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I'm hear to talk about a very underrated card; Venomoth. When I first got this card in a jungle booster I just glanced at it and stuck in my binder. Later my sister almost beat me with Venomoth an account she flipped heads EVERY time and I flipped tail EVERY time. Talk about being unlucky. If you don't know Venomoth's stats here they are...

Stage 1-Evolves from Venonat

Picture: A Venomoth above a meadow with hills in the background.

Pokemon Power: Shift Once during your turn (before you attack), you may change the type of Venomoth to the type of any other pokemon in play. This power can't be used if Venomoth is asleep, confused or, paralyzed.

(G)(G) Venom Powder -10- Flip a coin if heads, the defending pokemon is now confused and poisoned.

70 hp for a stage 1 isn't too bad, but Venomoth's true power lays in Venom Powder. Use Shift (if possible) to change Venomoth's type to the weakness of the defending pokemon. Attack and hopefully you'll get heads if not just try again if Venomoth doesn't get knocked out. After you have successfully poisoned and confused the defending pokemon hope your opponent will flip tails. If the defending pokemon is not knocked out by now just retreat Venomoth (if she/he is still alive) and bring out a powerhouse to finish the job. Here's Venomoth's rating using the John's Standard 10-Point System. This is how it works...

The rating begins by stage. The pokemon you are rating starts off with 10 points and loses the amount of points equal to their stage. For Ex. Hitmonchan would remain at 10 because he's a basic pokemon which is a stage 0 so he doesn't lose any points. After stage Hp is rated. If the pokemon has 30 Hp it receives 30 points, if the pokemon has 40 Hp it receives 4 points, if the pokemon has 50 Hp it receives 5 points and so on. Next is attacks attacks are rated on a scal of 1-5. Here's an example of how to rate an attack using Charizard's Fire Spin. Let's see here for 4 energy Charizard does 100 damage and discards 2 fire energy. So basically it takes 6 colorless (pokemon power) energy for 100. It receives a 3 because the attack cost is way up there, but 100 is nice even though most of the time you'll gat an overkill. After the attack(s) is/are rated resistance and weakness are rated. If the pokemon has NO weakness it receives 2 additional points. If the pokemon DOES have a resistance it is awarded 1 additional point. After weakness and resistance are rated retreat is. The pokemon loses the amount of points equal to its retreat cost. These are the main factors but there's a few more. Energy color. If a pokemon has an attack that uses all colorless energy it receives 1 point. If the pokemon can only use 1 type of energy and 1 of their attacks has a cost above 2 energy it loses 1 point. And last if the pokemon has a 1 energy attack it get 1 extra point. Let the rating begin...

Venomoth is a stage 1 so it loses 1 point

70 Hp. Not too shabby.

Ahh yes, the attacks. Lets see here. Shift adds 10 to Venom Powder if you can change Venomoth's type to the type of the defending pokemon's weakness. Allthough Shift is good it is defenitely not one of the better powers out there, but since like any power it requires no energy so it receives a 3.5.

Venom Powder can either do 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 damage. 10+20+30+40+50+60=210. 210 divided by six equals 35. Since the average 2 color attack is 30 this attack receives a 3.5

Venomoth has a weaakness and a resistance so she/he receives 1 point.

Retreat is nothing and she has no 1 energy attack or an all colorless attack.

VENOMOTH: 24: 24 (total)

Now that you know Venomoth's score to this system with some of the most popular pokemon and see how they compare. Hope this helps^_~

You can E-mail me at JohnDaTycoon@Mindspring.com with any comments, questions, are flames.