The Guide to Trainers

Bill - It s usually a good idea to put 4 in every deck. It is the only card in
the game that is useful in every situation. Use it immediately unless you are
almost out of cards in your deck. RATING:*****

Clefairy Doll - A disgustingly crappy card. If you need to stall your opponent,
use Energy Removals, Gust of Winds, or Scoop Ups instead. RATING:*

Computer Search - If your deck relies on a particular card, it is a good
addition to your deck. Make sure you don t throw away your only energy cards,
or cards that can be useful. Combo: Professor Oak. RATING:****

Defender - Might be useful in some situations but usually isn t a very good
card. Potions and Super Potions are better. RATING:**

Devolution Spray - Almost useless, but don t look at it as a Full Heal with a
bad effect, it just un-evolves your pokemon if you need to. You can use it if
your pokemon doesn t have enough energy on it. It s still a very bad card
though. RATING:*

Energy Removal - Useful in almost every deck. Use on a pokemon that poses a
threat to you. Put a 3-4 in decks that concentrate on speed. RATING:*****

Energy Retrieval - An okay card. It can be useful in Fire Decks but it usually
only takes up deck space. Look at it this way: You use up Energy Retrieval and
1 energy for 2 energy, so you gain 1 energy. If the Energy Retieval were an
energy card,it would be the same thing. RATING:**

Full Heal - You can get the same effect by using switch on your pokemon for one
with a free retreat cost and retreat to bring out the original pokemon. And
Switch can be useful in other ways too. Don t use this card. RATING:*

Gust of Wind - If you use it on a pokemon with no energy on it, you can pound
it down for a free KO. You can also use it to slow down the opponent. Very
useful against pokemon who like to do their dirty work on the bench, such as
Alakazam, and Blastoise. You can also Gust of Wind to bring out a pokemon that
has a weakness of your active pokemon s type or one that your pokemon is
resistant to.

Excellent card. Combo: Scyther s Swords Dance. RATING:*****

Impostor Professor Oak - Only useful if you re trying to deck your opponent or
if he has more than 7 cards. Combo: Pidgeot RATING:*

Item Finder - A pretty useful card. Use it only if you can do something big
with the trainer you pick up. Never put more than 2 in a deck.You can use it
with Bill to throw 3 cards away, including Item Finder, and draw 2 new cards.
Also useful with Professor Oak. RATING:***

Lass - This is one useless card. Use only if you have telepathic powers, or
discard it to use Item Finder/Computer Search. RATING:*

Maintenance - Another crappy card. You throw away one card (Maintenance) and
shuffle two to draw one measley card. Combo: Professor Oak, if there are two
cards you need but don t want to discard. RATING:**

Pluspower - Imagine this position. You need to deal 40 damage but can only deal
30. If you don t deal 40, the opponent will retreat that pokemon. Only a
pluspower can help. It can add that extra punch to KO that pokemon in one turn
sooner. If it isn t useful at the time you draw it, save it; it will be useful
later. Good addition to fast decks. RATING:****

Pokeball - If you don t happen to have a Pokemon Trader or Computer Search, use
this card. It s effective but unreliable. RATING:***

Pokedex - This card is just okay. It just means you draw the good cards now and
the bad ones later. Here s an idea: use it with cards that force you to shuffle
your deck. Put the good cards on top, and after you draw them, use Call for
Family, or Computer Search, etc. RATING:***

Pokemon Breeder - Don t bother waiting for the Stage 1 to use the Stage 2
evolution card. It is excellent in decks that rely on a certain Stage 2 card,
such as Blastoise.

RATING:****

Pokemon Center - A very powerful defensive card but for a big price. If you can
get around the payment of the energy cards, this card will give you a huge
edge.

Combo: Alakazam, Venusaur, Chansey RATING:****

Pokemon Flute - Use only to mock or pity your opponent. Might be good with a
Gust of Wind though. RATING:*

Pokemon Trader - Good, but not as useful as Computer Search. Again, use it in
decks that rely on a certain pokemon. RATING:****

Potion - Waste of deck space. Use Super Potion instead. Discarding one energy
card is worth the extra 20 HP. RATING:**

Professor Oak - The best trainer in the game. This card defines hand advantage.
Every deck should have two or three. If you use this card, you don t need to
put as many energy cards in your deck because this card helps you get them
anyway. Use if you have a bad hand, a small hand, or no hand. RATING:*****

Revive - It may seem appealing at first, but this card sucks. It makes an easy
target for Gust of Wind. If you need that particular pokemon, use a Pokemon
Trader. RATING:**

Scoop Up - A 3-way cross between Devolution Spray, Switch, and Pokemon Center.
This card is highly defensive and can catch the opponent off guard. I like to
use it with Hitmonchan, where I can keep jabbing until Hitmonchan is almost
dead, and then scoop it up. When one of your pokemon are almost KO d, Scoop Up
can take that kill from an opponent. It can also act as a free retreat.
Powerful card. Combo: Chansey- wait until Chansey is almost KO d, and scoop it
up to bring out another Chansey. Repeat. Alakazam- Swap the energy to one guy
and scoop it up. Hitmonchan,- Only put one energy on it, and Jab away.
RATING:*****

Super Energy Removal - This card can screw your opponent up badly. Throw away
an energy you don t need, and massively slow down your opponent s active
pokemon. It won t be able to defend itself for a while and it should be an easy
kill. Put 2-4 in decks that concentrate on speed. RATING:*****

Super Potion - This card can make that Stage 2 Pokemon last one or two turns
longer. Just throw an energy from your hand onto that Pokemon, and remove it to
do Super Potion. Try to avoid disabling your pokemon from attacking. A pretty
good card but never put more than two. This card is significantly better than
Potion so replae Potions with Super Potions. RATING:***

Switch - A useful card for decks that have to worry about Gust of Wind. When
your opponent Gusts your Alakazam, who can t retreat at the moment, a Switch
would be very useful. It is a weak card in the early stages of the game,
though. Decks with a lot of pokemon that don t evolve should use Scoop Ups
instead. RATING:***

Best to Worst

Professor Oak ,Bill, Gust of Wind, Scoop Up, Super Energy Removal,Energy
Removal, Computer Search, Pokemon Center, Pluspower, Pokemon Breeder, Pokemon
Trader, Super Potion, Item Finder, Switch, Energy Retrieval, Pokeball, Pokedex,
Potion, Defender, Revive, Maintenance, Full Heal, Devolution Spray Pokemon
Flute, Imposter Professor Oak, Clefairy Doll, Lass.

Agree? Disagree? Questions? Comments?

e-mail me at bokchoyboy@hotmail.com