The Game Is More Fun This is the obvious one. Think about this for a second. Would the game be much fun if all we play is trap and hay? It is the same thing over and over! It will get boring soon playing the game the same way. Some may say, "Well just play another kind of deck dummy!" Well you could, but it is just gonna go down to the trapper or hay or wiggly most likely. Most times to beat these decks you must play the same deck. But then there isn't even really strategy in it anymore. Sure, trapper is a good combo, but it really just boils down to who goes first. It becomes boring and pointless. But if we were to ban some cards, then we could play different decks and not have to worry about there being a trapper at the league or a tournament. It can come down to what Pokemon TCG is all about, who has the better deck, who is the better player, AND WHO HAS FUN!

More Balance In The Game The game now will have more balance. Now there is a variety of decks that will become playable and playable once again. Stall may come back into play, because it was shut down by fast moving decks and trappers. Will Raindance come back? I would like it to, because that was just a fun ol' deck, but the cards need to play it are what may be needed to be banned, like oak, but then again, mabey Misty's Wrath? Or even Elm? Dont overlook some of these friends of oak. Remember this, cards could now become playable. Lets face it, Meganium (Wild Growth) is a cool card, but a trapper or wiggly can probably shut it down with ease. But with that gone, this could become a new archetype. And Feraligator! (Riptide) This card is like Blastoise's little brother! Another new archetype that could arrive. This could also help old cards that people overlooked come back and whoop some, like Beedrill, that was a great card (I know, my brother would kick my butt with it!), and Ninetails, lots of people like this card and think its underrated, but what holds him back, those overpowering, pokeball hauging jerks! (just kidding wiggly, your still tight ;)) So as you can see, this would help Pokemon become a more diverse game, not like Wizards pathetic attempt at the last STS, speaking of that...

No Need For Pointless Rule Changing Wizards, come on, that was a joke right? No, it wasn't? Oh come on, that was just stupid! You couldn't have been serious right? Oh my gosh, you were? Uh oh, you better watch out from now on, ya wanna keep some of that dignity while ya still got some left. Lets face, most of us believs Prop 15/3 was dumb, useless, and at some time annoying. If cards are banned, there is no need for this dumb rule changing and twiking just because you want to, because alot of different decks will be played! I believe that the point (or most of it) of 15/3 was so that you could have a more diverse playing field at these large scale tournaments such as the STS, and wouldn't this work just a little bit better? Think Wizards, 15/3 isn't gonna help.

More Cards Become Playable This is a little the same as More Balance In The Game. Ok, think of some cool cards that have come out in these past few sets, especially NEO. Then think, what stops them? What comes right to your mind? TRAPPER, HAY, WIGGLY! It is sorta sad to see all of these new cards that come out that could be soooo cool and fun to play, but then you remember that you play at a place that looooves hay, so you say, "Eh, nuts. I'll just build a trapper and get it over with." This isn't fair to the people that come up with these new ideas and they cant be played. The cool/kazam/mime idea was sweet, but think of how vulnerable that deck is! But it could become a great deck if these overpowering decks are took out of the picture! I am not gonna go through the list of cards again that become playable, as I have already mentioned some of them. You get the point I think.

Slops

I believe there is only 1, major slop, or downside, to banning cards and that is the obvious:

WE LOSE SUCH GREAT CARDS! This is the downside to banning. Obviously, if you ban wiggly, then we lose a great killer. Ban electabuzz, we ban one of the greatest basics ever. Ban oak and we lose the biggest part of card drawing, and one of the most important part of decks. Sure, if we ban cards, it will solve our problem, but we lose great cards with that, but I believe that we will forget about it, move on, find new Pokemon we love to play. And hey, you can still play your ol' hays and traps at places were cards aren't banned, like some tourneys, friends house, your house, anywhere aloud. Dont worry, we can move on. Afterall, its not about winning, its about how much fun you have, and who said ya gotta play 4 oaks to have fun?

Matt's Final Thought

    So there you have it. These are my beliefs on banning cards. I feel this game will be much better and still hold an edge if we start to ban cards. Thank you for reading this, and I hope I have made a believer out of you. Take care of your Pokemon, and yourself. This is Matt A., signing off.

email me at janet52@gateway.net (this is my moms pc :P) I'll take any sort of email, comments, hate mail, decks, ideas, anything!

(P.S. IN NO WAY AM I BASHING WIZARDS OF THE COAST! PLEASE DONT EMAIL ME WHAT I ALREADY AM PRETTY SURE OF, WIZARDS IS UNDER WHAT WE SAY, "RED TAPE", AND IS NOT ABLE TO BAN CARDS AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME! I HOPE THAT THE COMPANIES THAT SURROUND WIZARDS (E.I. CREATURE, NINTENDO, GAME FREAK, ECT.) WILL PLEASE LISTEN TO THE FANS OF THIS GAME, AS WIZARDS DOES. WIZARDS I BELIEVE IS NOT AT FAULT FOR THIS, AND NO ONE IS, NOT KNOWING THIS IS WHAT POKEMON WOULD TURN INTO. PLEASE, DONT BASH ON WIZARDS! THE MAJOR CORPORATIONS THAT SURROUND IT ARE THE ONES WHO HOLD THEM  BACK.)