This is Mukmaster bringing you the 1^st Annual Pokémon Trading Card Game Awards Ceremony! Tonight, we will honour powerful cards, decide which ones stink, and take note of the underused cards with potential that no one ever really notices. We will go by type, also choosing the best basic Pokémon of each type, noting overrated cards, and best and worst rare cards.

So, if you’re redy, let’s play Who Wants to Be A....oops, sorry Regis. (Is that your final answer?) Let’s get this show on the road! I bring you the Pokémon Trading Card Game Awards!

FIRE
Ah, let’s begin with the heat creatures. Known for discarding energy, these Pokémon range from strategic speedsters to stalling divebombers to powerhouses to energy-sucking cheapsters. Let’s take a look, shall we?

The Good Stuff: Ninetales is my favourite fire card. It has 80 HP and a good stall in its Lure attack, and it only needs to discard one energy for its awesome Fire Blast. Fossil Magmar is a quick, high-HP, strategic basic. Base Magmar is incredibly powerful. And Rapidash provides fast, powerful attacks with no energy discard.

The Trash Can: Charizard! I’m what most TCG fans would term a "little kid" (only 11) obut I have the sense to leave the lizard alone and go with Ninetales instead. It has 120c HP and a Fight resistance, but it’s an awful Stage 2 with a horrible, energy-sucking attack and high retreat-not to mention he’s commonly counterfeited and costs 80 bucks to buy. Yuck! Who cares if it does 100 damage? Leave him as a Charmeleon! Arcanine is overrated too, but not as heavily. If you like Charizard, I’m not insulting anyone, I just don’t like this card, so don’t sue me.

The Underrated: See Best Basic.

Best Basic: I’m inclined to say Base Magmar. Power, baby! 30 damage for two energy! 50 for 3 with one discard! Wow! Fossil Magmar is good, but I prefer Base. And Ponyta can also do some good damage.

The Winner: Ninetales! 80 HP, 80 damage with Fire Blast for only 1 discarded energy, a good stall attack....I mean, holy cow, that’s good!

GRASS
This is my favourite type in the game, known for low HP but commonly used for status-changing attacks. These guys also tend to have good Pokémon Powers.

The Good Stuff: Muk is my favourite (hence my e-mail "namesake") because he has 70 HP, a hard-hitting Sludge attack, and what is in my opinion the best Pokémon Power in the game, Toxic Gas, which shuts down all PokéPower-based decks, as well as many specific Pokémon with good Powers such as Mr, Mime and Alakazam. Speaking of Mr. Mime, Nidoking is an awesome anti-Mime with Toxic. Venusaur has a good Power and a great attack. Venomoth has the risky but lethal Venom Powder attack, and a solid Power to boot. Butterfree has a great Mega Drain attack, and Beedrill, Vileplume and Pinsir are solid offense. Lots of underrated recently relased cards, such as Arbok, Golbat, and Weezing, have a lot of potential. Last but not least is speedy Scyther, who has Fighting resistance, 70 HP and a Colorless attack with a potential of 60 damage. Awesome type, doncha think?

The Trash Can: The first thing that came to mind here was the horrid Bellsprout line. Bellsprout itself is a horrible basic, with a weak Vine Whip and cruddy Call For Family, which is only useful in Wigglytuff Do The Wave decks. Weepinbell is the Grass incarnation of Seaking; it’s okay but not worth dealing with Bellsprout. Last, Victreebel has gotta be the worst stage 2 in the game. Paras and Parasect stink too, but they have more potential then the Pear Family.

The Underrated: Ekans and Arbok are the most underrated Grass cards in the game. Why, though? 60 and 40 HP are actually average if you think about it. Arbok’s retreat is bearable, and Ekans’ is low. And they have great attacks! Spit Poison and Terror Strike are chancy, but these guys shine because of their second attacks. Poison Fang does 20 damage with an automatic Poison! That’ll have Mr. Mime defeated in two turns, and it’s useful against almost any other Pokémon as well! Wrap does 20 with a Paralysis chance. What, might I ask, is bad about that? Nothing! How about Weezing? He’s an okay attacker with Smog and a solid bench destructor with Selfdestruct and a few Defenders. Lastly, let’s look at Zubat and Golbat. Golbat rules! It has the damaging, self-healing Leech Life, Fighting resistance, no retreat and an okay attack. Zubat’s not as good, but it does have a resistance, low retreat, and Leech Life like its evolution.

Best Basic: Pinsir has to be my favourite basic. Scyther’s next, and Koffing’s the best common basic, followed by Ekans and Grimer. Bellsprout’s the worst.

The Winner: Muk, my favourite card in the game! Toxic Gas rules, and he has 70 HP, a great basic, and a solid attack to boot.

WATER
Another versatile type, Water has its share if speedsters, powerhouses, weaklings, and underused cards. Let’s see who’s the king of the deep blue sea.

The Good Stuff: Most Water decks these days are built around Blastoise and his Rain Dance PokéPower, and with good reason. Blastoise’s Raindance is truly awesome, and he also has 100 HP and a nice attack. Gyarados has a weak basic but on his own he’s a hard-hitting, 100-HP powerhouse! Articuno can be devastating if used right. Dewgong is my favourite though. It has 80 HP and great attacks-either Paralysis and 30 damage or 50 damage with no "catch" attached. And best of all, it’s only an uncommon card! Poliwrath is a beefy hitter that’s makin’ his way into more than one Water deck. Seadra’s speediness, the HP of Vaporeon and Lapras, and Golduck’s energy manipulating are also earning them popularity.

The Trash Can: Goldeen and Seaking are some of the worst, most pathetic, boring cards in the game. Tentacruel isn’t great because of his low damage rate. Lapras has a stunning 80 HP, but its attacks stink. And then of course there’s the infamous Magikarp-ugh. But, hands down, I’ve gotta say the worst Water cards are easily Shellder and Cloyster. Shellder has pathetic HP and attacks that do no damage, and if it weren’t for Spike Cannon, Cloyster’d be even worse. It has 50-count it, five times ten, five-zero, 50 HP and a horrible Clamp attack. This, I think, is one of the worst families in the game. However, Goldeen and Seaking aren’t far behind.

The Underrated: Omanyte and Omastar are some of my favourite cards, and no one ever uses ‘em-but why? The use of Mysterious Fossil is a drag, and it’s discouraging to think of them as a Stage 1 and Stage 2, because they operate like a Stage 1 and a Basic. But really, look at these guys! Omanyte has a great Power, Clairvoyance, and an okay Water Gun attack. Omanyte gets a Water Gun upgrade as well as the powerful Spike Cannon, which are both majorly low-costing in terms of energy. A low retreat is a bonus. So please, don’t overlook these two for a Water deck. Seadra and Vaporeon are slightly underrated too, and they have nice attacks.

Best Basic: Articuno takes it away, folowed by Psyduck (for its Headache and HP,) Lapras (awesome HP but bad attacks) Seel (HP again) and Omanyte (a nice Power.)

ELECTRIC
Hmmm, here’s what is commonly known as the worst type in the game. I’m inclined to think so. Most Electric Pokémon aren’t very good, and they aren’t very widespread. However, there are those that stand out, and they deserve to be recognized.

The Good Stuff: Electabuzz is good, but I think it’s too overrated and prefer the Base Electrode. I note that most Electrics have more than one card, but I’m talking about Base Electrode, not Jungle. It has a solid (but self-damaging) attack, high HP and a good Pokémon Power. Fossil Magneton is okay, I suppose. Base and Fossil Raichus are all right (I prefer Base), and the three Pikachus (Base, Jungle, Movie Promo) are good Basics. Base Zapdos is powerful but overrated. Overall, the Base Electrode is the only one I really think has got a lot of potential. (Sorry, ‘Buzz fans, this is just my opinion.)

The Trash: Electabuzz doesn’t belong here, because although it’s overrated it is by no means bad. So I’m not going to badmouth him. However, I can rant about the cruddy Jungle Electrode, Promo Electabuzz, energy-sucking Fossil Zapdos, worthless Voltorb and awful Magnemite and Base Magneton. Fossil Magneton is okay, but Magnemite and Base Magneton just stink. Movie Promo Electabuzz is nothing special. Voltorb is one of the worst cards in the game, and Fossil Zapdos is weak, high-retreating, energy-sucking, and self-damaging. And the Jungle Electrode sucks in every aspect except HP.

The Underrated: Hmmm....Fossil Magneton is underrated, but that’s all the ones I can think of. Magneton isn’t so horrible. once ya think about it. There’s nothing good about blowing yourself up, but don’t do that and concentrate on Sonicboom and you’ll do better with him.

Ooops, runnin’ outta time for now. Check back later at Pojo.com for Part 2 of the awards. G’night everybody!