Hi Pojo,

I havn't written in a while regarding Pokemon cards in a while, but I
would like to explain where ohter's have failed in regard to probably
the most potent Team Rocket trainer card...  GOOP GAS ATTACK!

Let's look at what the card does shall we:

"All Pokemon Powers stop working until the end of your opponent's next
turn."

This means that when the card is played, all pokemon powers stop working
for the rest of the card player's turn as well as the FULL turn to
follow of the opponent.

At the beginning of the Goop Gas Attack player's next turn, all pokemon
powers are operational again.

How does this affect the game?  Well in all kinds of nasty ways!

The pokemon which are heaviest hit by the Goop Gas Attack has to be Mr.
Mime, Aerodactyl, Ditto, Base Charizard and Fossil Haunter.

If you like to play with either Mr. Mime or Fossil Haunter (or both of
these pokemon), I highly recommend to avoid playing with this card in
your deck.  Remember that this trainer will affect their powers till the
end of your opponent's next turn; therefore, they will have a free shot
at these pokemon if they are the active.

Other pokemon greatly affected are Gengar, Fossil Dragonair, and Base
Alakazam, Blastoise and Venosaur (and others).

The difference in these cases is that you can use their pokemon powers
BEFORE you play the Goop Gass Attack trainer card.  That way, they are
practically unaffected as their powers return when it's your next turn.

Stopping fossil Muk's power CANNOT be done through this card.  Sure you
can Goop gas Attack him..but that stops every pokemon's power, when it
wears off... Muk's power kicks in again; therefore, it doesn't affect
the game at all.

The deck that benefits the most from this has got to be Haymaker!

Haymaker usually uses pokemon like Scyther, Electabuzz, Hitmonchan,
Fossil Magmar, and Promo Mewtwo, which in turn DO NOT have pokemon
powers.
Raindance is a close second and could use Goop Gas to rid themselves of
those Mime's and Fossil haunter's.

Recommendations

This trainer is not one that will be broken, nor does there need to be 4
in any deck.
I personally would recommend using at least one if playing a Haymaker or
Raindance deck, possibly two, no more.

There is nothing sweeter than killing a Mime in one shot!  Killing a
haunter without having your opponent flip a coin first or watching Ditto
with 5 damage counters kill himself!

This trainer is simply down right NASTY!  No wonder it's in Team
Rocket's set!

--
Don Taylor

E-mail your thoughts to:  dtaylor@nas.net