Dear Pojo,

This Letter Is to respond to the Question of WHERE IN THE WORLD IS TYLER.  I
have decided to give the world MY opinion on the new expansion (well
semi-new now) Jungle.  I MUST admit, I have not participated in any tourneys
since May.  This is because I have moved back to my hometown in Wisconsin,
and have found there to be no Tourneys here.  I was spoiled in St. Louis,
there was plenty of cards to buy, which in turn, creates the Tourney
environment needed.  Even though I haven't tested these cards in a
competitive environment, I believe I know enough about the game to know my
opinions are warranted.

Jungle EXPANSION set is exactly what an expansion set SHOULD BE!  I have
many years of experience in the game of Magic the Gathering, and have found
the expansion sets to be much more powerful, and more used than the Base
sets.  An expansion set is INTENDED to be a new crop of cards for the player
to choose from to ADD to the Base set as needed. NOT to completely take
over.  Jungle does this VERY well.  There is really no possibility in
making a successful JUNGLE only deck.  I respect this immensely.  The
Japanese KNOW how to make good CCG's, maybe Wotc should study more...:)

The HOT picks from this set for me are....

Exeggcute --      Nice HP (50) fro a basic.....Guarenteed sleep with Psi,

                     and a Wonderful recovery attack for green. Generally I dislike two enerygy

                   requirements to do any damage, but THIS is an exception.  usually by the

                  time you GET the energy needed your Pokemon is damaged WAY too far to

                 survive, but this one has a solution, heal himself.  ...its a BIT of a weak

                  attack, but in the right situations a real...bitch:)

Scyther --    OOOh, SCYTHER...mmmmmm....juicy:)  I love this guy.  ANOTHER

             one to add to the three bully Brothers...(Electrabuzz, Hitmonchan, and Jynx)

             But this one STOPS Hitmonchan, and has the punch to make all three quiver.:)

             This guy is wonderful.  RESISTANCE to fighting! AND a Huge HP??!!   thats

             too good to be true.  He is all round a great Basic pokemon.  You'll see him

             in my decks for sure.

Mr. Mime -- I'm Sure everyone sees the power of this guy.  A Pokemon power at the basic level that is as AWESOME
            as that, HAS got to be put on my most wanted list:)   this guy is better than a onix...  hmm, maybe HE will
            go in other decks OTHER than Psi...:)  that would be fun.  Even though he is the ONLY addition to Psi, hes a
            good one.  His low HP sucks, but his attacks makes him a valuable asset.
 
CLEFABLE!!!!!!!!! -- I can't say enough good things about this guy.  He is god...lol.  Too bad hes a stage one
               evolution.  I can't believe they made a pokemon that can do ANYTHING THE OPPONENT can do with only
               ONE colorless!!  wow...just LOOK how small that charizard is now...lol.  Now, he is a BIT less usefull
                against blue, but who cares... he now has the HP to handle a good fight, and come away from it alive.
 
Jigglypuff -- ok, this guy may seem a little strange to be on my want list, but I couldn't pass him up....  If he was
           colored, he wouldn't be so usefull, but he is colorless... thats good...a 60HP basic that can do 20 damage OR
           a guarenteed sleep is one Annoying pokemon staller.  He's not quite a Chansey, but you could stall the
           game for a long time with this guy (if your opponent sucks at coin flips..lol).
 
Tauros -- in general, i dont like pokemon that have no one energy attacks, but he makes it "ok".  his two colorless      
          attack has a possibility to do 30 damage first turn ( another first turn killer...hmm, must be on my list) AND his
          3 energy attack is a REAL good wopper for late attacks.  max of 70 damage with only 3...hmm nice.  he is
          another GOOD colorless pokemon.
 
Thats it.  Sorry, Pokeball sucks.  I'm SURE I'll see a good number of "lucky" players play them successfully, but they are 
not for me.  Toooooo much randomization. i was hopeing for more trainers...oh well....
 
All in all the set is real good, I think if there is anything color wise it did was hurt blue.  I see no 
trong pokemon to help the color out, AND the addition to Scyther really hurts the Rain Dance decks.  
I KNOW they won't stop them from popping up at Tournys, but The Two colors Yellow and Green together 
hurts that nasty Blue Baheamoth(sp?)..lol.  Another color it hurts is fighting.  Mainly because of the 
large fighting resistance pokemon that are out now.  Thats ok though, fighting is a real nasty color, 
its good to see it regulated a bit more.   (but don't expect me to play with it much more....   green is my new fav.)
 
Ok, well, thats it.  I'm not going to post my deck right now.  I really don't want to until I've 
played at least ONE game with it.  I go and shovel it out to you guys, and I end up giving you 
Sh*t....exuse my French:)   ...by the way, im still tossing up the idea of letting go 
Farfetch'd..but i haven't made my mind up yet... I'll have to playtest the deck out a few 
times first. 

I hope my "wisdom" will help some of you out...and someday I hope to get back into the 
tournament scene once again...but who knows.
 
Til' some other day
TYLER GRUND 
tylergrund@hotmail.com