From: Brian Brokaw <brokaw@teleport.com>
To: Steven Diamond <diamondz@nmia.com>
Subject: Re: Question about Ditto's Power
Date: Monday, October 04, 1999 10:14 PM

> Ditto is awesome...but we have a question.
> Here's the actual text on the Ditto card:
> 
> "Pokemon Power: Transform.  If Ditto is your Active Pokemon, treat it as if
> it were the same card as the Defending Pokemon, including type, Hit Points,
> Weakness, and so on, except Ditto can't evolve, always has this Pokemon
> Power, and you may treat any Energy attached to Ditto as Energy of any
> type.  Ditto isn't a copy of any other Pokemon whiule Ditto is Asleep,
> Confused, or Paralyzed."
> 
> Now, initially it seemed pretty clear to me, and I played it very
> successfully against my wife (!), but she raised a good point:  What does
> it mean, "Ditto can't evolve."  She interprets it to mean that if I bring
> in Ditto vs. her Magicarp, thus becoming Magicarp, and on her next turn she
> evolves to Gyarados, then Ditto cannot "evolve" to become Gyarados.  If
> this is true, I would first have to retreat Ditto, then switch it in again
> to become Gyarados.  This makes sense to me, given the statement, "Ditto
> can't evolve"--otherwise, what would the statement mean?  Also, if Ditto
> could "evolve" along with the Defending Pokemon, it would be an AWEFULLY
> powerful (read "broken") card.

Whether you consider it "broken" or not, Ditto's Pokemon Power is continuous.
This means that Ditto is CONSTANTLY checking its defender for Transformation.
If Ditto's defender evolves, Ditto does too! Instantaneously!

This has its drawback however.  A Confused Ditto is useless, and it really bites
to have Ditto duping a Chansey (or some other massive-HP beast) just to get
him Gust of Wind'ed to your bench (where it reverts to a 50 HP useless card ;-)

So, Ditto's text forbids Ditto's Trainer to evolve it.
(For example, If Ditto was currently copying a Magikarp, then Ditto's
owner could NOT play a Gyarados card on top of Ditto.  Ditto can't evolve.)
However, if Ditto's opponent evolves, Ditto evolves right along with it!

It will certainly be interesting to see how many Ditto show up in Tournament 
winning decks!

Brian Brokaw