Gym Heroes Strategy Guide (TCG)

The Gym Heroes Strategy Guide is a book primarily concerning the cards of the Gym Heroes expansion set of the Pokémon TCG. It contains a detailed rundown on all the cards in the set, even stating their uses in certain situations. It has been regarded as amazing for how it manages to come up with a way in which a seemingly useless card can be playable. At the beginning of the book, the foreword from Professor Oak welcomes you and gives you a brief explanation of the concepts illustrated in the book. Then, in "The World of Pokémon," the essentials of the TCG are gone over, to ensure that the reader understands what they're reading. "Anatomy of a Pokémon Card" tells about the basics of a Pokémon TCG card. Lt. Surge's Raichu is used to illustrate the points shown, such as Hit Points and Attacks. In the "Train With The Heroes" section, the writer gives their opinions on the best cards in the set, and what the Gym Heroes set has that previous sets haven't, such as Stadium Cards. it has numerous deck ideas utilizing mostly cards from the Gym Heroes set, as well as some from other sets. "Cool Decks You Can Build" comes next, divided into "Easy-To-Build Decks" and "Advanced Decks." The listed decks are as follows:

Easy-To-Build Decks

• Girls' Night Out
• Blaine's Lava Pit
• Sabrina's Sleepy Time Deck
• Mice Pokémon Are Nice
• Poison Rocket
• Fire Extinguisher
• Pika-Mander

Advanced Decks

• Ghost Party
• Celadon City Flower Bed
• Brock's Sand Pit
• Lt. Surge's Charging Center
• Misty's Raindance
• Barrier Swap

The main section of the book is next, giving pictures, rarities, card types (i.e. Trainer, Basic Pokémon, etc.), and paragraphs explaining the uses for each card. Every card in the set is covered, with the exception of basic energy cards. The last section of the book is a checklist of all the sets released before Gym Heroes for players to track their collections. The book is written by Teeuwyn Woodruff and published by Wizards of the Coast in August, 2000.