Subj: [Fwd: Help For A Mom's Deck]
Date: 3/13/00 5:34:02 AM Central Standard Time
From: bmlevine@home.com (barbara)
To: TheLady@pojo.com

Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2000 1:09 PM
Subject: Help For A Mom's Deck

It was a dark and stormy night, and all was quiet in the laborotory of The Pokemon Lady. She had finished her last experiment for the day, one where she was trying to create a "Jigglytuff" like her friend Aaron had... anyway, she had just sat down to ponder her navel when there was a timid knock at the door.

The Lady looked at the door with annoyance, and motioned to her trusty Psyduck that he should answer it. Psyduck plodded over to the door and opened it. Standing in the light of the doorway was an anxious looking lady. "Psiiiii?" asked Psyduck in a questioning manner.

The woman looked at the funny yellow duck and said, "Is the Lady of the house available?" Psyduck stepped aside and motioned for her to come in the door. She did and Psyduck plodded over to the Pokemon Lady, who was sitting in her comfy chair.

"Psiii, iii iii, psiii...." whined Psyduck as he motioned to the lady standing just inside the door...

"Yes, I can see her now..." grumbled the Pokemon Lady to Psyduck. "You can go play."

"PSIIIIII! " shouted Psyduck gleefully as he ran off to play with the other Pokemon. On his way out, he missed the door and ran smack into the wall. He fell over backwards and for a moment he was dazed.

"Is he ok?" asked the visitor.

"Yes, he'll be fine, " answered the Pokemon Lady. Psyduck was already getting up and ambling off to join the other Pokemon in the Lady's private quarters upstairs... "He's just stupid." she commented. "But, he's my favorite..." she said with a smile.

The Pokemon Lady looked at the woman standing in her lab for a moment, then she stood up and smiled. "What can I do for you?" she asked as she offered the visitor a seat.

"My name is Barbara," the visitor began, "and I am the mother of a 12 year boy who is a pokemon fanatic. He has taught me to play, and I now bring my deck when I bring him to the League on Friday nights. They allow parents to play in the league, which is a lot more fun than killing time or trying to read in a noisy room for 2 hours."

"That's nice of them," the Pokemon Lady commented. "I know of some Pokemon Leagues that don't let the parents play at all, and encourage them not even to stay and watch their kid play."

Barbara nodded, and continued with, "I enjoy playing except when I lose all my matches for that night multiple weeks in a row. That has happened with the deck I brought to you today," She pleaded, " Please help me, my ego can't handle being defeated by 10-18 year olds this often."

The Pokemon Lady looked quizzically at the nice lady sitting across from her... "Have you read my strategy articles posted at Pojo.com?" she asked...

Barbara replied, "Yes. I have... they're pretty good. My son looked at this deck, but couldn't find anything wrong. Could it be my playing ability? I've done fine with my previous raindance deck."

With this, the Pokemon Lady got a knowing look on her face and replied, "Ahh... As is often the case when a player switches from a tried and true archetypal deck, such as raindance, to a deck of his or her own creation, you're finding it difficult to win..." she smiled at Barbara and said, "Well... Let's take a look at it, shall we?" Barbara handed the Pokemon Lady her deck of cards, which the lady quickly counted. "Well, at least you have 60 cards... that's a start" she said with a smile.

3
3
3
2
3
4

2
2
2
2
3
3
4

4
7
20

Pokemon

Hitmonchan
Scyther
Doduo
Dodrio
Wigglytuff
Jigglypuff

Trainers

CPU Search
ScoopUp
Energy Removal
Professor Oak
Gust of Wind
Plus Power
Bill

Energy

Double Colorless
Grass Energy
Fighting Energy

 "No, actually. Except for my Pokemon becoming fainted," was her reply.

"Ok, " said the Pokemon Lady. The first question I have for you, is 'Why the Dodrios?' Do they help with retreat for your Pokemon, do you use them to attack? Why?"

" I don't know, " was her reply. "Probably a little of both."

"Exactly." said the Pokemon Lady, "If you don't know... I don't know. I like Wigglytuff and Jigglypuff. This deck has a lot of promise--it would be a formidable SpeedTuff deck (one of those lesser known archetypes) but you'd have to take out the Dodrios for starters. Scyther is a great Basic Pokemon, but he takes at least 2 turns to get powered so that he can start attacking. I would reduce that by 1. Now, add 3 Base set, Level 35 Electabuzz. His 1 and 2 energy attacks are a quick speed up, and since he's a basic Pokemon, he will fill that bench quickly for the Wave attack. I also want you to drop your Wigglytuff/Jigglypuff line down to a 3/2 combo. That's 13 Pokemon,, 11 of which are basics. You shouldn't have trouble with mulligan... "

"Mulligan?" asked Barbara.

"You know, where you don't have a basic on the opening hand of 7, and you have to shuffle your hand back into your deck and redraw..."

"Oh... yes... that's where your opponent can draw 2 extra cards..." commented Barbara.

"Yes, " said The Lady... " It can be quite annoying to have happen to you... but you shouldn't have any trouble... if you do, just add more Hitmonchan or Electabuzz."

The Pokemon Lady then looked at Barbara's trainers. " All of these trainers are good choices, but you just don't seem to have committed to the strategy. Show your commitment by adding a Plus Power, a CPU Search, and a Gust of Wind. Now, trade in those Energy Removals (which don't really fit the theme of this deck) for the #1 stopper card--Lass."

"Lass?" asked Barbara, incrediously.

"Yes, Lass." answered the Pokemon Lady. "Lass makes you both shuffle your trainer cards from your hands back to your decks... with decks that are reliant on trainer cards in order to get energy, evolutions, etc (like raindance) a well played lass can stop them cold."

"Oh!" exclaimed Barbara. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Neither had I, " explains the Pokemon Lady, "until my pals taught me the benefits of Lass." The Pokemon Lady continued, " As for your energies, leave in the 4 DCE, as it will do nicely to power up the Wigglytuff and Jigglypuff, but knock your grass energies down to 4. Scyther only needs 1 Grass energy to do swords dance, and 3 colorless energies to power up slash... Go ahead and use 1 or 2 Grass each on Scyther, but fill up that other energy requirement with a fighting or electric."

"Electric?" questioned Barbara. "I don't have electric energy in my deck."

"You will, " said the Pokemon Lady, with a smile. "You'll need it to power up Electabuzz, remember?"

"Oh yes... " remarked Barbara with a smile. "I'd forgotten about that."

" Yes, " continued the Pokemon Lady, " as I was saying..." the Pokemon Lady begins mumbling to herself... "you'll need energy for Electabuzz. He takes 2 electric energies for his most powerful attack... you have 3 of them, so that's 6 energies basic... " she starts counting on her fingers... "add 2 more for ER and SER.. " She looks up and says to Barbara, "Ok... add 8 electric energies for Electabuzz, and that leaves 10 spaces for fighting energy for Hitmonchan. "

(13)

3
2
3
2
3

(21)

3
2
2
4
4
4
2

(26)

4
4
8
10

 Barbara's Deck

Pokemon

Hitmonchan
Scyther
Jigglypuff
Wigglytuff
Electabuzz

Trainers

CPU Search
ScoopUp
Professor Oak
Gust of Wind
Plus Power
Bill
Lass

Energy

Double Colorless
Grass
Electric
Fighting

 "So... this is where we stand now..." Barbara commented, as she finished writing down the Pokemon Lady's suggestions.

"Yes," said the Pokemon Lady with a grin. "You've got a deck with 60 cards, 13 Pokemon (11 Basics), 21 Trainers, and 26 Energy. Hitmonchan, Scyther, and Electabuzz, are BBP (Big, Basic, Pokemon) that will be able to hold off for at least a couple rounds while you power and evolve the Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff line in preparation for the wave attack. You can afford to sacrifice the opening Pokemon, if you need to, but if you don't want to do that, you can deny your opponent the prize by scooping him up.

Use DCE to power up Wigglytuff, or use it to quickly power Scyther's Slash attack. Be careful against energy denial decks, because a well played Energy Removal can take that DCE right off, so make sure you're ready to use it when you play it.

Use Lass to stop your opponent from using trainer cards against you. Have him or her shuffle them back into his or her deck and waste the time drawing them out again. A turn 2 or turn 3 lass can stop the raindance players from washing you away. Use Bills and Oaks to get to the cards you need in your deck. Gust up weak and energyless Pokemon on your opponent's bench for quick kills, and use those Plus powers to give you that added punch that you need to knock out the defending Pokemon."

"Do you think it was my strategy that was stopping me from winning?" Barbara asked.

"Well, Barbara. It's hard to tell without seeing you in action... but I do know that having a specific strategy in mind, and then building a deck around that strategy has helped ME when I've been in tournament or league play. It's easy to become distracted when there are so many neat cards out there--figuring out which ones to put in is part of the challenge."

"Well, " said Barbara as she stood up and prepared to leave, " I appreciate your help. Thank you."

"Just let me know how you do with it," said the Pokemon Lady as she pushed a button on her desktop. The door opened. As Barbara was leaving she waved at the Pokemon Lady, who sat illuminated by a strange purple light above her head.

"I will," she promised.

With that, the door seemed to swing shut by itself, leaving Barbara outside, alone in the dark and stormy night.