Hi all. I came to the strategies section and found some stuff I disagree

with. First off, -overlooked- Lt Surges Electabuzz, Xatu, Smeargle by

nikePK.

    Some stuff he put in was good. His Lt. Surge's Electabuzz input is

useful, but I disagree with his opinion on Xatu. Here's what you need to

know he said for me not to leave you clueless:

"Xatu’s first attack is devastating with a heads flip. Take a dark

energy off

their active Sneasel and attach it to their non-dark pokemon."

    Take note that you need a heads flip for it to work. It's

unreliable, making it unplayable in the current environment. And don't

use him instead of base set Kadabra for Super Psy. Kadabra has Recover,

which even though you discard one (P), is great if used correctly. Next

is Smeargle. He most importantly says this:

 "your opponent may

think twice about doing slash when he only has 30 hp left"

This does't prove much other than that Smeargle is situational. I don't

suggest using it other than to put it down with a DCE when the situation

suggests it. But don't leave it down on the bench. Most oft-used pokemon

only need a pluspower or two to KO it, making it a good target for a

GOW. Next is Bug your opponent with these pokemon  by PROGnemesisS about

Neo Discovery Butterfree and Beedrill.

    He's good on everything but which stage 1 to use. In my opinion, the

Neo Discovery versions both better the base set counterparts. Let's

compare metapod first:

Metapod (Base Set)

70 HP

Grass

Evolves from Caterpie

(CC) Stiffen: Flip a coin. If heads, prevent all damage done to Metapod

during your next turn (all other effects of attacks still happen).

(GG) Stun Spore: Flip a coin. if heads, the defending pokemon is now

paralyzed. (20)

Wekness:R  Resistance:N/A

Retreat Cost:(CC)

Metapod (Neo Discovery)

70 HP

Grass

Evolves from Caterpie

(CC) Harden: during your opponent's next turn,whenever 20 or less damage

is done to Metapod (after applying weakness and resistance), ignore that

damage.

(GG) Hatch: Flip a coin. If heads, remove all damage counters from

Metapod. Then, search your deck for a card that evolves from Metapod and

attach that card to Metapod. This counts as evolving Metapod. Shuffle

your deck afterward.

Wekness:R  Resistance:N/A

Retreat Cost:(CC)

    Really, neither are very good and should be evolved quickly. And if

you're making a deck around the Neo Discovery Butterfree, your goal is

likely to be to get him ASAP and go about defeating your opponent by

other means. The base Metapod is better for not running Butterfree.

People who do this, though, unless using some yet-to-be-seen combo, are

insane (or have limited resources, which I can sympathise with). Also,

If you use Hatch successfully,  You get a Butterfree completely free of

damage, which is good due to the relatively low HP.

    Next for comparison is Kakuna:

Kakuna (Base Set)

80HP

Grass

Evolves from Weedle

(CC) Stiffen: Flip a coin. If heads, prevent all damage done to Kakuna

during your next turn (all other effects of attacks still happen).

(GG) Poisonpowder: Flip a coin. If heads, the defending pokemon is now

poisoned.

Wekness:R  Resistance:N/A

Retreat Cost:(CC)

Kakuna (Neo Discovery)

70 HP

Grass

Evolves from Weedle

(GG) Secrete Poison: During your opponent’s next turn, whenever your

opponet’s attack damages

Kakuna (even if Kakuna is knocked out), your opponent’s Active Pokemon

is

now Poisoned and Kakuna does 10 damage to each of your opponent’s

Benched

Pokemon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokemon.)

    Much like betwee the two Metapods, I wouldn't suggest using either

one alone without Beedrill and to evolve quickly. The Neo Discovery one

is good because your opponent won't want to attack it. Like the ND

Butterfree, the ND Beedrill has relatively low HP for a stage 2, making

a fairly clean slate of HP good when you evolve him.

    That's about all I have to say. Happy gaming!

Pyrokinesis

klingfree@erols.com

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