I WOULD LIKE TO STATE THAT THIS ARTICLE IS AN OPINION! DO NOT FLAME EITHER
RAPIDASH OR ME JUST BECAUSE OUR VIEWS DO NOT CONCUR WITH YOUR OWN. NOT
EVERYBODY THINKS THE SAME WAY, OR THE SAME THINGS.

Hello Pojo Readers!
This is Alexa and Rapidash, and today, we are going to do a summary of the
merits of the Pokemon from the different expansions, and what they have done
for us. This is a long article, just to warn you.

<Audience boos and throws tomatoes, large polecats, and other paraphernalia
at the stage.>

ALEXA- Oh, come on. Why did you pay for tickets if you were just coming to
boo us?
RAPIDASH- It defies the imagination. Let's start anyway.

ALEXA-Ok. First things first. Let's start with, fittingly, the Base Set.
This set brought many North Americans into the Pokemon TCG phenomenon, and
in the beginning, many decks were about one thing: power. Many newcomers
into TCG strategies built decks based on that and only that. Very little
strategy was used. Cards like Hitmonchan and Electabuzz were dismissed (by
some) as not strong enough, because they could do only 40 damage. I will
admit that I was one of them. "Power" cards, such as Charizard and Zapdos,
were a part of many decks. However, over time, new decks were devised, deck
archetypes that are still very strong in today's tourney environment,
although they have been changed with the advent of new expansions. (i.e.:
Haymaker, Raindance, Stall, etc.)
All in all, Base was a strong set, with many power cards still in wide use
today. Like any other set, it has its weaknesses-

RAPIDASH- Like the lack of a Rapidash card...

ALEXA- A-HEM? As I was saying, there are some weak links in the Base set,
which lie mainly in the terrible Pokemon families, such as Gastly and
Haunter. <shudders> You have to take the bad with the good, and this set has
a lot less weak Pokemon families than other expansions that came after.

RAPIDASH- <coughs in a way that sounds distinctly like Victreebel>
Anyway, next up is Jungle. In our opinion, this is one of the most
influential sets, giving Pokemon players a Rapidash card. This card's merits
include a no discard fire attack, free retreat-

ALEXA- Stick to the cue cards Rapidash.

RAPIDASH- Well SORRY! Anyways, this set brought us diamonds in the rough, so
to speak. We gained incredibly influential cards.but with those cards also
comes horribly weak families, such as the Paras line and the crown princes
of terrible, the horrible Bellsprout/Weepinbell/Victreebel line. Amongst the
amazing cards Jungle gave us is Scyther, the kingpin of versatility. Scyther
is in nearly all tourney-winning decks these days, and is a very good card
in every aspect. The addition of Wigglytuff spawned a whole new archetype,
TuffStuff, WigglyWave, whatever your name for it is. It is taking Stall's
spot in the Big Three, in my opinion. Mr. Mime, a great addition to Psychic
decks all around. This card devastated RainDance until the release of our
next topic, the Fossil expansion.

ALEXA- Thank you Rapidash. The Fossil expansion was like Jungle, giving us
awful families with great ones mixed in. Some of the awfully weak ones were
the Cloyster, Omastar, Kabutops, and Slowbro families. However, there were
more influential cards added than ever before, such as the Legendary Birds,
Fossil Magmar and Lapras, the BBPs Fire and Water never really had. Fossil
Gastly and Haunter made up in full for their predecessors, and Gengar is not
bad either. There are many more great Fossils, but those are the ones I'll
list for now. An interesting note is that with the advent of Fossil, every
Pokemon is accounted for.

RAPIDASH- Can I do Team Rocket?

ALEXA- Sure you can. Take it away.

RAPIDASH- Ok then. Team Rocket gave players Dark Pokemon to work with. The
main thing that makes the TR set stand out is that their HP count is
extremely low, making 50-60 HP the average. Many new cards came, with
game-altering powers. A couple new archetypes have spawned, but are not
nearly as widely used. Some examples are Dark Muk and Hay Fever. Many new
Dark Pokemon hit the board, but are not really used as much as their light
side counterparts. For many, the HP disadvantage is too much to overcome.

ALEXA- With the release of Gym Heroes only a week away, many new strategies
and Pokemon will be entered into the mix. What strategies will you use? It's
all up to you.

RAPIDASH- We hope you've enjoyed our little..well..long article. See you
next time, where we'll be studying trainers from the different expansions!

<audience leaves grumbling>

ALEXA- Geez! Pokemon trainers these days..

RAPIDASH- At least they ran out of polecats...

~ALEXA and RAPIDASH~

rapidash_007@hotmail.com