Neo Discovery Review - Grass

Neo Discovery wasn't a very big set. They padded out the set by having both holo and non-holo versions of over a dozen rares, but that's just camouflage.

As such, we have less than a dozen Grass-types to review, and some of the types only received single cards in this set, so get ready for some very short posts.

Caterpie isn't a bad Basic this time around. It can do an impressive 20 damage for one Colorless energy, which justifies the recoil damage in my eyes. You could maybe use this with a Pluspower to snipe a Totodile in Base-Neo.

If we had received Vending Metapod this card may have been playable, but sadly it doesn't really have anything to evolve into. He definitely deserves a few points for trying his best, though.

Grade: 3/10

Metapod has a slightly worse version of an effect we saw on Koga's Kakuna. To be honest, this is probably how good a lore-accurate Metapod should be. All it does is sit there soaking up damage and maybe evolving, as Arceus intended.

Unfortunately, being lore-accurate doesn't mean much when you're grading cards based on how competitive they are. Oh well. Its just lucky I'm not rating it based on that questionable art style.

Grade: 2/10

Butterfree's Hyper Reverse is inconsistent, but it can be incredible against the right opponent. Any 'mon that relies on 3+ energy to attack will struggle to trade with Butterfree as it just heals up in their face.

The free Retreat Cost also allows it to dodge opponents it can't deal with cleanly, but you do have to dedicate a lot of deck space for an attacker that's ultimately reliant on the opponent's strategy.

Grade: 4/10

Weedle's Spike Stab is a pretty ballsy move for such a frail 'mon to be using. Doing 20 damage and Poison would be amazing, but the downside of doing literally nothing on a tails is pretty scary.

Still, I'd at least be more excited about using this than the original Weedle, but I like high-risk, high-reward playstyles. The quality of Beedrill cards varies wildly, but in a vacuum this is just an okay basic that's a little too frail.

Grade: 3/10

Kakuna's biggest problem is that it puts all of its power in the opponent's hands. Inflicting Poison and doing 10 damage to each benched foe is obviously incredible, but your opponent can choose not to attack if it would be a problem for them.

On top of that, you're locked in when you slap this guy down. His Retreat Cost is a pain and he's not powerful enough to waste your resources on.

Grade: 2/10

Beedrill is too reliant on coin flips to be a high-level card, but when Triple Poison lands it can be a massive swing in your favor. The preferred way to use this card is to just keep flipping for Triple Poison while you charge up a different attacker.

That doesn't mean it's useless, though. It can melt through a Chansey or Steelix regardless of their Metal Energy attachments, which is pretty cool.

Grade: 6/10

This Scyther is proof that the designers were still a little traumatized by Jungle Scyther at the time. The average damage of Fury Cutter is pretty high, but you do have to commit pretty hard to Grass Energy due to the attack cost.

It would usually be better to use a different Scyther, especially in Scizor decks, but it's not like this is an awful Basic. It's just awful by the incredibly high standard set by older Scyther cards.

Grade: 5/10

Spinarak isn't a great card. Granted, the only issue it actually has is that it can't attack on the first turn. Since you'll mainly want to open with Cleffa, this downside might not matter to you that much.

But I hate knowing that I could get locked into a no-progress situation for a turn, even if it won't happen every game. At least it has 50 HP, which is better than most Basic bugs at this time.

Grade: 3/10

Hoppip's HP is painfully low, but it's an extremely efficient attacker with a Fighting Resistance and a free Retreat Cost. Those are some enticing qualities, so I'd say it balances itself out quite well.

It might be a good idea to split your deck up between this and the bulkier Hoppip. Since they can all retreat freely, you'll be able to switch this guy in when you need the extra damage.

Grade: 6/10

Yanma found a way to take Base Pidgey's gimmick and actually make it usable. The ability to hit the opponent's entire team is great, even on a coin flip, and I like that the forced switch is just treated as a bonus effect here.

It also has decently high HP for a 'mon with a free Retreat Cost. It's a cheaper attacker than Jungle Scyther and makes for a solid pivot, especially in formats where Jungle Scyther is restricted or unavailable.

Grade: 7/10

Pineco is the master of all-or-nothing. You might expect a card like this to be unplayable, but it's actually a pretty scary way to open the game. If the attack goes through, it might even win you the game by itself, albeit at one hell of a cost.

Of course, the fact that it requires Grass Energy when it evolves into a Metal-type is pretty awkward, but at least it has a definitive payoff worth considering.

Grade: 6/10

The only new Grass-type species introduced in this set were Yanma and Pineco. They're both very cool cards, but not exactly metagame centralizers.

Meanwhile the other 9 cards are mostly just side-grades to older cards with no unique gimmicks, aside from (debatably) Beedrill. I wasn't kidding when I said that Neo Genesis completely dwarfs the sets that follow it.