Hello Everyone,

My name is Oracle and I am making a continuing set of articles about some of
the Common and Uncommon cards that (Used Properly) can be just as effective
as the Rares and Holofoils that everyone sees nowadays.

Anyway, I will start out with some of the cards from the fossil set, since I
am most familiar with them.

OK.  Here we go!

First Of, The Ekans/Arbok Family.

These Pokémon are pretty good for being Common and Uncommon. A basic
Pokémon, 1 retreat cost, who for two energies does Wrap, which Does 20
damage with a chance to paralyze.  Also any card with the chance to poison,
(as does Ekans), is always good to have, especially with the low HP of most
grass Pokémon.

Now on to Arbok, 3 energy, 20 Damage, 50% chance of poison, which is pretty
good for a Stage 1 Pokémon.  I agree that this is not the BEST uncommon
card, but for those who do not have a great selection of cards, this is a
viable selection.

Now on to Zubat/Golbat.

OK. At first when I saw Zubat i have to admit I wasn't too thrilled, but as
soon as I saw Golbat, I tried him out immediately, and what do I find?  A
great combo of attacks!

First for Zubat, I admit that 2 energy is a bit high for a 50% confusions,
however Leech life can be very helpful, especially in dealing with
Haymakers, the resistance to fighting, plus the Removal of the damage
counter from zubat, makes him very well equipped to deal with Hitmonchan, or
any other fighting Pokémon for that matter.  What I just mentioned paired
with no retreat cost, makes this a very well equipped Basic Pokémon.

And Golbat,  wow..  Can you say, Mini-Scyther.  It has the exact same 3
Colorless Energy 30 attack, no retreat cost, and lacking only in the HP
department compared to Scyther (and of course the evolution).  Also the
Leech Life is very useful against the big-hitting Pokémon, reducing a 50
attack to 30, or even 10 if you are lucky enough to get weakness (as in the
case of some fighting Pokémon)

The last Pokémon I will be reviewing for this article is the all-new Fossil
Magmar.

This Pokémon is just the best, period.  With a great Stalling attack
(Smokescreen) and a Huge Offensive Attack (Smog) this makes it an awesome
choice for any fire deck.  As soon as this card came out, I completely
changed my deck to add fire, just so I could use this Pokémon!  Just an
example, here is how a Typical beginning to a game could go.


BEGIN OF GAME
YOU: Magmar
OPPONENT: Scyther
You win the flip


Your Turn 1
Put an energy Under Magmar, and do smokescreen, 20 to scyther (because of
weakness)

Opponent Turn 1. Put an energy Under Scyther, Possibly doing Swords Dance

Your Turn 2
Put an energy Under Magmar, do smog, 40 to scyther (because of weakness),
and with a heads flip, scyther is dead, in 2 turns.

So with that I conclude this article,  and until next time, keep training,
and on some disant planet, on some distant day, you could become a Pokémon
MASTER!