Terastal Festival hit store shelves in Japan on December 6, so in the intervening weeks there’s been plenty of time to get a sense of what the Pokémon TCG meta might look like once Prismatic Evolutions (the equivalent English-language set) arrives in January.
As well as lots of excellent – not to mention highly collectible – Eeveelutions, the newest Pokémon set offers one card in particular that is proving an absolute menace. This new powerful Pokémon card is one of the most unassuming creatures in the entire Pokedex: the harmless-looking, and frankly rather forgettable Budew.
Roselia’s preevolution, Budew, has not appeared on a Pokémon card since 2008, during the Diamond and Pearl series, but its larger-than-life return more than makes up for that lengthy absence. This new Budew is super strong, thanks to its Itchy Pollen attack which costs no energy and locks your opponent out of playing any item cards during their turn.
That’s a hugely impactful ability, one that is about to shape the entire meta by making items much harder to use. The main thing this does is hurt Turbo decks that want to use Rare Candy to skip their stage 1s and move straight to stage 2 evolutions. It slows down decks like Charizard, Pidgeot, and Dusknoir, and helps decks with useful Stage 1s like Gardevoir and Dragapult. It also might spell doom for Lost Box, an archetype heavily dependent on items.
But, while it might settle down once new top decks are firmly established, the new Budew is looking worryingly dominant. According to PokecaBook, a website that keeps track of the Japanese meta, Budew saw play in almost half of decks in the first 56 recorded tournaments. Between December 9 and December 15, its popularity only grew, and by the end of the week it had been included in 55% of 1,440 decks.
Budew is so strong partly due to how reliably it can be used. It’s a basic Pokémon, so it can get into play straight away, and its attack costs no energy. That means even if you have to spend your first energy retreating another Pokémon to the bench to swap it in, you still get to use its attack and lock out items.
No matter what decks rise to the top in early 2025, it seems like we’ll soon be talking in terms of a post-Budew meta.
Master Ball printings of the card are selling for hilariously high prices on eBay, going for up to $30. But obviously that’s peanuts compared to the most expensive Pokémon cards ever sold.
Source: Wargamer
