Dear Scott,
My name is Stephen Tsai, and I have experimented with
many types of decks, among them the ever-so-popular
Tuff Stuff and the not-so-widely-known Active Stall.
I found both types of decks extremely effective, but
with the upcoming East Coast STS, would like to try an
original deck that I think has much potential. So, I
present to you:
Friggin Fire Blast
Pokemon-16
4x Vulpix(B)- This card is necessary to evolve into
Ninetales.
4x Ninetales(B)- Fire Blast does 80 damage, and you
discard only one energy.
4x Voltorb(TR)- This card can be used to shut down the
not-so-popular Raindance, and is needed to evlove into
Electrode.
4x Electrode(B)- Buzzap!! This is a Speed Ninetales
Deck, so to attach energies faster, I need Electrode.
Trainers-22
4x Bill- Card drawing
4x Prof. Oak- More card drawing.
3x Comp.Search- To find crucial cards such as
Ninetales and Electrode.
3x Energy Removal- To try and slow sown Tuff Stuff.
3x Gust of Wind- For easy kills and disruption.
3x Impostor Oak's Revenge- To disrupt opponent and
remove crucial cards like Wigglytuff.
2x PlusPower- To kill pokemon like Lickitung in one
hit.
Energy-22
18x Fire Energy- To power up Ninetales.
4x Electric Energy- To power up Voltorb vs, Riandance.
Strategy- The main strategy of my deck is to set up
Ninetales using Electrode and Fire Energies and to use
Fire Blast, discard one energy, and next turn reuse
Fire Blast. This will allow me to take prizes at 1
per turn assuming I don't come across Chansey,
Blastoise, etc. PlusPower plays a key role in
eliminating pesky pokemon like Lickitung. With the
increasing popularity of Tuff Stuff, this is one deck
that can kill a majority of the pokemon in Tuff Stuff
and other archetypes like Sponge. Wigglytuff,
Electabuzz, Scyther, Promo Mewtwo, Magmar and others
are all destroyed in one hit. All of these pokemon
have one retreat cost, so I felt that Switch or Scoop
Up was not necessary.
Substitutions- Some of the substitutions I felt could
be helpful to this deck are Vulpix(TR) instead of
Vulpix(B), because Vulpix(TR) will shut down Mime
better w/ a 20 plus possible Confusion attack, and he
can remove one damage counter a turn, but he
sacrifices HP w/40 instead of B.Vulpix's 50. Another
sub I was considering was instead of Impostor Oak's
Revenge, I was considering Switch because to retreat
Ninetales would require discarding one energy, and
discarding the least amount of energies possible is
beneficial to my deck because my deck is built for 6
KOs is 6 turns. I was also considering adding either
more Fire Energy, Energy Retrievals, or Energy
Searchs, because if I don't have one fire energy each
turn, my deck could suffer. The last possible sub I
have in mind is instead of Energy Removal, I insert No
Removal Gym because my deck is weak against Energy
Removal and Super Energy Removal, getting SER'd could
really crush my chances of winning because it would
leave my Ninetales vulnerable.
Problems- Some potential problems that I thought of
are Raindance, which has grown less popular but is
still a threat. Perhaps, adding more electric
energies would help. This deck is overly-reliant on
Ninetales, if Ninetales got KO'd, I can see myself
struggling to repower Ninetales. A lack of fire
energy when I need it could be painful, leaving
Ninetales vulnerable. Finally, if Ninetales was ER'd
multiple times I would have to repower Ninetales,
which is a pain.
Thanks for your time in reading this letter, I know it
has been a long letter, but I appreciate the time you
took in reading it. And I would appreciate any
response on how I could improve this deck, or how well
you think this deck would fare in a Wiggly-loaded
enviroment. Thanks again.
Yours Truly,
Stephen Tsai
I like this deck and the concept behind it, so let's see
what we can do with fixing it. =)
The only thing I can think of as it pertains to Pokemon is to cut one Ninetails. I know it's Speed Ninetails, but I think you'll do fine at 4/3.
Your Fire Energy total seems to be about 2 too high. Yes, I know that you're going to be discarding a LOT of Energy, but we're going to make it up in the trainers.
In trainers, we're going to start by pulling the PlusPowers. They are nice, but I think you will find them worthless more than you like them. About the only REAL threat over 80HP you're going to find is going to be Chansey or Blastoise. In those cases it takes more than 1 PlusPower, so let's not have those.
Right now we have a total of 5 free Slots for cards. Let's start by adding in 2 NGRs to make up for lost energy. They are REAL good in this deck. Also, add in 3 No Removal Gyms. This deck can be in real trouble if they can get removal off on you. In this case, make room for them by dropping the 3 Energy Removals. They're nice, but not REAL needed. With 3 card slots available, lets add in 3 Rocket's Traps. They serve the same purpose as Impostor Oak's Revenge, and work well in combination with it as well. As a matter of fact, drop a Bill to go to 4 Rocket's Trap.
This deck will do extremely well if it can keep your opponent away from Energy Removal. That is what we have gone for here. Let's look at the final deck
4 Vulpix
3 Ninetails
4 Voltorb
4 Electrode
3 Bill
4 Professor Oak
3 Computer Search
3 Gust of Wind
3 Impostor's Oak Revenge
2 Nightly Garbage Run
3 No Removal Gym
4 The Rocket's Trap
16 Fire Energy
4 Electric Energy
Have fun with it!
Scott