You say that Misty's Poliwhirl is a great energy denial pokemon.  I have
had my eye on this pokemon for quite a while, and I think that it is
good, but not as an energy denial poke.  Misty's Poliwhirl is one of the
best Raindance pairings you can get.  Misty's Poliwhirl's first attack
is one of the best mimekiller attacks in the game.  20 damage sneaks
under the wall, and the 50% chance of energy destruction can stop a
meditate or even a retreat.  His second attack works wonders with
Blastoise.  If you have like 3 prizes left, dump all your energy (say,
14) onto the Poliwhirl, and in three turns, you have just done an
average damage of (30+(14*5))=100 damage a turn, winning the game.
Misty's Poliwhirl's Weakness is grass, which allows him to take out
pesky Electabuzzes and TR Zapdoses (Zapdi?) while Blastoise takes out
Pinsirs and Scythers (via PlusPower).  There are also great Misty's
Poliwags for Misty's Poliwhirl to evolve from:

   Misty's Poliwag
   Type:  Basic Water Pokemon
   LV.15       HP 50
   W:   (Memawashi)
     Effect:  Flip a coin.  If heads, the Defending Pokemon is
       now Paralyzed.  If tails, the Defending Pokemon is now
       Asleep.
   WC:   Tail Slap:   20x
     Effect:  Flip 2 coins.  This attack does 20 damage times the
       number of heads.
   -C          Retreat
   G           Weakness
   No. 060

Misty's Poliwag
Type:  Basic Water Pokemon
LV.16     HP 50
W:   Bubble Bubble:   20
  Effect:  Flip a coin.  This Pokemon can't use Bubble Bubble
    during your next turn.
WW:   Amnesia
  Effect:  Choose 1 of the Defending Pokemon's attacks.  That
    Pokemon can't use that attack during your opponent's next
    turn.
-C     Retreat
G      Weakness
No. 060 (Common)

Both are exceptional.  One's a mini-water-Hitmonchan with Amnesia if
Bubble Bobble flips tails, the other a pokemon with a 75% chance of
invulnerability (same as Fossil Haunter) but with an attack that still
can dish out pain (it would be better without a flip, but it's still
something that the opponent has to take into consideration).  (Keep in
mind that a gym leader's basic evolves only into the gym leader's
evolution card, and vice verca).

Unfortunately, Misty's Poliwhirl is not without it's flaws, and there
are MANY of them.  The first is the relatively low HP combined with
grass weakness is horrid, and with the massive energy required for his
second attack to be truly effective, you may suddenlly find yourself
without energy on the table.  It makes Super Scoop Up look tempting,
doesn't it?  Also, there is another card in the same set (even the same
gym deck) that can cast a shadow on the power of the poliwhirl:

Misty's Gyarados
Type:  Stage 1 Water Pokemon (Evolves from Misty's Magikarp)
LV.42     HP 100
[Pokemon Power]  Defiance
  Effect:  Whenever this Pokemon attacks, flip 2 coins.  If
    both are tails, that attack does nothing, and shuffle this
    cards and all cards attached to it into your deck.  This
    Power works even if this Pokemon is Confused.
WWWW:   Hydro Crash:   70
-CCC      Retreat
G         Weakness
F         Resistance (Damage -30)
No. 130 (Rare Hologram)

Note:  There are many translations on him.  Some say that the power can
change Gyarados's resistence (with the risk of sending him to the deck).

He can dish out serious power.  His high HP and Pokemon Power can keep
him dishing it.  And his power can help prevent decking.  He's still
weak to the Mime, and he evolves from a magikarp who's best attack is
Tail Wag.

Good bye Dewgong vs. Gyarados, hello Misty's Poliwhirl vs. Misty's
Gyarados.

Getting back to the article, Uggotacje or Jordon or whoever his name is
(the article and the name Scott listed him/her as differ on the name)
listed a deck with Dragonair, Misty's Poliwhirl, and base Poliwrath.  I
had to reread that sentence to make sure there wasn't a mistake.  There
are two porblems with this.  The first is that that is three familes,
all with large attack costs, and not one of them is Dark Dragonair (I'll
write an article explaining this next month).  Perhaps he thought
Misty's Poliwhirl could evolve into Base Set Poliwrath, but that is no
excuse.  The second reason is that coin flip.  Even if M. Poliwhirl's
whirlpool is cheaper, the energy destruction must be treated as a
novelty or status ailment at best.  The Energy destruction deck must
keep a constant lock on the opponent.  A single missed flip could lead
to a KO on one of your pokemon, and a possible break on the lock that
must be zealously guarded at all times.  ( If that sounds melodramatic,
I'm writing this at 12:54 AM).

All translations are courtesy of Edo.

All mistakes can be blamed on Microsoft or Mountain Dew.

-Ad Infinitum
nowandforever@netscape.net