This is a solid amount of damage, one that can take out most evolving Basic Pokemon
Now, the Alt Art ended up looking great but I was of course correct, because well, look at this thing
There are plenty of repeatable ways to get extra combat, as well
If they do, its probably because they see you as helping a different opponent too much
(The lack of easily-readable text meant that the card was banned from Standard tournaments for two decades, before a 2019 reprint rescinded the ban - as long as the player brought along a copy of the cards official card database entry.) Despite the absence of readable text, a fairly obvious typo in the little text that does appear - the copyright information along the bottom edge of the card - makes the first printing of the Japanese card even rarer
For some who feel obligated to match card sleeve to deck type, you avoid that completely