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Jonathan Ng's - Card of the Week (CoTW)

Pokemon CotW 26

My first Team Rocket Card!

Dark Raichu

Name:        Dark Raichu
Type:        Stage 1 -- from Pikachu
Card #:      card 83 of 82
Rarity:      Rare - Holo
Color:       Lightning
HP:          70 HP
Weakness:    F
Resistance:  none
Retreat:     1
Pokemon #:   26
Species:     Mouse
Level:       31

Attack:      [LLL]  Surprise Thunder  (30)
             Flip a coin.  If heads, flip another coin. 
             If the second coin is heads, this attack
             does 20 damage to each of your opponent’s
             Benched Pokemon.  If the second coin is
             tails, this attack does 10 damage to each
             of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon.  (Don’t
             apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched
             Pokemon.)

History:

While normally Pikachu is generally regarded as a tame creature (except for the fact that you get shocked once too often), Raichu is a different beast.  Depending on how it's trained, it can be big, tough and bullyish.  This is an example.  Dark Raichu was raised by Team Rocket.  By intense training and cruelty, it has been taught contempt, selfishness and bitterness.

 Strategy:

 Despite the fact that my colleagues say Pikachu is bad (and it is compared to say Scyther or Hitmonchan, but as something that can evolve it's not too bad), Raichu is a solid evolution. A quarter of the time it can hit for 10 damage, a quarter for 20, and the other half it does nothing.  Get out those coins, everyone!  (No, I don't like coin flipping.  Go away.)

 Yes, it has the potential to clear boards because Pokemon have more access to the bench now.  When the Basic set came out, Gusts were the only way to hit the Bench.  Now all these new and wonderful Bench hitters have come out, retreating strategy has to be revised.

 Still, has some damage potential.  That's all I gotta say.

 Strengths:

-Great Bench Hitter (doesn't everyone _love_ Bench Hitters?)

-1 Retreat for 70 HP, not too bad.

 Weaknesses:

-Hitmonchans (isn't everything weak to Hitmonchans?)

-Intensive L (3 of them, not as bad as Fossil but...)

 Combos:

-Er... I think I'll pass.

 Rating: 7.0 (I've seen too much of Pikachu to make me sick ten times over.)

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