Monferno -- Plasma Storm Pokemon Card Review

Pokemon Card Overview:
Today's Pokemon Card Review is of Monferno from the Plasma Storm Pokemon Card Set.  Monferno is a stage 1, fire type Pokemon card, with an hp of 80.  It has a x2 weakness to water type Pokemon, no resistance type, and a one colorless energy card retreat cost.  Monferno does not have an Ability, but it does have two moves.  The first move it has is called Loud Howl, this move requires one colorless energy card and says that your opponent must switch their active Pokemon with one of their benched Pokemon.  Monferno's second move is called Fire Tail Slap, this move requires two energy cards, one each of colorless and fire, and does 50 damage, however you must discard all energy cards attached to Monferno after using this move.

Pokemon Card Strategy:
So as far as strategy goes, since Monferno is a stage 1 Pokemon card, you'll first have to get Chimchar into play (I reviewed Chimchar from this set yesterday) and then evolve Chimchar into Monferno.  Monferno does have a stage 2 evolution in Infernape that you'll probably want to use with this Pokemon line but since I haven't reviewed that card yet, the strategy below will act like Monferno is the final evolution in this line.  So if you read yesterday's review, you'll know that I thought Chimchar was a good starter Pokemon card to use in a fire type deck and that that card could be used on its own in a deck.  After summarizing Monferno in the first paragraph, I still feel that way, and would not use Chimchar with Monferno at all, especially without using Infernape.  I just don't like this Monferno card at all, the most useful thing on this card would be Loud Howl, but if it is later in the game it won't do much because most of your opponent's Pokemon will already be set up and you may end up helping your opponent instead of yourself.  You may want to use Monferno's Fire Tail Slap, but if you have to discard all energy cards attached to this card you can't even stock pile energy cards on this card and use Fire Tail Slap more than once in a row. So to summarize, I would not use Monferno in a deck with just Chimchar, I would just keep to using Chimchar for now.

Pokemon Card Rating:
I would give this card a 2 out of 5 rating.  In my opinion this is a below average stage 1 Pokemon card. There really isn't anything good about this card if you're not going to use it with Infernape.  Neither of Monferno's moves are anything special, and with only 80 hp, using this card in a deck just isn't worth it.  So so far, if I were to rate just Chimchar and Monferno, I would give them a 2 out of 5 rating.

Tomorrow's Pokemon Card:
So thanks for reading today's Pokemon card review of Monferno from the Plasma Storm set, stay tuned for tomorrow's card review of Monferno's stage 2 evolution in Infernape which is from this same set.  Make sure to check below for the Free Pokemon TCG Online Codes!

Free Pokemon TCG Online Code Cards:
Today's Quiz for a Pokemon TCG Online Code Card --
What rarity are each of the Monferno cards in the English sets?
Please respond by including your YouTube username and link to your YouTube channel.  If the question is quite tough, the first correct comment will win, otherwise I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner.