Hey Pojo! I just felt like sharing my own little opinion of the American
Promo Mew that was released through the Pokemon TCG League starting Jan. 8,
2000.

First of all, I feel it's necessary to state the obvious by saying, "Mew is
a Raindance killer!" Heh, sorry, I couldn't help that. :-) Seriously,
though, Mew can basically demolish most Raindance decks because 99.9% of
them do not have Wartortle; they consist solely of Squirtle, Pokemon
Breeder, and Blastoise. Thus, Mew's Devolution Beam can put Blastoise back
into its owner's hand and prevent him/her from using it until the next time
they get a Breeder. For Raindance decks that do have Wartortle, see below.

Also, Mew's Psywave allows him to knock the stuffing out of Energy-hungry
Pokemon until they're powered up; and on the turn just before they finish
powering up, Mew can retreat (it has a very low retreat cost, which is good)
and a more powerful Pokemon can come out and either destroy the Defending
Pokemon immediately, or take its punishment for a few turns while doing a
little damage each turn to knock out the Defending Pokemon.

Finally, there's the dangerous Psywave + Devolution Beam combination. This
works well on almost any evolution. The idea is to use Psywave for a number
of turns until the Defending Pokemon has as much damage on it as its
pre-evolved form has HP. For example, for a Gyarados, use Psywave until it
has 30 damage, which is equal to Magikarp's HP (30 HP). The following turn,
use Devolution Beam. Normally, that wouldn't get Gyarados out of your hair
for any more than the time it took the opponent to draw and put the Gyarados
back onto his Magikarp. However, since Gyarados already had 30 (or more)
damage, Magikarp (which has 30 HP) already has enough damage to faint. Thus,
Magikarp faints and Gyarados becomes a dead card in its owner's hand.

Sure, Mew's 50 HP can be a hazard, such as when fighting a Blastoise (which
can often get enough Energy it to kill Mew before Mew can devolve it), but
clever use of multiple Mews and damage-removing Potions, Super Potions,
Slowbros, and/or Alakazam(s) can augment Mew's destructive capability. Of
course, it all depends on the kind of deck you have; obviously, your deck
isn't going to want Mew if it's a Grass/Fire deck, or a Haymaker, or a
Raindance. However, a Psychic deck can only benefit from the addition of
Mew, and I know from experience that a bunch of Mews in a deck can really do
damage if used properly.

Remember, if you go to almost any Pokemon League location, they will be
happy to give you a Mew card for free (at least, they're supposed to be). In
this way, I was able to get five over the span of a day. Don't worry,
they'll give 'em to your parents too, kids! :-)

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Flames? Send 'em to vsarp@hotmail.com!

Vinay Sarpeshkar
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