble you’re doing average damage in all likely hood. Energy Return let’s you return energies as often as you like from your pokemon to your hand. You can reuse special energies like Warp Energy over and over this way and Jason Klaczynski has a cool deck with this card and Kingdra in his e-reader articles, I highly recommend you check them out. Of course this can also be used to conserve energy and I’m sure there are other combos, so it has this at least even if the attack is crap.

So those are our English cards but unlike Eevee Espeon gets 3 owner’s versions all Japanese exclusives. They’re not as pricey as I thought they would be but at the same time I didn’t see them going for less than $20 on ebay. Sabrina’s and Will’s Espeon both came from the Pokemon VS set and they’re both terrible for serious play but at least they’re basic pokemon. No doubt the coolest one for me is Annie’s Espeon, this is actually the blonde chic from the Latis Pokemon Movie, Pokemon Heroes. Besides being a movie promo from a pretty nostalgic pokemon film for me it’s actually not that bad; doing the Psychic attack from Neo Discovery’s holo Espeon. The attack is slightly weaker but it costs 2 energy as opposed to 3 and this is a basic pokemon so not bad. Looking pretty sweet as well, great movie promo in my book. So that’s the debuting gen for Espeon.

The ex and D/P eras were also reasonable enough when it comes to prints for Espeon. It got a print early in ex Sandstorm and while not the best it was a decent start. 80 HP is just okay during that time but unfortunately it didn’t have free retreat. Confuse Ray was also decent doing 1 for 20 with the chance to confuse and Energy Crush is similar to Psychic; doing weaker damage but takes into account all of your opponent’s energies not just the active. It does work with any energy so maybe late game if your opponent plays a deck that gets a lot of energy out you could do a lot of damage. You still need 4-5 energies to seriously take advantage of the effect but we’ve seen worse attacks.

Next up is certainly the strongest Espeon from that era and one of the strongest cards in ex Unseen Forces. The original Espeon ex wasn’t messing around at all having free retreat, solid HP for a stage 1 ex and powerful tricks. It’s power, is a devolution spray, devolving an opponent’s pokemon and leaving the weaker form at your mercy for an easier kill. It’s so easy to do, you just have to evolve into Espeon ex, works from the bench too and is incredibly powerful and disruptive. I’d argue just because of this effect this is the strongest Eeveelution ex from that era in general. But its attacks are great too. Sharp Tail is a 2 energy snipe for 30 that works with any energy. Salamence ex from Deoxys could do this for 40 but was a stage 2 pokemon and needed at least a fire energy so it balances out that way, the attack is just right.

Psyloop is where things can get truly dangerous. It’s similar to Espeon’s typical Psychic attack but gets stronger with trainers your opponent has in play instead. It starts at 60 damage which is great and will do 30 more for each trainer your opponent has in play. This is very strong because even if they have just their stadium out doing 90 for 3 is fantastic but if they have tools out as well the damage can get crazy for the time. Doing 120 or even 150 is not unlikely and that is crazy strong for 3 energy in that era. It forces your opponent to not play their tools or stadium or risk it and get screwed hard. Zero flaws playability wise, fantastic art, a perfect card.

Delta Species Espeon isn’t as good but it’s still a very good card, 2nd best in this era if we’re still using ranks. The retreat is the same with Sandstorm Espeon but it has 10 less HP and that can suck. It does make up for it though being a Delta Species pokemon getting exclusive support and being dual type with metal means more coverage for weakness and being able to use special metal energy so you have that defensive advantage. Its Psyshock attack is decent with a better chance effect of paralysis than confusion but the reason you would use this card is for its power Delta Heal. You can’t use more than one of these but every turn you can heal 10 damage from all of your Delta Species pokemon. Not only does this help itself but any other DS pokemon making this a great DS support pokemon. Since most DS pokemon took advantage of special metal energy too in conjunction with this they would be even harder to take down. I love the art on this one too I have to say.

Originally Written in 2018

But now you guys have to tell me if you’re ready. Are you ready? For the most valuable Espeon card than every other one combined. One of the most valuable cards period of ALL TIME. REAL f***ing ass valuable not f***ing same crap Charizard valuable. Espeon Gold Star, or Shiny Espeon. This card basically has every possible aspect that makes a card expensive minus perhaps playability which for a Gold Star isn’t that shabby. It’s a 70 HP basic pokemon and Psychic Boom is your good old Psychic doing more damage the more energy on the defending pokemon. It’s power confuses the opponent when you play this on the bench but since it also confuses your guy isn’t that cool but it’s a passable card overall. But damn, this card being a f***ing Gold Star would make it an expensive card either way.

Espeon while not the most popular pokemon in the world is still a moderately popular pokemon and they also put it in a POP set, motha f**ka what? It happens to be a beautiful card anyway and the original Japanese print is even rarer than the English one! This card was only available from the Daisuki Pokemon Fan Club needing a crapload of points to be obtained and seriously only a handful were ever given. I’ve seen this card going from 600 to 5000 dollars on eBay, checking on it now again for years with the Japanese one being the craziest one. That’s not even going on card condition, but to be frank if you have pretty much any version of this card you’re gold. Umbreon Gold Star is almost the exact case but I think Espeon is more sought after in this case. An amazing treasure for Espeon fans, I wish I had it myself in any condition.

Things started to go downhill for Espeon come the 4th gen but I suppose we have some decent prints. The first Espeon in this era came in Majestic Dawn and it’s passable at least. 80 HP seems like crap for a stage 1 that era, but it’s because Sunlight Veil, Espeon’s body gives 20 more HP to every eeveelution. It doesn’t stack, not even 1 more so that’s a let-down but it’s still a great effect. Factoring just itself Espeon will have 100 HP which is solid. Morning Sun isn’t that great doing 60 for 3 but when DCE came out at least it was compatible with it. You can move an energy from it to your bench helping you conserve and that’s nice too with DCE but it’s an underpowered card in general. It doesn’t even have free retreat for f**k’s sake. It’s little things here and there that could have helped it more like that; 90 HP before the body etc.

Espeon gets an SP card next, owned by Lucian, or Lushan or however you f***ing call him and while this could have been a cool card the format made sure it would never do jack. With Energy Gain Psywave is your Espeon’s Psychic attack for 1 energy and if your opponent had 2-3 energy on at least you can do 40-50 damage and that’s great for just 1 energy. Since the best pokemon functioned on 1 and even less though meant that this was going to be a weak-ass attack most of the time. Garchomp C could do 1 for 30 without any conditions so Espeon wasn’t as reliable. It’s still a decent card though being an SP basic with its stats and sleep for free might be handy, but not very suited for these formats.

Now, with Undaunted having the crappiest Primes the regular Espeon is actually better than Espeon Prime in my opinion. Psybeam is crap but Solar Suggestion can essentially do 40 damage to your opponent any way you like while healing 40 from your guys how you like. Moving up to 4 damage counters for only 1 energy isn’t that bad since you should get healed too but you do need to have damage for this to even work. It also got reprinted in Call of Legends and that’s just pretty much it. Both cards look lovely but they’re very mediocre and sadly Espeon Prime isn’t safe either.

Besides the 10 extra HP it doesn’t have anything great to outclass Solar Suggestion and that’s terrible, since that isn’t even that great in the first place. F***ing Espeon Prime and doesn’t even have free retreat, ain’t this a bitch. Evolution Memories lets it use attacks from other Eeveelutions but you need the equivalent energies, so essentially the only thing you get from this is additional coverage in Psychic. 4th gen was one of the weaker eras of eeveelution prints so we didn’t really have too many amazing attacks to take advantage of in the first place. It really is crazy but this might seriously be the weakest Espeon in that era and this really sucks. For me, it’s a collector’s card for sure, Espeon Prime, but when it comes to playability don’t expect much.

Things didn’t get much better in 5th gen, being the era of big basic EX pokemon with stage pokemon mostly used as support or backup attackers. Espeon from Dark Explorers looks nice but can’t pose a threat or help much with its ability. As you can see with 90 HP and 1 retreat its stats aren’t any better than before but that kind of HP won’t get you anywhere in Black and White. Solar Revelation will protect all your pokemon with energy from opponent’s effects of attacks but this ability pales to other stage support pokemon like Garbodor. 60 for 3 isn’t crap making this another weak Espeon. This card also comes as an alternate art promo, but I like the DE art better.

The other Espeon from Black and White is a Plasma one and while having the same stats this one is certainly better. The Plasma Eeveelutions were solid overall and while this didn’t see as much play as some others, it does have some tricks. Psy Alert will do 20 for 1 while letting you draw until you have 6. You probably shouldn’t have a pokemon like this to support you while active, but if it comes up and you don’t die it’s a solid support attack. Shadow Ball is the likely reason you’d use this as it’s a 1 for 40 snipe with the rare effect of being able to snipe for weakness as well. The best use for this card would be to hit psychic weak EX pokemon while you give one prize with Espeon. With a Muscle Band and three Deoxys you can do 180 damage no problem and that’s not useless at all.

6th gen and 7th gen are quite simple; there’s only an Espeon EX and Espeon GX respectively. Espeon EX full art was immediately a beautiful desirable card for my collection but when first released didn’t see any play. Miraculous Shine your devolving attack and attacks like that usually don’t work, especially when people weren’t playing many stage pokemon in the first place. Fast forward to Sun and Moon with stage GX pokemon being the way to go and in conjunction with with cards like Decidueye GX and other similar strategies this card made a deadly disruption killer.

The last Espeon as of this article , Espeon GX comes with a whopping 4 versions between the promo and the other versions from Sun and Moon. Unlike Espeon EX this card was immediately playable, being a stage 1 GX pokemon with 3 fantastic attacks. Attacking early for 30 and auto confuse is welcome and Psychic is the good ol’ standard Espeon attack we’ve seen 50 times beefed up for heavy damage. Pokemon with a mere 3 energies will die quickly to Espeon GX and between Psybeam too you can’t be too careful against Espeon GX even with low energy attackers. Divide GX is 100 damage you can put any way you like and that’s also a useful trick to have. This is certainly a much more deserving Espeon card that gives two prizes and honestly Espeon hasn’t been this strong since the original Espeon ex.

Espeon has certainly been one of the more inclusive pokemon when it comes to special prints as it truthfully has a lot to boast about. From a Dark card, multiple owner’s versions, a DS print and all the other special Espeon cards it really has just about every major special card covered besides a Lv. X. Having probably the most expensive Gold Star is more than enough but it gets exs from ex ex era and Black and White along with a GX and crappy but nonetheless Prime card. It’s competitive success as a psychic pokemon isn’t on the level of Gardevoir; Gardevoir is just crazy, but it hasn’t been that bad.

The original Espeon ex and Espeon GX have been powerhouses, other support Espeons have been pretty good and it’s almost always been included as a standard eeveelution to have in eeveelution decks starting from Neo Discovery. If the Pokemon TCG Overview was like reviewing resumes I’d say Espeon is the best one compared to the other 5 pokemon I covered. Thank you guys for reading, I hope you enjoyed and learnt. If nothing else, I think we can all agree we want an Espeon Gold Star in our collections. Wazzup!!