This is one of the most disputed cards that is and ever has been in the play environment. You either love him or you hate him.
You guys dared me to make Charizard look usable and decent, and here's my attempt!

Charizard
(written 1-15-02)
The FACTS:

**120 HP- Just like Chansey before, 120 is very hard to Knock Out, and combined with an arsenal of Gold Berry/Focus Bands, is extremely strong, and difficult to get all hundred-twenty on him.

**Bottom Stats- Water Weakness is the bigger of the 2 problems in the bottom stats. Feraligatr can rip this card to shreds. But then again, Feraligatr isn't seen much in Standard. Fighting Resistance is Ok, and 3 Retreat is the other problem. Balloon Berry or Switch are essential to this card. Switch is better in Standard, though.

**Evolves from Charmander, Charmeleon- Of the 2 Charmanders, Base and Rocket, either one is reasonable. The Rocket one is probably better because it has the Pokemon Power, Gather Fire. It helps to get the many Fire Energy on him. The 10 less HP shouldn't bother you. With Charmeleon, you're in Standard! Charmeleon is not the better alternative. Pokemon Breeder is.

**Energy Burn- Any Energy attached to Charizard can be made into (R). This means a DCE will provide (R)(R). But, you need to watch out that if you use DCEs to pay for Fire Spin, you just successfully just wasted 4 Energy...This Power is really only very useful with DCE and Recycle Energy. Recycle is probably the BEST Energy ever to attach to a Charizard (see below on the combos list).

**Fire Spin- 100- It simply reads: (R)(R)(R)(R) Discard 2 Energy cards in order to use this attack. Now, with this situation, you discard 2 a turn, and only attach 1...so either temporarily forego this problem using a DCE and some Recycle, or a DCE and a bunch o' Fire.

Now that I've gone over nearly every aspect of Charizard, I have left to give you the Combos List! 

~Recycle Energy This is the one of the most essential cards to Charizard's use today. This will always get you out of a pinch. Attach a Recycle En. Use Fire Spin. Discard the Recycle(s). Bring them back to your hand. Attach one again next turn! This helps to keep energy coming.

~Pokèmon Breeder A Stage 2 Evolution in Standard is in heaven with a Pokemon Breeder.

~Gold Berry/Focus Band With 120 HP, a Gold Berry has an extremely high percent chance of activating, rather than hitting the discard with Charizard Knocked Out. And with an attack that deals 100, an extra turn will get you another prize.

~Ecogym This is one of the only reasons that Charizard is not played. With Super Energy Removal running rampant, Charizard is in severe danger, unless he's got 10 Energy on him  

~Gust o' Wind Normally I wouldn't list a simple card like this as a combo card. But when you need to discard 2 Energy, you don't want to spend 2 valuable Energy cards on something with 10 HP left. Instead, Gusting out some fresh meat will get the job done, and the Pokemon with 10 HP will still be on your opponent's bench, for future beating!

~Recall Rather than overkill a Pokemon with low HP, use Recall and use Charmander/Charmeleon's attacks, that don't require you to discard 2 Energy cards.

RATING:
Standard: 8/10. *hopes nobody insults me for this* 
With all these cards released, Charizard ain't half bad! And keep this one thing in mind: Not every deck uses Super Energy Removal. Especially playing against a Modified deck, you'll have a nice edge. Against another Standard deck, you'll have some difficulty, unless you have an excelling Trainer-engine.

There! I did it! Now I should be able to write anything, if I can make a great Charizard article! Dark Blastoise and Nidoking are in the future. E-mail comments, questions, requests, etc. Have fun, and just to increase your skills as a Pokemon player, try making a Charizard deck, possibly using the cards in the combo section. It will help you to be able to be creative and to judge which cards are useful. It'll also give you a nice, challenging match!

Chris
Baboonskin@aol.com