Venusaur VMAX – SWSH Promo
Date Reviewed: June 14, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 2.25
Expanded: 2.25
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Vince
Venusaur VMAX’s Forest Storm seems pretty tempting to use, dealing 30 damage for each grass energy attached to all of your Pokémon. In order to OHKO anything in the game, you’ll need at least 12 energies on the board (possibly 13 if they have Grass resistance). Fortunately there is Rillaboom’s Voltage Beat ability to accelerate Grass energies though. Except that 30x multiplier isn’t enough nowadays; Shaymin Prism Star had the same damage multiplier and it didn’t see as much play despite being a staple in certain Grass decks. And then there’s the prize count, would you use a 80 HP body giving up a single prize, or a 330 HP body giving up three prizes (and have to wait a turn to evolve)? G-Max Bloom is a solid 2HKO, and can heal 30 damage, improving longevity throughout the course of the match.
- Standard: 2.5
- Expanded: 2.5
Otaku
Venusaur VMAX (SW – Black Star Promos SWSH102) is a [G] type Pokémon VMAX with 330 HP, [R] Weakness, No Resistance, Retreat Cost [CCCC], and two attacks. For [CC] it can use “Forest Storm” to do 30 damage per [G] Energy on your side of the field. [GGCC] lets Venusaur VMAX use “G-Max Bloom” to do 210 damage while healing 30 damage from itself. So, is all of this worth giving up three Prizes when KO’d? I’m afraid the answer is “Maybe”.
340 is the best printed HP score in the game, but 330 is almost as good. [G] typing isn’t all that great right now, but it has been flat out broken in the past – see Forest of Giant Plants – so who knows how long that will last? A Retreat Cost of [CCCC] isn’t good but this might be one of the times when I mention Buff Padding and it actually matters! Because Venusaur VMAX’s attacks make it seem like it belongs in a tank-style build, where it is up front, swinging away, enduring attacks with its HP, but then healing in between. Absorbing/preventing damage is better, but taking it and healing can still work wonders.
Neither attack does an awesome amount of damage, but Forest Storm feeds off of Energy in play, so it might work by building up a different attacker while Venusaur VMAX is Active, then Benching and healing Venusaur VMAX while the next attacker does its thing, while G-Max Bloom does decent damage. 210 for four isn’t a bargain, but it ain’t bad. Most Basic Pokémon have 210 to 230 HP, so this takes down the smaller end of the pool. As well as nearly all single Prize Pokémon. Healing 30 is not much, but when you’ve got 330 HP (380 with Buff Padding…) and when your type – Grass – actually does have a few healing tricks… just maybe I sold the typing short as well?
Expanded adds a lot more threats, but more support. It won’t bump up the score, but it won’t drop it, either. Life Forest {*} is just a single card, but it does mean another 60 of healing. There are a lot of solid, Stage 1 Pokémon with useful Abilities that can help Venusaur VMAX tank better… and while they themselves are vulnerable, as long as you can hit hard enough to outpace a Prize per turn, that’s fine. Or maybe it is all about Energy acceleration. Cherrim (SW – Battle Styles 008/163; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH088) cannot do much for Venusaur VMAX in Standard. Basically, help fuel the damage from Forest Storm, maybe then use Energy Switch to help a little more directly…
…but we still have Max Potion here! Oh, and Double Colorless Energy. Load your field with some Grass Energy, but use Double Colorless Energy and/or Energy Switches to prep Venusaur VMAX’s first attack, and maybe even second, quickly. Anytime Venusuar VMAX is too hurt to heal slowly, especially if it doesn’t have a lot of Energy attached to it, just Max Potion it! In Standard, you can still try to pull this off, but you’ll have to use Triple Acceleration Energy and Cheryl. Now, minor Spoiler alert for those who don’t want to be surprised by future releases. Skip to the Ratings if you’re the type who cares.
Okay, everyone still reading should be fine with knowing the Celebi VMAX is going to release in SW – Chilling Reign. It will give us a 310 HP – small for a VMAX, but still fairly durable – Pokémon that can heal 20 for all of your [G] Pokémon. That isn’t much, and neither is the 30 from G-Max Bloom (which will take some time to reach), but when your opponent has to do 310 to OHKO your “small” healer, and 330/380 to one-shot your attacker… maybe it will be enough?
Ratings
- Standard: 2/5
- Expanded: 2/5
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