I am sad to say this will not be my normal, detailed
review I like to write for Pokémon. I will not make
excuses; suffice to say I am just out of time. I
can give you my initial thoughts of the card, hoping
to entertain and perhaps enlighten you (probably
just the former), but I can’t delve in and dig for
combos like I would prefer, or even type of quick
text spoiler of the card and its lower Stages.
Vespiquen Lv.44
is our card for today, it is a Stage 1 Grass-Type
Pokémon with 100 HP, +20 Fire Weakness, -20 Fighting
Resistance, and a single Energy card cost for its
Retreat Cost. All those stats fall into the
“average-to-good” range, or at least did when I was
still active. I was not kidding about my time
limit, so if I am utterly wrong about that now,
enjoy a laugh at my expense and factor that into the
rest of the review.
Vespiquen
has a Poké-Body, Green Dignity, that boosts the
damage of its attacks by 10 more damage for each
Grass Pokémon on your Bench, but only while you have
more Prize Cards left than your opponent (that is,
while you’re losing). It has two attacks: the first
requires only a single Grass Energy, and the second
only requires one Grass and one of any other Energy
type. Bee Drain is the first attack, and does 20
damage plus removes damage counters equal to the
damage you just did to the Defending Pokémon. The
second attack is Bee Powder. It does a solid 50
damage, plus gives you a shot at three Special
Conditions: Burn, Paralysis, and Poison. The catch
for that is you have to get all heads on a double
coin-flip. That would mean one out of four possible
results. Both attacks have average-to-good damage
returns, moving closer to the “good” end of the
spectrum when you weigh in the effects of the
attacks and the potential damage boost from the Poké-Body.
This version of Vespiquen could be combined
with the Diamond and Pearl, that has the same stats
(except for a three energy Retreat Cost) and one
attack that (for one Grass Energy) lets you discard
a Grass Energy to heal all damage from a Grass
Pokémon on your Bench and a second attack does 10
damage times the number of Grass Pokémon in play: in
matches against other Grass Decks, this would
clearly be a superior choice unless both benches are
small and you’re winning already. Against non-Grass
decks, though, I think I’d prefer the newer version:
less healing ability, but more reliable damage (and
more damage if there just aren’t many Grass Pokémon
in play).
As this is a Stage 1, I will touch upon the new
Combee as well; the new one has a built in
Pokémon Item, Honey. This allows you to nab a Basic
Pokémon from your discard pile when you play
Combee Lv12 from your hand. Although both older
Combee has good attacks, neither is bench
filling and thus as beneficial to your strategy.
Plus, on a basic you plan to Evolve as soon as
possible, you generally prefer good effects that
don’t require an attack to use. If you do have to
attack with the new Combee, then you can draw
a card for just (C) and switch it with a
Benched Pokémon, should a better option to soak
damage be available on the Bench.
Unless there is a reliable method to a)
intentionally get behind in Prizes without giving
the opponent actual advantage and b) other cards
that also benefit from that, I don’t think
Vespiquen will be the real focus of your deck.
The attacks are good, but not great. It might have
been the star of its own deck back when we had
things like Electrode ex that could blow
itself up to load your Bench with damage and force
the opponent to take Prizes before they’d really set
up, Pow! Hand Extension and Rocket’s Admin
to take advantage of their “fake lead” while
eliminating the hand advantage gained by their
taking of Prizes. It does seem like a decent Stage
1 Pokémon to open or close the game with, and might
be able to function as a main attack if it is
combined with something worthwhile. For example,
the new Torterra Lv.47 isn’t a Grass Pokémon
itself, but it aids a Grass deck greatly with its
Evolution inducing Sunshine Song. So it might be
worth the 10 less damage you’d do when behind in
Prizes to set yourself up with four Vespiquen
very early game. Sceptile with Wild Growth
would allow Vespiquen to use either attack
with a single Grass Energy.
The biggest challenge to Vespiquen seeing
play, I think, will be the competition it faces for
deck space from other Pokémon followed by 100 HP.
As I stated, that falls into the “average-to-good”
range. That of course takes into account it is a
Stage 1. Against heavy hitting Stage 2 and LV. X
Pokémon, that won’t last more than a turn, if that.
So it must fill the Bench and begin attack as soon
as possible to score a big lead, then either trade
off with another attacker, waiting on the Bench in
case your opponent pulls ahead or just stay up front
and peck away, still waiting for your opponent to
pull in the lead again. The difference between the
two strategies is that the former hopes you other
attacker is strong enough to carry the day while the
latter hopes you can just swing the game back into
your favor once your Prize count drops.
Ratings
Unlimited:
3/5 – It has to be the focus of its own deck, but it
has a few things that really help in this format:
low Energy dependency (so Energy Removal is
less of an annoyance and you maintain speed),
Resistance to the opener/cleaner of choice,
Tyrogue of Neo Discovery, and when you’re behind
in Prizes you have a strong chance of OHKOing a lot
of the commonly played cards I remember here. It is
hurt most by Slowking of Neo Genesis not
being a Grass Pokémon: with Mind Games backing it,
it would be safer, but each Slowking would
knock down that damage boost and you really need
both working full bore.
Modified:
3/5 – A solid card that can’t carry its own deck,
but probably could aid another.
Limited:
4/5 – Solid basic? Check. Stage 1? Workable.
Energy requirements? Small and won’t force the deck
to be mono-Grass. Special Conditions? Flippy but
present. Vespiquen should be a real force
unless everyone and their bother pull Ponyta
and Rapidash.
Summary
An “average-to-good” card, nothing about it seems
powerful enough to carry a deck on its own, but it
has almost everything it needs to be a great
cleaner, if you can make room.
-Otaku
