Duz pounced upon Blaine's Charizard, but has failed to mention other
mitigating factors.  While Blaine's Charizard might not be the best
pokemon, it is far from the worst.  Even just by being a Blaine's
Pokemon, he has some use.

1) His first attack, Fire Breath, is actually pretty good.  You assume
that you are only going to use it to do 100 damage.  But the advantage
with him is that you don't have to.  1 fire energy for 20 energy is
pretty good.  Granted, not as good as it would be in a basic pokemon,
but still decent.
The worst disadvantage of discarding attacks is that on the next turn
you dont have the energy to do anything.  But with this attack, you will
ALWAYS have at least one energy the next turn, no matter how many cards
you discard.  You then (usually) have three options open:  Attack with
fire breath for 20, attach an energy and fire breath for 40, or attach
an energy and use Fire Flight.

2) Fire Flight (Edo calls it Blaze Fly) is a great option, but should
only be used as such.  While relying on a coin flip is horrid, it can
save a game.  In one hit, it can KO pokemon that sit on the bench till
they evolve:  Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Magikarp just to name a few.  And
if your opponent doesn't have a pokemon on his bench, you can always
Fire Breath for at least 40.  And it can go through opponent's bench
warmers (Blastoise, etc.) in short order.

3)  The trainer card "Blaine."  It allows you to add an extra energy to
your Blaine Pokemon.  Not only does it speed a deck up (you won't
believe how quickly), but can be a great surprise.  Fire breath for 100
two turns in a row!  You might say that Charizard can do the same with a
single DCE, but a) Muk doesn't stop Blaine's Charizard, and b) while
DCE+Charizard is a known and common combo, repeated 100 damage from
Blaine's Charizard has the element of surprise.

4)  The Cinnibar Island Gym.  It eliminates all Blaine's Pokemon's
weakness to water.  The main reason Fire is so unpopular is that it has
an almost unilateral weakness to water, and Raindance makes a mono-water
deck very viable.  Also, up to and including Neo and Southern Islands,
no pokemon is resistant to fire (and two types are generally weak to
it).  Of course, this can be said of every fire pokemon, but still,
reasons 3 and 4 make a Blaine deck (with Blaine's Charizard) look very
appealing.

-Ad Infinitum
nowandforever@netscape.net