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Cardz Shop

03.07.05  Welcome to the first edition of Cardz Shop. First off, thanks for actually coming in and seeing what’s going to be in store for the rest of my time here. First off, I hate long introductions, so let’s just say I’ve been playing pokémon either online (i.e. on Apprentice) or in real life since the release of Jungle back in 1999. Since then, I’ve been deck meching on message boards, trying other TCGs, and more or less been trying out other games, both collectable TCGs and boards games. But I’ve finally come back to what I think is one of the more balanced TCGs out today, Pokémon. Hopefully this fix will get you used to how I run fixes. With that mini-intro, let’s dive in.

This deck was sent to me by another reviewer on another Pojo site who used to play Pokémon when he was younger. His deck could use a little bit more than a little help. I’ll let you guys see what I mean.
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Hey, my name is Mike, a DBZ COTD reviewer, and a Featured Writer for DBZ too. I played Pokemon when I was younger, then I stopped, then I picked it up again. I need some help with my Deck, (which I'm sure needs A LOT of work). If you put newer cards from when Nintendo took it up, please tell me what set there in so I know. Thanks for the help. Here's my deck-

(Note from Deck Mech: When you sent me this deck, there were a lot of NOA cards that have duplicates of what you sent me. I did my best to guess at which cards you were talking about. I hope I did well at guessing. I’ve also modified the deck a bit so that it would be easier to read.)

Pokémon:
1 Wingull (RS)
1 Pelipper (RS)

4 Mudkip (RS: 1 Bubble, 3 Pound)
1 Marshtomp (RS: Bubble)
1 Swampert (RS: Water Call)

1 Horsea (DR: Wave Splash)
1 Seadra (DR: Energy Cannon)

2 Team Aqua’s Carvahna (1 Confuse Ray, 1 Wave Splash)
1 Team Aqua’s Sharpedo (Slow Acting Poison)

1 Team Aqua’s Spheal (Rollout)
1 Team Aqua’s Sealeo (Aqua Trance)

1 Team Aqua’s Poochyena (Roar)
1 Team Aqua’s Mightyena (Aqua Call)

1 Ditto (FRLG)
1 Tailow (RS)
1 Swellow (RS)

Trainers:

2 Lady Outing
1 Team Aqua Conspirator
2 Team Aqua Schemer

1 Team Aqua Ball
1 PokeBall
1 PokeNav

1 EXP.ALL
3 Energy Search
1 Energy Restore
1 Switch
3 Potion
2 Oran Berry

Energy:

21 Water Energy
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Alrighty, there are a couple of big problems with this deck. The main problem is the lack of focus. There is most definitely a focus on both using Swampert to pseudo-Rain Dance energy onto what ever is active and attack from out of nowhere. However, Team Qua is also accented in this deck with some of the trainers being Aqua specific and 3 separate Aqua lines. In my humble opinion, this deck could go one of two ways. This could become and Aqua-centric deck, using Team Aqua’s Magnetric (Power Shift), Team Aqua’s Seviper, and Team Aqua’s Kyogre to do something similar to what is done in Team Magma decks, only to a lesser extent. If you’d like to do that, those are the cards you should look for to fix up the deck with along with other Aqua-centric trainers.

However, I think this deck would also work well with everything centered on getting a couple Swamptert up on the bench and attacking with something else. This is the approach I’d like to take with this deck and is where I am going to dive into right now.
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Pokémon: With the above decision to make this a decent Swampert-centric deck, we can drop the six Team Aqua pokémon. Now, to strengthen out main line of pokémon. Add 2 more Water Call Swampert and a Swampert-EX (from Magma/Aqua). Swampert-EX can kick out a max of 100 damage, which can be easily W.Called by a benched Swampert. Also, one more Marshtomp will help out the deck curve a lot.

Now that we have a solid central line, let’s work on the supporting pokémon you’ll be using. Those pokémon will not include any of the colorless you currently have or the Wingull/Pelipper line. As nice of a line as it is, there is another, much better line of water pokémon you’ll be using. The other Water pokémon line we’ll be using is Kingdra from Team Rocket Returns (one of the newest sets out). Its great for covering your immense weakness to Lightning pokémon. Let’s add two of those and another Horsea of the type you already have. A 2/1/2 line may look lopsided, but I have a well known trainer in mind that could really help you out. On top of this other supporting pokémon, we’re adding 3 Dunsparce from SandStorm to help fill your bench early and two Suicine-EX (from Magma/Aqua). In theory, you could be doing 80 per turn with 2 benched Swampert Water Calling the returned energy back onto Suicine-EX. With these additions, your deck should run fairly smoothly.

-All Team Aqua Pokemon
-Wingull/Pelipper line
-All colorless pokémon

+1 Marshtomp (RS)
+2 Swampter (RS: Water Call)
+1 Swampert-EX (MA)
+1 Horsea (DR)
+2 Kingdra (RR)
+3 Dunsparce (SS)
+2 Suicine-EX (MA)

Trainers: With the removal of Team Aqua, their trainers can be easily dropped. On top of that, we can drop PokeNav (doesn’t fit into this deck), PokeBall (better options), EXP.ALL (takes up space that will be filled), and Energy Search (you’re only running one type of energy, so the search won’t help you out that much). Along the same line as Energy Search, all your Lady Outing are getting dumped as you can only get 1 Water Energy from using it. Other cards may be taken out later, but for now, let’s stop here.

Now, to add a draw line. Most drawing done today in modified comes from Supporter cards, all of which come from NOA sets. 3 Copycat and 4 Celio’s Network are a must in this deck. CopyCat helps you do some serious drawing and Celio searches out evolutions for you. TV Reporter (Dragon) is another very nice trainer that can help you do some serious drawing. Pop in three of those. Stephen’s Advice (Hidden Legend) is another nice trainer that lets youd raw a certain amount of cards based on how many pokémon your opponent has in play. 3 of those would be great as well.

Now, with a solid draw line, let’s move on to other trainers that will be of great help. One of those is Rare Candy (SandStorm). It will let you get out evolutions fast and your deck up and running at least a turn quicker than normal. 4 of these are a must. Another helpful trainer for you would be Master Ball. 3 of these would do wonders in here, helping you search for just the pokémon you need. To round off our trainers, add another Switch for posterity, along with another Energy Restore. If you’ll notice, we went over in trainers by a lot. So, I’m removing all traces of healing cards. I know that healing can be a good thing, but many decks now don’t use any healing, with the exception of using a Mr. Briney’s Compassion. Your deck is so full already that I can’t find a place to fit the regular one in. If you can find a spot to shove one of them in or even a Crystal Shard (to combat the ever present dragons in today’s modified), have at it.

-All Team Aqua Trainers
-PokeNav
-PokeBall
-EXP.ALL
-All Energy Search
-All Lady Outings
-All healing cards

+3 CopyCat (RR, or Expedition which is a Wizards set)
+4 Celio’s NTWRK (FRLG)
+3 TV Reporter (DR)
+3 Stephen’s Advice
+4 Rare Cady
+3 Master Ball
+1 Switch
+1 Energy Restore

Energy:

Still all water, as to help you get your Swampert up and running. However, 21 is a bit much for running any deck. I’ve reduced the number and added one more Energy Restore to help you get any W energy that you’ll be needing.

-5 Water Energy
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Well, that was bit fun. Here’s a final deck list for you to look at.
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Pokémon:

4 Mudkip (RS: 1 Bubble, 3 Pound)
2 Marshtomp (RS: Bubble)
3 Swampert (RS: Water Call)
1 Swampert ex (MA)

2 Horsea (DR: Wave Splash)
1 Seadra (DR: Energy Cannon)
2 Kingdra (RR)

3 Dunsparce (SS)
2 Suicine-EX (MA)

Trainers:

3 CopyCat (RR, or Expedition which is a Wizards set)
4 Celio’s NTWRK (FRLG)
3 TV Reporter (DR)
3 Stephen’s Advice
4 Rare Cady
3 Master Ball
2 Switch
2 Energy Restore

Energy:

16 Water Energy
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Well, there’s the updated deck. I know that there are a lot of new cards in there, but the format has changed a lot. This decks main strategy is to get one or two Swampert on the bench by turn two or three and have a Suicine-EX out in the active position and ready to go. Two Swampert is needed to pull off the 80 per turn combo. But, if the deck is played correctly, you can achieve this by at least turn five, if not 4. I hope that you have fun with this deck.
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RaNd0m Thoughts…: This is the part of my reviews that tends to veer away from the traditional reviews that any other deck mechanic on this site has done (to my knowledge). Down here, at the bottom of my deck fixes, I’m going to start talking about random things. Some may be associated mildly with the Pokémon TCG (as is the case today). However, on other days, I might rant and rave about things ranging from the Judiciary Branch of the US Government to Food Network Television. So, just strap in whenever you get down here. It could be a wild ride.

Also, when you read my comments down here about society, stuff, and other things, feel free to email me at Cardz2004@hotmail.com to comment on whatever I say, positive or negative. Who knows? Maybe what you say will end up in my next fix.

Today, however, I’m going off about internet viruses. If any of you noticed, last week, I didn’t do any CotD reviews. At all. The reason? When I got the list of cards for the week, my computer caught two viruses that slowed my computer down to the point that it could not perform a virus sweep or stay running long enough to do anything on. Not to mention the myriad of pop-up ads I got hit with. Currently, I’m trying to get the computer up and running long enough so that I can delete the two viruses. The only reason I know its two is because I performed a sweep right before my computer crashed for the first time. And I know its about 7000-8000 files into my virus sweep, so its going to take some time to get the sweep over with. I did recover all the files that were of future importance to me, but things aren’t looking good for getting this virus sweep finished. Ever. So, this means I’m going to have to delete every file on my computer. So, there goes my Apprentice decks from the past two years, almost all my poetry and prose, and even some other projects I had just barely begun. Needless to say, I’m a bit angry. I’m only hoping for the best right now.

So, how am I typing up this deck fix? Well, I’m on Spring Break and using my parent’s old computer to type this up. When break is over, which is in two weeks, I have to go back to using my laptop. Hopefully I get everything fixed in the next week or two but, if not, I may be able to be back to fixing for another month, which is when I can get the computer into the shop and get it fixed. Or I can wipe all the files, which would not be fun. And, with some other things coming up (which I’ll talk about two weeks, God willing), I’m going to miss at least on deck mix in the next month due to some extenuating circumstances. But, that’s a story for another day and another time.

So, anyone else have a horrendous experience similar to this? Or do some of you think that this is somehow my fault. I’d love to hear from you and see your decks. Keep them coming in.

Until next week…

Cardz out.
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Cardzmaster2004
Cardz2004@hotmail.com