With the creation of the first English only promo card, Dark Raichu,
WotC has presented players with an interesting dilemma.  Never before in
the history of the game have two cards, Dark Raichu and Raichu (fossil),
been so similar.  The question thus becomes clear:  Which should a
person include in their deck?

I have not included Base Set Raichu in this comparison.  Except for
evolving from the same pokemon, there is really no reason for comparison
between that card and these two.  Base Set Raichu is a fighter, pure and
simple, with a great one-two combination of Agility and Thunderbolt.
The Dark and Fossil Raichus are meant as Bench attackers, and are most
often combined with Gengar.

At first, Fossil Raichu looks like it has everything going for it.  90
HP is the second highest level for a Stage 1.  Currently, only two other
Stage 1's have more HP (Arcanine and Gyarados) and only one other has
the same amount (Hypno).  While Dark Raichu's attack certainly has more
potential, it relies on Geodude-style coin flipping.  And Fossil
Raichu's doesn't.

Dark Raichu has one major thing going for it, though:  His attack only
takes 3 lightning energy, and Fossil's takes 4.  It doesn't seem like
such a huge deal, does it?  Three, four, what's the difference?  In the
Pokemon TCG:  Huge.  That's one less turn your Pikachu will have to fend
for itself before you evolve.  Or it's one less turn that your Raichu
will have to wait around doing nothing before being able to attack.  The
turn less actually balances out the difference in HP.  Dark Raichu might
be KOed earlier, but it can start attacking earlier as well.  It's a
choice between being active and passive play styles, and usually, the
active tactic will come out on top.

Thus, the difference boils down to the text of each Raichu's attacks.
Fossil's has the benefit of calculation.  Random factors can be
extremely hurtful in a Bench Disruption deck; coin flip guessing and
Curse do not mix well.  On the other hand, Dark Raichu does have the
benefit of possibly hitting ALL of your opponent's pokemon, which can
limit your opponent's possibilities to disrupt your plans.

So you ask, "Which Raichu should I use in my bench disruption deck?"  I
answer, "Does the potential of Dark Raichu justify the risk?"  The only
person who can decide that is you.

Now, there are a few atypical bench disruption decks out there.  One
such deck is the mono-electric one.  This type of deck tries to fry all
the opponent's pokemon at once.  While I don't agree with this
philosophy of deck (KOed pokemon are or should be much more of a setback
than a mere prize, drawing 4 or 5 at once, late in the game, is
wasteful), I would recommend Dark Raichu for it.  Dark Raichu's attack
complements that philosophy.

There is also the mono-psychic bench disruption deck.  I sometimes play
one of these myself, using the Curse-Meditate combo with colorless
pokemon to battle, well, other colorless pokemon.  Which Raichu should
be used with this deck?  Guess.  ;)

I have focused on Bench disruption so far, since that is what these
cards have most in common.  There is one other possible difference
between Dark Raichu and Fossil Raichu, however.  Fossil Raichu's only
real use is with bench disruption, but Dark Raichu can hold his own in a
fight.  3 for 30 is not all that good, but it's not horrid.  If only one
heads is flipped (statistically, in two turns this should happen), 10
damage is given to all the defending pokemon, which can bridge the
all-important 70-60 gap.  And, apart from it failing, there is no
drawback like there is for Fossil Zapdos, Articuno etc.  70 HP for a
stage one is decent.  With Movie Promo Pikachu, he can start attacking
on the second turn.  Use with Challenge and a lot of pokemon with 60 HP
attacks (Base Zapdos, maybe Base Raichu).



Ad Infinitum
nowandforever@netscape.net