And if you are against a deck that can recycle cards (a thing you cant do with Venusaur ex), then theyll win because theyll eventually sweep Venusaur down.
If it gave a creature trample or something, then maybe wed be in business, but as it stands this just isnt good enough
Originally, it is strong against Link Monsters, which cannot be used in Defense Position, so it can be sufficiently differentiated, and depending on the deck, it is still active
Market Trends: The popularity of specific Pokmon can fluctuate, affecting the demand and value of their respective cards
There are several other cards that might jump out to other D&D fans with such as Lollth, Spider Queen and Tiamat which I expect most to be going for