From: Baboonskin@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 2:59 PM
To: cardtips@pojo.com
Subject: Muk -How to Use (Article 19) -By Chris
Here's the 19th article in my long-running series for pojo.com, an old favorite, Fossil Muk!

**70 HP. Not all that bad for a Stage 1 Pokemon. It really shouldn't matter that much, because Muk doesn't necessarily need to attack to be useful...It can ride the Bench for a while...

**Bottom Stats: Weak to Psychic, No Resistance, and a Retreat of 2. Once again, he can ride the bench and be extremely effective. But, if you do want to fight using Muk, the Psychic Weakness really shouldn't worry you, and the retreat cost can be nulled by Balloon Berry or Switch.

**Evolves from Grimer (Stage 1). Depending on the deck you have, it's really your choice of which Grimer to use. I prefer the Fossil one, but, if you want the ability to put your opponent to Sleep, you might consider the Rocket one.

**Sludge. 3 Grass Energy deals 30 damage, and possibly Poison. Not bad, if heads,...but the best comes next...

**Toxic Gas. This is the reason I chose Muk to be reviewed. His power blocks ALL other Pokemon Powers in the whole play area, even your opponent's! Let's take a quick look at all the Pokemon Powers around today...
~Dark Vileplume's Hay Fever
~Feraligatr's Downpour
~Slowking's Mind Games
~Typhlosion's Fire Recharge
~and, Igglybuff...but really, cancelling its Power doesn't do anything, if you think about it...
     All of these powers are annoying, and take a lot of strategizing to get around. But, just 1 measly Muk on your Bench can stop them all in their tracks! Probably the hardest hit Pokemon today would be Feraligatr! There's always been a way to get around Feraligatr, but not in Modified!
     You can make your deck really anything, and add 4 Grimer and 3 Muk. Just because you have a Muk doesn't mean you need Grass Energy, if you leave it on the bench. Make your deck anything that requires no Pokemon Powers, and if you play against 1 of those decks listed above, you will have the edge!

Send comments, questions, ideas, requests for future articles, etc. to me at Baboonskin@aol.com
Thanks for reading!
~Chris