Oh, great, you're here. You're going to have to be real quiet and not let
that guy in the cheap suit over there see you. He's an insurance salesman
and he won't go away.
   He came in here 4 hours ago and refuses to leave because he "can't bear
the thought of us dying and leaving our loved ones penniless." Well, I hate
to tell him, but he's barking up the wrong tree with my secretary. She
doesn't love anybody.

   So let's tiptoe our way to my office while I quietly shut the door behind
us...there we are. Peace at last. That guy was annoying and his suit was
hurting my eyes. So tell me what brings you here today?

>
>i am just starting custom-made decks and I want to know if you had any
>helpful hints. I am limited on rare cards and have about one of each on
>star-rare pokemon. This is my newly made water-psychic deck HYDRO-PSYCH! 
>My collection consists of the following:
>
>TRAINER
>
>
>3 switch
>4 gust of winds
>2 energy removal
>2 potion
>
>  ENERGY
>
>
>2 double-colorless
>8 psychic
>20 water
>
>POKEMON
>
>
>1 Mr..mime
>1 gastly(basic,looking for fossil)
>1 haunter(fossil)
>1 gengar
>1 psyduck
>1 golduck
>1 lickitung
>2 magikarp
>1 gyarados
>1 articuno
>1 lapras
>1 squirtle
>1 wartortle
>1 blastoise
>
>
    Yes, I have plenty of advice for you. Don't shortchange yourself first
of all. You only have 56 cards in that deck. You're supposed to have 60. No
more. No less. Usually people try to slip one or two extras in, but you've
handicapped yourself instead. Interesting maneuver, but it's not gonna work.
    Another large piece of advice I can give would be to simply read a lot
of the deck fixes by various Mechanics in the Pojo's Deck Garage. By reading
through a handful, you'll begin to see the same basic tips repeated over and
again. These are important and all go toward making you a better player. You
can learn much by simply reading. Take the time, it's worth it.

     By the sounds of it, you seem to me like a collector who decided to
break down and make a deck. Sadly, you're going to need duplicates of many
cards to stand a chance. Having only one of any given Pokemon greatly
reduces the chances that you'll ever get it when you need it. You're also
just as liable to draw out your Stage 1 or 2 Evolution without having the
Basic in play first, which is useless. Choose about 4-6 Pokemon families and
stick with them. In fact, some of those should probably be non-evolving
Basics like Lapras or Mr. Mime.

    To have a Psy-Water deck, we must find Pokemon that would be useful
without slowing down the other type. Both Psychic and Water types require
heavy Energy commitments and tend to be heavy on retreat cost as well. This
means that you'll need 27-30 Energy to stay afloat, as it were.

    Psyduck and Golduck blend the best of both worlds together in one nice
family, so we'll include them.
    Lapras is a fast, efficient Water type with nice HP, so he's a go.
    The Blastoise family is essential to most decks including Water, so it
would be foolish to leave them out.
    The Movie Promo Mewtwo packs a nice punch and a good Energy retrieval
ability into one solid package. Find some of these.
    Finally, Articuno is a big fatty with powerful attacks and resistance to
Fighting Types, making him a lock.

       Hold up..there's a rap tap tapping at my chamber door...

    Are you still here? What now?..uh huh..hmm-hmm..Why no I've never
thought about the risks of being trampled to death by African Pygmy natives
during the Festival of Fertile Fruits. Probably because it's not a risk. I
don't go to Africa you moron!! Now get lost!
      Eediot...

      All distractions aside now...Even with those quality creatures, you'll
still need powerful Trainers to support them. You have 11, but that's really
not enough, especially with the ones you selected. You're going to need a
lot of card drawing power. So a complete set of Bills and a couple Professor
Oaks will fit quite nicely. The Gusts of Wind are very useful, so maybe toss
in 2 more. The Potions just take up too much valuable space, and Energy
Removal, although nice, is just misplaced in this type of deck.
       Some Computer Searches and Item Finders for flexibility should round
you out nicely.

          Allow me to spray some air freshener around while I give you a run
down of the revised deck. That insurance guy left a scent of polyester,
tweed and Aqua Velva that clashes with the leather and philodendrons.

         3 Squirtles
         2 Wartortles
         2 Blastoises
         3 Psyducks
         2 Golducks
         2 Lapras's
         2 Mewtwo (Movie Promos)
         2 Articunos

         4 Bills
         2 Professor Oaks
         3 Gusts of Wind
         2 Pokemon Traders
         1 Computer Search
         1 Item Finder

         10 Psychic Energy
         17 Water Energy

      I will note that there really aren't a lot of Water/Psychic decks
floating around out there. Those that are are probably just for fun and
friendly play. Water and Psychic don't mix with the same success that
Grass/Psychic and Electric/Fighting decks tend to. Still it's possible to
have a deck that plays solidly and deals pretty good damage. I can't
guarantee total success against every type of deck. In fact Haymaker will
probably take you apart. (Pray for your Articunos.) This is pretty much
because of the volatility of these two types when placed together.
      The other thing is to avoid decks with just one of each Pokemon in the
future. This is a bad, bad practice. As for limited supply, I didn't list a
lot of one particular card and the Golduck line is uncommon. You're just
going to maybe have to sacrifice a few from your collection to get what you
need. I can't help that.

      I hope this helps you out. I wish you luck with your deck building and
don't forget to read some of the Deck Mechanic's fixes for additional
insight. You can gather your stuff, and pay my secretary as you leave. But
first I should get rid of that annoying salesman. I've had it with him. If
he stays any longer I'm afraid my secretary will take out the stun gun she
keeps in her purse, and I don't need the authorities in here asking
questions.

       You still here??? I was thinking...you seem reeeeal famiiar. So I did
some checking. You were here last year weren't you? I thought so...I bought
a policy from you if you'll recall. An anti-insurance policy. It says that
if you or any other insurance salesman should ever try to sell me additional
coverage, then you're obligated to compensate me $500,000. Here, I'll go get
the claim...

        ...And there he goes. I knew that would do the trick.

                    Good Luck,
                 Dr. Crash Landon
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