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The Random Report

Saga of Sets: 5/9 (or 10 or 11) Gym Heroes

 

            First off, I’d like to apologize for my lack of Sagas lately. These things take hours to do… and I’ve been rather lazy =P. I’ll try to do them more regularly now. And, as promised, the “Readers Respond” section is below the article.

 

Gym Heroes is a beautiful set. This set is unbelievable… and it was what sparked the interest. People were getting sick and tired of the same old Pokemon, same old drawings, same old attacks, and wanted something new. Gym as a whole offered that to the game. Even though the game stayed very similar, gym offered a larger card pool, and a larger fan base. This set triggered the beginning of many decks, and the end of others. Have fun ;)

 

1/132 – Blaine’s Moltres – Ok, this is one of those cards where you can honestly say “I don’t get it.” Although it has somewhat good use in a turbo blaine’s magmar deck; doing 90 on like, turn 3, it really doesn’t have much hope in MTV’s “The Real World”.

 

2/132 – Brock’s Rhydon – It is somewhat interesting with Gold Berry, but only against bench damage decks, which aren’t exactly common. Overall, not the best.

 

3/132 – Erika’s Clefable – Remember when everyone was like, oh MAN this card is like, your MOTHER? It had hope, but the flip really damages it, along with the weakness to fighting. Overall, not playable. It gets rogued too much.

 

4/132 – Erika’s Dragonair – I like this card, and I always will. Although some probably consider it junk, once a card has won you one or two or five games, you can’t hate it. Take Away is seriously cool, and blizzard ain’t half bad. Overall decent.

 

5/132 – Erika’s Vileplume – Ok, this card is elite. Confusion is the BEST status effect in the game in my opinion, even better than paralyzing. Anything that can confuse without needing to attack deserves a temple. But not a Catholic one. =\

 

6/132 – Lt. Surge’s Electabuzz – We used to think this was a decent basic. We used to think he’d become good. We now know he’s useless. In fact, he has no friends… at all.

 

7/132 – Lt. Surge’s Fearow – This card… to say the least, is fun! Flipping 5 coins for an attack is flat out hilarious, and clutch isn’t bad. Is it good in standard? Probably not. But in specially formatted tourneys, it can be a killer. Great in limited.

 

8/132 – Lt. Surge’s Magneton – Every time I see this card, I always think of Spike’s Magneton deck that was published in Pojo’s Special Ed. Magazine awhile back. “The first magneton not to blow itself up!” Overall, it’s not a great card. But… it could be a nice surprise to freak your opponent out!

 

9/132 – Misty’s Seadra – I’m sure everyone used this in their raindance at one time or another. When this was released at my local league as a prerelease, I slapped it in there IMMEDIATELY. It’s first attack is nice, doing 20. It’s second seemed cool at first, but the odds of it working were like smash punching a baby… OHHH. Cool card.

 

10/132 – Misty’s Tentacruel – This was an interesting card. I also tried putting this in my raindance. The attack is REALLY cool, but it just was underplayed overall. One of those cards that get overlooked.

 

11/132 – Rocket’s Hitmonchan – OHHH MAN. This thing is evil! The first attack could be so abused vs. Sneasel today. I remember how awesome it was against Wigglytuff… Wiggly wants to ko it for 60? Better think twice! He’ll do 120 back!

 

12/132 – Rocket’s Moltres – This was a card people thought about, and then left in the binder. Overall slow… not too good. When we first saw these “rocket” cards, we thought HAYMAKER HAYMAKER HAYMAKER. Well… this didn’t make the cut.

 

13/132 – Rocket’s Scyther – A card still used today. Shadow Images is flat out cool. Being able to put a smokescreen effect on your opponent and KEEP IT THERE is unbelievable. Trust me, your opponent HAS to get heads to stop this. I find this card very useful in a deck like Erika’s Victreebel. Load the bench and stall with this.

 

14/132 – Sabrina’s Gengar – Well, Pain Amplifier is nice. This was to be a great card for bench destruction. But I think the fact that it was a stage 2 sort of slowed down the deck idea… and lead this card to the place they DON’T want to be: the binder.

 

15/132 – Brock – Uhhh… Remove a counter from each Pokemon. Well, that’s nice… I used this in my raindance a bit. It’s sort of good with Articuno.

 

16/132 – Erika – This card is great. Drawing 3 cards with one card w/o discarding was something previously unheard of. With Imposter Oak’s Revenge, this proves to be a strong card drawing engine while not benefiting your opponent. Nice.

 

17/132 – Lt. Surge – Um… no. Simply put, this card is dirt. In fact, most cards WITH Lt. Surge in the name are. Why would you play this? Why would you play secret plan? WHY? WHY? WHY?

 

18/132 – Misty – A nice card. Misty FTKO’s were common at this time, almost to be an archetype. However, grass was also popular at this time, especially Scyther, and this faded out.

 

19/132 – The Rocket’s Trap – Everyone has experienced this card. Most people have been trapped at least 5 times in their lives. It’s not fun. The Trapper was a solid deck, and deadly. Basically, playing 4 of these, 4 Rocket’s Sneak Attack, 4 Imposter Oak’s Revenge, and 4 Erika, this was the deadliest trainer combo of all time. First, IOR. Then, Sneak. Then, Trap. BOOM, your opponent has no hand, and their destruction will come. The only way to stop this deck was to topdeck Professor Oak. =/

 

20/132 – Brock’s Golem - Another bench damage card, backed up by a solid attack. It’d be great in draft. But in constructed? I don’t see it making the cut. Being a stage 2 with stage 1 attacks doesn’t cut it.

 

21/132 – Brock’s Onix – I saw this card, and fell in love. But it’s not that good. Bind is nice, but Tunneling! That was what caught my eye. TWENTY DAMAGE TO TWO OF YOUR OPPONENTS POKEMON? Unheard of! Yet there it was! I know I saw a couple of these in tournaments.

 

22/132 – Brock’s Rhyhorn – TecH. That’s all it was. But play it in a non-fighting deck, just hold it in your hand, and look at that Chansey who just double edged your big Pokemon! Is the game over? Not quite! Lay down the Brock’s Rhyhorn, attach a double colorless, bada bing, bada boom, GAME. Nice card, eh? Gligar replaced this when Neo 1 came out.

 

23/132 – Brock’s Sandslash – Needles is cool, and sandstorm is an advanced smokescreen. Not the better of the two sandslashs, but a neat card that deserved some sort of play. It never did get it. Once again, a worthy card that hit the shower, erm, binder.

 

24/132 – Brock’s Zubat – What IS this? A rare Zubat? Huh? Yeah, what’s next? A rare Goldeen? OHHH… This card is bad. 30 hp? What, you want an ABRA to kill you?

 

25/132 – Erika’s Clefairy – Well, I don’t know what to think. It could be good, but these cards are limited worthy, not constructed. You need to think BIG to win. =\

 

26/132 – Erika’s Victreebel – I LOVE THIS CARD! Oh man, this was great! It’s evolutions are solid, and a gust as a Pokemon power? I LOVE IT! Seriously, this card was a force. It was great to see decks like this make top 8 at Standard tournaments. Stage 2’s COULD make a big showing.

 

27/132 – Lt. Surge’s Electabuzz – And I said the other one was bad? In comparison, this would be the guy living off welfare when the other buzz is the guy making multimillions. Sick card… only good in limited.

 

28/132 – Lt. Surge’s Raichu – Oh look! A base zapdos with a decent, smaller, attack. But why use thunderbolt when you can use charizard? Honestly. =\

 

29/132 – Misty’s Cloyster – Wow, this is good… WHAT? THREE ENERGY for that second attack? Dude. What IS this? What a rip-off. =\ Basically, some of these rares were those that when you’d be happy to buy three packs of gym heroes, you’d open them and find “What? A Misty’s Cloyster, Lt. Surge’s Electabuzz, and Brock’s Zubat? Ahhhhhhhh!”

 

30/132 – Misty’s Goldeen – Don’t show this card to TR Cassidy! She loves it! It’s like… a Nidoran Male with 10 less hp. Uhh… cool. =\

 

31/132 – Misty’s Poliwrath – Water Ring looked cool for a raindance, but it was flat out a waste of time. Misty’s Poliwhirl is a LOT better.

 

32/132 – Misty’s Tentacool – Great. Let’s get more horrible Pokemon on our bench so we can resign quicker! Yeah! What a DEAL! In fact, let’s just wave the white flag now. Judge? I uh, quit Pokemon. “Are you sure?” Yeah. “Ok.” Thanks. =/

 

33/132 – Rocket’s Snorlax – Well… the retreat ruined this one for me. I guess it could be good, especially with TR Drowzee, but dude, it’s relatively fat! I mean, do you honestly play guys with 4 retreat that CAN’T fend for themselves? No. =\

 

34/132 – Sabrina’s Venomoth – YAY! A decent card! I haven’t reviewed one of those in… a long time. Dude, this was like, auto-confusion. Unheard of! And the amount of play it saw? Minimal. Why? What has this world come to? Are we net-decking again… “yes.” Oh. =\

 

35/132 – Blaine’s Growlithe – Out of the three Blaine’s Growlithe, this one gets the middle rating. Why? Because Shake is dumb, and something about the second attack reminds me of Base Set Pikachu. =\ It is a nice deal with Blaine however, and a possible FTKO card.

 

36/132 – Blaine’s Kangaskhan – Ahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahaha! FLIP to do 10 damage. AHAHAHAHAHA. AHAHAHAHAHAHA. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Ok I’m done now.

 

37/132 – Blaine’s Magmar – Sweet! This card had a deck built around it. Let’s just say it moved through the game pretty quick. Baby Pokemon destroyed the deck idea, though.

 

38/132 – Brock’s Geodude – Lucky shot is flippy, but good in today’s environment, sorta. Dude, wanna know what’s fun about drafting gym? ALL THESE CARDS STINK! =/

 

39/132 – Brock’s Golbat – Dive is good, spiral is a waste of energy. But hey, not bad, considering you don’t see colorless grass much. This line was used quite a bit.

 

40/132 – Brock’s Graveler – FCC averaging 20 or 40. Dude, that’s not spectacular. Next…

 

41/132 – Brock’s Lickitung – Not a bad card. Average, and a horrendous retreat, but is definitely used in limited.

 

42/132 – Erika’s Dratini – Ah. Great card… VERY good in that environment. I know very few people who didn’t use Erika’s Dratini in such a haymaker dominated environment. It forced people to play Wigglytuff or Clefable. What a change! :)

 

43/132 – Erika’s Exeggcute – Lame. Dude, you don’t want flips for attacks. This is like a Dive Bomb type thing only flip tails, you commit suicune. Nope. Nada. No way. =/

 

44/132 – Erika’s Exeggutor – Actually a nice card. In the pre-elm, pre-cleffa days, this was not typical. An attack that did drawing? Nice. Stomp is relatively decent too.

 

45/132 – Erika’s Gloom – This was a good card. Choose status effect, and thirty damage. Nice. Remove 4 counters with a flip. Nice. Not a bad card leading up to Erika’s Vileplume.

 

46/132 – Erika’s Gloom – I like this card. Dream Dance is nice because you have a 25% chance of NOT waking up by next turn. Vile Smell is nice because you could either play a full heal energy next turn, or switch, OR evolve. Nice!

 

47/132 – Erika’s Oddish – Hmm. Photosynthesis is a cool power, but it’s a shame it wasn’t used on someone bigger, like a Vileplume. Using a power like that on such a low Pokemon is stupid at best.

 

48/132 – Erika’s Weepinbel – Dude, play this and die. Drool? Ok, what kind of PERSON would play a card with an attack called Drool. Dude, what’s your problem? Honestly.

 

49/132 – Erika’s Weepinbel - GREAT card. Sleep Poison is awesome, and GGC for 40 isn’t bad, especially when you won’t be using it much…

 

50/132 – Lt. Surge’s Magnemite – GREAT CARD… Ohhh, it has 30 hp. Why do they always do this to us? You find a card with promise, your scanning the attacks, then you look up, and find it’s horrible. One Jab from a hitmonchan kills this, making it a no-no on RaNd0m’s “playlist”.

 

51/132 – Lt. Surge’s Raticate – Super Fang… ok… what else? Nothing? Why not play base Raticate then? *sighs*

 

52/132 – Lt. Surge’s Spearow – 30 HP, 20 damage. Simple, to the point. Too bad it’s not playable, especially in an Electabuzz dominated era.

 

53/132 – Misty’s Poliwhirl – This card is great. Rapids is a good enough attack, but they gave us water punch! I actually won a tournament with this deck. It’s GREAT. Put like 6 water on it and have a slugfest! Reminds me of a card I used at Worlds… hrhrhr.

 

54/132 – Misty’s Psyduck – Um… no. =\ Misty’s Golduck wasn’t even around yet… and the gym 2 psyduck is so much better. So, no. =\

 

55/132 – Misty’s Seaking – Man this looks familiar. Hmm… where have I seen this before. *Looks back to the Jungle SOS (Saga of Sets)* Ah, yes. I remember. This is EXACTLY like it’s Jungle counterpart! The only difference is … a possible 10 to the bench! Wow, that REALLY makes this playable? *sigh*

 

56/132 – Misty’s Starmie – Well, water gun is =/, and bubble beam reminds me of a certain flying bird sharing this same type. AND THIS IS AN EVOLUTION! =/

 

57/132 – Misty’s Tentacool – Crystal Beam is mediocre at best, but an obvious improvement over the other one.

 

58/132 – Sabrina’s Haunter – This card is always so weird. Night Spirits… it freaks me out. I mean, the idea behind it sounds cool… averaging 60 damage a turn. But what are the odds you’ll get all 4 gastly/haunter out? Not too good. Not to mention mass resistance to psychic, and other things. Why not just use Wigglytuff? =/

 

59/132 – Sabrina’s Jynx – I don’t get it. Sleep, and then lack there of? What IS it? I mean, this card is honestly counterproductive. It might as well say, “Here’s the white flag. Good game.” It COULD be good in a theme deck.

 

60/132 – Sabrina’s Slowbro - =\ PCC – 40, no attack next turn? Another one of those “=/” cards.

 

61/132 – Blaine’s Charmander – Kindle is great. Slash is also a nice backup. Definitely the Charmander you want to use in this line.

 

62/132 – Blaine’s Growlithe – What IS this? 20 for RR? And that’s all it is. I mean, it could be good as a sideboard, but is there a sideboard in Pokemon? Nah.

 

63/132 – Blaine’s Ponyta – Agility is … well, it’s a good attack, but the low HP turns me off. Basically, taking two turns to power this up is a waste, and if you are playing this deck right, you won’t be having this card turn 2. You should be evolved by then.

 

64/132 – Blaine’s Tauros – Three Prong is decent to average, but the second attack is something worth looking at. It’d be nice with Unown N in play. It’s like a Pin Missile that you can get off turn 2.

 

65/132 – Blaine’s Vulpix – Tail Fan is NICE. The power is decent too. If this guy had 50 hp, it’d be a solid basic on it’s own. But it has 40. It’s a good card, but I’d only play it with focus band. And if your playing Blaine’s Ninetales, you shouldn’t ever be putting more than two energy on this guy anyway.

 

66/132 – Brock’s Geodude – Decent at best. The rock Pokemon always have had one thing in common. They stink, they have always stinked, and they always WILL stink.

 

67/132 – Brock’s Mankey – Great card. It’s an UNBELIEVABLE tech in standard, modified, or new modified. Hey Slowking? “… … … … … … … slow?” Take THIS! BOOM, your active. BOOM, you BETTER have a balloon berry.

 

68/132 – Brock’s Mankey – I like this card. Practically 40 for FC, and well, fidget is just the COOLEST ATTACK IN THE GAME, hands down.

 

69/132 – Brock’s Onix - This guy’s big. The first attack is weird… no damage or anything, just flip to paralyze. But not bad. The second attack is mediocre. But the hp is nice! Not something I’d play in constructed, but something I’d definitely love drafting!

 

70/132 – Brock’s Rhyhorn – What the… this is like tyrogue! Heads heads, 70, ko! What a deal! A horrible card, you shouldn’t play it, and if you do, I’ll laugh at you. Tyrogue will KILL this thing. Three heads vs. a baby? Yeah, right.

 

71/132 – Brock’s Sandshrew – Defense Curl is uhhh, well, “good”. Rolling Attack is =/. But it’s evolution is NICE… and that’s why we play it.

 

72/132 – Brock’s Sandshrew – The more played Sandshrew. Not for the attack, for the HP. It has less of a chance of being FTKO’d.

 

73/132 – Brock’s Vulpix - Not bad. Flame is good, and Quick Attack is nice if you can’t get the fire energy. Great way to build up for the big guy.

 

74/132 – Brock’s Zubat – The better one. It’s OK, but I don’t like it. I wouldn’t play it, but then again, I’m not sane, am I? Wait, yes I am, and this card is not on my playlist. Just don’t play Brock’s Golbat, k? =\

 

75/132 – Erika’s Bellsprout – I used this one before I used the careless tackle one. It’s not bad, but easy to ko. Basically, it’s not bad if you are going to play a grass deck. But it’s not one to tech either, =/.

 

76/132 – Erika’s Bellsprout – This is a tech. Fifty HP, C – 20/10. Not bad. It’s good to kill totodile’s with.

 

77/132 – Erika’s Exeggcute – Not too bad of a card, for a little guy. Psychic isn’t bad, and I like the first attack. Exeggcute > Magnemite. They blow the OTHER guy up instead, see? Haha. =\

 

78/132 – Erika’s Oddish – It’s ok. Removing counters is a different approach, but it’s not a bad card. I like the other one better, though. I mean the one that owns. Not the Photosynthesis one. =\

 

79/132 – Erika’s Tangela – WHAT A DEAL! FLIP A COIN TO GET TWO CARDS, and for THREE energy! Nice! Sick, pass this card up, don’t show it to me anymore or I’ll have Eric Brooks eat it. =\

 

80/132 – Lt. Surge’s Magnemite – A solid basic. Not bad. Shock is always a good attack, and CC – 20 is typical. If it wasn’t FTKO bait from hitmonchan, it’d be a decent basic on it’s own. But it’s nothing without an evolution.

 

81/132- Lt. Surge’s Pikachu – Well, what’s NOT to love when a Pikachu’s being reviewed? I swear, I tried to rate it badly, but the cards tried to attack me! You DON’T dis Pikachu, that’s for sure. Not a bad card though. 50 HP, what’s NOT to love.

 

82/132 – Lt. Surge’s Rattata – Not bad. Focus Energy is pretty cool, and Gnaw isn’t bad either. A decent basic.

 

83/132 – Lt. Surge’s Spearow – Not horrible. The second attack is cool, but it’s a flip. I’d rather use Erika’s Jigglypuff.

 

84/132 – Lt. Surge’s Voltorb – Dude, what IS this? I’ve never seen an attack that practically reads “If tails this does nothing” the way this was worded. It’s 20x, flip 1 coin, do 20 times the number of heads. Dude, they really ARE making this game for little kids… aren’t they ;)

 

85/132 – Misty’s Goldeen – Dude, I like the other one better! This is so goldeenish. …Ohhh……

 

86/132 – Misty’s Horsea – Not bad. W – 10 is lame, but WW – 20 and smokescreen is mediocrely cool. Not a bad buildup for a decent evolution.

 

87/132 – Misty’s Poliwag – I always liked this one better. Hypnotic stare is NICE, and slam is decent. A great basic, building up for a GREAT evolution. Not a bad line.

 

88/132 – Misty’s Seel – Basic, to the point. Not a bad card, and not a horrible evolution to evolve into. Just one of those “I like the trash can better than the deck” cards.

 

89/132 – Misty’s Shellder – I can’t say it’s bad… yes I can. Bad, don’t play it, it’s pathetic. What, are you trying to evolve into a pointless evolution? Go you. =\

 

90/132 – Misty’s Staryu – Not effected by resistance? Great! I was really scared that it wouldn’t do any damage against… (what Pokemon has resistance to water? …ohhh….) that… POKEMON.

 

91/132 – Sabrina’s Abra – Energy Loop is ummm counterproductive. You play an energy, and you hope you can GET somewhere next turn. =/

 

92/132 – Sabrina’s Drowzee – Pointless card. It’s REALLY GOOD, but if I wasn’t being sarcastic, I’d be lying. And that’s against my catho… I MEAN, Lutheran religion.

 

93/132 – Sabrina’s Gastly – Great. Another one of those “average” cards. Moving right along…

 

94/132 – Sabrina’s Mr. Mime – Sleight of Hand is good in raindance. Not a bad card overall… I could see it fulfilling some duty and some point in time.

 

95/132 – Sabrina’s Slowpoke – Average, again? Geez… are we there yet? This card is wasting my life -_-

 

96/132 – Sabrina’s Venonat – Not a bad card. Again, Sabrina’s Venomoth was a great card that was underused, underplayed, underrated. This wasn’t a bad basic for it, either.

 

97/132 – Blaine’s Quiz #1 – Ok… this is a random card that back in Modified, people were carrying their GAMEBOYS around for. I don’t get it. Dude, it could be good, but people find a way out of it. WHY NOT BILL? EH? EH EH?

 

98/132 – Brock – Uhhh… Remove a counter from each Pokemon. Well, that’s nice… I used this in my raindance a bit. It’s sort of good with Articuno.

 

99/132 – Charity – WHAT IS THIS? I MEAN HONESTLY? WHAT IS IT? DUDE WHAT WAS TPC’s PROBLEM? Were they joking? Was this a big joke? I mean, use Charity… what a deal! I wish I could do this every time I did 160 to your scyther with my typhlosion! Sorry, I just decided overkill worked! I didn’t realize I had to play a CARD to help with this… it’s not like this is a waste of space.

 

100/132 – Erika - This card is great. Drawing 3 cards with one card w/o discarding was something previously unheard of. With Imposter Oak’s Revenge, this proves to be a strong card drawing engine while not benefiting your opponent. Nice.

 

101/132 – Lt. Surge - Lt. Surge – Um… no. Simply put, this card is dirt. In fact, most cards WITH Lt. Surge in the name are. Why would you play this? Why would you play secret plan? WHY? WHY? WHY?

 

102/132 – Misty - A nice card. Misty FTKO’s were common at this time, almost to be an archetype. However, grass was also popular at this time, especially Scyther, and this faded out.

 

103/132 – No Removal Gym – It seemed cool, but they’ll countergym, play 2 ER, 2 SER, game. Not cool… it didn’t work the way people hoped. As Satoshi puts it: “Cards like this make me think Wizards should have FULL control of the game.”

 

104/132 – Rocket’s Training Gym – Hmmm. Increasing retreats by one is definitely an interesting effect. Using this w/ Dark Muk can be devastating! Gust up that Scyther, play this down, and use Dark Muk’s attack. There isn’t such a card as a triple colorless energy, so Scyther forfeits. This works with almost ANY haymaker Pokemon. Using this, with high amounts of Energy Removal, and Dark Muk, can be a BROKEN deck.

 

105/132 – Blaine’s Last Resort – This card is good combined with Blaine’s Gamble. But both of those cards stink. Overall, a bad idea for a card. Use Oak! =\

 

106/132 – Brock’s Training Method – Is this that one card? It is. =\ It has a couple combos with Brock’s Ninetales, and guaranteeing the lack of removal sounds good, but it is overall a waste of space. In my opinion, instead of wasting space on guarding your own energy, why not use it to be aggressive on your opponent’s?

 

107/132 – Celadon City Gym – Great in an Erika’s deck. It’s a nice default gym if you are worried about status effects ruining your day. But they don’t do that often. Still, a decent card for your Erika deck.

 

108/132 – Cerulean City Gym – Lowering retreat by one is nice. But not worth the space, or the gym. In a Misty deck, I’d rather play Healing Field or Ecogym, but not this. =\

 

109/132 – Erika’s Maids – Dude, this card is nice in an Erika deck. Have an Erika’s Bellsprout down, w/ 2 energy attached? Need that weepinbel for the game? Play this! It’s like an Erika-ified Pokemon Trader. Then again, why make it Erika-ified? Why not use Pokemon Trader? *sighs*

 

110/132 – Erika’s Perfume – Great with Pokeflute. You have an Unown N in your hand? Here, you play it, then I gust it, and BOOM, your done. Ness actually plays that combo to beat BigChuck’s Steel Chansey deck. =\

 

111/132 – Good Manners – Good in a low basic count deck. Otherwise, not. I guess it’d be useful in a low count Entei/Cargo, or something. =\

 

112/132 – Lt. Surge’s Treaty – This card is random. You either get a card, or you get a card! At least it makes the game go faster. =\

 

113/132 – Minion of Team Rocket – ROFL. Idiotic card… just resign. Why would you play this? Well, you BETTER have rigged that coin. If you didn’t, at least you have good morals. You shouldn’t be playing this card, PERIOD. It’s one of the worse cards in the game, behind Arcade Game. =P

 

114/132 – Misty’s Wrath – GREAT card. The ability to zoom through your deck for a card you need is excellent. One of the most played cards in “Old Modified”, as it’ll probably be called soon enough. I can see it now… “Wanna play OMF?” Man, that’s gonna be hard to type.

 

115/132 – Pewter City Gym – Necessary in any Brock’s deck. The resistance to fighting hurts. This helps out the problem.

 

116/132 – Recall – ROFL AGAIN. This card had a lot of combos to it… including having 9 counters on a gyarados, recalling flail, and owning. However, now that Neo 3 Aerodactyl is out, this has lost a lot of points. But it’s still a funny, hilarious card.

 

117/132 – Sabrina’s ESP – You flipped tails, eh? Want another chance? This is GREAT with Sabrina’s Kadabra’s lifedown. I mean seriously, 75% chance of doing TONS of damage? Nice! Even if your going against a baby, it’s STILL a deal! =/

 

118/132 – Secret Mission – Not a bad card. Seeing your opponent’s hand is nice, and discarding useless cards to gain card advantage is a decent trade. One of the underrated draw cards in OMF. But it definitely played/plays a role in Feraligatr. =)

 

119/132 – Tickling Machine – AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Next…

 

120/132 – Vermillion City Gym – A possible pluspower… or possible damage. It reminds me of Digger. Overall, it’s too flippy, and there isn’t much point. I guess it could be good in some FTKO situations. =\

 

121/132 – Blaine’s Gamble – It’s a gamble! It’s like a Secret Mission you flip to… and gain double the rewards. Not a horrid card, but I don’t really like it. Great in Feraligatr though… just underplayed. Think about it… instead of using the power, use this, discard like, 6 water, gain 12 cards BACK? THINK of the damage! =\

 

122/132 – Energy Flow – Great card. I remember my favorite combo with this card: Energy Flow/Pokemon Center/Raindance. It singlehandedly made your opponents hate you. =D

 

123/132 – Misty’s Duel – HOW COOL IS IT to play rock-paper-scissors in POKEMON? Dude, FLAT OUT, BROKEN, because it’s rock-paper-scissors. BROKEN. =\ Actually, not horrible, considering you could either help yourself or take away your opponents “great hand”. =\

 

124/132 – Narrow Gym – Another combo card. You could pick up a Pokemon with like, 9 counters on it! What a deal! At one time, the typical default gym. Now it’s Sprout Tower. But this card definitely was cool.

 

125/132 – Sabrina’s Gaze – Good drawing card. I’ll tell you though, you’d hate drawing this when you have 2 cards in your hand, including this one. But it’s not a BAD card. =\

 

126/132 – Trash Exchange – This card made Feraligatr broken. Great card in some situations, pointless in others. But you can definitely get back those special energy cards J!

 

127/132 – Fighting Energy – It depends. =\

 

128/132 – Fire Energy – It depends. =\

 

129/132 – Grass Energy – It depends. =\

 

130/132 – Lightning Energy – It depends. =\

 

131/132 – Psychic Energy – It depends. =\

 

132/132 – Water Energy – Oh, you thought I’d say “It depends”? Tough. Water Energy is BROKEN, you should all PLAY IT, because it’s the BEST CARD ON EARTH. Thank you. =\

 

 

            And there we have it! All 132 cards reviewed! It only took me about 5-6 hours! Lol… Next week, I’ll have another article. Hope you read it! Ah, don’t forget to read my “Reader’s Response” section below!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

~ RaNd0m

rand0m_for_life@hotmail.com

 

Reader’s Response Section:

 

            Before I start, just so you know: I won’t be posting email addresses unless specifically asked, nor names. These are “anonymous” unless you state otherwise. Thanks! Also, I will respond to these here in Italics.

 

Responding to Worlds…

 

Hey RaNd0m!

 

Too bad I didn't get to go to this.  Too bad I live on the other side of the country.  Oh well.

A couple of comments:

1.  Dark Blastoise.  A good deck, and I see you made it work.  The one thing I don't get...where are the Slowkings?  Pretty much every Water is played with Slowkings now.  Given some subtle changes (Gold Berry to Balloon) and some energy changes, this could easily have that card thrown in.

2.  Gotta step in to D. Gatr's defense here.  We NEED something "broken" in MMF.  Unlimited doesn't have anything that is truly, 100%, "broken".  For each deck there is a viable counter and metagame.  In MF, Gatr won b/c there are no flips involved in attack or defense.  All of the other decks used involved flips, and if it didn't get the flips, it didn't win the game.
MMF:  We have a few archetypes.  D. Gatr/Slowking, Kingdra/Slowking, Exegganium, Entei-Cargo, and UNDOUBTEDLY Crobat/Muk will show up after this recent Gatr/Slowking thing.  Without Slowking and Dark Gatr, we have a bunch of rogue decks as a format.  We need something viable.  Gatr isn't a curse, it's a blessing.

3.  I am GLAD to see that you did not give any props to MMF, nor did you give any slops to Unlimited in your report.  Nothing else to say on that one, just glad to see it.

- Mystery man

 

RaNd0m: Hey Mystery man! Thanks for writing! It’s a shame you weren’t able to attend. To your first question – Dark Blastoise w/ Slowking? I guess it is a possibility, but I liked Dark Blastoise for a big reason: It abused Double Gust! If you only load like, one of them, you have a bench of babies, a Double Gust is just like a Gust of Wind, only better! Slowking would only harm the deck more than it would help. Plus, I don’t really like Slowking in general. And now that people know it was a big threat, I expect to see a lot of Muk at the next World Championships.

To your second question…I don’t think I understand what you’re saying. Why would we need something “broken”? In my opinion, Dark Feraligatr isn’t anywhere near broken. It’s easily countered. But it’s a great deck! I don’t know if you are using the term correctly. Broken doesn’t mean “unbeatable”, it means “unbelievable”. Professor Oak is a broken card. Computer Search is a broken card. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be beat… that’s what Chaos Gym is for! And THAT can be beat! Dark Feraligatr is a great stage 2, but not broken. Muk can take out it’s power, and that leaves a big fat 80 HP slob. On average, a Cross Attack will take it out. I really don’t see what’s wrong with having a bunch of rogues in a format… a non-archetypical format… isn’t that good? Am I missing something?

Finally, on your last comment, I SHOULD’VE given MMF props. I think it slipped my mind. It’s the best format Wizards has come out with yet, and I honestly find it cool. Unlimited doesn’t deserve slops though.

 

Professor Program, Gym Challenges, etc.

 

Before I start, Does Pojo himself look like that picture?  Does he really wear that cool Raiden hat?  And what happend?  You were doing those cool reviews of all the card sets in the random report.  Those were slamming!  And who, or how do I complain to Wizards? Man, I CANNOT pass that test.  I cant be a Pokemon Professor!  I want to be able to play in the Gym challanges, with the cool prizes and trips!  I WANT IT BACK TO NORMAL, THEY ARE SCREWING UP THE GAME, WHY CANT THEY SEE THAT???!!!??!?!?!?!?  NOONE LIKES THE PROFESSOR PROGRAM!  I DONT WANT DRAFTS! .....  Whew..... sorry man, I just CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!  THOSE DUMB ****s ARE THIS CLOSE TO MAKING ME QUIT PLAYING POKEMON AND JOIN YUGIOH!  Sorry, sorry, sorry. Man, that feels so much better.  I am dead serious.  There is no point in denying it, Pokemon is fading out.  Not completely, but those left are the true players. It may only be a few years till the game becomes obsolite.  Until then, Wizards owes it to us to at least CONSIDER what we want.  After the countless THOUSANDS of dollars I’ve poured in to the game, they owe me at least that much.  You want hard core?  I spent $200 dollars in 1 WEEKEND on cards a few months ago.  And for that, and all my business in the past, I get the PROFESSOR PROGRAM? Gee, thanks.

 

- pokemaster1110

 

RaNd0m: Hey pokemaster! Does Pojo really look like that? I dunno… it’s always been QUITE a mystery. I’ll tell you one thing. The realm of the Pojosama is a dangerous place… it even freaks me out! I wouldn’t go there if I were you… ;)

            The reviews? You mean the Saga of Sets? Well what do you think you just read?

            From what I’ve heard, the Professor Test isn’t too hard. If you need help, study the rulings! Go to PKCompendium, and study study study! Just make sure you don’t fall behind on your schoolwork too. =\

            The 15+ argument is a long one, but it seems that Wizards has already ruled on it. I don’t think Wizards is honestly the company to blame though. TPC, the company Wizards goes through to give us all this, quite honestly, doesn’t want the older kids to play. Wizards has done their best, but they have the license to manufacture it, they don’t own it. Unfortunately, until Wizards can own it, it will be like this. At least, that’s the “cover” story. =/

            Pokemon was once a huge fad, and it has dwindled. But the core is here. And unless the core gets tired of the game, the rulings, the company, it’ll stay around for quite some time. Don’t play Yu-Gi-Oh! Well, it’s your choice, but that’s just a fad. It could become as big as Pokemon, but I doubt it. =P

            And I understand what you mean with the business part. Most of us HAVE spent hundreds, (or thousands) of dollars on Pokemon cards! All we are asking for is to continue having competition, for all age groups! =P Thanks for writing.

 

Quick question…?

 

Hey RaNd0m! I need to know… how long have you been playing Pokemon? How did you start? I’m really interested.

-         Anonymous

 

RaNd0m: Well, this is a first! I haven’t been asked this in a long time. *looks back* I actually started collecting Pokemon cards in March of 1999. I had a friend who gave me a few… a Diglett, a Growlithe, and a Fighting Energy. I was thrilled! I immediately brought them home. Then, another friend in April gave me like, 6 more cards. I finally went out and bought a starter deck… but I dismantled it to “collect” the cards. Well, my dad saw ebay.com, and saw how the prices were increasing. So we immediately bought, amd bought, and bought, trying to make a little $$$ off it. When fossil came out, I finally started playing the game. I remember my friend, Chris, and I would play these ridiculous ideas and have tons of fun. Pokemon was always fun when both of you had no idea what you were doing!

            Around Gym Heroes, I went to my first major tournament, a Mall Tour in Chicago in 2000. I played a Wigglymaker, and won one of the 32 person events (single elim) going 5-0. I was hooked! Basically, from there, I won two trips, had TONS of fun, and currently stand at a 1909 DCI constructed rating with a 12^th place at Worlds to boot =)!

            Pokemon, for me, has been a great experience, and I surely will never forget it. And I think for anyone who is still playing the game, it’s the same way. Hope this answers your question!

 

 

            I know I promised you guys 2 more of these letters, but these were really long, and I think I’ll stop here. Please give me more of your feedback! I like the idea of this section, and I plan to continue doing it! Happy Gaming!

 

~ RaNd0m

rand0m_for_life@hotmail.com