[DISCUSSION] All Our Favorite Ice Pokémon!

[0kamii]

 

Hey, everybody! It's 0kamii, and I just finished all my schoolwork for today so I'm ready to bring you that promised "All Our Favorite" post!

Now, I love Ice-Types, and it breaks my heart that they're not better. So many of them have beautiful designs and capable abilities. The thing that really renders the Ice-Type so helpless however is its abundance of weaknesses. If you didn't know, Ice is naturally weak to Rock, Fire, Steel, and Fighthing. That's four weaknesses right out of the gate, only one short of the five that Grass-Type has. This handicap makes it very hard to use Ice-Types in battle, as their coverage can be performed by other mons of a similar caliber, just with a stronger type. Need coverage for Grass-Types? Use a Fire-Type. Need something for Ground, just use a Water-Type. The Ice-Type as a whole is really lackluster, but that doesn't stop us from loving its roster. Regardless of how they perform usually, any pokémon has the potential for success under the right circumstance. Whether it shines in Doubles, Singles, OU, or PU, you use it where it fits and you'll never be disappointed. That being said, my personal favorite Ice-Type is:

 

 

But you already knew that. So if you want to reread my thoughts and feelings on Alolan Sandslash, you can find my original post detailing with this mon here. That being said, the mon I'm spotlighting today is actually my second favorite Ice-Type. And that pokémon is:

 

Mamoswine

Mamoswine @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Sp. Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Rock Slide
- Icicle Crash

 

Up until Gen 7, Mamoswine reigned supreme as my all-time favorite Ice-Type, and easily one of my favorite pokémon period. However, Gen 7 reignited my love for Sandslash with an amazing new form, and thanks to Aurora Veil he finally had decent viability. Mamoswine on the other hand, always had viability. It's seen a fair amount of usage in VGC over the years, and even appeared on Arash Ommati's World Championship winning team in 2013 alongside Tornadus, Amoonguss, Latios, and others:

 

 

While Mamoswine's usage has dropped in recent years (only on .29% of teams according to Pikalytics), this behemoth has a record of success, and an unmistakable charm that keeps me coming back. Mamoswine is like that old friend from high school that lives across the country. You only see them once every few years, but it's like nothing's changed. I've loved Mamoswine since its debut in Gen 4, and I see no reason why that love should weaken. Also, I'd like to mention that, to date, Mamoswine is the only pokémon I've ever wanted to use due to the anime. I thought Dawn's Mamoswine had a lot of personality, and it made me want my own in-game. I was not disappointed. 

Other Ice-Types I adore are:

 

 

 

You were probably expecting Weavile, Beartic, and Alolan Ninetales to fill these slots, right? Well, I've already covered each of them in previous posts on the subject of favorite pokémon, and if you're curious to read more about them you can click here for Weavile, here for two different posts on Beartic, and here for my thoughts on Alolan Ninetales. Let it be know that they are all close seconds. I just wanted this part to spotlight some more unorthodox choices.

Avalugg is here because I fell in love with it during a battle with @LittleFoxS during the run of ORAS. Long story short, he was down to two physical attackers that couldn't touch Avalugg. Any damage was immediately recovered, and thanks to Avalanche he couldn't fight back without feeling the hurt double-fold. My love for Avalugg remained strong after this, and I even used a Bergmite on my Little Hail Cup team as homage to this monster. Yes, I like everyone else thought half of Avalugg's sprite was missing when I first saw it, but that didn't change my feelings on the pokémon. He won me over. Half sprite and all.

Regice is and always has been my favorite of the Regis. I understand that it is objectively the worst, but I've had some fun with a Timid Rock Polish set. It's by no means meta, but it's fun to use in Recs. Also, I actually like its cry. It sounds techno-esque, which gives the Iceberg pokémon some character. And last, Dewgong is one of the original Water/Ice-Types next to Lapras. Dewgong has never seen popular use, far as I know. I'm simply in love with its simplistic design and adorable demeanor. One of my first big breeding projects back in X was a competitive Dewgong I named Bloo-Jugon, whom I still have. I love him, and everything about him. Except his lack of battle prowess. Oh well!

Honorable mentions go to:

 

 

Thanks so much for reading, everyone! It feels like this post was slightly longer than my usual "All Our Favorite" posts, but it was totally worth it. You guys really seem to love the series, and I really love to write. As I've mentioned previously, don't just talk to me. Now that I'm a mod, I'm especially determined to spark discussions among users. So don't feel like you just have to talk to me. Respond to another user, make a quip on their choices, tell a funny story. Mix it up a bit, and have fun! Also keep it rated G, as always. Stay tuned for Amethyst 0mega's next giveaway going live Friday the 16th. The theme this month is 'BR VGC Steel-Types'! So get those Finneon ready and come on over!

Have a great night, everyone! Battle onwards, friends!

- 0kamii

[FireTaco]

*sees Ice Types* 


YESSSSSSSSSSSS,


   

I LOVE GLALIE.  It was the first shiny I every breed with a competitive nature.  And best of all he was completely random, In my game I had a a snorunt with Ice Body and my 6 Iv Ditto, and out comes the 5 IV Modest Ice Body Snorunt that later joined me for the Mega Melee.  

Second is Cryogonal,

Here is one of the 3 TRI-SCREEN SETTERS, Boasting Aurora Veil, Refelect, and Light Screen.  Not to mention it's 135 Special defense.  And other good moves like Defog, Knock Off, and Freese Dry.  

~ FireTaco

[big bird]

I love most Ice-Types. They all look so...........cool. (PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT HAHA)

But really, they look really cool. Some of my favourite include:



Mainly because of it's shiny form (Still haven't hunted one yet). It might be rubbish in battle (PU tier) but I use it anyway.

Articuno @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Freeze-Dry
- Hurricane
- U-turn

or

Articuno @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Ice Beam
- Roost
- Freeze-Dry

Also both Alolan Ninetales and Sandslash, Glaceon and Weavile. So COOL.

[The_Flaine]

My Favorite Ice Types (In No Particular Order)...
 

I have no real strategic reason for liking these. I just like them primarily because they either look cute or look, well, cool. 

(sorry @big bird)



Also, can we take a moment to ask ourselves what these guys have to do with ice? 

[moo311]

My favorite used to be froslass, but it has to be smoochum and jynx now. I really liked froslass because of the mind games it could play as a spikes setter with destiny bond and obviously the design.

The reason why I like smoochum now is because of what happened in pokemon crystal. I was hunting the odd egg and I got a smoochum. I played the rest of my game with the smoochum and it was a really useful member of the team.

[PerchPond]

I like:
     Very sleek and cool design
    Cool, don't know why it looks kinda angry though
            One of my most used in-game mon from back in the day
      Very elegant and majestic
     Kawaiiii
     Also quite elegant and serene
        Looks fluffy and warm despite being an Ice-type
        Bad-***, ninja, lone-wolf-weasel

[Hojunhu]

I don't know what it is, but I've never been a huge fan of ice types. I do run an A-Ninetales though, so I guess that's my favourite?

Oh, and then there's this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTlGlWn0hLU

[gkh1997]

Maybe Alolan Ninetales? I also like Glalie though~

Being a PvE type of player, Alolan Ninetales is decent in game~

[Dova]

I love A.Ninetails and Glalie, third goes to Weavile. A.Ninetails was <3 at first sight, Mega Glalie was my salvation at the battle resort and Weavile is just dope. And Regice is cool to.