Dear PoJo,
  Love the site!  I'm writing this article in response to a recent
outrage at my local Electronics Boutique.  They have jacked their
Jungle Booster pack prices to $5! 5 bucks for a 2nd edition pack of
Jungle! It's an outrage.  H*** I'd rather buy from the local second
hand dealer, same price.

  Well, this tells some secrets of how to get cheap bargains, and how
to trim down your expenses looking for those cards you need, and a few
nice replacements.
First let's look at what is hot and not.

Rare Hots
  These are most of the well known and used cards and usually can't be
replaced.  They are loved for their PokePowers, HP, or attack.  They
include Alakazam, Blastoise, and Scyther.(Kinda Pointless part, but ya
gotta start somewhere.)

Rare Nots
Dugtrio- This guy is a powder keg.  Fair HP for a Stage 1, and massive
attacks, his Earthquake is devastating to your own bench.  Plus his
massive energy requirements, weakness to grass, Diglett(Worst basic, I
think he's worse than a Magikarp.) and the rise of the faster
Hitmonchan have sent him on the way out.
Pidgeotto- With the flop of his evolved form Pidgeot, and Pidgeotto's
weak attacks, Whirlwind and Mirror Move, his reign over bird Colorless
ended before it ever started.
Mewtwo- First he sucked, and now he's illegal. Although he has made a
comeback in the Mulligan deck, he's still 
not worth the risk in a DCI tourney.

Uncommon Hots
Arcanine- Yeah this guy is very hot! In fact he's on fire! Alright,
I'll cut out he jokes.  A big beefy stage-1 with two very potent
attack, coupled with some potions and super potions, this is one big
dog.
Dewgong- The poor man's Gyarados.  Great for mono-water or multi-color
decks, and cheap on the budget, this baby dragon is the answer to your
best friends Charizard.
Farfetch'd- THE KING OF ALL UNCOMMONS! A must for most decks(Raindance
decks excluded).  A favorite of haymakers and anti-haymakers alike!

Uncommon Nots
Magikarp- The king of the uncommon nots.  Insanely weak, he is pretty
bad...not as bad as Diglett but a close second.
Nidorino- OUCH! Like Dugtrio, he is quite powerful, but with a crappy
60HP he might not survive to use his costly attacks.
Parasect- A weak slash attack and spore, coupled with low HP and
dispopularity in the new grass field, poor Parasect never stood a
chance.

  Alright, now we've seen some of the hots and nots, let's see what we
can do to make your cash strapped deck a little better.
Rule 1- Trade, atleast try to.  If you have say, an Alakazam, and your
building or using a Water/Electric deck, try to trade it for an
Electrabuzz or two or perhaps a coupla of Dewgongs or if you prefer a
little more power, a Gyarados.
Rule 2- Try the Theme Decks, if you find a few cards that you need, try
to acquire it...for retail value of course, between 10-15 dollars.
Rule 3- Know the approx. value of a card your looking for.  These can
be found on many internet sites or in magazines like Inquest Gamer.
Rule 4- Look in odd places for boosters and the Theme Decks.  Try
Waldenbooks, Spencer's Gifts, or Barnes and Noble to just name a few
places that carry cards.
  
  lright, now you know how to find a bargain, let's see if we can't
swap out some of those more expensive dream cards of yours with
uncommons and commons.

Computer Searches and Pokemon Traders- Unfortunately there are no
reliable replacements for these two. Although the Pokeball trainer is a
step in the right direction.
Gyarados and Poliwrath- Try Dewgong, a little less bang than Gyarados
or Poliwrath, but a lot less pain on your wallet.
Charizard- Arcanine is a fair replacement, although nothing can really
replace this big guy.
Chansey- Easily replaced with a Lickitung or Onix.

  Alright, hope you learned something on looking for a bargain and
finding cheap replacements for those holo dreams of yours!
Note: Many cards were left on this...On the pros were Bill, Prof Oak,
Comp. Search, Poke Breeder...on the cons were Clefairy, De-evolution
spray, and Victreebel.

-CJ
Current Decks: Tidal Surge Turbo v1.1; 37-5, Power Surge-Gamma;16-4
Playday Record: 44-5





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