Heya everybody. I feel like writing some reviews so I figured I'd write
about some fighting Pokemon that I like to use in casual play. This review
will focus on Mankey and Primeape. OK, first with the Mankey.

Nothing much here in ways of usefulness. 30 HPs = Ow! Weakness to psychic
don't help. No resistance ain't helpful either. Mankey has free retreat but
with 30 HPs it is only helpful if he is your opening Pokemon. 10 damage for
1 Colorless Energy = Oh yeah, real fun. Basically a wuss. BUT, he does have
a Pokemon Power. Peek lets you look at any prize in the game, either players
top draw card or a random card from a players hand. This power would be the
only reason to use Mankey. Scope out your prizes for anything crucial to
your deck. In a few turns you can have a good idea at what cards you should
draw when you obtain a kill. Looking at your top draw card can help you
somewhat but I'll be getting that card next turn anyhow so I'm not too
excited about Peeking at that. Looking at your opponents prize cards doesn't
really turn me on either. Looking at the top draw card of your opponent can
be really useful to keep you a step ahead of him. ER coming up? Add an extra
energy to most likely ER target. Thats just an example. Now I'll discuss
looking at cards out of yer opponents hand. A lot of players will organize
their hand by Energy, Trainers, and Pokemon. Since you have a Mankey out pay
close attention where they draw cards from when they play them. Are Trainers
drawn from middle of hand? Etc. And if you Peeked at their top draw card
watch where they place it, chances are it will be surrounded by similar type
cards. So if you want to find out what Pokemon may possibly be played soon
or what trainer you are soon to encounter then look at the appropriate
section of their deck. Don't be too obvious that this is how you are doing
things or they'll just shuffle 'em all up. Remember you'll sometimes get a
little reflection off of holofoils and they are usually slightly curved(at
least mine are) so these are good targets. 2 or more benched Mankeys can
usually keep you thinking a turn a head of the opposition. But are excellant
GOW fodder for the one hit kill. Gives you a good idea if you should
Imposter Prof. Oak, also. Thats enought about using Peek I guess. Hope I
didn't bore you.

Now on to Primeape. 70 HPs aren't too shabby, retains the sucky Psychic
weakness, and retreats for 1 Energy. Ok retreat especially since I usually
include a Dodrio or 2 in my casual decks. Now onto the attacks. Primeape has
a suped up Fury Swipes that does 20x number of heads on 3 coins. So for only
2 Fighting Energy he can dish out either 0, 20, 40, or 60 damage. Not too
shabby if you ask me. Sucks to get 0 but rocks to get 60. I'm sure you all
know the pain and pleasure of the coin flip pokemon attack. All in all not a
bad attack, especially if you are as luck with the flips as I tend to be.
And if you are counting on doing the big damage and cant risk the flips for
FFC you can whip out Tantrum a nice hefty 50 damage BUT a 50/50 chance of
confusing yourself. Nice for the final kill, if you have switch to get him
out of there if he is confused, or if you just want him to "go out in
style". Remember half the time you are getting a nice 50 damage for 3
energy.

In conclusion, I like Mankey and Primeape cause they are funny looking and
cool in the cartoon, They are really fun and cheap cards to play with. And
Primeape can wig-out and really put the hurt on the enemy. Great cards for a
casual game and really keep it interesting. I'm not saying there aren't
better cards because there are but I can't afford dishing out big money to
have a deck packed with Chans and Lees only to be left with an effective yet
boring deck. You can e-mail if you want to. Rollins-X 
justinbrollins@hotmail.com
ADIOS
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