Neo Destiny Review - Grass

Neo Destiny is a set entirely defined by gimmicks. Most of the cards from the set don't stick the landing, due to being designed more for flavor than for function, but they are pretty fun to look at. It reminds me of the Team Rocket set that it pays homage to.

The Grass-type cards consist of a mix of Kanto and Johto species. They had once again completed the Pokédex at this point, so they were free to experiment with the 251 species that existed at the time.

 

Dark Crobat is easily the best Dark Pokémon of the WotC era. Every time it's put into play it does 20 damage to any target with Surprise Bite instantly. Dark Crobat decks usually seek to play out Dark Golbat, then Dark Crobat, then use a card like Super Scoop Up to recycle them for another 30 damage.

A single Dark Golbat/Crobat combo can take out any of the tier-defining Babies, but these cards would still see play even if the format didn't go out of its way to make space for them.

Grade: 10/10

This Venonat is probably the worst overall Venonat card, but that's not saying much. 40 HP is terrible and it doesn't have some redeeming quality like Stun Spore or a free retreat cost.

Ultimately, this is the kind of Basic that would discourage you from even trying out the Evolution cards. But it can inflict guaranteed poison, so it narrowly avoids the lowest possible score.

Grade: 2/10

Light Venomoth isn't great. Synchronize does do considerable damage under the right conditions and the free retreat is certainly nice, but both of its attacks ultimately too dependent on the board state to be a consistent card.

Retrieving a Pokémon from the discard pile is nice, but it has questionable value as an attack. The best thing you can say about it is that it technically counters a few Fighting-types.

Grade: 3/10

This card is an embarrassment to the whole Scyther race. It doesn't have the free retreat that defined earlier Scyther cards, and doesn't have the Colorless attack costs you'd prefer to see on a pre-evolution for Scizor.

You can't even accelerate either of its attacks with Double Colorless Energy. This card is basically just an admission that the designers were terrified of accidentally creating another Jungle Scyther situation. I'm pretty sure it was made bad on purpose.

Grade: 3/10

This Ledyba is bad even by the already low standards of evolving bugs. It can't attack on the first turn and is too frail. The one and only thing it really has going for it is that it has free retreat.

But keep in mind that free retreat was a defining feature of ALL Ledyba cards released at the time, with this being the worst one.

Grade: 2/10

Light Ledian isn't terrible, surprisingly. Flash Touch is a different take on Baton Pass, allowing Ledian to switch in an ally and make them immune to status ailments while they're in play. Situationally useful.

Meanwhile Comet Punch is actually a pretty solid attack, assuming you can accelerate it with a Double Colorless Energy. It's technically stronger than Jungle Scyther's Slash, but the reliance on coin flips does hurt it, as does evolving from the frail Ledyba.

Grade: 6/10

Dark Ariados has remarkable attacks, but is mostly let down by the low HP that Dark Pokémon were known for. Entangle is a fun way to trap and debilitate any 'mon you want to target.

Meanwhile Poison Bind could prevent retreat and inflict poison in a single hit. This card is honestly a half-decent assassin, so it's a shame that the HP and retreat cost bring it so far below the score it otherwise deserves.

Grade: 6/10

Sunkern is a worthy attempt, at least. The idea behind Sunbathe is solid, allowing it to shrug off every damage counter on it and become a beautiful Sunflora. But it sucks for your only good attack to require a coin flip.

Everything else about the card is at bare minimum level or lower, with the clunky retreat cost being especially egregious.

Grade: 2/10

Light Sunflora wants to be an accelerator for your Grass deck, but there's startlingly little use for it since Meganium exists. The acceleration provided by Meganium is so powerful that it's worth going for the Stage 2 line, especially since it doesn't use up your one attack per turn to accelerate energy.

This isn't a terrible card, but it won't have a consistent home in any format as long as it's competing with Meganium for deck space.

Grade: 5/10

Pineco is a pretty by-the-numbers Basic, but the Colorless cost makes this the better fit for the Metal-type Forretress from Neo Discovery. You will have to attach a Double Colorless Energy if you want to attack with it, but doing 20 damage on turn 1 is a rare trait for Grass-types.

Aside from that, its HP could be a bit higher and its retreat cost could be a bit lower, but at least it gets the job done.

Grade: 4/10

Dark Forettress wants to combine Armor Up with Explosion to potentially survive its own Explosion, but that's too gimmicky and unreliable for practical application. The Pineco that could only do damage by exploding was funny, but we didn't need a Stage 1 version of that effect.

Still, it is a rare way to do 60 damage on turn 2. I can't bring myself to completely dismiss that.

Grade: 4/10

Heracross is a victim of the Neo block's poor balancing for non-evolving Basics. It doesn't even compare favorably to Jungle Pinsir and is nowhere near the standard set by Jungle Scyther.

If you're not playing in some sort of Draft/Sealed environment, then this card is unlikely to ever see the light of day.

Grade: 3/10

Shining Celebi raises more questions than it answers. Healing Water is trash and should never be used. There's no sense in attaching several Water Energy cards to this when you could just use a Gold Berry.

Miracle Leaf is much more interesting. If the opponent has several energy cards attached, you could take your time ripping them down with status ailments. But its competitive performance has historically been poor.

Grade: 5/10

While Dark Crobat was the only Grass card that became a competitive staple, there were at least a few noble attempts at redeeming Johto species in this set. Several cards stand out as being almost good enough to bring to a serious match.

But as is often the case with gimmick-first sets, a lot of the burden is shifted to the quality of the gimmick itself. In this case, all three gimmicks had serious flaws, which holds the set back from its full potential.