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Name:
Beedrill
Set/Card#/Rarity:
HS – Unleashed 12/96 Rare
Type:
Grass
Stage:
2 (Evolves from Kakuna)
Hit
Points:
110
Weakness:
Fire x2
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
None
Attack#1:
(G) Twineedle [50x]
Flip 2 coins.
This attack does 50 damage times the number of
heads.
Attack#2:
(GC) Paralyze Poison [20]
The Defending Pokémon is now Poisoned.
Flip a coin.
If heads, the Defending Pokémon
is also Paralyzed.
Name:
Kakuna
Set/Card#/Rarity:
HS – Unleashed 32/96 Uncommon
Type:
Grass
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Weedle)
Hit
Points:
80
Weakness:
Fire x2
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
CC
Attack#1:
(C) Speed Evolution
Search your deck for a card that evolves from Kakuna and
put it onto Kakuna. (This counts as evolving Kakuna.)
Shuffle your deck afterward.
Attack#2:
(G) Poison Sting
The Defending Pokémon is now Poisoned.
Name:
Weedle
Set/Card#/Rarity:
Type:
Grass
Stage:
Basic
Hit
Points:
40
Weakness:
Fire x2
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Speed Evolution
Search your deck for a card that evolves from Weedle and
put it onto Weedle. (This counts as evolving Kakuna.)
Shuffle your deck afterward.
I
don’t know exactly why, but I have a soft spot for
Beedrill.
I suspect part of that is because Waspinator
rules!
Let’s see if Beedrill will be the bomb, like Waspinator…
or will get bombed, still like poor, poor Waspinator?
History:
It’s been a while since I submitted a “full” review for
a card, but those who remember will know this is a new
category.
Pokémon has been around for a long time in a variety of
forms (video games, TCG, supplemental fiction) and
sometimes there are some interesting tidbits that
someone only familiar with one aspect or new to Pokémon
as a whole won’t know.
Most importantly, this is an area to give an idea
of what’s worked in the past for
Beedrill.
In the
video games,
Beedrill was an early pick because it was an early
Pokémon: Weedle
were abundant in early parts of the game and quickly
Evolved into
Weedle and then
Kakuna.
It was also a bit fiercer looking than many of
the other early Pokémon like the
Pidgeot and
Butterfree
lines. Yes,
“Transformers Beast Wars” was a new property at the
time, so I wasn’t the only one with a
Beedrill
named Waspinator.
Beedrill
in the TCG mostly have been an example of refinement:
the basic strategies seen in earlier examples have been
repeated (and usually tweaked).
Most
Beedrill can inflict Poison (sometimes with
Paralysis) and have a hard hitting attack that requires
lucky coin tosses or having more
Beedrill in
play, with one
Beedrill with an attack that did more damage to
Evolved Pokémon, though by modern standards that damage
yield against Evolved Pokémon would only be considered
“fair”.
Beedrill is
usually used in the “Speedrill” deck, because most
modern Beedrill
are good at swarming, possessing inexpensive attacks
and/or rewarding you for having multiples in pay (as
stated earlier).
Attributes:
To start this section, this
Beedrill is a
Stage 2 Grass Pokémon as would be expected.
You’ll have to work your way up from a
Weedle and
possibly a Kakuna.
The two newest versions aren’t game breaking but
do have their use: both possess Speed Evolution, an
attack for one of any Energy that lets you search your
deck for the next Stage of the line and Evolve them into
it. The bad
news is that since it is an attack it’s only a small
speed boost and so you’ll still want to pack the
appropriate Trainers to “cheat” at Evolution.
The
110 HP is a bit low, but seems to be the current
standard for this Pokémon.
The double Fire Weakness could be a problem,
since Fire Pokémon often possess good damage-to-Energy
ratios. At
least most such attacks are balanced by Energy discards
or other costs; still well worth a Prize but at least it
isn’t Weakness to a more played Type.
The lack of Resistance is irritating, but the
free Retreat Cost is very nice and should make creating
combos a bit easier.
All in all, we have a small but “fast” Stage 2
Pokémon.
Abilities:
For a single Grass Energy, you can flip two coins and
get 50 a pop with Twineedle (which has appeared in more
expensive forms on older
Beedrill).
That’s not too bad.
Yes, one-in-four times the attack fails, but
quick Evolutions mean you might be able to score an
early OHKO, and could even add a
Plus Power or
two so that you only need a single heads.
Its simple and not guaranteed, but its good
damage about three quarters of the time.
The
second attack is a less common sort, but not quite as
effective.
For just one Grass and one of any other Energy you get
20 damage, automatic Poison, and a 50% chance of
Paralysis.
If something has just 30 HP left, this guarantees the
kill. The
damage is abysmal but when you score the Poison plus
Paralysis, it’s very annoying.
It’s a
shame both attacks are luck reliant, and I don’t know if
they really compliment each other all that well.
Uses
and
Combinations:
I’d say it’s meant for a new Speedrill deck.
The bad news for this
Beedrill is
that we still have the Great Encounters
Beedrill with
Band Attack.
For a single
Grass Energy,
Band Attack will score 30 damage per
Beedrill you
have in play.
A well made deck will be doing a reliable 60 or
more damage (and usually 90 or 120).
You also have the Rising Rival
Beedrill
which has a less damaging and quite frankly
too-expensive-to-be-useful attack but a Poké-Power to
aid in set up.
So the new
Beedrill has to oust both of them.
Still,
there are two reasons to hold onto this.
First, maybe, just maybe, you can find a build
for Speedrill that can make use of a single copy.
I haven’t run the deck in a while… maybe there’s
a stronger build that will need this new
Beedrill.
Why would it?
Perhaps because it’s better to have a 25% chance
at 100 damage than just hitting for 30 when your deck
set up has a hiccup.
The second reason is more likely, though:
eventually Great Encounters
Beedrill will
be gone, and then this becomes the best Speedrill
attacker.
Ratings
Unlimited:
2/5 – I included an Unlimited score, because this
actually has a prayer here.
Like many Pokémon, with a solid back-up (good
Trainer engine, maybe
Slowking with
Mind Games) you can put the hurt on the usually smaller
Pokémon run here. If only it were Fighting Resistance to
annoy Tyrogue
from Neo Discovery. At
the same time, it isn’t the top
Beedrill
available but a back-up.
Modified:
2/5 – I haven’t heard of a lot of Speedrill decks, maybe
because
Feraligatr Prime isn’t making enough waves or
because Fire keeps threatening to ignite or because we
have an alternative like the
Jumpluff.
Plus, even in a Speedrill deck, it’s still just TecH.
Limited:
4/5 – The best Fire Pokémon look hard to pull.
While there
isn’t any Grass Weakness to help you, I didn’t see Grass
Resistance either. So
self-Evolving, low Grass Energy requiring attacks plus
Special Conditions make this a great pick.
As long as you
can justify four or five Grass Energy in your deck, even
a
1-1-1
line should work.
Summary
A
solid Pokémon outclassed in the speed department and
even the Beedrill
department by the current card pool, it might be worth a
look after the next rotation.
For now, just
enjoy it at Limited events.
Or Beast Wars
themed decks.
-Otaku
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