Pokémon V are formidable opponents and you may feel powerless in the face of their high HP and attacking power. Pokémon Sword and Shield Beedrill's can be a powerful card to counter Pokémon V if they are loaded up with special energy.

Beedrill lives up to its Battle Styles game mechanic name 'Single Strike' with the Persist Sting attack. It is a rare attack style capable of defeating even the most powerful Pokémon, as long as that Pokémon has a special Energy attached to it. Obviously this isn't always the case, so fortunately the attack is backed up with Jet Spear, dealing 110 damage points.

Single Strike Pokémon are hard hitters, but their attack power comes at a cost. In the case of Beedrill that cost comes mainly in the form of lower than average HP (health points). The Sword and Shield Chilling Reign expansion has the perfect Pokémon to mitigate this disadvantage: Abomasnow. Abomasnow's ability Toughness Boost gives your Single Strike Pokémon a decent HP boost.

A couple of trainer cards are useful to have in your deck for enabling this strategy. Since there are multiple scenarios for hand draws, a couple of cards can be helpful in various situations.

• Pokémon Fan Club is useful when you already have Kakuna or Beedrill in your hand. You could draw Weedle and Snover to facilitate the synergy mentioned above.
• Poké Kid can help you get your hands on the evolution cards you need for this strategy.
• Steven can increase the odds of getting the right trainer cards and gives you an energy card which is useful for Beedrill's Jet Spear attack.
• Lysandre gives you some control over the Pokémon you're fighting. When your opponent has a Pokémon with special energy benched you can draw that Pokémon into the fight and knock it out.

A final strong point of Beedrill that should be pointed out is its low retreat cost. Beedrill is most effective in certain situations, so consider retreating Beedrill if another of your Pokémon is a better choice for the battle.

See JustInBasil's highlights of Chilling Reign.

See Xander Pero's article on strategy for Chilling Reign.