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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Steelix


Thanks to Birgir for the 
Card Scan Today

Name: Steelix

Pojo's Average Rating -
Standard: 3.58 (based on 7 reviews)
Modified: 3.84
(based on 6 reviews)
Draft: 3.00
(based on 2 reviews)
Reviewed February 18, 2002

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating.


Lord
Gothmog

Steelix is big. Beefy. Like a triple Whopper with fries. And like a triple Whopper with fries, Steelix will kill you. And keeping with the similarities, a Steelix deck is also easy to make. 4 Metal, 4 SI Onix, 3/4 Steelix, 4 Chansey, drawing engine, gold berry, and the rest is gravy. 

In standard, Steelix qualifies as being "good." It's a stage 1 with the potential to do 50 turn 2. Downside is weakness to fire and ER, both of which are not uncommon. If it weren't for it's dependence on Metal, it would be a 4, as it is, it's 3.75/5

In modified, no one can hear you ER. Unless it's a Typhlosion deck, which probably has Blaine's Charmander. I give a tentative 4/5 in mod, just because there's no ER and SER. I've noticed fire becoming more popular, though. Splash Quilfish or Wooper or something.


Pokepop

Ah, Steelix. The high Hit Points and ability to use Metal Energy without diluting it's attack make this a card that is strong enough to stand up to the Standard Environment. It usually does well combined with Slowking to help prevent Energy Removal from removing the Metals.

This card used to have a bit of an issue with it's only Modified-legal basic because it was Grass-weak and only had 60 HP. This made it a target for One Hit KOs. The release of Southern Islands helped relieve this issue and so Steelix has gotten a bit better recently.

As far as Draft goes, it's not a bad card since you have a colorless attack available and 110 HP is nothing to sneeze at in Draft. You are just not likely to be able to take full advantage of it, however, since you would need to have drawn Metal Energy as well, not to mention actually getting both it and the Energy in play at the same time.

Standard: 4/5
Modified: 4.3/5
Draft: 3/5

TJ

-Standard: I cannot emphasize on how much I love this card! It is fun to play while at the same time an actual contender against most decks. It isnt the most consistent, but with a few metals, its HP can make up

for it. Hes a very heavy hitter and I feel it is a very good card. Although it has a high retreat cost, the use of Switchs or Balloon Berrys can come in handy. Using Gold Berrys and Eco Gyms can be a great combo with this card also. (Rating: 3.5/5)

-Modified: With Typhlosions going around in Modified it may lose its advantage with metals. Against other decks it can work great (Crobat for example). It can put up a fight with most decks, and again is very competitive. And without ERs, it is GREAT. (Rating: 3.75/4)

-Draft: Well, if you get him out and about, you win. 
-_- Otherwise, hard to play. (Rating:3/4)

---OVERALL: 3.42--- (I simply love this card. =D)

Random

Isn't THIS a beast? 110 hp? Right away, you look at that and go o_O! But it does have its strong points. I think of them as the 3 pluses, and the 3 minuses.

Pluses:

1. 110 hp. Thats REALLY good. He can stall and own. =\

2. Metal type. Even better... you can put 4 metals down and tell your opponent to resign.

3. An attack that does 30 automatically... taking out babies.

Minuses:

1. Weak to fire... a commonly played type. (If you say no, me and Ness will HAVE to beat you up... =/)

2. 4 Retreat. Thats a burn... he's sort of stuck. Balloon Berry is necessary with this beast. Without Balloon Berry, even Crobat can take it out.

3. A weak attack. No doubt it can do well, but tail crush can max out at 50... not great. Especially with Feraligatr, Typhlosion, Blaine's Arcanine, and Crobat who can max out at 80+.

It's OK... but not my favorite.

Rating in Standard: 3/5 ~ Energy removal and Super Energy Removal hurt him.

Rating in Modified: 4/5 ~ One of the few Crobat stoppers... properly played. But the weakness to fire make him one of the smaller archetypes in modified.

Satoshi

If I may take a page from Johnny Carson...

*holds envelope to his forehead*...Steelix, china dolls, and glass...*opens envelope*..."Things that can, on occasion, be broken."

Seriously though, Steelix is one of those cards that you stare at until you eyes go numb and wonder what the hell they were drinking when they made it. In standard, he's a monster. First, let's start with its 110 HP-which it will most likely _never_ have. I say this because the minute it comes into play, the smart player will arm it with _at least_ one Metal Energy, technically upping its HP to 120. As if this wasn't bad enough, it can be powered by turn two to do up to 50 damage-and even with a bad flip it does a respectable 30. Ouch.

Did I mention it can take advantage of the perks of Metal Energy without the downside? =/ Arm it with a few Metal and a Gold Berry and you've got a tank. Plain and simple.

In modified, he's still good...but fortunately(or unfortunately, whichever way you wish to look at it), Typhlosion eats him for lunch. He's still got speed going for him, however-turn two to Typhlo's turn 3 can be very nice. And there's still Gold Berry and Metal Energy to deal with.... 

All in all, Steelix can be a terror. However, like all good cards, it really depends on who's playing it.

Standard: 4.5/5
Modified: 4/5

Jeremy Borchardt

This card is under rated by many but its still not a great card.
Its not to bad in a fighting decks with its nice cheap attack.

Standard
Its not very good here but can still offer help Vs Typhlosion and Magmars.
I give it a 2.5/5

Modified
Due to the large amount of fire decks its very useful it can be tossed in Donfan or Giovanni's Machamp decks

Rain

no review today

Criminal

          Steelix.... he's a 110 HP, resistant to grass, weak to fire, Metal energy abusing, Haymaker killing, monster. Yet, he is still overrated. True, there are GREAT decks that can be made with this Pokemon, and the fact that he's resistant to grass (scyther mainly) is a nice add-on, but even with that Steelix isn't all that. He's way above average, yet he can't cut it when it comes to truly broken cards. A deck focused on steelix would usually contain a nice amount of Gold Berries, Item Finders, and gym's to counter Energy Removal and Super Energy Removal. But once an Energy Removal or 2 get through, you can usually kiss the Steelix goodbye, and the fact that it requires Metal Energy means that it's a very hard task to get 2 Steelix's attacking in the same game. Which is where backup comes in handy in a Steelix deck, usually it being Chansey.
     What I'm trying to say is... while Steelix is a great card, its weaknesses make it very hard to use. You get SER'd leaving your steelix with no energies and its doomed because of its 4 retreat. You go up against a Typhlosion deck which can be quite popular in some areas, and once again, you're doomed as your Chansey cant fight typhlosions off by itself.
     With that said, Steelix normally beats Haymaker and Clefable decks, as well as Slowking variants. The sheer power of Steelix is incredible, it's just that using Steelix correctly and keeping it alive that's hard.  For the collector, steelix is a nice card to have because of its value. For the player, Steelix is a great card to have because of the options that Steelix brings to the Standard environment of Pokemon.
     Steelix gets a 3.75/5 in Standard and a 3.0/5 in Modified, Typhlosion and Entei/Magcargo were just too popular to make steelix a good card to use.

 


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