This week we are looking back at an old card using new tricks!
The time of EXs and Megas are almost gone. There are only a few EX Pokemon that can make the cut in today’s format. That is pretty sad seeing how they rule the meta for years since the days of Black & White. Though sometimes you can see one pop up using a new trick. Maybe a new card was release to give the old EX some new life. Maybe the cards have finally aligned to make things just work for an old EX. Either way, this old card has found a partner to help give a little sting to the game. So get ready as we feature one of the last EXs to be release in a new way. This week on TCG Jump we will be featuring M Beedrill EX!
M Beedrill EX is a Mega Pokemon that was release as a Black Star Promo. It is a Grass type Pokemon that has 200HP with a single attack. M Beedrill can use an attack call Hazard Stinger that cost two Grass Energy. This attack does 40 damage and forces you to discard all energy attached to M Beedrill EX. This attack also leaves a Poison and Paralyzed condition on your opponent’s active Pokemon. This attack makes your opponent’s active Pokemon to take four damage counters from Poison between turns. M Beedrill EX has a weakness to Fire and no cost to retreat. Lastly, if you Mega Evolve this Pokemon then your turn ends.
The Pros
One of the pros that M Beedrill EX has is the no retreat cost. That means you can put M Beedrill EX in the active if you need to use Guzma for an easy pivot. That isn’t too bad. If your active M Beedrill EX is too damage then you can easily swap it out with a fresh one on the bench.
The main pro for M Beedrill EX starts with his attack. Hazard Stinger is a powerful attack that only cost two energy. That means you can simply attach an energy during your first turn and attach a second energy after you Mega Evolve. Once you do that then you can start your Poison and Paralyze lock on your opponent’s Pokemon. Simply keep up the work by using Max Elixir or Mega Turbo (in Expanded) to fuel your attacks. The best part of this attack is that if all goes well then your opponent will have 120 damage on them by the time it is your turn again.
The Cons
The cons that M Beedrill EX has is also his attack. Hazard Stringer is an awesome attack that puts your opponent in a sticky situation. The problem is that you discard all energy attached to M Beedrill EX to use it. That means you have no follow up attack if you do not do some sort of setup. This can be either in a secondary attacker or just some sort of backup to refuel M Beedrill EX. Though if you have none of that set up then you are high and dry for a whole turn as you power up your active M Beedrill EX or another on the bench.
The second con is that there are a lot of retreating options available for your opponent in the form of Guzma and Acerola. You may be able to lock your opponent’s Pokemon due to Hazard Stringer’s Paralyze effect but that can be undone. All your opponent needs to do is use Guzma or Acerola to break the lock. Acerola just lets your opponent pick up their damaged Pokemon out of the active. Meanwhile, Guzma just forces you and your opponent to change active Pokemon. So in the end you discarded two energy to have your work negated.
Lastly, M Beedrill EX is a Mega Pokemon. That means you need to deal with that Mega Evolution Rule when you play M Beedrill EX. You will spend a good part of your match deciding if you want to hold off on Mega Evolving because you do not have a Beedrill Spirit Link or just Mega Evolve without it. That is a tough spot to be in and isn’t fun.
How to Play It
You can play M Beedrill EX in Expanded where you can use Mega Turbo to help refuel M Beedrill EX’s Hazard Stringer. Maybe do some Max Elixir to power up a Beedrill EX on the bench before Mega Evolving. That is possible. Though, it would make playing M Beedrill EX diffucult because you will constantly depend on such tactics to keep up your attack. Instead, we are going to be focusing on something new that will make M Beedrill EX an easier play in both Expanded and Standard.
The way you want to play M Beedrill EX is with Venusaur from Shining Legends. This Venusaur has the ability Jungle Totem. This ability makes makes each basic Grass Energy attachment count as two Grass Energy. So that single Grass Energy that you place down counts as two!
Maybe you have heard of this Venusaur due to it being the main engine in a deck that took a top spot in the latest Regional. Well, it can work with M Beedrill EX.
If you want to get M Beedrill EX ready to attack then you will need to set up Venusaur. That way you can use Hazard Stringer for a single energy attachment. So when you do discard energy for Hazard Stringer then only a single energy is lost. When your next turn comes around then all you need to do is attach a single energy and use Hazard Stringer to attack again and set up your Poison and Paralyze lock.
Though, you can do a bit more to make M Beedrill EX into a real threat. After all, your opponent is going to find ways to break your Paralyze lock thanks to Guzma and Acerola. That is why you will need to play some prize denial by using Max Potion and Acerola.
You can use Max Potion and Acerola to heal off damage from your opponent’s Pokemon when they do get an attack off. It would be wonderful if your opponent’s Pokemon do stay Paralyze during their turn. Though they will at least try to use Guzma to breaks to Paralyze lock and when they do then they will try to hurt your M Beedrill EX. If you play Max Potion in this deck then that means you can just heal off all that damage. Even better! You will have no energy to discard which means you heal off all that damage for free!
You can use Acerola with the same idea in mind. Your M Beedrill EX will take some damage. You can simply pick it up to remove all that damage and promote a fresh M Beedrill EX. You can do some interesting plays such as promoting Beedrill EX with a Beedrill Spirit Link. Then you can evolve it using the M Beedrill EX that you just picked up and play down the Beedrill EX that was on the field a few seconds ago. That way you will always have a M Beedrill EX with no damage ready to go at all times.
Once you can secure a M Beedrill EX with no damage in the active then you can get back to attack. Venusaur makes that easy because all you need to do is attach a single Grass energy to attack with Hazard Stringer. Once you do then your opponent will be in a nasty spot where they will take 4 damage counters from Poison and stuck in the active. Play your cards right and your opponent will fee the sting of your strategy for a long time. So go ahead and give M Beedrill EX a try if you want to play a fun Mega Pokemon deck using some brand new tools!
