Beedrill – Pokemon Team Up Review

aroramage

Ahhhh bees. So small, so powerful, so dangerous to people who are allergic to them, and of course so incredibly important to the survival of all living things on Earth due to their role in the pollination process and their wondrous gift of honey.

So why did we feel the need to strap an extra pair of stingers onto the hands of a bee to just joust its way through everything? Who knows…

Beedrill is a Stage 2 Grass Pokemon, 130 HP, with a Fire Weakness, no Resistance, and a Retreat Cost of 1. Reckless Charge is a really powerful 2-for-90 hit that only damages Beedrill by 10 damage, which while it’s not ideal, it is still a pretty effective move. Maybe not the sort of thing you want on your Stage 2, but considering that it may never live long enough to use that move, it’s sometimes best to resort to Destiny Stinger. It costs only 1 Energy and can only be used if Beedrill has even a fractional amount of damage – like 10 damage, for instance – and then it KOs both Active Pokemon. 

Talk about a sore loser, AM I RIGHT LADIES AND GERMS????

All kidding aside, it’s something where Beedrill shows potential to be a strong attacker in the right deck. In Expanded, Team Magma’s Secret Base can immediately put damage counters onto Beedrill to allow for 1-for-1 trades, but even in Standard, the question remains on whether or not it’s worth investing 3+ cards to make Beedrill happen? If you get more than 1 Prize at a time with it, I can see why there’d be some hype around the guy, but if you’re just KO’ing non-EX/GX with these attacks, you’re not really doing yourself or Beedrill any favors.

Stick to Reckless Charge against the small fry, and while you’ve got damage against a big fish – figuratively, though sometimes literally – Beedrill can be a powerhouse in his own right.

Rating

Standard: 3/5 (in the right context, I can see Beedrill shining through)

Expanded: 2.5/5 (but in general, he still needs to have that support to come out on top)

Limited: 3.5/5 (not too shabby for a Stage 2 though)

Arora Notealus: Beedrill’s another one of those “got potential” kind of cards, just as much as he’s one of those “got potential” kind of Pokemon. He can make a pretty good part of any team, but you’ve gotta put some effort if you want him to be your main guy. Also the parallel between Beedrill’s moves and the real life attack of a bee is a bit tragic, since it is true that a bee will die after stinging something. FOR THE HIIIIIIIIVE!!!

Next Time: Breaking through from the ancient past to…wait I need to catch one of these in Pokemon Go, shoot!

Otaku

I’ve got a sugar buzz going from a breakfast indulgence, so what better time to write a quick review of Beedrill (SM – Team Up 5/181)? Beedrill is not a Pokémon-GX, and silly as that sounds, it’s going to be important that Beedrill only gives up a single Prize when KO’d. Beedrill’s [G] Typing is useful for exploiting the [G] Weakness on cards like Diancie {*} and Lycanroc-GX (SM – Guardians Rising 74/145, 135/145, 156/145), and there are some decent bits of [G] Type support BUT due to other aspects of Beedrill, I’m uncertain as to whether you’ll be able to enjoy any of it (even exploiting Weakness). No Resistance to worry because we’re not going to bother with the Unlimited Format this review, but there are anti-[G] Pokémon effects in Standard and Expanded. The only anti-[G] effect you’re likely to encounter on a semi-regular basis is Parallel City, and that requires you run it with Beedrill, or else your opponent hit him- or herself with the Bench-shrinking effect. There is one other one worth mentioning, though, as I haven’t for a while (possibly never): Fairy Charm [G] could let any [Y] deck wall against a mono- or mostly [G]-focused deck.

Being a Stage 2 means Beedrill needs a lot of time and/or cards to hit the field. It isn’t a dealbreaker, but it will definitely affect performance. 130 HP is low for a Stage 2, though still enough to have some chance of surviving a hit. [R] Weakness means almost any half-serious attack from a [R] Type attacker will score a OHKO, while a lack of Resistance means Beedrill is like most other cards. The Retreat Cost of [C] is technically good, as it is fairly easy to pay, but a bit disappointing as I guess I just expected a free Retreat Cost as MOST Beedrill cards possess. Beedrill has two attacks, “Destiny Stinger” and “Reckless Charge”; the former is a bit complicated, so we’ll skip to the latter. Reckless Charge requires [CC] to do 90 damage to your opponent’s Active and 10 damage to the attacking Beedrill. Beedrill’s HP is at a point where that 10 could be the difference between surviving an attack or not, but at least you’ll usually know by the time you use it. The damage is decent, actually good when you consider you could use this for a single Energy attachment; Counter Energy, Double Colorless Energy, or any other Energy with a Counter Gain equipped. With Choice Band, it will OHKO most [G] Weak targets. Not enough to justify running a Stage 2 line, but if still decent.

Which brings us to the main reason to consider this Beedrill: Destiny Stinger. This attack requires [G] use, and also requires Beedrill has at least one damage counter on itself. With those conditions met, the effect of Destiny Stinger automatically KO’s both the attacking Beedrill and your opponent’s Active. HP amount, Stage, etc. are all irrelevant; only a Pokémon protected from attack effects could survive. This means there is added synergy with Reckless Charge, but odds are good your opponent will KO Beedrill before it can use Destiny Stinger if you’re relying on using it after Reckless Charge. Now, is it worth using Destiny Stinger? Stage 2 Pokémon take some doing, BUT Beedrill is worth one Prize and may have just Energy card attached to it; if you’re taking down something worth two (or more) Prizes and/or with a more involved setup, then you could easily come out ahead in the deal.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any particularly compelling examples of Weedle. Some are better than others, but among those legal for Standard or Expanded Format play, none really stood out. There might be one Kakuna worth using; Kakuna (SM – Crimson Invasion 2/111) has an attack for [G] which lets you search your deck for as up to three copies of Kakuna and then has you play them directly to your Bench. You’ll usually lose the attacking Kakuna, but the other three have a very good chance of surviving to Evolve during your next turn. This is the same trick – but with a different name – that Frogadier (XY – BREAKpoint 39/122) brought to Greninja BREAK decks. Don’t get too excited about that, however; the available [G] Type support doesn’t compare to what Greninja BREAK had while Standard or legal, or even what it has now in the Expanded Format. Pokémon with Mega Evolutions didn’t get BREAK Evolutions, and while there other Beedrill to consider, none of them come close to being as useful as the various versions of Greninja that are available.

Still, you might be able to build a deck around today’s Beedrill. You could try relying purely on Rare Candy to Evolve Weedle directly into Beedrill, but the previously mentioned Kakuna Kakuna (SM – Crimson Invasion 2/111) backed by a few Rare Candy is likely your best bet. The goal is to take down Pokémon that are worth multiple Prizes in a single shot, only taking out other targets if you must, because you’re probably giving up at least one Prize while setting up your field. If your opponent’s offense isn’t in poor shape, then you’ll also carry a high risk of whatever you promote after Beedrill auto-KO’s itself is also likely to be OHKO. There are a few possible solutions to this problem; run something difficult to OHKO and promote it after Beedrill KO’s itself to soak a hit, run Shedinja (SM – Lost Thunder 95/214) and use its Ability to attach itself to Beedrill as a Tool that reduces how many Prizes it gives up, run heavy disruption to ensure your opponent can’t attack very well, or some combination of the preceding. All sound a lot more fun than they would be effective. At least getting damage counters onto Beedrill is relatively simple; run four Rainbow energy and four copies of Po Town.

Ratings

Standard: 2/5

Expanded: 1.5/5

Limited: 3.5/5

Beedrill looks tempting, but I’ve only encountered it once or twice while playing the PTCGO. I recall losing, but because I kept whiffing on the cards I had that would have countered the deck’s strategy. Even when you get a solid setup, there are a lot of decks that can just deal with you scoring OHKO’s turn after turn.  Terrifying if you’re relying on Tag Team Pokémon, I suppose. I don’t think Beedrill would fare any better in Expanded, though if you can pull the entire line, it looks pretty good in Limited; there you can use Reckless Charge once or twice and then pull off Destiny Stinger!