Editor’s note: This piece has been updated to more accurately reflect percentages surrounding Freeze.
Paul Ruiz, a Pokémon Masters World Champion, stared at his 3DS in disbelief as his Snorlax became encased in ice, unable to move. Ruiz’s game plan during this special event in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 2017 was to get his Snorlax to use Belly Drum — skyrocketing its Attack stat to the highest level — and sweep the enemy team. His diligent positioning and the aid of his Tapu Koko’s Light Screen and Reflect had landed his Snorlax in the perfect position to win the game. Luck was not on his side that day, however, and his opponent’s Ice Beam froze his powered-up Snorlax.
With every turn, Ruiz’s Snorlax had a 20% chance to thaw out and clinch his victory, according to Bulbapedia. But, turn after turn, it failed to overcome its icy prison and Ruiz’s prospects of triumph faded from view. After seven excruciating turns, Snorlax finally thawed out … but it was too late. The match was over.
Ruiz needed a top-four finish in order to qualify for a travel award for the 2017 Pokémon World Championship. But this RNG-based mechanic, which has existed in Pokémon games since the very first generation, made that impossible.
“I’ve seen players unfreeze immediately, who knows? Maybe I have that luck,” Ruiz said of the Freeze that ended it all. “But it never happened … He [Ruiz’s opponent] ignored the Snorlax for a few turns trying to kill what was next to it. But he realized that this thing [Snorlax] was never going to unfreeze, so he just attacked it. It took seven turns and I just saw my life flash before my eyes.”
Developer Game Freak has the difficult challenge of making the Pokémon games a blend of casual unpredictability and competitive consistency. For casual players and audiences of competitive events, these sequences of seemingly good or bad luck put people on the edge of their seats and keep the game interesting. For competitive players who compete for money, glory and the right to stand on the world stage, these volatile mechanics are terrifying obstacles that could cost them everything.
On one hand, RNG elements can create the best stories, such as Zoe “SilverThowra” Lou’s Flinch in the 2017 Oceania Nationals that helped her clinch her National Championship. On the other hand, RNG can rip away a win from an otherwise perfect game, as in Ruiz’s scenario.
In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Freeze is being changed to Frostbite, a status effect that damages the afflicted Pokémon every turn, and reduces its Special damage output. Similar to Burn, this is a status condition that takes 1/16th of the Pokémon’s total health every turn and cuts the physical damage dealt by the afflicted Pokémon in half. Frostbite would likely involve the same amount of passive damage but affect the Pokémon’s damage on the special side.
To what extent does the introduction of Frostbite and Snow affect the viability of Ice-types in the Pokémon VGC metagame?
Freeze to Frostbite – Taking a chance with Pokémon Legends: Arceus
In The Pokémon Video Game Championships (VGC), the official competitive circuit, the complexities of the team-building process run deep. Players must decide which Pokémon they want to use, which four moves each Pokémon will have, and how they will allocate each Pokémon’s limited pool of stat points. During battle, competitors take a myriad of factors into account, such as speed, weather, type matchups, damage calculations and, most terrifying of all, RNG.
Out of all the status conditions, Freeze is the most volatile and game-changing. Freeze occurs as a secondary effect when a Pokémon is hit with a damaging Ice-type move. When a Pokémon is frozen, there is a 20% chance that it unthaws every turn or is hit by specific moves that force it to unthaw. Sometimes a Pokémon thaws out during the same turn it becomes frozen, while other times it remains frozen for the entire game. No other status condition in the game has the volatility that Freeze does.
“Freeze was so frustrating,” Hayden McTavish, the 2013 Senior Pokémon World Champion, said. “I think any status that can cause a Pokémon to just do nothing is really hard to stay composed about as a player, and the fact it could last so many turns was really scary.”
With the introduction of Frostbite, Freeze will no longer be as volatile as it has been. Frostbite also introduces a whole new mechanic in the form of a Special attack drop from a status condition. Pokémon that specialize in special attacks are integral to the VGC metagame. A bevy of special attackers are currently dominating the current ruleset for VGC. This includes Kyogre, Gigantamax Venusaur, Zapdos and Palkia. Perhaps this new Frostbite status condition could become a new way for VGC players to deal with these formidable threats.
While these mechanical changes are not confirmed to carry over to the next generation of Pokémon games, these changes could impact the competitive scene moving forward. Special attackers will now have to take Frostbite effects into account when team building. Special attacking Pokémon that require set up with moves like Nasty Plot will be less viable because any instance of Frostbite will halve the Special attack of any Pokémon, rendering the earlier setup moot.
Ruiz said he believes a new mechanic, which would allow a player to reduce another Pokémon’s Special Attack, would be a welcome addition to the game. To this day, Freeze is the only status condition that cannot be forcibly induced by any move. It can only be inflicted as a secondary effect by a damaging Ice-type move
“It’s all gonna depend on the distribution of the move,” Ruiz said when discussing the possibility of a move that inflicts Frostbite. “The main difference is which species of Pokémon can learn the moves.”
“To be honest with you, I think 99% of RNG should not be in the game,” Ruiz said. “I personally would like to play a game without RNG as much as I can, like Chess. I like having control of things. Maybe have a small amount of RNG for specific scenarios, like having critical hit when the opponent’s stats are boosted.”
Toxic induces Poison, Thunder Wave inflicts Paralysis, Sleep Powder puts Pokémon to Sleep and so on. However, no such effect exists for the Freeze condition. A move that induces the newly changed Frostbite would add a much-needed tool to the VGC players’ kit for controlling Special damage, according to Ruiz. It would also lend greater viability to the ever-struggling Ice-type.
“Changing Freeze to Frostbite, which looks like a special attacking analog to burn, is really interesting, and I think such a healthy adjustment,” McTavish said.
Ice-type is a powerful offensive weapon that many Pokémon elect to run as coverage. However, the plight of the Ice-types are mainly due to the defensive shortcomings of the type. Ice-types resist only themselves and are weak to a handful of typings central to the metagame. The utility of the Frostbite status condition, coupled with a consistent way to induce it, could help Ice-types break into the VGC metagame as strong offensive assets and handy sources of damage mitigation.
“If you give this Frostbite status move to a lot of Pokémon, then it can become a problem,” Ruiz warned. “The move should be reserved for a certain amount of Pokémon. For example, I wouldn’t want to give this move to Kyogre because Kyogre is already busted.”
Frostbite could spell disaster if a move that inflicts the condition is distributed too frivolously, but it could also be the key to helping Ice-type Pokémon breach the upper echelons of the VGC metagame.
It’s snowing!
Different weather effects have always been a staple of the Pokémon meta. Teams that revolve around the various weathers — such as Sun, Rain and Sand — are always key players in metagames across the numerous generations of the Pokémon franchise. The only weather left out of the fun is Hail, for not all weathers are created equal. Unlike the other weather effects, Hail doesn’t provide benefits to Ice-type Pokémon, except for immunity from the 1/16th total health Hail damage that occurs at the end of every turn. This fact, in addition to the defensive struggle of the Ice-type, has suppressed Ice-type Pokémon to the lowest levels of competitive viability. Pokémon Legends: Arceus seeks to break this curse with a new weather effect that will replace Hail: Snow.
Snow imbues Ice-type Pokémon with double speed, increases the odds of Ice-type moves inflicting Frostbite and makes Drowsy Pokémon less likely to act. The change from Hail to Snow represents hope for Ice-type Pokémon, as these changes would have a profound impact on the utility of Ice-type’s signature weather.
“I really like the Ice-type speed boost as a way to put Snow on par with other weather effects,” McTavish remarked. “All other weather effects boost certain attack types or defensive stats, and I think it makes Alolan Ninetales [a Pokémon whose Snow Warning ability activates the Hail weather effect] just a ridiculously strong Pokémon.”
It seems that, with the changes in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Game Freak is making a push towards strengthening the Ice-type. The aforementioned plight of Ice-type Pokémon has persisted since the beginning of Pokémon. Perhaps this is Game Freak starting to put an end to that.
According to Ruiz, whether these changes actually lead to Ice-types being viable in the VGC metagame depends on a number of factors. This includes, but is not limited to, the prevalence of Pokémon that Ice-type Pokémon can hit for super-effective damage. Fast, strong Ice-type attacks, made more possible by the newly introduced Snow, and useful damage control from Frostbite, could thrive in metagames where many Pokémon fear those threats.
While all of these discussions are purely hypothetical, it is refreshing to see Game Freak changing mechanics instead of Pokémon. Ice-types have been on the backburner of the competitive metagame for a long time — only rising up in small, niche instances. If the new mechanics of Frostbite and Snow were to be implemented into competitive Pokémon VGC, it could allow for a whole new dimension of play. The power of Ice-types might not be ignored for much longer.
