Southern Islands: Onix

MiniMech hounded me a bit tonight to do an analyst on SI Vileplume, so I’m doing the next best thing: SI Onix!  Renowned in most circles as the best card from the whole SI set (yes, better than SI Mew…for now…), some people bought multiples of the gift pack just to go fill their Steelix deck with these.  I know this because I was frankly one of them.  If you are playing Steelix this is not an advantageous option: this is the ONLY option.  SI Onix brought Steelix to a new level of viability: capable of taking a shot from a Scyther and surviving like the Base Set Onix, but also capable of attacking on its own for a nice chance at damage, this thing is very very good.  Let’s take a peek:
 

Onix:  Basic Pokemon: 90 HP: 

Evolves Into: Steelix

Flip a coin.  If heads, draw 4 cards.

: Slam: 20x: Flip 2 coins. This attack does 20 damage times the number of heads.

: Body Slam: 40: Flip a coin. If heads, the Defending Pokemon is now Paralyzed.  
                      

Weakness:  , Resistance:  , Retreat Cost:  

Slam:  Not bad at all.  A DCE on the Onix can be followed by a Metal and an Evo to Steelix next turn allowing for a Tail Crush, so it makes sense to drop a DCE even if you WEREN’T able to use it for a first-turn attack (you’d drop the DCE on the first turn instead of the Metal because the DCE has a lower protection priority than the Metal.  You can lose the DCE and recover more easily than you could if you lost the Metal, so it’s a bigger ER target).  But you can.  Which is nice.  The fact that it CAN be paid via DCE is very nice as well.  Sure, it’s a coin flip, but it at least allows the Onix to defend itself if it gets Gusted.  Before SI Onix, Base Set and Neo Genesis Onix were just BEGGING to be Mean Looked and lose the game for you.  Slam at least gives him an element of threat.

Body Slam:  Heh…riiight…  This is pretty freakin’ horrible.  Not only is it virtually unusable because of it’s impressively high cost for sickeningly low damage, but it’s actually WORSE than nothing because this allows Clefable a biiiig advantage if you can’t Evo the Onix to a Steelix fast enough.  Baaad medicine…
 

So, other than being a complement Pokemon to Steelix, what does he whoop?  And as a complement, what is he good against?  Let’s see here…

Chansey:  A possible 0, 40, or 80 damage to a Chansey first turn is NICE.  Gusting in a Chansey before it starts building and then getting some damage on it will either force your opponent to retreat it, costing them a Switch or a turn’s worth of energy, or they’ll just have to give up on it and let it die.  And early-game is where games are won against Steel Chansey.  Combined with the follow up of a second turn complete build (which assumes one DCE, one Metal, a Steelix, and an in-hand Gold Berry) it can be the beginning of a crushing victory against a Chansey deck.  

Wigglytuff:  This is probably the one time you might actually wish to abstain from evolving for a turn or two.  Wiggly has always been a slave to its fighting weakness, and SI Onix is no exception.  With a twenty-five percent chance of a one-hit KO regardless of HP, Onix is bad news for Wiggly.  Augmented with a Sprout Tower and the Gold Berries that will naturally be in ANY Steelix deck, you should have lots of time to Slam away until the Wiggly perishes.  The bad news?  40 damage sets off a Gold Berry.  But hey, eventually the opponent will either run out of Gold Berries or you’ll get two heads.

Murkrow:  Anything that can attack for a single energy, in this case a DCE, that ISN’T colorless, is not a good candidate for Mean Look.  On top of it, since this sucker has 90 HP it probably won’t be getting Feint Attacked into oblivion too often either.  Not bad.

Electabuzz:  ‘Buzz is in the same position as Wigglytuff, with two slight differences.  Firstly, it can’t really deal any significant damage to the Onix because of the electric resistance.  Secondly, it DOES have the advantage of a fifty-fifty paralysis.  However this is the same odds-wise as Lullaby: fifty-fifty either way.
 

So, what destroys the Onix?

Scyther:  This still isn’t as bad as the Genesis Onix when it comes to Scyther.  It lasts two turns instead of one, which is nice.  All in all though, this is still something to be seriously watched out for.  

Clefable:  Gah!  The Onix-Killer.  Yes it has a fighting weakness, but you’ll probably never get to use it to your advantage as you’ll be getting Body Slammed every single turn.  Not good, and it displays the one main problem with Southern Island Onix: Body Slam is a total liability.
  

So it’s a good card.  It’s a total complement-card, and totally un-splashable (hence the short length of this article), but if you’re running Steelix this is a MUST.  If you’ve played Steelix but you haven’t used SI Onix, proxy some in and try it today.  You will not regret it.

Why, oh WHY is the Jersey Stadium the same weekend as Wrestlemania!?
-Gloom

Note to Modified Players: Just - just go away…