aroramage |
Normally this is the week that we
start reviewing some of the runner-ups to the Top 10
list, but we're doing a couple of things different - new
year, new us, know what I mean?
Anyway, today's card is Butterfree,
who holds a lot of advantage over most Stage 2s since
he's a Grass-type and can benefit from Forest of Giant
Plants. Heck, it's the reason a pair of Grass-GX ended
up in our Top 3! The interesting thing to note about
Butterfree is that his attacks are completely colorless,
meaning technically he can be run anywhere. So what can
he bring then?
Well Psy Bolt is a simple 1-for-30
that has a 50/50 chance for Paralyzing. Never a bad
thing, I suppose, but not something you wanna bank on.
Then there's Whirlwind, which does 3-for-80 and switches
out your opponent's Active Pokemon for their choice of a
Benched Pokemon. This can mess things up for your
opponent's formation and deal a lot of damage to a
couple of their Pokemon, but would you rather be running
a Butterfree to do 80 and Switch or a Lysandre to grab
whatever YOU want and deal MORE damage?
That's what I think will limit
Butterfree's plays. Don't get me wrong, Whirlwind is
great in a vacuum, but I don't see it as a replacement
for something like Lysandre. And while Psy Bolt could be
a nice stall tactic, it's not a damaging powerhouse of a
move. Only try Butterfree if you're looking for that
niche appeal in your Grass build, otherwise don't worry
about him too much.
Rating
Standard: 2/5 (compared to other
Stage 2s that you could run, Butterfree's more towards
the bottom)
Expanded: 2/5 (but Whirlwind's
disruption is nice, even though the set-up takes a lot
of investment)
Limited: 2.5/5 (the Colorless
requirements and Grass typing do help him out quite a
bit)
Arora Notealus: Butterfree could be
a great asset to your deck, but don't expect him to pull
off amazing work. He's good, but only so good after all.
Kinda wish there was a better Butterfree, ya know? Maybe
they'll make an Ash's Butterfree that gets super strong
from all that off-screen training...or maybe he'll be a
Bug Pokemon doomed to nothingness...nah, off-screen
training for sure.
Next Time: CAW CAW!! The sound of a
metal bird approaches?
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Otaku |
Ah, with the top 10
out of the way I can take some time to rest and relax
and… it’s already Monday afternoon as I write this, so
obviously I had too much R & R! This probably
won’t be posted until Tuesday. Let’s get started
on Butterfree (Sun & Moon 3/149)! It
is a Stage 2 Grass Type Pokémon that Evolves from
Metapod which Evolves from Caterpie, which
are also Grass Type Pokémon; Forest of Giant Plants
for the win! Well, at least for avoiding waiting
two turns to get Butterfree into play. What
it gains directly from being a Grass Type is hitting a
decent chunk of cards (many Water and Fighting Types)
for double damage thanks to their Grass Weakness.
We aren’t worried about Unlimited Format play, so that
means Grass Resistance won’t be a problem either.
I am not seeing any Grass Type support beyond Forest
of Giant Plants that would prove relevant, and
Forest of Giant Plants - again - is
technically working on Caterpie and then
Metapod, and not Butterfree. There are
a few Grass specific effects that benefit Butterfree,
I’m just not sure if they will really matter. Same
for other Grass Type Pokémon or effects that work with
[G] Energy. At least I also don’t expect the
handful of anti-Grass Type effects to trouble
Butterfree, either. Being a Stage 2 is already
going to be hard enough on it; even with Forest of
Giant Plants to speed it to the field, you’ll still
need to play three cards for one Butterfree to
hit the field… and if Forest of Giant Plants
isn’t available, then you’ll lose two turns waiting to
fully Evolve (sans other shortcuts).
Butterfree
has 130 HP, which was just around the point I expected a
card to go from being less likely to survive a hit, to
more likely. I say “was” because I am still
acclimatizing to the entirety of Sun & Moon and
how it has changed the format. I am debating
raising this threshold a bit, and in either case, this
still feels a bit small for a Stage 2, though
regrettably appropriate for a Butterfree (they
don’t seem like durable Pokémon). As we’ll see
when we get to our other Butterfree options,
there hasn’t been any recent HP power creep. The
Fire Weakness is disappointing and dangerous. Volcanion-EX
decks may not have made a huge showing at this past
weekend’s Anaheim Regional Championship, but it was
still there, and I don’t expect it to completely go away
anytime soon. That isn’t why it is disappointing,
however; Butterfree is a Bug/Flying hybrid in the
video games, and TPC used to use such cards to give us
things like Grass Types with Lightning Weakness and
Fighting Resistance. Lightning Weakness is
dangerous as well right now, but just changing things
around can create a niche for certain cards. This
Butterfree has no Resistance, which I
normally wouldn’t sweat but here? Again,
disappointing: if they didn’t want to use Fighting
Resistance, the typo combo for Butterfree would
make Grass Resistance completely appropriate. The
Retreat Cost is good; I would have preferred a free
Retreat Cost but just requiring a single Energy means
much of the time, paying to manually Retreat ought not
to be an issue.
Butterfree
has two attacks, both of which have all Colorless Energy
requirements. This could be pretty important, as
not only does it allow Butterfree to make use of
a variety of Energy acceleration options, but it means
it can fit into nearly any deck; the exceptions are
those with no Energy and those running only (or at least
mostly) incompatible Special Energy like Double
Dragon Energy, Strong Energy, etc.
We’ll look at “Psy Bolt” in detail first; for [C] it
does 30 damage and has you flip a coin. If “heads”
the opponent’s Active is also Paralyzed while “tails”
means just the damage occurs. For [CCC]
Butterfree can attack using “Whirlwind” to do 80
damage; the attack also forces your opponent to
change out his or her Active Pokémon. I am really
trying to avoid delving into Create-a-Card territory
here, or being unduly harsh: neither of these attacks is
terrible. They aren’t even bad. Whirlwind is
poor because the damage is a bit low and the
effect isn’t optional. This is not a format
when you want to whiff on the 2HKO against Mega
Evolutions and/or Evolved Pokémon-GX, let alone
against your typical Basic Pokémon-EX attacker. As
for the effect, forcing the change out means the times
when it helps you are likely far less than the combined
total of the times when it makes no difference or
actively backfires. Psy Bolt is adequate; the
damage and effect decent for the Energy, and thanks to
Forest of Giant Plants you want an attack you can
fuel for a single Energy attachment. I actually
wouldn’t mind it costing [CC] and doing a bit more,
however, as Double Colorless Energy is already so
common in the format.
Butterfree
cannot hit the field directly. We may choose from
XY: Flashfire 1/106 (reprinted as Generations
3/83), Evolutions 3/108, and Sun & Moon
1/149 for Caterpie. Metapod follows
suite: XY: Flashfire 2/106 (reprinted as
Generations 4/83), Evolutions 4/108, and
Sun & Moon 2/149. The only alternative to
today’s Butterfree is XY: Flashfire 3/106
(reprinted as Generations 5/83). All are
Standard legal Grass Type Pokémon, and all but
the Butterfree (XY: Flashfire 3/106) are
Fire Weak and lack Resistance. All Caterpie
have 40 HP with Retreat Cost [C], except for Sun &
Moon 1/149, which has 50 HP. XY: Flashfire
1/106 has the Ability “Adaptive Evolution”, allowing it
to Evolve the turn it is put into play, including the
first turn of the game, and the attack “Bug Bite” for
[G], doing 10. Evolutions 3/108 is very
old-school. In fact, it is a reprint of Base
Set 45/102, Base Set 2 68/130, and
Legendary Collection 69/110, so close it may still
be possible to use the original. I don’t think
you’ll want to, though, as all it has is “String Shot”
for [G] to do 10 damage and flip a coin for Paralysis. Sun
& Moon 1/149 is our final contender, and besides the
better HP score, it has all Colorless attacks. [C] pays
for “Nap”, which heals 20 damage from itself, while
“Gnaw” does 20 for [CC]. I actually favor XY:
Flashfire 1/106 (even with Forest of Giant Plants)
because none of these are worth attacking with, so
improve your odds of instantly Evolving!
Otherwise, go with Sun & Moon 1/149 for the HP.
Rare Candy
is technically an option to run instead of a Metapod,
but besides requiring you have it and Butterfree
in hand at the same time, you’ll have to deal with Item
lock. It also won’t work with Forest of Giant
Plants (should you be running it), or the Adaptive
Evolution Ability on Caterpie (XY: Flashfire
1/106). All Metapod but Sun &
Moon 2/149 have 70 HP with Retreat Cost [CC]; our
exception has 80 with Retreat Cost [CCC]. XY:
Flashfire 2/106 sports Adaptive Evolution, working
just like it did the first time. Unlike last time,
though, the attack alongside it isn’t pure filler: for
[CC] this Metapod can use “Harden” to prevent the
damage from attacks that hit for 60 or less, but
anything stronger punches through with no reduction.
The effect lasts until the end of your opponent’s next
turn. XY: Evolutions 4/108 can be mistaken as a
reprint of the original Metapod (Base Set
54/102, Base Set 2 81/130, Legendary
Collection 54/110), as both have the same stats, an
attack named “Stiffen” for [CC] and another named “Stun
Spore” for [GG]. Stun Spore is functionally
identical as well; both attacks do 20 and give you a
coin flip to Paralyze the opponent’s Active.
Stiffen has changed, however; the original was a coin
flip to prevent all damage done to Metapod itself
during your opponent’s next turn, while the new version
blocks 40 damage without a coin flip. Our
final option, Sun & Moon 2/149, actually has the
effect of the old Stiffen as its “Iron Defense” attack;
the cost is only [C] and the wording simplified.
For [CCC] it can use its version of Bug Bite to do 40
damage. Once again, I favor Adaptive Evolution as
an alternative or fallback for Forest of Giant Plants.
The other two are decent enough if for some reason that
isn’t an option.
Butterfree
(XY: Flashfire 3/106) has the same 130 HP as
today’s Butterfree, which I already mentioned
when pointing out this isn’t an overly safe amount.
What it changes up are the Weakness and Resistance; here
we do get Lightning Weakness alongside Fighting
Resistance. This is nice unless you’re attacked by
something like Zebstrika (XY: BREAKpoint
49/122), and that is a popular option to smack
Yveltal-EX (plus a few others) silly. The
Resistance is still [C], so we’ll move onto its attacks.
For [G] you may use “Quiver Dance” to search your deck
for a basic Energy to attach to itself. As long as
you do attach the Energy (you whiff on the search), you
also heal 40 damage from Butterfree itself.
For [GCC] you may use “Gust” to do 70 damage.
These attacks are not good, though they aren’t all bad.
Quiver Dance is hurt because it cannot attach to other
targets and only grabs one Energy. Gust just needs
to bit a bit harder. Needing [G] means it isn’t a
simple splash, even though Quiver Dance can grab any
basic Energy card. During my last major hiatus
from reviews, the team looked at this Butterfree
here.
It didn’t wow them, and I probably would have felt the
same way. That said, this Butterfree
enjoyed a tiny bit of success in competitive play for a
time due to Miltank (XY: Flashfire
83/106). This Miltank has the attack
“Powerful Friends”, allowing it to do 80 damage for [C]
if you have a Stage 2 Pokémon in play. Adaptive
Evolution made set-mate Butterfree an early
partner, but it was replaced later on with other Stage 2
cards that could do more than speed into play one turn
faster. This Butterfree won’t be helping or
hurting today’s offering.
So what purpose
have we for using today’s Butterfree?
Almost none. Thanks to its older lower
Stages with Adaptive Evolution, it isn’t completely out
of the question using this in an off Type deck that
needs to exploit Grass Weakness. What about an
actual Grass Deck? If you’ve got Grass Energy in
the deck, you really don’t gain anything from Psy Bolt
or Whirlwind; their strength is in their costs being
completely Colorless. They aren’t even that great
to copy; Mew-EX and Dimension Valley
technically makes them better, but not by much. If
you’re not running other Grass Types, then Forest of
Giant Plants is probably best replaced by Adaptive
Evolution, which is why I keep stressing the Ability.
With a strong early game push, you can hopefully beat an
opponent’s anti-Ability effects to play (should they run
any). Unfortunately, even with Adaptive Evolution,
a deck that might want a Grass Type attacker splashed
in, shouldn’t turn to Butterfree. Neither
Psy Bolt nor Whirlwind is good enough even with such a
narrow niche; find a way to work in some [G] Energy for
a different attacker, or if you’ve got enough Pokémon,
go with the Vespiquen (XY: Ancient Origins
10/98) line. The one place Butterfree can
shine is in Limited play, where the entire line having
Colorless attacks matters, and all those attacks are
worth the Energy involved. It still isn’t a must
run, but it’s a solid pull you’ll probably wish to
include.
Ratings
Standard:
1.25/5
Expanded:
1.25/5
Limited:
3.5/5
Summary:
I’ve had a few Water Weak decks that would love a Grass
Type attacker splashed in, as most of the Water Type
Pokémon giving them problems are Grass Weak. Vespiquen
hasn’t been a good fit, and it looks like Butterfree
won’t be either. Generally, when you want to
splash in an off-Type attacker, it shouldn’t be a Stage
2, and while this Butterfree at least has speed,
it still eats up too much space to be viable. Even
if it were a Basic, the attacks are such that only
by being an easy to splash Basic would it have a chance.
At least it isn’t pure filler, and we’ve taken a look at
the first three cards of Sun & Moon. Not a
thrilling start to our week, but I think things should
only get better from here on out.
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