Skip
straight to the scores and summary for a concise overview.
Please note
that while I denote δ Delta Species Pokémon by adding a δ
to the end of their name, but that said symbol is not actually
part of their name for gaming purposes to my understanding. For
example, a “Pokémon δ” can Evolve from or into a non-Pokémon δ,
so long as no other rules are being broken. That is, I can
Evolve Dratini δ into a Dark Dragonair, plain
Dragonair, of the “Dragonair δ”. I cannot,
however, Evolve a Dark Dragonair into a Dragonite δ
or a Dragonair δ into a Dark Dragonite.
Name:
Crobat δ
Set:
EX Delta Species
Card#:
1/113
Type:
Grass, Metal
Stage:
2 (Evolves from Kakuna)
HP:
90
Weakness:
Fire
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
None
Poké-Power:
Final Sting
Once during
your turn (before your attack), you may Knock Out Beedrill. If
you do, choose 1 of the opponent’s Defending Pokémon. That
Pokémon is now Paralyzed and Poisoned. Place 2 damage counters
instead of 1 on that Pokémon between turns. This power can’t be
used if Beedrill is affected by a Special Condition.
Attack:
(GMC) Super Slash [50+]
If the
Defending Pokémon is an Evolved Pokémon, this attack does 50
damage plus 20 more damage.
Name:
Kakuna
Set:
EX Delta Species
Card#:
46/113
Type:
Grass
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Weedle)
HP:
60
Weakness:
Fire
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
CC
Attack#1:
(G) Fast Evolution
Search your
deck for an Evolution card, show it to your opponent, and put it
into your hand. Shuffle your deck afterwards.
Attack#2:
(CCC) Rollout [30]
Name:
Weedle
Set:
EX Delta Species
Card#:
87/113
Type:
Grass
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Fire
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack:
(C) Strong Shot [10]
Flip a
coin. If heads, the Defending Pokémon is now Paralyzed.
Attributes:
Beedrill δ is a Stage 2 Pokémon, so first let me
give a brief overview of the latest two versions of its lower
stages, Kakuna and Weedle. Notice that while they
are in this set, they are not δ Delta Species themselves: they
are plain Grass Pokémon. This is the first Kakuna
(barring Koga’s Kakuna) to have 60 HP… and since we are
talking a Stage 1, it is pretty low, even considering we have
another Stage of Evolution left. The last not including
reprints, the last few Kakuna have had 70 HP, and needed
it. Since it maintains the standard Fire Weakness, lack of
Resistance, and Retreat Cost of two common to every version of
Kakuna, I can only surmise that the attacks are supposed
to be very, very good. Outside of Limited, they aren’t: for one
Grass Energy, you can search your deck for an Evolution. Not
bad, but as it only goes to your hand, it’s not too useful for
constructed play. Rollout is a solid 30 for three. I could
maybe see these attacks as good for a Basic, but they are pretty
standard issue for a Stage 1 and don’t really demonstrate any
“price breaks”. Between that and the HP, this is destined for
your trade pile. The Weedle fairs a little better: it
has the 50 HP common to its last three iterations, which
certainly beats the 40 HP of older versions. Fire Weakness, No
Resistance, and a Retreat Cost of one are no surprise,
especially since all Weedle share them. Its attack does
10 for Colorless, and has a solid bonus (at least for a Basic
that still can Evolve twice) of having a 50% chance of
Paralysis. While not horrid, it is definitely surpassed by its
EX Fire Red/Leaf Green counterpart, as that version can search
out two Grass Basics.
Returning to
Beedrill δ, we see it is a Dual-Type Pokémon; Grass and
Metal, in line with the other “altered” Pokémon of the set.
Grass is an “okay” type: at the very least, more Pokémon are
Weak to it than Resistant in Modified. The addition of Metal to
that almost doubles the Resistance, but still results in fewer
than 60 Pokémon being Resistant to you, and nothing is “double
Resistant”. More Pokémon are Resistant to Metal than Weak to
it, and nothing is “double Weak”. Still, you come out ahead
with this type combination for two reasons. Obviously it gets
the bonus of being able to reduce damage via Metal Energy
cards, but it would have that if it were a pure Metal type.
What is very nice is that the two major sources of Grass and
Metal Weakness are from the same type, Water Pokémon. This
should mean that almost any Water deck should fear you.
Unfortunately, roughly 75% of all Water Pokémon currently legal
for Modified are Lightning Weak.
Beedrill δ
has a very low 90 HP. This is pretty much as low as you should
ever see on a modern Stage 2 Pokémon unless it has phenomenal
effects. This low, Metal Energy cards may not reduce
damage enough to significantly help against any serious
attacker. Being a Pokémon δ is a good start towards being worth
it. Moving onto the “Bottom Stats” we see Fire Weakness. This
is fair, and at the moment not too bad. Still, every Modified
format has spawned a powerful Fire Deck, and this one’s is
expected to hit with the next set. I mention this since
Pre-Releases for that set are only a few weeks away. What is a
bit disappointing is no Resistance. Something would have been
better than nothing, and really this card could use one
favorable type match-up given its low HP. The second highlight
of this card comes from its free Retreat Cost. This is
fantastic, allowing you to abuse position changing cards.
As a whole,
this card comes up short in the Attributes section, being
“satisfactory” at best.
Abilities:
We have just one Poké-Power and one attack. Given the deficit
on this card, they’d better be brilliant.
Final Sting is
an interesting Poké-Power. It does KO yourself, which means
your opponent gets a prize. On a Pokémon with more HP, this
wouldn’t be so bad, especially for a Metal Pokémon. With this
little HP it is extremely hard to survive anything more than a
trivial hit, so more often than not it’s a pretty big
sacrifice. The effect of it is quite nasty, though, and the two
Special Conditions compliment each other nicely: you are
guaranteed at least 2 damage counters being placed, and the
Paralysis increases the odds of them being stuck there and
taking 2 damage counters while simultaneously being unable to do
anything to your own Active(s).
Super Slash is
a solid attack. It requires two colored Energy and a
Colorless. That should yield 40 points of damage right there.
Since the two Colored requirements are different, that’s worth
10 more points of damage, boosting it up to 50 points of damage
paid for. Finally, it gets a 30 point bonus against Evolved
Pokémon, which are fairly common, but that isn’t much given that
this is a small Stage 2. This is a solid bonus. On its own it
is a solid attack.
The real
problem comes from the lack of synergy for the two abilities, at
least without having two copies of the card. There also is no
inexpensive supporting attack, and using Double Rainbow
Energy might help with speed, but this card needs every
point of damage it does.
Uses and
Combinations:
It is nice that this card can combo with EX Deoxys Weezing’s
Liability attack to score an automatic KO, but since you are
almost guaranteed to lose two Prizes yourself doing it (at best
having Weezing cling to life via an attached Energy
Root with only 20 HP left), it I a pretty desperate measure.
After some
testing I did with this before, I believe it works best as a
TecH card for a Fire Red/Leaf Green based Beedrill deck.
I didn’t run the deck that way, but it seems apt to solve most
of my problems: one can still use the previously mentioned
Weezing to diversify Weakness and access the power of
Liability (even if it’s a bit pricey), or possibly with EX
Unseen Forces Ariados. Still, running it with other the
Beedrill allows a better turn one/two option, and it can
get better damage if you successfully swarm. Conversely,
Beedrill δ adds a nice fall back option for when you are
down to one Beedrill.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5 – Speedrill isn’t a particularly viable deck, and if you run
it, you should just stick to the other versions of Beedrill.
Modified:
4/5 – Please note that this it not a general score, but just the
score for running a single copy in a deck using the EX Fire
Red/Leaf Green Beedrill. On its own, it would just be a
full point lower.
Limited:
3.75/5 – Much better here. The lower stages become much
stronger, meeting Metal requirements to attack aren’t impossible
in this set, and if you absolutely have to, using just Final
Sting can pay off since it is very hard to shake Special
Conditions in this format, outside of retreating… so Final
Sting, followed by another Pokémon attacking will likely end
with a Prize by the end of your next turn.
Summary
Beedrill δ
represents a good idea executed poorly. If this would have had
the added the option of Final Sting triggering when Beedrill
δ is KO’d by an opponent’s attack, even with a lesser
effect, and/or a smaller, opening attack, this could have been a
real good card. As it is, it’s a niche card and that’s all it
looks to be good for: supporting other Beedrill. Of
course, that really is better than nothing.
-Otaku
