Hi Pojo!  This article is going to be about Giovanni's Machop and its
evolutions.  Here are some spoilers and my opinions about these cards.

Giovanni's Machop
lv 18    50 HP
one colorless energy: 10 damage
2 fighting energies: 20x, flip a coin, if heads, this attack does 20 damage
times the number of damage counters on Giovanni's Machop.
Retreat: -1
Weakness: Psychic
Resistance: none
Rarity: common

This card is a pretty good start to this evolution line.  The first attack
is your basic one energy for ten damage.  The second attack is risky due to
the coin flip, but it is worth trying if G's Machop has a couple of damage
counters on it.  50 HP is pretty good, this allows it to stay out for a few
rounds. 

Giovanni's Machoke
lv 36    80 HP
1 fighting energy: 60 damage, flip a coin.  If tails, this attack deals no
damage to the Defending Pokemon, and G's Machoke deals 100 damage to itself.
2 fighting and 1 colorless energies: 20+ damage, flip a coin, if heads, this
attack deals an additional 20 damage and the Defending Pokemon is now
Paralyzed.
Retreat: -2
Weakness: Psychic
Resistance: none
Rarity: uncommon

This Machoke sort of reminds me of Base set Machoke with its first attack.
60 damage for one energy is awesome, but I strongly recommend either
attaching a couple of defenders or using a double-headed coin :)  The second
attack is pretty good too, with a potential 40 damage and paralysis.  My
recommendation:  use a Pokemon Breeder to skip this stage if at all
possible, and if not, stick to the second attack if you have bad luck with
the coin flips!!

Giovanni's Machamp
lv 50    100 HP
Pokemon Power:  When G's Machamp is knocked out, flip a coin.  If heads, G's
Machamp is not KO'd, and has 10 HP left.  This power stops working when G's
Machamp is Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed when it is knocked out.
3 fighting and 1 colorless energies: 30x, flip 4 coins.  This attack does 30
damage times the number of heads.
Retreat: -3
Weakness: Psychic
Resistance: none
Rarity: Holofoil

That Pokemon Power is AWESOME!!!!!  This is one of the few cards that can
remain alive after Base Charizard's Fire Spin, is the only card (except for
lily pad mew!) that can stay alive after B's Arcanine hits you for 120
damage, and this power can also give all the psychics (and everyone else!) a
royal headache trying to KO it.  The attack is pretty good too.  4 energies
for an average of 60 damage (at least for me and most of my friends, we
usually get heads 50% of the time), with the potential to do up to 120
damage (or 30 or 0, if you're having a REALLY bad day!) is a really good
attack.  This pokemon can take a lot of damage and dish out a lot of damage
too.

Too bad the Gym sets won't be out in the States for a while; some of the
cards are really good, and this set is a pretty good set (actually, it's one
of my favorite evolution groups in the entire Gym 2 series, although my #1
favorite evo. line form Gym 2 would really benifit from the Psy weakness!
Sabrina's Abra and company are probably going to be in my next article). 

Bye!
Rachael

Agree?  Disagree?  Please send emails (and no hate mail, please!!) to
ninetails_2@excite.com.
 





_______________________________________________________
Get 100% FREE Internet Access powered by Excite
Visit http://freelane.excite.com/freeisp