>  On the local tourney scene Wiggly has disappeared. Effectively
> becoming the Jimmy Hoffa of Pokemon in our neck of the woods.
> He has been replaced by Sneasel in just about every deck. I find
> this most interesting since there has been a running argument on the site
> on which is better. For me, it is a no-brainer. I have always regarded
> Wigglytuff with serious disdain.
>  And who knows why?!
>  And yet, it doesn't matter; that is the nice thing about prejudices,
> they are rarely based on any fact or reason. So I can proudly proclaim
> myself a Wigglytuff bigot.
> Again, that is neither here nor there. I wanted to write about why
> Wigglytuff is dead (at least here, in G'ville SC). Is it because Sneasel
> is better? No, though I like Sneasel alot better I do not think one has a
> decided advantage over the other. My logic says it is because of Sprout
> Tower, Gligar, Ecogym and the simple fact that people want to move on.
> May I look at these individually and hopefully some of what I say is
> actually true:
> Sprout Tower- This gym came on the scene with much fanfare. The
> advance press was that this was gonna hurt Wiggly. I think it at least
> evened the playing ground between Psychic and Colorless. Colorless was now
> given a hurdle of facing pokemon with built-in Colorless resistance. That
> is pretty significant. (It would not surprise me if Dark(particularly
> Sneasel) gets saddled with the same handicap in the future). Wigglytuff
> now had the potential of only being a 30 damage for 3 energy pokemon.
> Heck, if that was all it could do then Scyther had to be the better
> option.
> Gligar- I love this card. It is the Fossil Magmar of Neo. Gligar
> with his advantageuos bottom stats and Fist Type really throw a scare into
> the most feared clolorless Pokemon (ie. Tuff, Chansey, Lickitung,...). AND
> he can be splashed into any deck with his colorless second attack. This
> makes for less Tuff.
> Ecogym- This card offers Sneasel and alot of other pokemon
> protection that it does not provide Tuff.  Since the DCE is a large part
> of the arsenal in Tuffs attack and Ecogym cannot save Colorless energy
> this adds to Tuffs downfall.
> Sumthin' New- I think Sneasel is a better card, for me. But the
> newness of Sneasel combined with all of the above reasons has made Sneasel
> Wigglytuffs replacement. I think the better players look for a challenge
> and want to try out new toys and that adds to Sneasels allure. But
> personally I think Sneasels huge advantage is his free retreat and that he
> is a basic. I think that outweighs Wigglys Guaranteed attack, higher HP
> and versatility in energy requirements, while I am sure others would argue
> the opposite.
> Take care and thanks for reading.   Later Gator
> Mark.Dawson@vacorp.com