The new Pokémon TCG expansion, Chaos Rising, releases in less than a month now on May 22nd. Yesterday, The Pokémon Company revealed a batch of new cards from the set, including an all new ex Pokémon.
Beedrill ex made its English language debut alongside several support cards for Mega Floette ex. Appropriately enough showing off a bee alongside a selection of flowers.
Mega Floette may well be one of the best Pokémon cards in Chaos Rising, and is arguably the real star of the set, but just how viable is Beedrill?
Well as a stage 2, it takes a while to get Beedrill into play. Once you do, though, Beedrill has a pretty respectable 310 hp, and its lone attack "Rumbling Bees" requires only a single grass energy, and deals 110 damage for every Beedrill under your control.
This has the potential to scale pretty powerfully, it's also nicely thematic since your bees power up when they form into a swarm. Beedrill's practicality is held back by the fact that you'll need a whole board full of stage 2s. Even with the assistance of support cards like Forest of Vitality and Dawn that can be pretty tricky to assemble. This is especially true considering that Weedle and Kakuna, including the two printed in Ninja Spinner (Chaos Rising's Japanese counterpart), are often fragile cards vulnerable to getting sniped on the bench.
It feels like this would have been the perfect opportunity to print a Mega Beedrill card, since it is one of the Mega Evolutions that still needs a Pokémon card (Mega Bedrill has received exactly one card, but only 10 years ago in the X and Y era).
What's your take? Is Beedrill ex destined to be a fringe meme card, or do you believe in the big bee? Let us know your thoughts in the Wargamer Discord.
Beedrill cards have been a part of the Pokémon TCG since the base set. If you're up for reviewing the game's past, take a look at our list of every Pokémon Set.