"..the general must create a situation which will contribute to their
accomplishments.  By 'situation' I mean(s)he should take the field situation
into consideration and act in accordance with what is advantageous."
      -Sun Tsu
           "The Art of War"

     The above passage holds true for all strategy as well as war.  One must
understand the field situation and maximize the advantages the field
presents in order to win.  Generally, the field cannot be altered, but
instead chosen.  The winner will almost always be the one who takes
advantage of what is presented.

     Though Sun Tsu died thousands of years ago, we still see the advantage
the field can have today:  "house rules", "homecourt advantage", "ground
rule" and "leveling the playing field"  are all phrases that remain with us
today.  And they all contain the same idea:  the person who creates or
manipulates the environment is still thought as having the advantage.

     Pokemon is no exception.  The "field" is the rulebook.  If you've ever
used a status effect deck or a stall deck, you've used what the field gave
you.  If you've ever won by ko'ing all the pokemon the opponent had in play,
you've taken advantage of the field.  The rulebook gave us these strategies.
  In fact, the rulebook is the basic building block of any (legal) pokemon
strategy.

     Every once in a while something will come along that changes the
rulebook a little.  "Raindance" altered the rule that says you can only play
one energy per turn. Bench attacks altered the idea of doing damage to the
defending pokemon.  trainers such as Bill and Professor Oak altered the rule
of drawing only one card at the beginning of each turn.

     But what if someone came to you right before your next match and said:
"Hi there, for this tournament you are allowed to pick one of seven rules. 
This rule will be written into your rulebook.  It will apply for this entire
match."  Would you accept the offer???  Well, since the release of the Gym
Heroes series, that's exactly what we have: one free rule.  They're called
Stadium cards.

    Stadium cards stay in play for the entire game.  The only way to get rid
of them is to play another stadium card.  In essence, these cards have two
uses.  1.  you just wrote your own rule that you and your opponent must
follow.  Or, 2. you just erased your opponent's rule.

    For the first time, American pokemon players can choose their
battlefield.  Presently, there are only 7 pokemon Stadium cards.  Some of
these will fit into decks better than others.  Also, some have more powerful
advantages than others.  But one thing holds for all of them: you must
choose one.  You DO NOT want to go the entire match playing under your
opponent's rule.  This would be like playing all seven games of the World
Series as the visiting team.  The disadvantage is just too great to accept. 
Also, the advantage could be too huge to ignore.

   When choosing a Stadium for your deck, there are a few things to
consider.  How much of an advantage will this Stadium give me?  How much of
a disadvantage will this Stadium be to my opponent?  How often will I see an
opponent use the same Stadium card?  Ideally, your Stadium card should be
both an advantage for you and a disadvantage for your opponent, giving you a
lopsided field instead of just neutral ground.  Also, consider how popular
your ideal Stadium is in the current metagame.  Since your Stadium card will
take your opponent's Stadium off the board, you may need more or less.  For
example, if you and your opponent are both using Narrow Gyms, then you won't
need 4 Narrow Gyms in your deck, because his "advantage" is also helping
you.  But if you're the only person in town that plays Pewter City Gym,
you'll need quite a few in your deck to combat your opponent's gym cards.

       Keeping those concerns in mind, here's a ranking of the seven Gym
cards.  For additional help, I called upon Firetwister83 and Lobo to provide
some extra insight.  Also, keep in mind that there is no such thing as a
"bad" Stadium.  Playing any stadium is better than none at all, because it
will at least remove your opponent's stadium.

Least to greatest:

7.  Pewter City Gym.  The good news is it removes resistance from your
opponent's pokemon.  This is great because Brock's pokemon are almost all
fighting, and fighting resistance is fairly common.  The bad news is that
this effect only works on Brock's pokemon.  And these pokes take a long time
to power up.  If you love Brock's deck, this card is a must! Otherwise, it's
in the shoebox.  A powerful card, but not very useful.

6.  Cerulean Gym.  This gives many of Misty's pokemon a free retreat.  But
again, it only works for Misty's pokemon.  Just like Pewter City, it's a
powerful card, but will only fit into a few decks.

5.  Vermillion City Gym.  It's either a plus power for you or against you. 
The fact that it only works on Lt. Surge's pokemon is a small advantage. 
Since electric pokemon are accustomed to doing damage to themselves, a good
deck won't be too disrupted if this gym backfires, minimizing the downside
of this card.  Great for electric decks.  But electric decks still aren't
incredibly common.

4.  Celadon City Gym.  This could really change the success of Status Effect
decks.  Erika's deck has a good selection of status effect pokemon, and this
card keeps any effects from those status attacks from backfiring.  Works
great with Full Heal Energy, as well as Dark Gloom or Vileplume.

3.  Rocket Training Gym.  This is the first Gym we've reviewed that works on
ALL pokemon, not just on pokes from a particular Gym Hero.  The extra cost
for retreat works great with Dark Muk.  Could also work in an energy removal
deck, as retreats will remove more energy.  The biggest problem with this
card (as was pointed out to me) is that people LIKE using free retreating
pokemon.  It's fun to watch your opponent pay to retreat Scyther, but you
certainly won't want to.  Don't forget to use Switch or Scoop Up with this
Gym.

2.  Narrow Gym.  This will be common in anti-Wiggly decks.  It does a great
job preventing "Do the Wave" from reaching its full potential.  Also, it
makes it easier to wipe out your opponent's bench, since the bench is
smaller.  Could be wonderful for Haymakers or Sponges.  The biggest
disadvantage to this card is that people already playing Wiggly won't need
it.  So it may be slow to catch on.

And the greatest Stadium available....

1.  No Energy Removal Gym.  This card already fits into any deck!  There are
even energy removal decks that use this card!  Ideally, you'd have a hand
full of ER's and SER's and a No Removal Gym.  play all the ER's and SER's
first, then place your Gym down.  You still get to use all your removing
power, but your opponent will never be able to hit back. If you're not using
an energy removal deck, place this card down as soon as possible.  Then
you'll have no hassles while you power up your pokes on your bench.

There you have it!!!  Feel free to send any comments or thoughts.

Jay Henry   "hannibalj@hotmail.com"

Props:
Firetwister83:for showing the downside of the Gyms.

Lobo: for contributing some of the combinations I suggested.

you: for reading such a long article!!!