Dear Pojo,
Please post this in your TCG Stradegy section, Thanx!!!

When you play Pokémon TCG and receive your opening hand, do you ever catch
yourself saying: "Man I wish I had a Chansey right about now." I have found
myself doing that many times.  The thing is that stallers are necessary in
almost every deck (maybe with the exception of Haymakers).  I run a beatdown
deck and I thought that Stallers are too slow and clumsy too use.  Then after
a few games I wised up and figured out that stallers can actually win a game
for you.  They are very efficient and you can use let them take the beatings
while you power up that Scyther of yours.

Another thing that all Pokémon Masters need to know is when to sacrifice.  I
have fought many battles where the trainer pays a HUGE retreat cost to bring
back a pokémon and replace it with one that isn't fully powered.  They end up
losing both of them in a matter of a few turns.  Now I'm not saying that you
should just let your pokémon sit there and die, I'm just saying that when you
have a pokémon that is about to die and your can't save it, then let it die
and counterattack with another one that is fully powered.  This is a very
important skill you have to learn.

Lastly, good trainers must be able to predict and prepare for the future. 
When you make a move don't do it just to bennifit the present, make a move
that will bennifit the future as well.  If your opponent is powering up that
growlithe on his/her bench then quickly kill it or matters can become alot
worse.

Thanx for reading and sorry for the long article.
David "PokéTrainer" Zhang
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