COTD – 12th September 2011 – Steelix Prime

Steelix Prime has a lot of good points in our current format. It has 140 HP, which is massive on a Stage 1 Pokemon, making sure that not many Pokemon are able to one-shot it. It’s Steel typing allows it to be able to tank through many Pokemon through the use of Special Metal Energies, which reduce 10 damage for each attached to a Steel Pokemon.

It’s PokeBody, Perfect Metal, prevents status conditions from affecting Steelix. This is a good Body, but won’t see a lot of use as there aren’t many decks in the format that inflict status conditions outside of specially built rogue decks.

For attacks, Steelix is fairly okay as well. For two colourless energy (so, a Double Colourless will cover this), ‘Energy Stream’ does 30 damage, and attaches an Energy Card from the discard pile to Steelix Prime. Since it specifically states “Energy”, rather than “Basic Energy”, you’re able to make use of other cards to get your Special Metal Energies onto it, such as loading them into the discard with cards such as Junk Arm and Sage’s Training.

For two Metal Energy and two Colourless, ‘Gaia Crush’ deals 100 Damage and allows you to discard a Stadium in play. At the moment, there aren’t really any problematic Stadiums that you would want to get rid of in the format, as the only ones currently played are Ruins of Alph for some players, and Tropical Beach for those that have them. But even without its extra effect, Gaia Crush is still a solid attack when combined with its tanking power with Special Metal Energies attached to it.

Its resistance to Psychic is also a decent point as cards such as Mew Prime, and the new Gothitelle Ability are widely played.

The card has many good points, but unfortunately it does have its flaws. A big one is its massive 4 Retreat Cost, moreso due to the release of Pokemon Catcher in our recent Emerging Powers set. It can be easily made wide open to punishment if you haven’t been able to get energies to it. Another bad point is its Fire weakness, which didn’t really matter much during last format when it was released, but in this one, there are big threats such as Reshiram, Emboar and Typhlosion Prime which are all widely played cards.

Steelix Prime is a very solid card, but in the current format there’s a lot of powerful Fire Pokemon that will make players shy away from this card. Due to that, I’m going to give it a 7/10.

In terms of artwork, the way that light shines off of its body almost makes Steelix look 3D to me, but other than that, what else can you really do with a Pokemon like Steelix? I’ll give it a 6/10.

by DarkPaladinDuelist

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