In Team Rocket, there is a card that, once released, will dominate
decks:  Evil Dragonair (E.D.).  It's stats are not the greatest, but it
has the single best pokemon power in the game.

(Note:  Many stats are taken from the Apprentice patch and are subject
to change.)


Stats:
60 hp (poor for an evolution)
2 energy retreat cost (mediocre)
Stage one evolution (slow...)
(3) Tail Attack (20+)
    Flip a coin.  If heads, this attack does 40 damage
    (3 energy is WAY too much for a 20pt attack,
    especially on an evolution)
Pokemon Power:  Evolving Ray
    Once per turn, if E.D. is in play, you may search your deck for an
    evolution card and put it in your hand.  (This is where it shines.)
Resistance to Psychic (A nice bonus, particularly with no weakness.)



Since it is colorless, there is much versatility in this card.  No more
computer searching to get your Charizard out.  No more waiting for your
Blastoise to start rain dancing and hydro-pumping.  But the real power
lays in more subtle uses and combos:


E.D. + Pokemon Breeder:  Use E.D. to get a stage 2 evolution out of your
deck; use the breeder to play it on your Basic Pokemon on the same
turn.  You can conceivably have a Blastoise out on the second turn; how
would you like that in your Rain Dance deck?

E.D. + Evil Dragonite (Team Rocket):  Evil Dragonite is a great
compliment to E.D.  The Stage Two evolution has a pokemon power that
allows you to search your deck and play three basic pokemon directly
from your deck.  Previous to playing the Evil Dragonite, use E.D. to
pull out the evolutions to those pokemon into your hand, and on the next
turn, evolve them all!  This combo is made easier by the fact that E.D.
can search for Evil Dragonite by itself.

E.D. + Slam!  Challenge Letter (Team Rocket):  Slam!  Challenge Letter
offers the opponent a choice; he can let you have basically a "Bill"
effect, or he can have both players fill up their benches from their
reserve decks.  Use E.D. to evolve them.

E.D. + The Bosses' Methods (Team Rocket):  The Bosses' Methods lets you
take E.D. (or any Evil Variation) into hand.  E.D. will take it from there.

E.D. + Bellsprouts, Nidorans, etc.:  Use call for family, then E.D.
to evolve them.

Any of the combos above + Wigglytuff:  Can anybody say, "Do the wave?"
Also, since both E.D. and Wigglytuff are colorless, they can fit into almost
any deck, and give Psychics a really hard time.  And you can use E.D. to get
the Wigglytuff out!



Now, E.D. is NOT invulnerable.  Aerodactyl and Mew can make his ability
useless, however, with an Itemfinder and E.D.'s ability, you can quickly
get your evolutions out, and then play your own Aerodactyl to stop your
opponent from evolving his Pokemon, making them easy prey.  Mew can be more of
a nuisance, but send E.D. out against him personally to defeat the little guy;
the resistance makes E.D. immune to damage from Mew, and Devolution beam only
stalls for time (without Aerodactyl.  With Aerodactyl in play, use Gust of
Wind and a powerful pokemon to survive).  Also troubling is Moltres; running
out of cards is a very unpleasant way to lose.  Use Maintenance and Night
Garbage Retrieval (Team Rocket) to buy a few more turns of life.  And of
course, if all four Dratini's and/or all two/three E.D's are prizes, a deck
based around this concept is going to suffer.

Nonetheless, this card will have some decks based around it.  I propose
to call these Evilution decks (got a nice ring to it, doesn't it?).  One
variation will no doubt utilize Wigglytuff plus "Call for Family" type
creatures.  Another one may concentrate on Fossils, and another on
Eevee.  There will probably be a blending of E.D. and Raindance, and one
with the Venusaur/Charizard combo.  A colorless version with Wigglytuff
and Dodrio along with Slam!  Challenge Letter, Lickitung, D.C.E., Full
Heal Energy and Potion Energy could  work (and be fun to play).  Also
one with nothing  but Nidorans might appear.  Nidoqueen's Love Love
Attack could well be worth 100 points damage in that deck (for only 1G,
and no discard!  Say goodbye to Charizard!), using Evil Dragonite in
combination with the typical Call for Family.  And a Damage Swap
Eviloution deck could be nice; use E.D. to evolve Alakazam (Also Evil
Alakazam, with his teleport attack:  Hit for good damage, then bring out
a wall, all in the same turn), and Evil Dragonite can pull
chanseys/lickitungs/etc. to help.

This card is going to seriously impact the card game, when released.
Also, did I mention that the card is only uncommon?  No serious Pokemon:
TCG player can afford to ignore this card.


-Ad Infinitum
nowandforever@netscape.net