By Jack Snell
Hey y’all, hows it going, Jack Snell here and today Ill be reviewing the much hyped card from Emerging Powers, Beartic #30.
Let’s start with some stats. Beartic is a Stage-1 Water-type Pokemon that evolves from Cubchoo (the adorable pokemon with a water droplet on its snout). It has 130 HP, which is incredibly high considering it’s a Stage 1 Pokemon. This is also great for Beartic as big attacks like Reshiram’s Blue Flare, Zekrom’s Bolt Strike will leave it with 10 HP, (as no attack does exactly 130 damage), which forces the opponent to use a Plus Power or two to finish Beartic off, if they wish, in one turn. Vileplume is therefore a great partner for Beartic, preventing the opponent one shotting Beartic by locking them out of Pluspowers, preventing the, using Switch to escape the attack lock and preventing them using other crucial trainers like Catcher, Communication and Rare Candy. It has a x2 Metal weakness which is great; you don’t see too many metal-type decks nowadays, with the prevalence of fire decks, and Beartic isn’t weak to the usual Electric type for Water-types, so it’s a great card to be played now. It has no resistance, which isn’t too much of a surprise. However, a drawback would be its three colourless energy retreat cost which is massive and almost never payable.
Now its attacks – it’s first attack, Sheer Cold, needs WCC to use; so I think it’s safe to say that Beartic is Double Colourless Energy compatible. ;D It does a sub standard 50 damage, but prevents the defending Pokemon from attacking the next turn. Personally, that’s great! They will be forced to retreat, evolve, or devolve in order to even touch Beartic the next turn. Now; evolving and devolving are pretty rare, so that means retreat, consuming valuable energy. If you can combine Beartic with Catcher or Vileplume you can effectively lock your opponent and this attack is what attracted all the hype.
Its second attack, Icicle Crash, needs WWCC, so once again, DCE can be used. It does a measly 80 damage (well, measly considering how much energy is required for this attack). It provides a OHKO to Donphan Prime which is weak to water-types as well as Reshiram, Typhlosion Prime and Emboar, therefore being a great counter to many popular cards in the format right now.
The artwork is cool if a little generic. Its a tad simplistic and nothing like the stunning Beartic artwork we are due to get in Psycho Drive/Hail Blizzard.
Overall, I give Beartic a solid 8/10. It pairs best with Vileplume and Reuniclus in a Ross type engine and provides a difficult to break lockdown. The HP and weakness make it a real tank but unfortunately so do the high attack and retreat costs, which prevent the arctic bear from hitting top marks.
Tags: Beartic, Card Collecting