I know what you are thinking, what's up with the name. Well, I'm telling you, after around two years of
playing, I've finally come up with a deck that is so fast, it will demolish anyone, including that infamous
Blaine's charizard. Basically, in Australia, Pokemon is pretty big and there are tournaments around but the one I had was in was invite only, meaning only the best of the state were allowed to enter.  8 people were picked, 3 from my club and we played for a prize pool of $500. My deck is fairly similar to most haystacker decks except that I refuse to call it a haystacke because my win loss ratio using it is around 8:1. I even tried a 3 player game once, two people onto me and I didn't even get an extra turn and I won. Well, enough of that, here it is:

Half Past Dead: Special Edition
Pokemon
Hitmonchan          4
Hitmonlee           3
Scyther             3
Aerodactyl          3

Trainers
Pluspower           4
NRG removal         4
Super NRG removal   3
Gust of wind        3
Prof. Oak           3
Bill                4
Item Finder         2
Switch              1
Mysterious Fossil   3
Computer Search     3
Super NRG Retrieval 1

Energy
Fighting            12
Grass               1
Double Colouless    3

Total 60 Cards


You wouldn't think I would get too many basic pokemon at the start but I get just enough. Letting the
opponent draw two cards isn't too bad because the game is usually over before they can play them. The
weakness to this deck is however is that it goes through cards like no tomorrow and it would never last
the 30 minute game limit. However, usually that doesn't matter because the game is over before then. A
quick summary of how to use this deck is to get the sycthers and hitmonchans out, use sycther to take
damage and then retreat and get the others to attack. When aerodactyl comes out, it should slow down the evolution while energy removal slows the opponent down even more. The Prof Oaks are in instead of Prof Elm is because this deck needs to draw and be able to use trainers immediately. And that is basically it. This is what happened in the tournament.

Round 1- What can I say, this guy looked pretty mean and committed to the task and brought out his Buzz deck and started zapping scyther. But before anything, computer search and some punches from hitmonchan had him dead with an aerodactyl sitting pretty on bench. It was only a question of time before I beat down on his basics with a whooping 50 damage from hitmonlee. Gust of winds help get their weaker pokemon out. I won that game convincingly, all prizes gone vs 4 prizes. (The tournament is based on one one game per round. That way, if you are unlucky, bad luck.)

Round 2-The Semi Final (This one is best out of three) You cannot believe the luck I had. My two basic
Pokemon were Mysterious Fossil and  I was against a Blastoise type variation deck. What made it worse was that I lost the toss and squirtle quickly dispensed with my Mysterious fossil. Fortunately for me, I had a Prof Oak in my hand and literally went through over half my deck with draw, Prof Oaking (using Item finder to get them back) and I got back to a satisfactory position. (Mind you, this was all in the second turn). The rest is history, constant energy removal and the opponen unable to evolve, I won the first round. All prizes gone to 2 prizes and 3 cards in deck. The next phase was a bit easier, a decent hand and a computer searched aerodactyl, I took out the flailing squirtles and horseas easily. A quick game, All pokemon knocked out.

3 Round- The final Well, this was the real test for my deck. I was against Charizard and this guy had every conceivable means of getting it out. I mean, Dark Dragonairs, Masterballs, Computer searches and Pokemon breeder fields. My first hand was shocking, I had only a sycther on bench and it was quickly dispensed by an energetic Magmar. The score was 0-1. Next game, looked better, with a better hand and an actual bench. As soon as the guy played the Charmander on his bench, I thought it was all over.  I lost the coin toss this time so got he got to go first. With Magmar upfront and a Charmander and dratini on bench my opponent made the most fatal mistake, he played energy on Charmander. Now, it was my turn. Playing two Bills, I got a few more cards in my hand and searched for my singular Grass energy in my deck with Computer search and used swords dance on sycther. My opponents turn
would prove to be his downfall. He evolved both Charmander and Dratini and used Dark Dragonair's
evolutionary light to get, any money,  Blaine's Charizard. Once again, there was no attack and it was
my turn. A gust of wind and plus power with a fully energised scyther (with double colourless energy)
dispensed of the dangerous Charmeleon and the game was basically mine. In around two turns, Aerodactyl was out and then I picked off his basics easily. In the end, it was all pokemon knocked out, he had taken two prizes. This third round was the toughest game  of all. Never encountered a harder game before. We both got pretty good hands and magmar kept my speed at bay. Unfortunately, his combination of all these getting evolution cards out technique got a Blaines Charizard out before I could get aerodactyl and saw my Pokemon just drop. I managed to do around 80 damage to it but a Pokecentre quickly reduced the damage. All I had was a Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan and an aerodactyl on bench. I was doing nothing to Charizard, just about twenty a turn but I dropped a few plus powers a turn but I was getting mauled. How did I win then? (Yes, I won)Well, here is how it goes. A scyther up front and gust to get the dragonair out. (It had no energy of course) A swords dance and you can guess the rest) My weakest link had turned out to be my strongest. I dispatched the other pokemon with aerodactly and the game was won. I received a $300  bounty and went home happy.

Afterthought
This deck is very fast and the speed seems to be multiplied as you slow other decks down a lot with
removals. I've gone against haystackers but with the modification of the aerodactyls and Mysterious fossils for more energy and some potions, it still works rather well. Extremely reliable, Prof Oaks, Bills and computer searches get the cards you need with no flipping of the coin. Can beat any sort of deck, maybe a tad weaker to Psychic due to weakness, but then, I just use scyther and aerodactyl to beat down on weak basics. All in all, a fabolous deck to play with if you want to win and win quickly leaving a frustrated opponent and maybe even $300 in pocket.

Fernando Cavenaghi
lanceoflonginus@yahoo.com