Good, good. I see you managed to brave the winter weather enough to make
it here on time. Excellent. Let me give you a tip; if you don't want your
head lopped off and served to your body on a platter, make no mention of
Valentine's Day.
    My secretary, who has chosen to dress all in black today, went through a
messy break-up with her boyfriend and is in no mood to be around anything
romantic. She even went so far as to go outside and wrip the heart right out
of my "I Love my Lapras" bumper sticker. So tread lightly into my office and
DON'T make eye contact with her. I don't want the paramedics here twice in
one day...


>HayMuker
>
>Pokemon: 12
>2 Grimer
>2 Muk
>2 Hitmonchan
>2 Hitmonlee
>3 Scyther
>1 Kangaskhan
>
>Trainers: 29
>4 Bill
>4 Energy Removal
>3 Switch
>2 Oak
>3 Gust of Wind
>2 Scoop up
>3 Super Energy Removal
>4 Pluspower
>3 Energy Retrieval
>1 Itemfinder
>1 Cpu Search
>
>Energy: 18
>3 Double Colorless
>4 Leaf
>10 Fighting
>
>Strategy:
>This is to fight off Darkstorms, Raindance, and Damage swap decks.
>It also works against Mr. Mimes. Its a regular haymaker with Muks that all.
>The lone kangaskhan is to stall and to fight off psy pokemon while you
>get a muk or trainers. Bills are to search for cards. Itemfinder really
>helped in a tournament i was at. I got needed trainers back and used them
>again. Even if there is one, you'll usually get it late in the game and
>thats when u need it the most. CPU Search lets me find an oak when i
>need it or a muk or grimer. Energy removals are essential in this type
>of deck. Pluspowers surprised many oppenents since they though they were
>gonna live for another turn. Switches are to bench your muk
>if someone gusts it out. For scoop ups, what i do is usually at the
>beginning
>of a game and i dont have the right energy for a pokemon, idjust leave
>someone out there and dont attach energy. Then when i get another pokemon
>who can use the energy, i scoop up the damaged pokemon and bench him while
>attackin with my built up.
>
>In case your wondering what a mindstorm deck is, its a deck with the ghosts
>and electabuzz. Its kinda like a Curse + hay maker.
>______________________________________________________
>
     Wow, this seems like an okay deck. If it suffers from anything, it
would have to be overcompensation. 30 Trainers (not 29 like you had counted)
is excatly half your deck. This high volume seems to come at the expense of
your Energy. Your strategy is fine for the most part, but the cards you use
need a bit of tweaking.

     I will start with your Pokemon first. This is a Haymaker style deck, so
you don't require the massive number of Pokemon seen in other archetypes. 12
is the barest minimum you can use to survive, but I would reccomend raising
that number to 15. It's still low, but provides more of a safety net.
     Since your deck relies upon Muk to come and save the day, help him out
by adding one more Grimer. You need more Basics than Stage 1's and 2's in
any family, no matter how or what you play.
     Put in another Hitmonchan to maximize his usefulness and add one more
Kangaskhan. Psychic decks will smack Hitmons and Muks around. You should
have more defense than just 1 Kangaskhan.

     As much as you may love certain trainers...oh crap! She heard me!

    No I didn't mean to say it!! It was an accident, I was talking about
tennis... yes!! You know..score 15-love. Tennis!! Not anything about
romance...I'd never do that to you. Please remove your highly sharpened
fingernails from my neck. I know, why don't you accidentally shred some
important documents that I need? That always cheers you up.
There...see?..anger fading..fading..good. I'll talk to you later when you're
human again.

      *Sigh* See what I'm up against? Now I was saying, as much you may be
attrac- may think some certain Trainers are really good, you just can't have
them all. For the sake of finding room for more Energy, some sacrifices will
need to be made. First come the PlusPowers. They are fast, and can surprise
an overconfident enemy, but there are more important cards that need to
remain.
       The great thing about Haymaker is that is requires little energy for
great power. While this deck doesn't quite meet that ideal, especially with
the Hitmonlees and Kangaskhans, it can stil get by easily without any Energy
Retrievals, so toss them.
       Lose 2 Energy Removals and insert 1 more Super Energy Removal. SRE is
the better card tactically.
       You can also ditch one Switch without hurting yourself. 2 will be
fine and you have plenty of ways to get them if in need.

       The Energy count here is on the sparse side, even for a Haymaker. I'd
suggest raising it up to at least 22, much easier to work with than the 17
you had included. (Although you miscounted again and said there were 18.)
Most of the Energy you add should be Grass Energy, because there will come a
time when you have to use that Grimer or Muk on offense. Of course if the
opponent is really slow, a Swords Dancing Scyther is always insult to
injury.

       Before I give you a run down on how your deck should look now, I'd
best look out this window and check on my secretary.
       Hey!! This looks positive. She's cutting out paper hearts and seems
to be humming to herself. Wow, she's got a whole stack of paper hearts made
up. . .and now she's stabbing at them with a letter opener. Yeah.
       Sometimes I wonder if I'm treating the right people...

        Anyways, here's a new improved lineup.

        3 Grimers
        2 Muks
        2 Kangaskhans
        2 Hitmonlees
        3 Scythers
        3 Hitmonchans

        4 Bills
        2 Professor Oaks
        3 Gusts of Wind
        2 Energy Removals
        4 Super Energy Removals
        2 Switches
        2 Scoop Ups
        1 Computer Search
        1 Item Finder

        12 Fighting Energy
         8 Grass Energy
         4 Double Colorless Energy


     This mix reduces the chances greatly of your screwing yourself over by
simply not having enough Energy or Pokemon. It still retains all the
strategy involved and your approach to playing the deck was good as I've
seen in a long time. You won't have to worry about your own deck beating
itself as much anymore.
     With that I pronounce you cured. You can pay my secretary as you leave.
Just don't make any sudden movements. I see you're wearing subdued colors.
That will help. Let's just leave the inner office...

     Ohmigod!! Run!! Run!! She's turned her trademark Crimson Coral lipstick
into war paint!! And the trash basket has been turned into a battle helmet
of some sort...If I live I'm calling the temporary agency first thing. Looks
like my secretary may be staring at some cushioned walls for a while. On
second thought, I'm going there. It's safer...

            Good Luck, run fast.
              Dr. Crash Landon
______________________________________________________
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