Before you go to the bank and take out a loan to buy a truckload of Team
Rocket cards, you just might want to go back and blow the dust off your old
Base Set binder.  You might find some cards that can beat the pants off these
new, weak Team Rocket cards.  One card in particular that comes to my mind is
an oldie but a goodie, Nidoking.  Now I'll just sit down and write a
little...OK, a lot:)...about Nidoking and why he is a good card.  No annoying
dialogues between me and Pokémon, no cheesy entrances or conversations, no
outrageous claims that I have a deck that's never lost; just some arguements
to persuade you to give Nidoking a try since he functions pretty well in the
current environement.  In case you forgot, here's his stats:

Nidoking-Stage 2, Grass (From Nidorino)
90 HP
[2G] Thrash (30+) Flip a coin.  If heads, add ten damage to this attack.  If
tails, Nidoking does 10 damage to himself.
[GGG] Toxic (20) The defender is now poisoned.  The poison damage inflicts 20
damage after each players' turn instead of 10. (Even if it was already
poisioned.)
Weakness[P]     Resistance[None]        Retreat Cost[3]

So now you're wondering why this guy is so good and why you should drop your
Dark Muks and Dark Charizards and pick this guy up.  Well, here's why.  Think
of some of the most popular Pokémon in the environment right now.  Names that
come to mind are Electabuzz, Hitmonchan, Wigglytuff, Blastoise and his
raindance buddies, Movie Mewtwo, and a whole slew of others.  Most of these
Pokémon share one thing in common: pretty high retreat costs.  This helps the
Nidoking player immensely.  When you use toxic, you'll be getting 40 damage
right off the bat and a solid 20 damage per turn in addition to your regular
attacking.  Your opponent will realize that he/she is in a heap of trouble
and is going to have to get that Pokémon out of the active position quick. 
Since a lot of the popular cards (but not all of them, mind you) have pretty
steep retreat costs, this will either make the game hard for your opponent by
forcing him or her to discard lots of valuable energy or, if he or she can't
retreat, give you an easy KO within the next 2 turns or so.

Now that Team Rocket is out and many players are including the new Dark
Pokémon in their decks, Nidoking is more powerful than ever before.  Most of
the popular "Darks" have one thing in common: lower HP than usual while
retaining rather expensive retreat costs.  Nidoking will take a huge chunk of
their HP away with a Toxic and then they'll have to get away at a cost of two
or three energy, or stick around and get killed.  The Rockets that seem to be
in every other person's deck these days, with their relatively low HP, will
not stand a chance against Nidoking.

Nidoking is also good for a lot of other reasons.  90 HP is really solid and
is going to make sure he stays out there for a while.  Also, the two attacks
make for a great combo against almost any foe.  Poison them bad one turn and
then come back and hit them with Thrash, which is essentially Buzz's
Thunderpunch for one extra colorless energy.  These two attacks, when used in
succession, combined with the poison damage can result in a total of 110-120
damage over only two of your turns.  And that's assuming your opponent isn't
weak on grass.  Since no Pokémon are resistant to grass (at least not yet,
anyway) you're not going to need to worry about your damage being prevented
too much.  In addition, even if your opponent has a low retreat cost, they
can only run and hide for so long before the steady damage that Nidoking
dishes out every turn starts to catch up on them.  Also think about the solid
combo of Nidoking's Toxic+Pluspower.  You can do a total of 70 damage to
eliminate Haymaker Basics while only attacking once!

Nidoking, like every good card out there, does have his bad sides, though. 
His retreat cost of 3 is really high.  You can get around this pretty easily
though by using the Switch trainer card.  Adding an extra Double colorless
energy also makes this mammoth retreat a little easier to handle.  Perhaps
his biggest weakness is the one listed as his weakness on the card.  Psychic
Pokémon are going to give him a lot of trouble and probably take him down
pretty quickly due to the weakness.  This can also be avoided, however.  Just
pack some tough, Psychic resistant Pokémon for support.  A Chansey,
Kangaskhan, or even a Tauros will wipe that smirk off your opponent's face
right away.  Having a Haymaker Pokémon on the bench can also help you get
back at Psychics since they can usually hurt the Psychics bad since they
don't have phenominal HP.  You might lose Nidoking if you can't switch him
out of the active position, but you won't lose the war if you have powerful
Psy-Resistant or Haymaker Pokémon ready to back him up.  SER also hurts this
monster.  Taking two of his energy away leaves him helpless for at least a
turn but if you managed to get your Toxic in already or have something that
can back him up on the bench, you'll probably be able to get away without
falling too far behind your opponent.  Also provide backup for dealing with
Pokémon that can dish out a lot of damage in one blow such as Arcanine as
Nidoking will not last long against them.  Lastly, his preevolved forms
aren't the best going.  They can, however, hold their own and you can skip
Nidorino all together using breeder.

So here are some final tips for making a deck that revolves around Nidoking:
1. Rely mainly on Breeder for getting up to Nidoking.  If Mew is widely used
in your area, include a Nidorino or two just in case since they aren't really
that bad.
2. Support your Nidoking!  Make sure you have some powerful basics and some
basics that are resistant to Psychic to counter the big guy's weakness.
3. Include lots of card drawing and searching power.  You want to get
Nidoking out as soon as possible so his lower forms don't get killed off
before he makes an appearance.
4. Use gust of wind to your advantage.  Gust out a Pokémon with high retreat,
no energy, or a grass weakness and just beat down on it.
5. Pack some Plus Powers.  You'll get more damage done quicker that way and
you can KO a typical Haymaker basic using only one Toxic.
6. Energy Removals and Super Removals are a must.  The beatdown is so much
easier if your opponent can't pay retreat costs or fight back.
7. Try to stay mono-grass.  You can do this since grass Pokémon have
weaknesses to different types (fire/psychic).  If you pysically can't, only
add only one other color in the form of a low energy attacker.
8.**MOST IMPORTANT** Don't try to cram other evolutions into a deck with
Nidokings.  You'll just end up drawing the wrong thing all the time and
you'll never manage to get an evolution to the table fast enough.  Not to
mention the fact that he doesn't need THAT much support.  Only use supporting
basics in conjunction with Nidoking.  I can't think of any instance when you
want another evolution in this kind of deck.

If you read this far, congratulations.  Give Nidoking a try.  I think you'll
be surprised with the results you get.  Don't waste your precious money
(which you're going to need to buy Gym cards!) on Team Rocket.  Just find
ways to make all the people that did stock up on it cry.

-Jim
<A HREF="mailto:MrRK9@aol.com">MrRK9@aol.com</A>