Dear Pojo Readers,
 
I've decided to write another article on Pojo, since I've received lots of letters telling me to write another article.  I usually like writing an article about cards that people don't usually talk about, so I've decided to talk about te Victreebel family. 
 
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Basic Pokemon:  Bellsprout                                        40 HP
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[P]    Vine Whip                                                                10
 
[P]    Call for Family  Search your deck for a Basic
        pokemon named Bellsprout and put it into your
        Bench.  Shuffle your deck afterward (You can't use
        this attack if your Bench is full).
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Weakness: [Fire]       Resistance [None]        Retreat Cost [C]
 
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Stage 1 Pokemon:  Weepinbell                                      70 HP
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[P]    Poisonpowder  Flip a coin.  If heads, the Defending          10
        Pokemon is now Poisoned. 
 
[PP]    Razor Leaf                                                              30
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Weakness: [Fire]       Resistance [None]        Retreat Cost [C]
 
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Stage 2 Pokemon:  Victreebel                                        80 HP
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[P]    Lure  If your opponent has any Benched Pokemon,
        Choose 1 of them and switch it with his or her Active
        Pokemon. 
 
[PP]    Acid  Flip a coin.  If heads, the Defending                 20
          pokemon can't retreat during your opponent's
          next turn.
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Weakness: [Fire]       Resistance [None]        Retreat Cost [CC]
 
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Here are my reasons for saying why the Victreebel family is pretty good:
 
1.  Fight back against pokemon that are super effective against yours.
Now, from reading many letters about Victreebel and the other evolutions, I've heard many complaints about how this pokemon sucks.  However, most of these people have this pokemon wrong.  The point of the Victreebel family is to fight against the opponent's weakness, not to go out there and fight against any type.  Victreebel is great to defend your own pokemon.  For example, if you have a fire pokemon (Charmander) against a water pokemon with a plant weakness (omanyte), the Victreebel family is great to fight back. 
 
2.  Low energy requirements.
When I see 2 type decks, I usually notice that one type is bigger than the other, and that the smaller type is super effective against the larger type's weakness (ex. Electric/Psychic.  ELectric's weakness is ground/fighting, fighting's weakness is psychic).  This family is perfect for this type of deck.  Look at Bellsprout.  10 damage for only 1 energy?  That seems normal.  How about Weepinbell?  30 damage for 2 energies?  That's great!  And Victreebel... 20 damage for 2 energies with a chance for holding a pokemon from retreating?  Even better!   With energy requirements so low, you won't have to worry about your counterattacking pokemon taking too much valuable space for your main team of pokemon.  If you had a standard type family set up for you deck, all you would need is 3 Bellsprout, 2 Weepinbell, and 1 Victreebel and 6 plant energy!  You can use the other extra space to build up your other main type.  This is very good, since I noticed that the smaller defending type in a 2 type deck usually weighs down the larger, more powerful type. 
 
3.  All pokemon in this family are efficient.
Each one of these pokemon can help defend your team.  Bellsprout can help you get more bellsprout to fight against the opponent's pokemon that are super effective against yours.  Weepinell can do lots of damage with only 2 energy.  Victreebel can take out pokemon that you want taken out, and you can keep them fighting by Acid's effect.  Also, these pokemon have no problem against energy removal decks.  All of these pokemon can attack with one energy, and the stage 1 and stage 2 can attack pretty well with 2 energies. 
 
4.  Great for multi-type decks.
With its low energy requirements, you won't have to worry about these pokemon taking up too much space in your multi-type deck.  It can fight efficiently and quickly with only a few energy.  Perfect for decks w/ 2-4 types (Yes, I have made a 4 type deck.  It's lots of fun :)   ).
 
 
Personally, I would use only Bellsprout and Weepinbell as defense in my two-type decks.  Victreebel would probably be only used for backup.  Using bellsprout and Weepinbell is great because they both require low energy, low retreat cost, easy to get (common and uncommon), and they won't take up lots of space in a deck, but they'll still be powerful (4 Bellsprout, 3 Weepinbell, 8 Plant energy--only 15 card slots taken up.  45 cards can be used to focus on your main team).  So there.  I proved that the Victreebel family isn't as bad as it seems.  Try using it in your deck. 
 
SOhp101
 
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Questions/Comments?  Need your deck improved?  Send E-mail to SOhp101@hotmail.com