Hey all,

I have nothing against JoZ personally but some of his...ummm...views
struck me as weird. But regardless they are his opinions and I respect
them. But I thought I would offer a counter point to his article to give
you all a different perspective on some of these overrated and
underrated cards.

The lines in quotes are comments made by JoZ

"Scyther......Ok....let me start by sayin that Scyther isnt a bad
card.....just overused. This guy DOES NOT belong in EVERY deck..
Besides, the chances of gettin this guy fully powered by turn 2 or 3 is
slim..You need, scyther, a DCE and a grass (or other) energy..Sure it
would be great to have this in a first hand, but its unlikely.....sure
there are ways to aquire
these cards....but you would need to obtain others..such as comp search,
energy search etc. Again not very likely........"

Ok you make some valid points. But as an avid fan of Scyther I havesome
counter points. First Scythers don't have to be played in every
deck...But they can be. It is one of the most verstile cards in the game
IMHO. But you didn't take into consideration that there are numerous
ways to get Scyther powered up on turn two. Just as an example if you
play a Wiggly deck you most likely would have Bills, Oaks, Computer
Searches, etc...These cards can get you the DCE if you need it. But
regardless of that they most attractive feature about Scyther is his
retreat cost which as you may know is zero. Scyther is very, very
strong, and his weaknesses are few and far between.

"Articuno....this Bird is widely used in Raindance decks....sure hes
ok.......but hes far to energy intensive...3 W energy for only 30
damage? Why settle for that when you could use a Base Gyarados and get
50 damage for the same price?? Plus Blizzard has the chance to help your
opponent by hurtin YOUR bench...sure its a 50% chance...but still...."

Now I have never been a fan of Raindances, but I do have a lot of
respect for them because I would be a fool to just write them off. On a
completely different subject people who DO bash archtypes are very petty
and unskilled IMO. Anyways Articuno does belong in Raindances...Because
he can do some serious and major damage once Blastoise is out and you
can use deck to it's fullest potential. But you make the arguement of
why not use Base Gyardos instead. Well that's because people would
rather not waste space with Magikarp. Magikarp basically begs to be
GOWed and knocked out with it's low hp of 30. Gyardos is great but
Magikarp is to big of a drawback to ignore.

"Moltres.....This guy wastes energy too..Yeah Wildfire can provide for a
great deck.(hahaha) in which the object is to deck your
opponent....personally, that wastes too much time....plus, you must
consider that you need an abundence of Fire energy for this deck to be
successful...at least with the Evil Psychic stalls no energy is
required....."

Ok...Moltres isn't all that good...I'll admit that:-) But if a player
can use him successfully then more power to him!:-) Moltres has it's
place in some fire decks and it's attack ,while depending on a coin
flip, can be worthwhile if you have some skill with the coin I suppose.
Personally ,in my fire deck (which is rather good), Moltres is not
needed so I can't speak with first hand experience because I have never
used the Legendary Bird.

"GOW.....Ok, yeah GOW lets you switch an opponents Active and Defending
Pokemon...big deal...sure its effective when your an Electabuzz and you
opp. is a Hitmonchan...but thats about all."

Ok, this one I totally DISAGREE with you on. GOW's are perhaps one of
the most powerful trainers in the game. They serve a variety of
purposes. InWiggly Decks, Raindances, Haymakers, and many other popular
or original decks I can see GOW being a intergral part. Test it out
JoZ...Use it in conjuction with Plus Powers. A well timed GOW can be
disastrous to your opponent. Believe me, I play GOW's in almost all of
my decks. They are truly a underrated and powerful trainer card.

"Lapras....Also used in Raindance..he aint that bad..i mean he IS a
basic...but come on! 3 W energy for 30? Just like Articuno...and Confuse
Ray? Thats energy that should be on Blastoise....."

Lapras is good as well in raindances. 3 W for 30 damage is a true
statement...But you only need one energy to start attacking. Lapras is a
good staller if you short on basics or energys in the early goings and
can be a powerful attacker late in the game. Also is makes a fine Mr.
Mime killer in a day and age where Mime's are in many psychic decks.

"Wigglytuff: This guy is like Scyther...everyone thinks they can get one
FULLY POWERED ON TURN 2!!!!!! Again slim chance of that happenin You
Need Jiggly, Wiggly a DCE and Another energy....yeah REAL good chance of
that....(plus u
need a full bench...uh huh.and the likelyhood of u gettin a Challenge!
aint much better)"

Ok...Have you ever played a Wiggly Deck? I do...I play 4 Bills, 4 Oaks,
and 3 Computer Searches in mine. Who ever said you need a challenge to
get a full bench. Wiggly decks are designed to be fast and are designed
to get you a full bench in quick fashion. And Wiggly/Jiggly is a great
combo...Jigglypuff is a great attacker and can hold is own in my
experiences. And Wiggly is simply awesome played right. You also said it
woul be hard to power him up...NAY! In a Wiggly deck it is usually
rather easy...And if you can't do it as quick asyou want...That's where
Chans and Scythers (or others) come in...They are you first line of
attack...Wiggly is brought out once you bench is full and he's powered.

Now I'll take a look at your underrated picks...

"The Whole Golem Line: I dont understand why everyone hates these
guys..they arent that bad. (except for Geodude) Graveler Does a soild 40
damage for 1FF..not bad.....plus for FF he can stall for time against
lower level hitters. (gee he can resist damage from the ever popular
HITMONCHAN AND ELECTABUZZ) Golem does a whoppin 60 Damage for1FFF...he
needs less energy then Blastoise and does the Same amount of Damage!!..
Sure he only has 80 hp and is a stage 2...so is Alakazam yet he is
praised as one of the best Pokemon in the game..why? All becuz of his
Power...(im not sayin that Kazam
sux) thats unfair..course retreat of 4 is not good"

Just a quick comment...I am picking up a disliek for Psychic
decks...It's some small comments that have led me to this:-) Try playing
a Psy deck sometime...They are fun and take some skill to play with
efficently. But I digress. Golem? Sorry friend but that Golem series is
two slow and energy costly...Granted their attacks are decent. But
simply put there are better pokemon them them to be used. And also
comparing Golem and Alakazam is really a poor choice since both ,despite
having the same hp and being stage two's, are totally different and
geared towards different themes and different decks.

"Poliwrath...This guy is one of the better Water Pokemon out there.yet
people ignore him..For 2WW he can act as an Energy Removal and deal a
solid 40 damage thats pretty good why waste space with Removals when u
could have him?
Plus a 50 damage Water Gun aint bad (sure its expensive but still good)
90 Hp is solid plus not bein weak against Electabuzz is a plus."

Once again like I said with Golem...In regards to the Poliwrath
line...Simply put their are better pokemon on hand to use then him.
Dewgong leaps to mind...The Energy Removal aspect of 'wrath is alluring
,I'll grant you that, but it is not that powerful that I would play him
in my raindance. Plus being a stage two hurts since Poliwags and
Poliwhirls...Are not the best out there to say the least.

"Nidoqueen...A real Powerhouse. 2GG for 50? No Coin flip? hey not bad at
all. A DCE would help her immensly 90 again solid...psy weakness...a
weakness 3 retreat...Switch anyone??"

Nidoqueen is decent...But I could think of a few better Pokemon then her
to put in it's place. But you mentioned switch...Switch is a good
card...But it is not the best. In some decks it is useful. But in my
experiences it just takes up deck space. But to each player his own. I'm
sure some players can use switch to maximum efficency.

"Snorlax....Why dont people like him? He is one of the best stallers in
the game.. His Power speaks for itself not bein affected by status
changes? Thats worth it right there...sure his attack is energy
intensive and not very powerful, but the possible Paralyze is ok."

Chansey. Chansey is better end of story...He's a better staller then
Snorlax...Plus have you looked at Snorlax's retreat cost...Take a gander
at it sometime and let me know what you think.Chansy's retreat cost is a
mere 1 E...Snorlax cons don't outweigh the pros...He should be used if
you don't have the Chansey's available...But if you DO then their are no
excuses.

"Thankx For readin, i hope this will make some of you Think twice bout
some of the cards bein put down...."

Thanks for the article. I hope you like some of the points I made. If
you want, e-mail me, and we'll talk some more

In fact if anyone has any comments for me mail me at

dragonball@intergrafix.net

Later,

Super Vegeta