Everybody has made a big deal of Mr. Mime and how good it is.  Well,
they are right of course.   Mr. Mime is obscenely good.  But one often
overlooked pokemon is it's worst enemy.
    I am talking of Nidoking.  Nidoking has the exclusive ability to
kill a Mr. Mime in one hit.  (not counting if Mime is Paralyzed,
confused, etc.)  That is, of course, because of the wondrous Toxic
attack.  20 damage are dealt normally to Mime and then another 20 from
the poison finish it off.  I think it's kind of funny how well this
works considering that nidos are supposed to be weak to psychic!
    There is nothing bad to say about this attack.  It, in reality, does
40 damage for a cost of a mere 3 grass.  That's a decent cost for an
attack that only does  the 40 damage.  But there's of course more!  The
attack forces the opponent to either retreat their pokemon, or take at
least ANOTHER 40 damage plus whatever Nidoking does the next turn.  This
is plenty to kill most pokemon.
    But other than Toxic, Nidoking is pretty sucky you say?  No way.
It's HP aren't great, but they aren't that bad either, and are actually
2nd highest for grass.  It's 90 HP can stand against most pokemon and
Nidoking's severe damage keeps the opponent's most precious pokemon on
the bench.  It's other attack?  Not as good as Toxic, but it is nice to
have after you have already poisoned the opponent.  It's retreat is the
worst thing about Nidoking, but it's the same as most 3rd stagers.
    Nido's lower forms are nothing to sneeze at either.  All the
Nidorans are weak against psychic instead of fire, saving you from those
annoying fire decks and splitting the weakness in your deck between the
two types.
    Nidoran's HP are a little low at 40, but it's 30 damage attack has
come in useful for taking out rats, carps, and others quickly.  Nidoran
is one of only two pokemon that can do 30 on the first turn and the only
one who can potentially do 60 on the first turn after applying
weaknesses.  Too bad it only works half the time, huh? ^_^
    Nidorino is also a nice pokemon.  It has damaging attacks.  One does
an average of 30 but could do 60 or 0, and the other does 50 straight
out.  Nice for a second stager.  It has decent HP for grass at 60.
Nidorino is a respectable pokemon by itself, but more wonderous as it
becomes Nidoking. :)
    So I encourage you, next time you decide to play around with Grass
again, put away those Victreebells, Vileplume and all those flashy new
jungles, and dig out your nidos!  Nidoking is really the best single
card in the entire set of grass so far.  (Venusaur might be better, but
only with other pokemon to support it.)
    See ya!

-Josie Ziegler
jaziegle@norcia.cs.csbsju.edu