> Rating:7(It's pure beef! Overall, this card has combo written all over
> it and doesn't stink at all!)


Lord Gothmog here. You've seen the Pro-Charizard statements, now read
the Anti-Charizard Statements. I will go through your reasons listed for
Charizard being good, one by one, and explain carefully why they are not
good, and Charizard isn't good either.

> Popular reasons why Charizard stinks with solutions:

Popular reasons why Charizard stinks with solutions, and the
Anti-Solutions:

> 1. To knock out a wimp, you have to discard 2 Energy cards.
> Solution: Use Recycle Energy cards when Neo comes out in English, or
> better yet, just use Venusaur's Poke'mon
> Power, Energy Trans, if you wanna prevent this.

Neo will not be out until at least December, and that's sovling the
wrong problem anyway. It's discarding 2, and having to recharge, not
just the discarding. Venusaur is a step in the right direction, but it's
not going to work for the following reasons. 1: The energy already has
to be in play. So in other words, you'd have to charge up Venusaur with
Grass energy, which is the same problem. You could just charge up
Charizard and save time by not using Venu's Poke Power. And 2: I know
for a fact that it is nearly impossible to get two Stage-2 evolutions
out at the same time. Running a deck with Venusaur and Charizard would
require having no back ups whatsoever, otherwise your Pokemon numbers in
the deck would be waaaay too high. Unless of course you only use ONE of
each evolution, in which case, you're beyond hope anyway.


> 2. Charizard forces you to have 30-40 Energy cards in your deck and it
> takes up too much space.
> Solution: Don't use Charizard until the late game, and just to prevent
> your opponent from using a Gust of Wind,
> use Dark Vileplume's Hay Fever Power. Don't bother with the 30-40 Energy
> cards, you don't need them. I'd just
> put 28 at most.

First off, Nobody would run 30-40 energy. That's just plain asinine.
Second, Dark Vileplume shares Venusaur's problem of being Stage-2, but
with much more horrible HP.

> 3. Charizard's retreat cost is too high.
> Solution: Use 2 Dodrio to shorten that to 1 instead of 3, or 3 to make
> the retreat cost free. I know this is kinda
> situational, but have a few Switches for backup so you don't discard.

Plausible, but what about Venusaur and Dark Vileplume? You can really
only effectively have one of the three.

> 4. If you decide to be chancy and use Charizard in another color deck
> besides Fire, you could be in great danger
> against a deck with Muks.
> Solution: Just don't use Charizard in a deck type other than Fire!! Or
> if you really want to, then have a Dark
> Machamp handy.

Dark Machamp? Fling the Muk? Okay, first, Where did Dodiro, Venusaur,
and Dark Vileplume go this time? Second, any self respecting Muk player
knows to keep Muk on the bench. Third, if you really really want a deck
type other than fire, and you have a Dark Machamp handy, that other type
has to be fighting. And there can really only be the Charizard and Dark
Machamp lines, because otherwise the Pokemon count would be way too
high.

> Combos:
> 1. Charizard + Dark Machamp:(in case you run into a Muk)
> Either retreat Charizard or use a Switch and make Dark Machamp your
> Active Poke'mon. Use Dark Machamp's
> Fling attack(if your opponent has a Benched Poke'mon) to get rid of that
> Muk.
> 2. Charizard + Venusaur:
> This combo can be used with Venusaur's Energy Trans and Charizard's
> Energy Burn to ensure that Charizard can
> constantly attack.
> 3. Charizard + Dark Vileplume + Aerodactyl:
> Give your opponent a run for his/her money with this combo! Since
> Aerodactyl prevents all Poke'mon from
> evolving and Dark Vileplume makes it so your opponent can't play Trainer
> cards, this combo is awesome against
> Rain Dance decks. All you have to do is Fire Spin attack them until they
> beg for mercy!

Alright, I've covered the first two combos, and most of the third, but
Aerodactyl? That prevents Your evolutions too, you know. No Charizard or
Dark Vileplume. Don't evolve 'Dactyl until Charizard an Dark Vile are
out, you say? Well, great, except you generally need Trainers to evolve
a Stage-2, so you'd have to evolve Charizard, then Dark Vile, THEN Aero.
That's pretty cut and dried strict, don't you think? Very situational.
And like I said, you wouldn't have room for Aero is the Char and Dark
Vile lines had enough cards.



And that is all, for now. Please, think these things over. And Scott,
please filter the Single Card Starts a little harder, would you?

Send stuff to lord_gothmog0@hotmail.com