Hey everyone, here’s nikePK with my first edition of –Overlooked-, where I
talk about some cards in the Pokemon card game that aren’t used very much but
have some cool strategies to them. The first 3 Pokemon on the chopping block
are: Ariados, Lt. Surges Raticate (70hp), and Kingdra.  Today we need to know
that: G= grass energy, C= colorless energy, W= water energy
[note: This really is my 2nd edition of this, but I guess my first one got
lost…. I didn’t save the blasted thing, doh!]

First up, we’ve got our spider pal, Ariados.

Stats: Grass Type, 60hp, 1 retreat, fire weak, no resist, stage 1 from Spinarak.

Attacks: G- Spider Web: Flip a coin, if heads the defending Pokemon can’t
retreat (benching or evolving the defending pokemon ends this effect)
   GGG- Poison Bite   ( 20 ): If this attack does damage to the defending
pokemon, the defending pokemon is now poisoned and you remove a number of damage
counters from Ariados equal to half that damage (rounded up to nearest 10). If
Ariados has fewer damage counters than that, remove all of them.

 Now, I’m sure you’ve all heard of the Piloswine, Murkrow combo. If not, check
out the past weeks in May on the TCG strategies. Well, there is a weak link in
that combo. Anyone that retreats after Piloswine’s freeze attack can get rid of
the effect. Murkrow can’t mean look and retreat without mean look’s effect going
away. Solution??  Right here!! Ariados’s spider web attack makes it so that they
can’t retreat, even if Ariados is benched! Of course, this is based on a Heads
flip, but that’s the risk you gotta take. Ariados’s 2nd attack is decent. After
a successful Spider Web you can poison the opponent and remove 10 damage.
Unfortunately, his 60 hp brings his rating down, regardless if he can remove 10
or not. Combine him with Energy Removal just like in Dark Muk decks and he may
stand a chance. The problem with Ariados is that Dark Muk is a better
alternative to him except for the Murkrow Piloswine combo. All in all I give
Ariados a 5/10 because he has limited purpose and getting him and Piloswine out
is kinda hard to do.

 Next up we have Lt. Surge’s Raticate.

Stats: Colorless Type, 70hp, 1 retreat, weak to fighting, resistant to psychic,
stage 1 from Lt. Surges Rattata.
Attack: C- Super Fang   ( ? )   Does damage equal to half the defending
pokemon’s remaining HP (rounded up to nearest 10)

 YOWZA!! How awesome is this guy! And he’s an uncommon! 1 Colorless energy for
Super Fang is incredible, that’s 40 damage to 70 and 80 hp pokemon (with full HP
however). There are a few combos to use with this super powered rat. The first
one is the inevitable Jynx or Mr. Mime meditation combo. With this you do super
fang to put some damage on the opposing pokemon, then clean up with Jynx or Mr.
Mime. But my personal favorite combo that I like to use in my Surge’s Raticate
deck is with Dodrio and Rocket’s Scyther. Getting both the dodrio and the
raticate out at the same time is tough, but it can be done and not that many
people see Dodrio as a threat and won’t take him out. With Dodrio out there,
Raticate now has a free retreat cost!! So you super fang a tough pokemon and
bring his HP down to probably 40 or 30 then retreat for free and attack with a
rocket’s scyther on your bench for the KO. The only thing stopping Raticate from
dominating is that Gold Berry can stop Super Fang if you do 40 damage with it,
and Lt Surge’s Rattata can be KO’d easily on the first turn. Overall though, I
give Lt. Surge’s Raticate a 9.5/10 for his good HP, wonderfully cheap attack,
and endless combo opportunity.

Whew, coming off of Raticate, we find our self with the water dragon, Kingdra.

Stats: Water Type, 90hp, NO weakness or resistance, 2 retreat, stage 2 from
Seadra (which comes from Horsea)
Attacks: WWC- Agility   (30)  Flip a coin, If heads, during your opponent’s next
turn; prevent all effects of attacks including damage done to Kingdra.
   WWWW- Dragon Tornado   (50)   If this attack doesn’t KO the defending pokemon
and if there are any benched pokemon on your opponent’s bench, choose one of
them and switch it with the defending pokemon.

 One of the better Neo Water beasts in the set, Kingdra has some very solid
stats. 90 hp insures he’ll be around for a while, and with Agility he’ll make
your opponent really really angry! The thing that’s good about Kingdra is that
Dragon Tornado can get rid of things like Murkrow’s mean look by benching him
(if Murkrow didn’t get KO’d by it). It can also be a good substitute for Gust of
Wind in a Chaos Gym deck, even though you can’t pick who you want to bring out.
2 retreat is pretty good considering he’s a stage 2. Kingdra’s Pre evolutions
are pretty formidable, especially seadra. Combine this guy with some Gold berry
and you’ve got a 30 damage per turn monster. Half the time he can’t be hurt and
if he is, gold berry gets rid of it! Add to that, he has no weakness to hurt him
at all and you’ve got a solid pokemon. The great thing about Kingdra is that you
can use him to pound your opponent while having time to build up a powerful
bench if you get Kingdra out fast. I give Kingdra an 8/10 for having solid
attacks and stats but being a stage 2 and having his pre evolutions weak to
lightning.

Well that’s all for this report, I hope you liked it.
Got any other combos for these pokemon? Would you like to see your favorite
pokemon get a review and combinations? E-Mail me at  PANDNKENNEDY@prodigy.net
 Cya’s later!
      Pat Kennedy  (nikePK)