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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

		Combee #44/90 HS Undaunted Date Reviewed: Oct. 7, 2010 Ratings & Reviews Summary Modified: 3.67 Limited: 3.00 Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 being the worst.  3 ... average.   5 is the highest rating. Back to the main COTD Page
Combos With:

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Combee (Undaunted)  If the other cards this week are a bit dull, then today’s offering should go a long way towards making up for that. This Combee is a little gem of a card. Weak like a Magikarp, but with a punch like a Gyarados.  Yep, it’s weak because of that terrible begging-to-be-donked 30 HP. The fact that it has Fire Weakness isn’t even relevant – that’s how low its HP is. The Retreat cost isn’t really a big deal either, even though I can’t help feeling the card designers could have been a bit more generous with that one.  Combee has just one attack – Enraged Assault. This has a base damage of 20 for just one Energy of any Colour. That’s decent, but not special . . . until we read the effect text . . . For if you have a Vespiquen on your Bench with any damage on it, Combee swings into vengeful action and its attack now does  60 more damage AND inflicts Poison: all for the same cost! That’s 90 damage (taking the Poison into account) for just [C] . . . and from a Basic! Not even SP Pokémon can match that.  It’s not as if it’s hard to get a damaged Vespiquen either. Unown P or Rainbow Energy will do the job nicely. Meanwhile, the two legal Vespiquens we have in the Format have plenty of tricks of their own including Bench Protection (Vespiquen UD) and attack boosting and healing (Vespiquen SF). Of course, being a Grass Pokémon, a Combee/Vespiquen deck can also take advantage of all the Grass Support that’s out there from Sunflora GS to Shaymin LV X.  I know what you’re thinking: Combee may be able to hit hard, but what’s the point when it will only give your opponent an easy Prize next turn? Well the answer is simple: evolve it into a Vespiquen and use Memory Berry to give you access to Enraged Assault.  Don’t worry, I haven’t gone mad, and I’m not kidding myself that Combee decks are going to be sweeping tournaments and demolishing Luxchomps any time soon. However, if you are looking for something a little bit different to run at League or even a Battle Road, why not give Combee a try? It’s surprisingly effective, and the look on your opponent’s face when this little guy starts taking out their big monsters will be priceless!  From an attack point of view, this is quite possibly the best evolving Basic ever printed.  Rating  Modified: 3.25 (the card just makes me smile!) Limited: 3 (can’t use the Memory Berry trick here, but if you pull some Vespiquens, you can make it work)  Combos with . . .   Memory Berry
RocketProf	10.7 Welcome back PokePeople to today's COTD, Combee from Undaunted.  This seemingly weak Basic, with only 30HP (ouch), a 2X Fire Weakness (depending on the Meta ouch) and a Retreat Cost of 1, may not seem like much at first... Until you look at its attack... Enraged Assault, costing only C, hits for 20 on its own, but watch out if you have a Vespiquen on your Bench with any damage (that's right, even if it's just one damage counter) EA is now swinging for 80 and inflicting Poison!! This is unbelievable!! The potential here is great!! Look at it this way, you start with a Combee active, and have one on your bench, use BTS to evolve the benched one to Vespiquen, use either Rainbow Energy or Unown P's PokePower Put to place one damage counter on one of your Pokemon to get damage on Vespiquen and then BAM! Combee is hitting for 80 with Poison to start the game... pretty fierce to combat against... Not to mention being able to work around the low HP with either Expert Belt, Snowpoint Temple or Shaymin Lv.X's PokeBody Thankfulness, you can even Evolve and attach a Memory Berry to keep using EA for all kinds of damage!! This deck may not be to tier but it is definitely a solid deck!! Modified-4/5 Quick, Deadly and funny to beat people with!! Limited-4/5 Still quick deadly and fun, plus it's a lot of damage to have to answer to every turn in this format
conical	10/7/10: Combee (Undaunted)  Oh ho ho, this card.  I actually ran Vespiquen UD at the local Battle Roads tournament last weekend. I didn't do well, possibly because I only ran one of these Combee here and the rest were Combee of a different set.(Those who can't do, write, right?) My failings aside, the obvious selling point here is Enraged Assault,* a one-energy attack for 80 damage plus poison...if you have a damaged Vespiquen on your bench. That's value matched only by an un-Belted Gyarados SF with 3 Magikarp in the discard, factoring in the poison damage between turns.  *I seem to remember, before Undaunted was released, that one translator interpreted Combee's attack name as “Virtuous Conduct of Rage.” I can't say whether or not that name is better than the actual name, but it's certainly...different.  Of course, there are downsides to the card, most notably the Magikarpean (totally a word now) 30 HP, but then, Combee by itself is likely not the play. Most likely, if Combee is to be a competitive card, it'll likely be as an evolution to Vespiquen, using Memory Berry for an attack. It's a little less straightforward, but likely a lot more practical. And hey, Pojo's own MOTL listed Combee as an honorable mention in his Undaunted review, and he likely knows his stuff better than I do.   In limited, 30 HP's more of a problem without Memory Berry, and setting up a damaged and benched Vespiquen is harder to do. Still, it does do 1 for 20, so it's not all bad.  Modified: 3.25/5 Limited: 2/5 Combos With: Vespiquen UD is likely the better play because of its body, though Vespiquen SF could be a nice tech.
Otaku	Today we look at Combee, the little Bug-Type that could… or should I say can?  In the TCG it is a Grass-Type Pokémon, so I might as well drop it. ;)  We don’t often look at the Basic stage of a Pokémon that can evolve, but Combee here is pretty exceptional.  Not with its horrible 30 HP: that is the minimum you find on a Pokémon that is actually a Pokémon and not a Trainer that counts as a Pokémon.  This makes the Fire Weakness almost pointless: Fire Pokémon that hit for 10 can OHKO you with a Plus Power and those that hit for 20 damage can OHKO you period.  Everything else would OHKO you anyway!  The lack of Resistance is a bummer, but at as you’ll see for once it might be justified by the potency of another part of the card.  The single Energy Retreat Cost isn’t great, but it isn’t bad.  What should get this card played, though, is the attack: for a single Energy of any Type, Combee hits for 20 damage… unless you have a Vespiquen in play with any damage counters on it.  If you do, then our Dear Little Friend here hits for extra 60 points of damage and Poisons the Defending Pokémon.  That’s 80 total points of damage plus a damage counter placed between turns, meaning any 90 HP Pokémon without some form of protection is toast!  If you don’t ditch the poison or heal the damage, a 100 HP Pokémon won’t survive until the Combee player’s next turn.  Both eligible Vespiquen for Modified should be able to play cleaner or opener for Combee and we have enough for a deck.  In fact, the real challenge is getting Vespiquen damage during your first turn (if you go second) or during your second turn (if you go first).  Two copies of Energy Link would allow you to drop a Rainbow Energy onto Vespiquen, and then shunt it to Combee; that seems kind of wasteful.  Galactic HQ would let you hurt your Vespiquen by simply evolving into it.  Energy Pick Up could allow you to get ahead on Energy… important since it is hard to build a Vespiquen when each turn a Combee is getting an Energy attachment, and then KO’d.  I suddenly miss old cards like EXP. ALL.  I do feel like I am missing something, but even as is Combee could make for a fierce OHKO deck.  With the right supporting Trainers and Pokémon, you could have a fast deck that basically trades Prizes while ruining your opponent’s set up.  In Limited play, the score is an average: you need to pull multiple copies of Combee and at least one Vespiquen, in which case it is okay.  If you pull only one Combee and no Vespiquen, don’t run it.  If you pull just a 1-1 line, you still might run it just to get to Vespiquen.  If you pull a whole mess of Combee and at least one Vespiquen, it is awesome.  Ratings  Modified: 4/5  Limited: 3/5  I am still selling my former collectables on eBay.  I’ve had a lot of hobbies over the years, so at various times I’ll have comic books, manga, action figures, and video games on the auction block.  You can take a look at what’s up for bids here.  Just a reminder, Pojo is in no way responsible for any transactions and was merely kind enough to let me mention the auctions here. ;)  Combos with: the binder