Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Beedrill G: The Fun Rogue Donk Deck

Porii Sames

Porii Sames

Active Member
Beedrill G: What?

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Writer: Senior Player
Format: MD-on, last set Undaunted
Date: 10/12/10

Here we have Beedrill G. I have personally been playing this deck for a year, and it is gone through many variations. As a disclaimer, it should be noted that this deck is a fun rogue, and while I believe it is good, I am sure the majority will not. This is, mostly, just for entertainment purposes, but hey, you never know!

Now I know you all want to see this epicness which is the Beedrill G list, so I’ll get right to that:



the CARDS

4 Beedrill G
Beedrill G is the main man in this deck, but first let’s have a quick look at him. 80 HP for a basic is nice; up there with Luxray GL and Garchomp C. Next, we’ll look at his type. Grass, sadly, hits few things for weakness, but you have Uxie for type coverage. Now onto Beedrill’s attacks. Its first is what the structure of the deck is built upon. Raid can do 40 damage for one energy, provided you played it down that turn. With the excess amounts of Super Scoop Ups and Poké Turns, it shouldn’t be that hard for the first few turns. His second attack, Fury Attack, has very few uses. In fact, I can’t think of any at all. I’ve really only ever used it once, and that was during the first game I ever played with the deck. It can do up to 90 damage, and is an OK desperate attack if you need one. However, it should be noted that Beedrill G is only the main attacker for the first few turns; other turns you’ll be relying on Uxie’s Psychic Restore. But still, Beedrill is the main Pokémon you want to attack with the first few turns, unless you cannot refresh Beedrills quick enough, or you’re facing something that resists Grass or Donphan. Onto its other aspects, x2 to Fire is not too bad; Charizard is rarely ever played, in my area at least. People say that it is bad to be weak to Blaziken FB Lv.X in this format because it is making a rise. However, it still cannot OHKO Beedrill G with Vapor Kick, and could OHKO me anyways with Jet Shoot. No resistance is depressing, but OK. 1 retreat cost is modest, but it turns to a simple 0 with Champion’s Room.


3 Crobat G
Crobat G is also one of the crucial cards in this deck. Again, I’ll look over Crobat’s many features. 80 HP, again, is nice coming from a Basic. It lets it live a hit, and then you can Poké Turn him away next turn. His type doesn’t really matter since he has no damaging moves. Its Poké Power is what makes it amazing, not only in this deck but many others. Its Power, Flash Bite, is able to essentially do 10 damage to any of your opponent’s Pokémon, which, combined with multiple Super Scoop Ups and Poké Turns, can do up to 110 damage in one turn, without even attacking! But this is a rare sight, and has a very low chance of happening. It should be noted that while Crobat G is good when you place him down that it is also the best starter in the deck. Crobat G has a free retreat cost, so you can swiftly go out to Beedrill G on the first turn. Whether you use it as a donking tool, or as a late game 10 damage to kill a benched Uxie, Crobat G is very useful in the deck. But aside from its Power, it has a few nifty uses too. Its Toxic Fang attack can let you KO a Donphan easier than you usually could. I run one SP energy over a Psychic for the sole reason that all of the Pokémon in this deck are SP or have colorless energy costs. Not only that, but Toxic Fang is only used in a few distinct matchups; otherwise it is null. Its weakness, however, is a x2 to Lightning weakness; meaning that Luxray GL Lv.X can OHKO you with Flash Impact. But that’s where the bad stops; it’s resistance to Fighting means that you can stall with a combination of Toxic Fang and multiple Poké Turns. This should tilt the Donphan matchup in your favor. Finally, free retreat, as mentioned before, is very helpful for being a porter from a Uxie’s Psychic Restore and an ideal starter, in addition to coming up whenever one of your Beedrill Gs get KO’d.


2 Uxie
Uxie is a critical card in this deck, and it could never function correctly without this card, as many decks would. Its HP caps at 70, which is modest for a basic non-SP Pokémon. It can sometimes live a hit or two so that it can Psychic Restore to safety. Its type, Psychic, can be used to hit a bit of the metagame for weakness, but besides that, not much will be hit super effectively. If I am, however, trying to donk a n opposing Uxie or Psychic-weak Pokémon, then I can fore go getting out Beedrill G and focus on Uxie. Then there’s the unfortunate fact that Steel resists Psychic, but at that point you rely on either Beedrill G to constantly Raid them, or Crobat G to Toxic Fang stall them. Its Poké Power is what really sells it off as a great card; letting you net up to seven cards in one drop. This is extremely helpful as the deck burns through trainer cards quickly so that you can Set Up for more cards that normal. It also inspired me to run a third, and previously fourth SP Radar. Its attack is nothing short of amazing either. Psychic Restore not only hits for 20 for a colorless, which in itself isn’t bad, but it also can hide at the bottom of the deck so you can bring up a Crobat G or something else to absorb damage. It can also stop you from exhausting your supply of Plus Powers, as they go under the deck along with Uxie. Its weakness, Psychic, is certainly not the best, but it can be worked around. Unfortunately, not only does it lack a simple resistance but it also has a retreat cost of one. Due to the fact that I only run three searchable energies (and four total), this can use up my precious resources quickly. However, the fact that it “retreats” to the bottom of the deck with Psychic Restore helps this problem. Be sure to use its Power wisely, as you can’t keep doing it infinitely.

So, now that we’ve covered the 9 Pocket Monsters in the deck, let’s move onto the massive T/S/S section:


4 Poké Turn
This is one of the most important Trainer card, or card in general, in the entire deck. Beedrill G is returned to your hand for a fresh Raid next turn, Crobat G is returned for another Flash Bite, or either is returned so that you can Toxic Fang stall an opposing Pokémon, usually Donphan. Also, without this card, the deck could almost never KO two Pokémon in one turn. Keep in mind that there are only four slots per card; so use Poké Turns wisely.

4 Plus Power
Another important card, Plus Power, like its name suggests, is for adding damage for your attacks. The first use that comes to mind for this card is to do more damage Turn 2 so that you can Donk an opposing Pokémon. It is also great for Uxie so that it can Psychic Restore and keep the Plus Powers without discarding them.

4 Poké Blower +
While this card doesn’t have as much damage potential as the other two trainer cards mentioned, it serves two critical uses. One of them is for an extra 10 damage, if you’re lucky. But the second use it serves is that it is essentially a Gust of Wind when you play two at once. Usually, players will run Luxray GL Lv.X or Pokémon Reversal to obtain this feat, but Poké Blower has a couple niches over them. The first is that it can do damage, in addition to switching Pokémon. It also doesn’t require additional set up for Pokémon, like Luxray. It also is not flippy, as far as switching goes. I give this card an A+.

4 Poké Drawer +
Poké Drawer +, like Poké Blower +, is found most useful when you have 2 in your hand at once. If played alone, it lets you draw a single card. This in itself is useful; as that card could be that Dual Ball or Uxie you need to continue your damage streak on the first turn. But its main use is seen on its secondary effect. When played with another Poké Drawer +, you can search your deck for any 2 cards and put them into your hand. This can net an Expert Belt, an Uxie, a Poké Turn, and anything else you want. Again, keep in mind that you can only have four of one card in a deck.

4 Pokédex Handy 910is
This is a universal card that can be used in a multitude of decks. It is especially good in this one, as it flips over your top two cards, and then you pull one into your hand. While this may seem like a worse Poké Drawer +, it actually can be better in some situations. Usually when I use this card, I find only one of the cards very useful, so its penalty of only one card is rarely noticed. You can also play Dusk Ball in order to retrieve a possible Pokémon, if any, that you put under with this card.

4 Super Scoop Up
This card is quite is useful in this deck; so useful that I felt a picture was necessary. Super Scoop Up is a universal card that can be played in many decks, including but not limited to Donphan, Gyarados, and Machamp. But in Beedrill G it may be most important. Not only can this card return a Beedrill G to your hand for a fresh Raid or a Crobat G for that extra damage counter, but it is also the only card in the deck that can put Uxie back into your hand. Play this card wisely, and always keep in mind the chance of failure.

3 SP Radar
I ran four of these for a while, but they just kept clogging my hand and I never really used the fourth. Anyways, this card serves two purposes. The first, and most obvious, is to grab a Beedrill G or Crobat G in a pinch. But it serves a second purpose too. SP Radaring a spare card in your hand, like an unused Supporter card or a Beedrill G, can essentially let you get two cards through Uxie’s Set Up. A fourth one of these is good, and I’d fit it in if I had the room.

2 Quick Ball
Quick Ball is, in my opinion, one of the top five most underrated cards in the format. With only three different Pokémon in the deck, Quick Ball almost always gets you something you want. If you start with either Crobat G or Uxie, you’re guaranteed to get something good out of Quick Ball. The problem with this card is its unreliability, but if you can get around that, it’s a great card. Another small issue is that you cannot just play it to burn cards out of your hand for Uxie’s Set Up, as you’re almost guaranteed to get a Pokémon.

2 Dusk Ball
Dusk Ball is one of those commonly overlooked cards that see little play. Dusk Ball is, in some ways, better than Quick Ball. For one, you can always fail it so you can get additional cards with Uxie’s Set Up. Two, Dusk Ball can let you choose which Pokémon to get from the bottom of your deck. Finally, its main use is for getting Uxie from the bottom of the deck after a Psychic Restore. However, it’s limited to just seven cards. But besides that, this card is a decent card in this deck, but by no means is it necessary.

2 Dual Ball
Dual Ball is another card that I find highly underrated. With two coin flips, you can grab a basic Pokémon (technically ANY Pokémon in this deck’s case) for each heads. This can wield two Crobat Gs, that crucial Uxie, a Beedrill G after a Flower Shop Girl, the list goes on. The 25% fail rate is disappointing, but like the two cards above it, it does have an unfortunate flaw. However, can be considered better because first, you can potentially get two Pokémon and second, you have a wider range of choices as long as you land at least one heads.

2 Night Teleporter
There’s one main reason that this card is in the deck: Uxie. With a coin flip, you shuffle your whole hand into your deck and grab any card you want. 90% of the time, you should be getting Uxie. With this one card, you can essentially draw seven cards with one coin flip. Of course, it can also grab any other card you need. Like Super Scoop Up, play this card very carefully and keep in mind that it does nothing half of the time.

2 Expert Belt
This card experienced a lot of controversy last year before Arceus was released. The two prize penalty was thought to be so deadly that it would be an unsuccessful card. Today, it is run in many different decks, and the only ones I can think of that never run it are ones with Vileplume. Still, Expert Belt essentially grants you 20 damage; which can win you the game by helping Beedrill G donk easier. The two prize penalty isn’t so bad; you can Poké Turn injured Beedrill Gs back to your hand if they are damaged. And when using Uxie’s Psychic Restore, you can drop the Expert Belt at the bottom along with Uxie. This gives you the power of Expert Belt with no consequences. Expert Belt is so good in this deck that I would suggest that you might even want to run Department Store Girl.

1 Luxury Ball
Since its release, Luxury Ball has been in almost every deck. Recently, Pokémon Communication was thought to have “replaced” Luxury Ball. While Communication is great, Luxury Ball just outclasses it in some decks; especially this one. Any one Pokémon out of the deck with no consequences is enough to merit a slot in any of my decks.

1 Power Spray
You may be thinking “What? One Power Spray? In a deck with only seven SPs? What is this?” Well I’ll tell you. Power Spray is a great card, and should be used in most if not all SP decks. However, Beedrill G, as you should know, is not determined to disrupt the opponent like Luxchomp or Sablock. However, Power Spray is very unexpected in this deck, and one Power Spray to a critical Uxie drop can slow down an entire game on the opponent’s side. Use this card carefully, but don’t try to bluff it. The element of surprise you have by actually having a Power Spray is better than trying to bluff that you have one in your hand when you actually don’t. Remember, there is only ONE Power Spray; use it wisely.


3 Cyrus’s Conspiracy
This card is essentially the best replacement for Roseanne’s Research in the new format. Cyrus’s Conspiracy searches out one of your three searchable energies, nabs you a Poké Turn, and lets you do it again next turn; or you can grab a Flower Shop Lady for recovery. These are just the most common uses for this card, but you can mix and match the options that you have with this card in any way you like. I run three over four because I rarely find a situation where I need a fourth, and extra Supporters clog my hand making Set Up with Uxie not as useful.

3 Pokémon Collector
Pokémon Collector, whether you have two in a deck or four, has become the general staple in all decks since the unfortunate loss of Roseanne’s Research. Pokémon Collector should be getting you a Crobat G and two Uxies, or vice-versa, but it all depends on the situation. Only three in this deck instead of four because of the ball engine helping me get out Pokémon faster than most decks.

1 Flower Shop Lady
This card also has become quite popular since the rotation of a card; Night Maintenance. Flower Shop Lady has to compete with three other recovery cards however. The first is Palmer’s Contribution. This card lets you get one less card total, but any combination. However, since my main attacker is a basic and only needs one energy, Flower Shop Lady was superior. Another recovery card is Aaron’s Collection. I run Flower Shop Lady over this because Aaron’s is mainly only used in SP decks to retrieve a tech for an opposing matchup. The last recovery card is Fisherman; but the deck rarely runs into energy problems, even with just four. Flower Shop Lady does its job, and it is searchable by Cyrus’s Conspiracy.

1 Champion’s Room
This card reduces your Beedrill G’s retreat cost to 0. This can make a Beedrill G a porter for Psychic Restore if you want to conserve Crobat Gs. This card may, however, be replaced with Unown Q, and the card itself is entirely optional. It is nice to have 0 retreat cost on your main attacker; but it gives dangerous SPs, like Blaziken FB Lv.X, less retreat too. Be careful how you use this card.

Whew, that covers the T/S/S/. Now onto the energies:

3 Grass Energies
This is necessary for attacking with Beedrill G. Recently, I swapped one of these out for an SP Energy to success. Three isn’t such a low number with multiple ways to search it out and Flower Shop Girl is good at recovering them.

1 SP Energy
This is in the deck for the sole reason of using Crobat G’s Toxic Fang. This can poison large threats like Donphan or Dialga G Lv.X. It is also useable by all Pokémon in the deck. The problem is that is not searchable or recoverable; but I already have three energies in the deck anyways so it rarely affects me.



the MATCHUPS
DISLCAIMER: Keep in mind that the matchups are not assuming the high donk ability of this deck. Theoretically, if it goes second, it can beat any deck through disruption and donking. However, this is unpredictable, so I will just let you keep in mind that it has about even matchups to all decks.

Vs. Luxchomp: Unfavorable
This is not a great matchup; they can Power Spray your Uxie drops, and other shenanigans. Although Beedrill G isn’t a Set Up deck, it does need a lot of work in order to do good damage. This is a hard matchup, and it is hard to donk them. This is a hard matchup, so good luck.

Vs. Sablock: Even to Slightly Favorable
If I was taking donks into account, this would be favorable. If they start Sableye, they can risk a Judge or risk a Cyrus’s Initiative. Either way, with the insane amount of search and draw cards in the deck; you should have little trouble recovering from a Judge or Cyrus’s Initiative early game. Still, you must destroy their setup before they destroy you.

Vs. Dialgachomp: Unfavorable
This is a hard matchup that depends on donks and Deafen. If you CAN donk a lone Dialga G, which is very possible, then, well, you win. But the high basic count in the deck is high, and they can heal off whatever damage you do to them with Garchomp C Lv.X’s Healing Breath. This is a hard matchup.

Vs. Vilegar: Unfavorable
Honestly, if you get set up quick enough and kill their Spiritombs early on, it’s not that bad of a matchup as most people make it out to be. If you set up quick enough, then if you take a prize or two off of Gengars, then you can have this in the bag.

Vs. Stage 2 decks without Vileplume: Even
I will be covering three main decks; Jumpluff, Machamp, and Kingdra. With Jumpluff it’s the easiest as while they can OHKO you, the other two decks can as well. Jumpluff’s modest 90 HP lets it be KO’d by Beedrill G with a bit of setup. Since Beedrill G is insanely fast, you can start taking prizes early and win the prize war. With Machamp, it is a different story. You can hit them for weakness with Uxie’s Psychic Restore and 2HKO them, but then again, the OHKO you. Again, crush their setup and Power Spray a crucial Uxie and you can stay ahead on the prize war. Finally, Kingdra is a bit unfavorable, if you don’t donk. But the low amount of basic Pokémon they run makes donking easier.

the STRATEGY
OK, the first thing you want to do when playing Beedrill G is go for the donk. Even if they start Luxray GL and a Promocroak, you can still donk them with a bit of luck. The average output the first trainer turn is about 110. This should be more than enough to donk a lone basic. However, if you think you can’t donk them, then go for the KO on just one of their Pokémon. You should be doing this every turn too; don’t go overboard and just take the KO. The final option is disruption. I know this may seem crazy with the low amount of disruption cards in the deck, but just two key ones give you a large amount of disruption, especially against Stage 2 decks. Power Spray is one; but I never search it out. Usually getting a Poké Turn or SP Radar is more important, but it all depends on the situation. The second is Poké Blower +; and it can drag up a bench sitter with no coin flip or prior set up. As long as you have two in hand, you can essentially Bright Look up a Pokémon that your opponent may be charging. The final method of disruption is using Crobat G’s Flash Bite. When used in succession, you can actually snipe a low HP basic, like Hoppip or Magikarp.

the END
So, this is the closing to this article. Thanks to my friends for helping me test this deck, and thanks to Barkjon for helping me find typos/issues. Thanks to everyone that helped me and encouraged me with this deck, and everyone that read this article!!!
 
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This is an interesting - fun - deck idea. A little too reliant on turns, scoops, and Crobat G drops. I'm suprised you don't have several Marley's Requests in the deck to attempt to pull out the Poketurns and Super Scoops.

You could also add Undaunted Sableye for its Pull Out attack to get back those key trainers.

However, as you have stated, this is a DONK deck....not meant for extended matches. But, I see the potential here. Great thinking around an obscure SP pokemon!
 
Thanks a bunch!

But yeah, if you have an idea for this deck, then I've tried it. Marley's was not very good when I tried it.
 
Awesome article Porii, glad I could help!

I honestly love reading up on rogue decks - I played rogue for over a year. But yea, great article. I hope to see this deck in action sometime!
 
Nice first article.

Your descriptions on Pokemon are quite long and difficult to read, due to being this massive block of text. If you write future articles, try to shorten or at least break up those descriptions. Otherwise, nicely thought out, honest matchups, and good presentation.

As for the deck, it's a pretty standard Shuppet-style engine, but it looks like you know the deck quite well and the list is nicely thought out. How hard would it be to add in more Power Sprays (play 2 Grass or something)?

You will love Junk Arm, too.
 
This will have a lot of trouble against cursegar but then again its just a fun deck.
Congrats on front page.
 
@: Kayle
Anything below 3, imo, is suicidal. In my testing, I almost ALWAYS need that 4th one (especially if one is prized). But thanks.

@: Ampachu
Deck is a fun rogue, not a boring Top Ddeck.

@: Pkmn202
Cursegar is pretty bad, yeah.
 
Nice article. Just a few critical things:

#1: List seems a little bit off. I'll test it before I criticise it too heavily, but Dusk Ball in a deck with 9 pokemon? Flower Shop Lady over Palmer's? Possibly better choices for the list.

#2: The formatting annoyed me slightly - it's a bit cramped and untidy.

#3: How do you define a rogue deck? In my book, a rogue deck is a deck that is designed to counter a metagame or compete successfully alongside meta decks. Anything else falls under the category of fun decks. Since you have unfavourable matchups to most of the current metagame (as far as I can see), this deck can't be classed as a red face paint deck.

Aside from that, it looks like a fun deck to play and the list and cards are well explained.
 
baby mario said:
Maths says that with 9 Basics you mulligan around 30% of the time.
Click to expand...

Women lie, men lie, numbers don't lie.

I don't get why you'd play Beedrill G. You lose so many of the benefits of Shuppet or Uxie Donk for +10 damage. Unfortunately, you also lose typing and an easily-added Mewtwo counter.
 
I wrote an article on this long ago, never posted it so i like the idea. I like the idea but i too view it as a fun deck and not rogue. Well written though so as an article i like it, as an actual rogue, bit sketchy on that.
 
Very fun looking deck, well done! I was curious about your deck list since you finished third with it, and bam there is the list !
 
Ever considered Luxray X? Has great synergy with your deck. Also I beg to differ on the Sable match-up, but I'm pretty biased so I'll keep my mouth shut LOL.
 
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