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Beedrill V card art from Astral Radiance

Image courtesy of TCGdex.net

Overview

Beedrill V is a Basic Grass-type Pokémon-V card introduced in the Astral Radiance expansion (swsh10). As a Pokémon-V, it represents a more powerful, standalone variant of Beedrill designed to anchor Grass-type archetypes within the modern TCG metagame. The card combines high hit points with two distinct attacks, enabling both aggressive coin-flip-based offense and a scalable, board-wide damage approach that rewards players for maintaining multiple Beedrill V in play. In the broader context of the Beedrill family, Beedrill V stands as a faithful, V-brand reinterpretation of the familiar Beedrill line—weedle, kakuna, and beedrill—within the mechanics of the Sword & Shield era.

The artwork and card design reflect the Astral Radiance aesthetic, which often emphasizes dynamic bee-themed visuals and Sinnoh-era motifs. While Beedrill V functions as a clear power card in its own right, its true strategic potential emerges when combined with other Beedrill V copies in play, enabling the Swarming Sting attack to scale with the number of Beedrill V on the field. This emphasis on swarm tactics is a recurring theme for several Beedrill-focused decks in the later Sword & Shield cycles.

Card Information

Name: Beedrill V
Dex number: 15
Set: Astral Radiance (swsh10)
Card number: swsh10-001
Rarity: Holo Rare V
Type: Grass
Stage: Basic
HP: 210
Weakness: not listed in the provided data
Resistance: not listed in the provided data
Retreat cost: 1
Illustrator: not specified in the provided data
Evolution line: Beedrill V is a variant of Beedrill; the traditional evolutionary sequence in the games is Weedle → Kakuna → Beedrill. Beedrill V is a basic Pokémon-V form of Beedrill and does not require a previous stage on the card itself, though it still represents the Beedrill species and its typical evolution lineage in the broader TCG context.
Regulation mark: F
Legal in: Expanded (standard legality is listed as false for this card in the provided data, with Expanded explicitly true)
Variants: firstEdition: False; holo: True; normal: False; reverse: False; wPromo: False

Gameplay and Strategy

Beedrill V combines a low-commitment first attack with a highly scalable second attack that rewards board presence. Its two attacks are designed to support different phases of a game: an early pressure option and a late-game, high-damage tempo swing.

Twineedle costs a single Grass Energy and requires coin flips to determine damage. Each heads grants 40 damage, meaning the total potential output for this attack is 40, 80, or 120 depending on the results of two coin flips. This mechanic introduces a degree of variance to Beedrill V’s early game damage, making it a part of a plan that benefits from consistent energy acceleration and board control rather than a single-punch knockout on the first move.

Swarming Sting is a more strategic and scale-driven attack. With a cost of Grass, Grass, Colorless, it delivers 50 damage to a single opposing Pokémon for each Beedrill V in play. Importantly, the effect specifies that Weakness and Resistance are not applied to Benched Pokémon, which means Beedrill V can accelerate pressure on the opponent’s active or benched threats without interference from typical defensive modifiers on bend slots. This design encourages a deck strategy built around deploying multiple Beedrill V copies on the field, then selecting a single target for a high-damage strike.

From a game-plan perspective, Beedrill V shines in decks that can sustain a Beedrill-V swarm—through draw, search, and energy acceleration—while maintaining pressure on the opponent’s active Pokémon. Players may favor spreading Beedrill V across the bench and managing the tempo so that Swarming Sting lands multiple times across turns. Because the attack scales with the number of Beedrill V in play, it complements strategies that maximize bench space usage and reduce the need to rely solely on the active Beedrill for damage output.

Deck-building considerations for Beedrill V often involve balancing energy requirements with ways to accelerate Grass energy to the field. Since Twineedle requires only one Grass Energy, Beedrill V can function early in the game with a lean energy setup, but Swarming Sting typically benefits from a broader energy plan and additional Beedrill V copies in play. In addition, the vulnerability of Beedrill V to targeted removal or disruption in certain formats must be accounted for, as with many high-HP, attack-rich Pokémon-V cards.

Collector and Market Information

Beedrill V is listed as a Holo Rare V in Astral Radiance, with the card number swsh10-001. The print characteristics reflect the rarity and holo treatment common to high-value V cards in this set. Collector interest tends to be influenced by both the Beedrill lineage and the general appeal of Pokémon-V cards within the Astral Radiance era.

Pricing snapshots from the provided data show two primary market sources. Cardmarket (EUR) data indicates an average price around €1.07, with a low end near €0.15 and a 30-day trend around €1.08, suggesting modest fluctuations typical of newly printed or mid-run V cards. TCGPlayer (USD) shows holofoil variants with a low price around $0.40, a mid price near $1.02, and a high price up to $9.99, with a market price around $1.11 and a direct-low price around $1.75. These figures reflect the typical price dynamics for holo Beedrill V copies, where demand remains steady but not extreme, and the value can shift with rotation, format popularity, and collector interest in the Beedrill family.

The provided data also notes print-specific details: FirstEdition is False, while holo is True. Such metadata helps collectors distinguish between print runs and informs grading and preservation considerations, should a collector pursue a sealed or lightly played copy. The card’s regulation mark (F) and expanded legality further influence its accessibility in modern tournament play, as many players focus on Expanded format strategies that leverage a broader pool of cards than Standard.

Art and Lore

The Astral Radiance set, which includes Beedrill V, draws on Sinnoh-region aesthetics and a blend of naturalistic and mystical motifs. Beedrill is traditionally depicted as a swift, bee-like Pokémon with stinging capabilities, and V-variant designs tend to emphasize the creature’s magnitude and intensity. The Beedrill V artwork contributes to the broader theme of Beedrill swarms and the dynamic energy of the set, though illustrator credits are not specified within the provided card data. In the lore of Pokémon, Beedrill embodies a disciplined, swarm-oriented predator, and the V variant reinforces this image by shifting the card’s emphasis toward numbers—the number of Beedrill V in play—and the allocation of resources to field presence and board control.

In gameplay terms, the Beedrill V card aligns with a narrative of tactical growth: as a trainer accumulates Beedrill V on the battlefield, the potential damage from Swarming Sting increases, reflecting a strategic arc from early setup to late-game dominance. While the card’s lore is primarily expressed through its in-game mechanics, the reception of Beedrill V among players often centers on how well it embodies the Beedrill archetype’s aggressive swarm strategy within the Astral Radiance era.

Trivia

Beedrill V is a Basic Pokémon-V, representing a modern, non-evolutionary variant of the Beedrill line within the Sword & Shield generation.
The Swarming Sting attack scales with the total number of Beedrill V in play, including those on the bench, which creates a unique dynamic compared to many other high-damage, single-target attacks.
The card’s print data indicate holofoil treatment and a non-First Edition release, consistent with many Astral Radiance variants produced for broad market availability.
Regulation Mark F places Beedrill V in formats where that mark is legal, and its Expanded legality broadens the card’s accessibility in contemporary play.
Beedrill V’s archetypal role in deck-building emphasizes swarm mechanics over singular power, illustrating a recurring theme in Grass-type strategies to leverage multiple Beedrill V in play for maximum impact.

CTA & NETWORK LINKS

Beedrill V — Pokémon TCG

📘 Beedrill V — Pokémon TCG