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Issue #46-Elekid: A Shocking Expose
Well, in keeping with yesterday's anti-SneaselKingKrow mindset, let's take a look-see at Elekid.
The little yellow guy can be useless in some decks, and borderline game-breaking in others, so
let's examine his various uses and figure out if he's just what you need to splash into your
deck, or just what you need to prevent your condensation-covered glass of Coke from causing
damage to your table. Here're the stats:
Elekid : Baby Pokemon : 30 HP : Electric
Evolves into: Electabuzz
Baby Power: If this Baby Pokemon is your Active Pokemon and your opponent announces an attack, your opponent flips a coin (before doing anything else). If tails, your opponent's turn ends.
Pokemon Power: Playful Punch: Once during your turn (before you attack), you may flip a coin. If heads, do 20 damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon. (Apply Weakness and Resistance.) Either way, this ends your turn. This power can't be used if Elekid is Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed.
Weakness: None, Resistance: None, Retreat: 
Now obviously, Elekid has no attacks per se to evaluate.
What he DOES have is the ability to deal 20 damage a turn for free, a baby rule backing him
up, and a free retreat. He also happens to evolve into one of the best old-school Pokes
known to man, the Big Bad Buzz himself, Electabuzz. Why I don't see more of that card
nowadays is still a mystery to me...
Anyway, what is Elekid good for? The following!
Clefable: Once again, we encounter another 'Fable-hoser. Place this as your active, and the Clefable can't do a single thing unless your opponent manages to gust away the Elekid in favor of something that actually has an attack. Admittedly, an average of 10 damage a turn (50/50 chance of 20 damage) isn't impressive, but it's a nice stall and it's better than a kick in the teeth. Which is what Clefable usually does to most decks that can't deal with it.
Murkrow: Getting Mean Looked is always a pretty horrible experience. Once something harmless is locked (anything like a Scyther, a Jiggly, a Wiggly, an Erika's Jiggly, a Clefable, or any Psychic-Type) you can generally do nothing to defend yourself but pray and hope to get a Gust or a Switch off, which is usually hampered by Slowkings. But Elekid provides a great answer, since he can basically attack from the bench. Unfortunately though, he also dies in two Feint Attacks. If you can keep energy off the Krow though, you've got a solid answer to an otherwise-hopeless lock situation.
Blastoise and Lapras: What's that? Playful Punch applies Weakness and Resistance? Kiss half of your Lapras, or two fifths of your Blastoise good bye. This is especially nice when facing a Raindance deck, because since Elekid doesn't need energy to attack, you can blow it all on Super Energy Removals to keep the opponent's active from attacking. Assuming he doesn't have an Eco-Gym in play. If he does, then uhh….you might want to get rid of it first. ; )
Anything With A Focus Band: What's that? Focus Band only works if the damage causing the would-be KO is dealt by an attack? And….and… Playful Punch is a power? Ah-hahahaha! This might not be THAT useful in Standard, but watch out for it when Dark Gengar from Neo Destiny starts entering your meta-game. These decks'll most likely use a Focus-Banded Promo Igglybuff to stall you into a situation where you have only a 6.25 per cent chance to kill the wee bastage (25% Asleep, 12.5% Baby Rule, 6.25 % Focus Band). But with Elekid, all you need is two consecutive Playful Punches to break that sleep-lock.
Basically, Elekid should be chiefly used as a deterrent to the above cards if they're highly played in your meta-game: if they're not, you probably shouldn't use him. However, the primary thing that I use the cheerful little fellow for is to cover my tush in decks that require high numbers of energy to attack. In a Sneasel deck, or a Haymaker, or a Clefable deck, it's quite a good assumption that you'll have enough energy on any given turn to either attack or Eeeeeeek, since these decks use Pokemon that can utilize most of their attacks for one or two energy. However, in decks such as Chansey, Steelix (if you aren't using Southern Islands Onix), or anything else that requires two or more energy to get off a decent attack, Elekid is a godsend because it affords you the chance to deal damage without demanding energy. In slower decks such as these, keeping up a steady amount of pressure on your opponent is key, and the time when this is hardest to do is when you're energy-deprived. This usually occurs in the first two turns of the game, or in mid to late game as a result of an Energy Removal blitz (nothing, and I mean nothing, hurts more than hearing an opponent say "ER, ER, ER, I'll Oak. SER, SER, Item Finder for Energy Removal, ER. Your turn.") In such situations, the ability to keep an opponent off their game through the threat of Elekid is a potentially wicked psychological edge: partly because of the damage threat, and partly because of his obnoxious little grin. Oooooh I hate that grin! *Gloom shakes his fist in annoyance*
But luckily, there are some things that can wipe that little smirk off his face quite quickly. Those being:
Steelix: Playful Punch counts as "dealing damage" as opposed to "placing damage counters", so Metal Energy cuts down the base 20 damage of Playful Punch to a point of either complete ineffectiveness, or at least to a point of inefficiency. Also of note is the fact that SHOULD the Elekid become active, a single tail-crush that gets by the baby rule will send the little guy packing, regardless of what the result is of the +20 damage flip.
Chansey: This only provides a problem for Elekid if the player who is using Chansey is also using Metal (but most Chansey players are). Again, this places Elekid in a situation where it can't deal any damage with its Playful Punch. Although, if you can get the energy off of that Chansey…
Wooper: Realistically, anything that is resistant to Electric is going to shut down Elekid entirely. I mention Wooper in particular just because you can frequently see him splashed into decks, and he's one of the few Electric-resistant Pokemon that actually see the light of day in Standard play.
Muk: I've never actually played anyone who used Muk and was able to successfully evolve to get it into play, but I'd imagine that if one were to ever hit the table its Toxic Gas Pokemon Power would hinder Elekid quite a bit since it would render Playful Punch un-useable.
Pichu: Ouch, the ultimate in Elekid-removal services. Two timely Zaps from Neo Genesis Pichu will do in a bench full of Elekids, so you may want to keep a few Scoop-Ups handy to pluck the little copper-tops from danger. Losing two or three Pokemon in two turns to a Pichu is simply a game-losing occurrence.
So there ya' have it. Great in high-energy-cost decks, equally great in any deck if you're constantly being Energy Removaled. Beats the living daylights out of certain Water-Types. Gets around those obnoxious freakin' Focus Bands. Free retreat, Baby Rule: Elekid has a lot of good things going for it. On the other hand, Pichu destroys it, and Metal counteracts it. Still, Elekid is an excellent card, and one that I personally underestimated before I started using it. Try it out and you'll probably like it. Or, for the sake of puns, "You'll find the experience shocking."
...
Ahh geeze… More than just Ech is going to beat me for that one.
*runs away from the angry, pun-hating mob*
Long Live - *whack* - Oww! - Standard!
-Gloom
Note to Modified Players: Elekid's good. Due to a lack of DCE, and a lack of one-energy attackers in such decks as Victreebel/Krow and Crobat, Elekid often makes a strong showing.
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