The Special Edition CotW... as picked by you... Pokemon "The First Movie" Trading Cards! (1 of 4) (Wow! I never knew I had so many fans... :-) Name: Pikachu Type: Basic Pokemon Rarity: Promotional Type: Lightning HP: 50 HP Weakness: F Resistance: none Retreat: 1 Pokemon #: 25 Species: Mouse Level: 13 Attack: [L] Recharge () Search your deck for a [L] Energy card and attach it to Pikachu. Shuffle your deck afterward. Attack: [LLL] Thunderbolt (50) Discard all Energy on Pikachu in order to use this attack. Yay! More Electric Mouse variants to decorate the halls with! History: Oh what the heck, if you have the cards you've got to have seen the movie at least once! Mewtwo created clones of all the Pokemon, and they were superior. Mewtwo telepathically used these Pokemon to fight their originals, and being as they are, won against them. However, Ash's Pikachu refused to fight against his other self and took it like a mouse. Brave little thing... This Pikachu variant is quite nice. It attacks by charging itself up until it has enough energy stored, then releases it all in a nice, big Thunderbolt. Evidently, this thunderbolt is only half-strength of the usual one produced by Zapdos. Strategy: It's easy to set up this guy for playing. Just put down an L, charge up, put down another L and let loose. 50 damage, enough to KO Bulbasaur, Gastly Level 17, and Lapras (x2 damage)! However, you now need two more turns and 3 more Energy to do 50 damage. Kinda sucks, huh? Charmander's Ember does 60 damage in 2 turns and you only have to discard 2 Energy, not 3! Actually, it's quite unique this way. Nobody expects a 50 HP Pokemon to be KO'd that quickly. If you had plenty of Energy and turns to spare for this baby, go ahead! You can always evolve it later. That's what prevents it from being totally useless: the fact you can evolve it and not have to worry about your Energy. You can also do, L, Recharge, L, Recharge, Evolve, Thunder/Giga Shock. Or L, Recharge, L, Evolve, Agility. The possibilities are endless! Strengths: * Really Quick damage, enough to KO 1 guy * Can evolve when you waste too much energy. Weaknesses: * Takes 3 L to do anything useful (it's only got 50 HP) * Discards 3 L to do anything useful * Fights for Pikachu slots with L16, L14 and L12 Combos: Pikachu L13 + Raichu = Accelerated Raichu Power! Rating:7.0 (It's a big tossup as to which Pikachu to use) -------------------------------------------------------- Pokemon "The First Movie" Trading Cards! (2 of 4) Name: Electabuzz Type: Basic Pokemon Rarity: Promotional Type: Lightning HP: 60 HP Weakness: F Resistance: none Retreat: 1 Pokemon #: 125 Species: Electric Level: 20 Attack: [L] Light Screen () Whenever an attack does damage to Electabuzz (after applying Weakness and Resistance) during your opponents next turn, that attack only does half the damage to Electabuzz (rounded down to the nearest 10). (Any other effects of attacks still happen.) Attack: [2] Quick Attack (10+) Flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 10 damage plus 20 more damage; if tails, this attacks does 10 damage. 'tis the season to be shocky... (and um, Psychicky, but that's later...) History: No, I don't think Electabuzz was in the movie. Electabuzz is only in the Red and Yellow versions of the Gameboy game. Basically, Electabuzz can build a Light Screen out of its electricity and block special attacks this way. It's also quite speedy as well, and it can use its speed to do Quick Attacks. Yaz Gym Leader's Electabuzz is the only Electabuzz I can remember that was in the cartoon. Strategy: You see, I don't think this Electabuzz is as good as the Basic set Electabuzz, but I have to try to be unbiased, folks... What's good about this variant over the original: 1) it can block and 2) it can run on colorless only. There is a third "improvement" in that it can do 30 damage on a Double colorless, but I'd rather wait a turn and do 30 damage guaranteed instead. What's not so good about this variant is that: 1) it has less HP, 2) it can't Paralyze (a useful ability, unlike reducing half damage), and 3) It does 20 damage on average and that's with 2 Energies, as opposed to 35 average with the basic set one. Well? You see, Light Screen isn't a very useful attack. You want to be attacking the other Pokemon and knocking them out, not blocking half their damage! So the only attack which really exists is Quick Attack. So is it worth the reduction in HP and loss of a 1 Energy attack? In my opinion, no. 70 -> 60 is actually a big step (I said this in one of my earlier CotWs (Electabuzz and Hitmonchan, I believe)). Most attacks deal 10, 20, 30 damage. That can knock out 60 HP with 6/3/2 hits, as opposed to 70 HP which is 7/4/3 hits. A significant difference! Well, there's Pluspower, but 1) they have to pack Pluspower, and 2) they have to draw it. Even then they're using a card to save a turn - something that wouldn't have happened if you chose 60 HP. What about the attack? A single Lightning Energy isn't that much! And you get to attack with the basic Electabuzz first! If you don't have any Double Colorless you have negated your speed advantage, too. Well, what about the colorless requirement? To be honest, the only place that would work better is when you've got 1 or 2 in a 4-color deck and you really needed the Electabuzz support. Otherwise, stick with basic set Electabuzz and put in your Lightning Energy. Strengths: * Quick Attack is colorless! * Light Screen is good if you have a Pokemon that can only deal 10 HP with no other condition (but how often will you see that?!) Weaknesses: * Basic set Electabuzz competes for the slot, and it wins almost every time Combos: Electabuzz L20 + Double Colorless - Definitely a "Quick Attack!" Rating: 7.0 (Good, but not as good as L35 Electabuzz)