The other role it does is to keep your sorcery and instant spells from seeing the backhand of a Counterspell and its friends
This doesnt just impact graveyard decks, but it also gives a midrange-control deck card advantage in the late game
That gives us 23 + 8 + 8 for a grand total of 39 official Pikachu Illustrator cards in the world
Trampling over your pitiful chump blocker for that planeswalker
Now, for the mons themselves: Sceptile: First starter and favourite Mega (Treecko back in Sapphire, never been a big fan of vanilla Sceptile but the Mega was all I ever wanted, both in typing and design) Charizard: Second starter, favourite Kanto mon and favourite G-Max, the shiny is cool because I'm still an edgy teen at heart I guess
Fog) or can redirect that damage elsewhere (Veteran Bodyguard, Spirit en-Kor, Honorable Passage)