A very re-occuring problem with the more ignorant players is the fact 
that they believe if it is a rare, then it's good. Frankly, I have several 
uncommons and commons I think are great (Lickitung, Machop). 
    Alot of people judge card greatness by the rarity symbol (star, diamond, 
circle) and that's unfair. The rarity symbol was designed for the collectors, 
not the players. 
    Look at Bill. An important addition to practically all champion decks, 
and <gasp> it's common. I LOVE Bill (the card, don't get any wrong ideas!) 
because it usually gets me the energies I need. Personally, I use a deck 
similar to one of my friends, a Haymaker, and for backup it has a couple of 
Machops. Think about it, 1 energy for 20 damage, and 50 HP. Not bad, true, 
Hitmonchan is better, but Hitmo is harder to come by. 4 Machops easily make 
up for 1 Hitmonchan in my opinion.
    Finally, to all of those who think Holo Decks are 'da bomb'. There are 
generally 2-3 Holos for each color, thus alot of Holo Decks I have seen have 
at least 5 colors in them. Get real!! Alot of Holos are stage 1 or stage 2 
evolutions, and this sucks when fighting the ever-popular Haymaker. Second, 
Holos usually take alot of energy, and third, most people don't have 2-3 of 
them, so getting the right Holo will be a miracle.
    Most of you will probably disagree with my rantings and ravings. The fact 
is I couldn't care less about how you think Hologram cards are the best thing 
that ever happened to the Pokemon TCG. I have seen pitiful Holo decks get 
torn up easily and people misjudge the game-value of uncommon and commons.

(note: this may be a bit of inconvenience, but if ye reply to this, ye will 
have to send it to luketriton@aol.com or omegaware@yahoo.com)