Ok.  Wooper was a nice step away from broken cards like Chansey, Clefable, and Lass, but tonight I’d like to discuss a seriously under-played, unbroken card that I personally think totally rocks.  I made top 3 in the EC Toronto QT with it, and it’s one of the most awesomely powerful cards you can use if it fits your play style.  So, for all you kamikaze-types out there, I present to you, Electrode!

Electrode: Stage 1 Pokemon : 80 HP : Electrode

Evolves into: Nothing
 
 

Pokemon Power: Buzzap: At any time during your turn (before you attack), you may Knock Out Electrode and attach it to 1 of your other Pokemon.  If you do, choose a type of Energy.  Electrode is now an Energy card of that type (instead of a Pokemon) that provides 2 energy.  This power can’t be used if Electrode is Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed.

LLL: Electric Shock: 50: Flip a coin.  If tails, Electrode does 10 damage to itself.
 
 
 

Weakness: , Resistance: None, Retreat: 

Electric Shock is a pretty useful attack, especially in late game, which is the most likely time you’re going to be using it since out of desperation you’ll Buzzap one Electrode to another, and then use that to fuel Electric Shock.  The possibility of ten damage is nary a drawback, especially since if Electrode is being used as an attacker and becomes heavily damaged you can either just pay his single energy retreat cost, or you can just Buzzap him and kill him off before your opponent can.  :D

Anyway, the main reason that Electrode is here is because of Buzzap, easily one of the coolest Pokemon powers in the game, in my own opinion.  Yes, it costs you a KO, which means your opponent takes a prize.  But it’s an obscene energy advantage, especially in early game, and if you can capitalize on it and protect the non-corporeal Electrode from Energy Removal and Super Energy Removal, it can win games very, very easily.  Like I mentioned above, I did pretty well in the Toronto QT last year with a deck based around Sneasel, Slowking, and Electrode.  Turn two, two Slowkings and three fully charged Sneasels (two Buzzapped, the other one with darks or rainbows): it’s just ridiculously overwhelming.  Buzzap also protects you from energy denial.  Your opponent’s turn: they ER away all your energy, but you’ve got an Electrode benched.  Your turn rolls around, and you can just replace the lost energy with a timely Buzzap.  In most decks you have two energy attached by turn two: or perhaps you’ll drop two DCEs if you’re running them, so maybe four Colorless, tops.  With a deck that runs Electrode though, you’ll often find yourself having six to eight energy out on the second turn, ten if you’re counting DCEs.  And four to six of those are going to be basic energy, not colorless.  Sooo, what kind of deck would need ten colorless on the second turn?  I’ll get to that in a minute.  But first, let me run down what exactly Electrode is good against before I run down what exactly it’s good WITH.
 

Energy Removal:  Haha!  Go ahead, Energy Removal my Sneasel’s two Darks!  Take my Murkrow’s Rainbow and Recycle!  You wanna take my energy?  Be my guest!  But you can’t ER a benched Pokemon, now can you?  AHAHAHA!  Electrode can provide a wicked comeback to Energy Removal if used properly, but it can also be quite a horrid sight to Buzzap, watch your opponent take a prize, and then watch them ER the Electrode next turn.  But still, it’s a great fallback.

Blastoise:  Electrode provides a one-hit KO to a Blastoise.  Cut and dry, Electrode KOs a ‘Stoise in a single hit.  Then, when you need him out of the Active position you can either pay his ultra-low retreat cost, or you can just Buzzap him for his delicious, delicious potential as an energy source.  Oh, and also, if you’re using the Team Rocket Voltorb, it’s of note to mention that it can first-turn a Base Set Squirtle.  Which serves your opponent right for not picking the 50 HP Team Rocket one.  -_-

Murkrow:  50 damage KOs a Murkrow.  Of course, decks which run Murkrow and intend on locking an opponent will use Energy Removal to prevent attacking, and frankly a three-energy one-attack Pokemon like Electrode is just the kind of thing that a Murkrow player is going to drool over once they see it hit the table.  However, since Electrode can just Buzzap, there’s very little point in Mean Looking it.  You’re either going to let it get Mean Looked, and then Buzzap the active Electrode to break the lock, or you’re going to drop an electric onto it and Buzzap another Electrode to the active one, and KO the Krow on the first hit.  Pretty swanky for anti-Krow.

Alright, so admittedly, Electrode isn’t that great of an attacker.  However, it IS an amazing supporter, so here’s a list of cards that it works really, really well with as part of a cohesive strategy.

Sneasel:  Woo!  You know that I was going to mention this one first.  Sneasel is a wonderful card.  I wouldn’t say it’s the most broken card in the Standard environment (I’ll give that title to Murkrow, actually), but it’s pretty darn close, and the little predator has only one natural enemy: Energy Removal.  However, as was mentioned earlier, having an Electabuzz on the bench cuts down the effectiveness of an SER on your Sneasel: yes, you’ll have to give up a prize to get your energy back, but in the mean time Sneasel just continues ripping away at anything placed in its path.  Sneasel, Murkrow, heck, ANYTHING that requires special energy is boosted nicely by this card.  You can only use up to four Darks and Metals in a deck, so that means you can have four sources of those energies right there.  Then you can add for Rainbows, making for eight possible sources of Darkness or Metal energy.  This is what most Dark-type decks run, and what some Metal-type decks run depending on which Pokemon you’ve built the deck around.  However, if you were to use four Electrode in one of those decks you now boost yourself to twelve energy sources, and instead of just providing a max output of eight energy, your max output is now sixteen (four Dark or Metal cards, four Rainbow cards, and eight from the Electrodes).  Very, very useful. 

Base Set 2/Jungle Exeggutor:  Alright, here’s the card that I mentioned earlier that could benefit from having ten energy attached on the second turn.  My original deck after Genesis came out was actually a Slowking, Exeggutor, Electrode deck (aptly named “Pantless Wonders”), and it was a total blast to play.  First turn, you drop a staller in the active position, bench an Exeggcute with a DCE, bench as many Voltorbs as you can, and then fill the rest of the bench with Slowpokes.  Second turn, attach another DCE to Exeggcute, evolve to Exeggutor, evolve the Voltorbs to Electrodes, Buzzap them all to Exeggutor, do whatever you need to get out a Slowking or two, and then attack with Big Eggsplosion.  For each energy on Exeggutor, you flip a coin, and you do 20 damage for every heads.  “I’ll flip ten coins… 200 damage to your active.  Your turn.”  :D

Slowking:  Ever attacked with a Slowking?  Probably not.  But if you drop a Rainbow Energy and Buzzap, you can shock your opponent by actually using Slowking as an attacker.  And also, Buzzaping and dropping an energy to Slowking is a good last-ditch effort to retreat him if he’s been Gusted in against your will.  Sure, a Switch or a Balloon Berry is a better option, but in a pinch, Buzzap can save you the game.

Rocket’s Zapdos:  We all know that a Rocket’s Zapdos with three electric and one colorless does 30 damage to itself and 70 to the opponent’s Pokemon.  We also all know that a Rocket’s Zapdos with three electric and one Metal does only 10 to itself, and 60 to the opponent.  But did you know that a Rocket’s Zapdos with one electric, one Buzzapped Electrode, and one metal does 60 to the opponent and nothing to itself?  It does, because although Electrode provides two energy, Rocket’s Zapdos’ Electroburn attack only counts the number of Energy cards attached to the Zap, not the total number of energy given by those cards.  A friend at my league built a deck around this idea, and a turn-two Rocket’s Zapdos that deals 60 and takes nothing, while taking 10 less damage from every attack it takes from the opponent, is scary.  It works really, really well, and can rip apart most decks if they aren’t fast enough in the Removal department.

Now like all cards, Electrode has its natural enemies.  There are some cards which just flat-out HURT Electrode.

Clefable:  50 damage, for a single colorless energy?  Oooh, that is sooo inconvenient.  Clefable dominates Electrode, leaving it with the singular option of Buzzapping itself in shame. 

Wooper:  Not only does Wooper have Amnesia, which can render Electrode completely unable to attack, but it also has an electric resistance, so even if you don’t feel like putting a water energy on the little spud-head, you can still leave him out for two turns (more with a Gold Berry) and stall the Electrode until you’re ready to take care of it in some other way.

Tyrogue:  Electrode can destroy a Tyrogue in one hit.  But Tyrogue has a Baby Rule protecting it, as well as the advantage of a horrible penalty for failing to succeed in Electric Shocking it: if Electrode’s attack doesn’t work, it’s in for a serious beating on the opponent’s turn, barring a coin flip.  It’s just a gamble that isn’t worth taking, especially if you consider the fact that if you’re using Electrode to attack he’ll probably always have 10 or 20 damage on him from tail-flips on Electric Shock.

Hitmonchan:  He one-hit KOs Electrode with Special Punch, or deals 40 to Electrode with Jab.  Also, one Jab takes out a Rocket’s Voltorb, which, despite having lower HP than the other Voltorb (which has 50) is preferable for its single-energy attack.  If your opponent has a Hitmonchan in play, every Voltorb you have out becomes a target for your opponent’s Gusts.

Gligar:  Same deal as Tyrogue and Hitmonchan:  Gligar is fast, deals 40 damage to Voltorb or Electrode for a single DCE, and his HP just elevates him from the one-hit-KO range of Electric Shock.

Chansey:  A good Chansey player can have his Chansey deal out either 60, 70, or 80 damage on any given turn via careful control of his Metal Energy supply.  Usually though, a Steel Chansey will be dealing out 70 damage a turn: just enough to make Electric Shock a non-viable option.  :( 

So there’s the good and the bad of Electrode.  If you’re ever looking for a fun deck to play that actually has a hope of winning many of its games, try building a deck that focuses on synergy between Electrode and one or two attackers.  Decks like Electrode/Exeggutor are just nuts to see in action, and it’s hysterical to watch your active deal 160 or 180 damage on the second turn.  Electrode is also a great anti-Murkrow and anti-Removal card, so if those cards are giving you trouble, try Electrode.
 

Zzzzzzap,
-Gloom

Note to Modified Players:  Wouldn’t it be nice to get off a turn two Riptide?  :D  Or better yet, a turn-two Blackfang with 20 extra damage from two attached Darks, and eight extra flips for 10 damage each!?