Vespiquen 11/98 -- Ancient Origins Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Vespiquen from the Ancient Origins Pokemon Card Set.  This is the second of two Vespiquen cards I've reviewed from this set.  Vespiquen is a stage 1, grass type Pokemon card, with an hp of 90.  It has a x2 weakness to fire type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a one colorless energy card cost.  Vespiquen's Ancient Trait is called Double and it allows you to have two Tool cards attached to Vespiquen at the same time.  Besides the Ancient Trait, Vespiquen has two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Bee Drain, for one grass energy card this move does 20 damage plus it heals from Vespiquen the same amount of damage done to the opposing Pokemon.  Vespiquen's second move is called Fury Swipes, for two colorless energy cards this move does 30 damage plus 30 more damage for each heads you flip when you flip three coins.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Vespiquen is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Combee into play (I reviewed Combee from this set two days ago) and then evolve Combee into Vespiquen, there are actually two Vespiquen cards from this set, and I'll be comparing both at the end of this post.  If you read my review of Combee, you'll know that I thought the card was a very poor card overall, not only was it limited in what it could do having one move but its HP was really low.  So knowing this about Combee and looking at this Vespiquen card, if you want a more straightforward attacker and don't want to rely on discarded Pokemon, this Vespiquen card is the one for you to use, just attach Trick Coin to it, and you have a good shot at doing at least 90 damage or more every single turn with Fury Swipes.  This card is just as fast as yesterday's Vespiquen and can actually do more damage for less.  So I do like this card quite a bit, but yesterday's Vespiquen is a card that you could build a deck around whereas this card is more of a role player in that it won't be the main card in a deck.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 4 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is an above average Stage 1 Pokemon card from the Ancient Origins set.  There really isn't that I dislike about this card other than the fact that it is a little worse than yesterday's Vespiquen card, this card still has an average HP, low retreat cost and two good moves.  So you can't go wrong with either Vespiquen card from this set, however I would give the line of this Vespiquen card and Combee from the Ancient Origins set a 3 out of 5 rating.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Vespiquen from the Ancient Origins set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Virizion, which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
How many grass type Ancient Trait cards are in the Ancient Origins set?
Please respond by including your YouTube username and link to your YouTube channel.  If the question is quite tough, the first correct comment will win, otherwise I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner.

Vespiquen 10/98 -- Ancient Origins Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Vespiquen from the Ancient Origins Pokemon Card Set.  This is the first of two Vespiquen cards I'll be reviewing consecutively.  Vespiquen is a stage 1, grass type Pokemon card, with an hp of 90.  It has a x2 weakness to fire type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a free retreat cost.  Vespiquen does not have an Ancient Trait or an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move that this card has is called Intelligence Gathering, for one colorless energy card this move does 10 damage plus allows you to draw cards until you have 6 cards in your hand.  Vespiquen's second move is called Bee Revenge and for two colorless energy cards this move does 20 damage plus 10 more damage for each Pokemon in your discard pile.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Vespiquen is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Combee into play (I reviewed Combee from this set yesterday) and then evolve Combee into Vespiquen, there are actually two Vespiquen cards from this set, and I'll be reviewing the second one tomorrow and then comparing the two.  If you read yesterday's review of Vespiquen, you'll know that I thought the card was a very poor card overall, not only was it limited in what it could do having one move but its HP was really low.  So knowing this about Combee and looking at this Vespiquen card, right off the bat you should know that this card is very popular in the metagame and if you play the TCG competitively you're going to see this card awesome.  The reason this card is so widely used is two fold, the first reason is that it has a free retreat cost and can be moved in and out of the active Pokemon spot at will, and the second reason is that both moves on this card are pretty good.  Intelligence Gathering is a draw mechanism for your deck and then Bee Revenge can do major damage if you figure out a way to get Pokemon to your discard pile.  You'll definitely want a way to get Pokemon to your discard pile without having them be knocked out and a way to get them from your discard pile to your hand if you want to use them again.  Because Vespiquen's main use is based on how many Pokemon are in the discard pile I would only recommend using a 1-1 line of this Pokemon family and leaving other cards for the other Pokemon spots in your deck.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 5 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is a great Stage 1 Pokemon card from the Ancient Origins set and one that is already very popular to play competitively with in the TCG.  This card has no downfalls with it, it has an average HP, free retreat cost, and two good moves.  Together with Combee from this set, I would give a 4 out of 5 rating, Vespiquen is just that good and should be considered for any type deck you're building.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Vespiquen from the Ancient Origins set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of the second Vespiquen card, which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
True or False?  Vespiquen is the only non ultra rare, grass type Pokemon in Ancient Origins to have two cards.
Please respond by including your YouTube username and link to your YouTube channel.  If the question is quite tough, the first correct comment will win, otherwise I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner.

Vespiquen -- Plasma Storm Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Vespiquen from the Plasma Storm Pokemon Card Set.  Vespiquen is a stage 1, grass type Pokemon card, with an hp of 100.  It has a x2 weakness to fire type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a one colorless energy card retreat cost.  Vespiquen does not have an Ability but it does have two moves.  The first move this card has is called Gather Order, this move requires one grass energy card and allows you to search your deck for as many Combee cards as you like and put them onto your bench.  Vespiquen's second move is called Damage Beat, this move requires two energy cards, one each of grass and colorless, and does 20 damage times the number of damage counters on the defending Pokemon.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Vespiquen is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Combee into play (I reviewed Combee from this set yesterday) and then evolve Combee into Vespiquen.  If you read yesterday's review, you'll know that I thought Combee was a solid basic Pokemon card that can be used on its own in a deck.  But, if you choose to use Combee with Vespiquen, you either have to keep Combee on the bench until you evolve it into Vespiquen or move Combee into the active Pokemon spot and not attack at all.  I would recommend the former path.  I would put two energy cards on Vespiquen and always use Damage Beat, you'll have to have Pokemon cards with low or free retreat costs so you can easily move Vespiquen in and out of the active Pokemon spot because Damage Beat will not do any damage to Pokemon with no damage on them.  So I would move in Vespiquen to knock out the defending Pokemon then retreat it the next turn.  I would suggest using a 1-1 line of Combee and Vespiquen in a grass type deck.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 3 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is an average stage 1 Pokemon card. This card has a good hp, low retreat cost, and one good move out of the two, I wish Gather Order would have been a little bit better and I wish this card could attack Pokemon that didn't have damage on them already, but I guess if that was the case, this card would be much better than a three.  Overall, I think this line is solid, and I would give Combee and Vespiquen from the Plasma Storm set a 3 out of 5 rating.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Vespiquen from the Plasma Storm set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Cherubi which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
What move does the red gem on Vespiquen's forehead allow it to use?
Please respond by including your YouTube username and link to your YouTube channel.  If the question is quite tough, the first correct comment will win, otherwise I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner.