This deck was sent to me from one of
the players in pojo's apprentice league.
The only proviso on this deck was that it remain a no rares deck, and that
some things would obviously need removing to make room for more energy.
POKEMON (22)
4 Electabuzz (Neo)
4 Magmar (Neo)
4 Gligar
4 Squirtle (TR)
3 Doduo
3 Dodrio
TRAINERS (30)
4 Professor Oak
2 Professor Elm
4 Bill
3 Energy Removal
3 Nightly Garbage Run
3 Goop Gas Attack
2 Charity
2 Bellsprout Temple
4 Golden Nut
3 Super Potion
ENERGY (8)
4 Double Colorless Energy
3 Potion Energy
1 Full Heal Energy
POKEMON
Ok lets look at the pokemon first as per usual. Its not a bad mix, but we can
make it beter.
First lets look at Neo Magmar. This it a pretty good pokemon really. One
attack does 20 for 2 Colorless Energy, and the other can do 40 (a pretty
heavy attack for a basic pokemon in no rares) for 2 Fire and 1 Colorless.
There are 3 big problems with this pokemon though. One is that its 2 retreat
cost is pretty heavy in no rares. Another is that its really only good if you
run a fair amount of fire energy so you can power that second attack, and a
third is that the 2 most common types in no rares are fire and water.
Basically, this pokemon is good in a fire no rares deck or in a 2 color no
rares with a lot of fire energy, but hes more of a liability than a help in
splash type decks like this one so lets dump it.
Next lets look at the Doduo/Dodrio. This line does have a lot of advantages
I'll admit. and before the release of neo, I played it in nearly every no
rares deck. Fighting resistance, free retreat, an attack (Rage) that can
clean house on your opponent given proper circumstances, and even a stall
ability sometimes because your opponent may not want to damage it for fear of
the rage attack becoming too strong. So why do I not use Dodrio then? Well
because nearly every good no rares deck runs the Neo Electabuzz these days.
In the old days there were NO good non rare lightning pokemon (Lt. Surges
Electabuzz and Voltorb (TR) were the best). With Neo Electabuzz running
rampant in the no rares environment (mostly to take out all the Dewgong
cleaners that work so well in the no rares environment) Doduo is little more
than a snack for it with a plus power, and even Dodrio wont last long against
it. So if we want to keep it in (and I decided that we do in a 4-3 line) then
we need something to protect it.
Our protection for Dodrio comes in the form of Wooper. Replacing the Squirtle
for Wooper has no downside (unless your opponent whips out a grass deck that
is). He has the same HP, same retreat cost, and attack that averages 20 with
the 2 X 20 coinflip attack, a second attack (Amnesia) that can absolutely
shut down a lot of no rares pokemon. To top it off the lightning resistance/
grass weakness is more useful most of the time than the no resistance/
lightning weakness of squirtle. Lets cut the number to 3 though.
Gligar is good for a lot of reasons. A one energy attack that can poison, a
second attack that can do 20 for 2 colorless, free retreat, fighting
resistance, and an acceptable (especially in no rares) 60HP. To keep from
making ourselvs to grass weak though, lets use only 3.
Neo Electabuzz is really good in no rares. It kills most of the water decks,
has 70HP, has the ever useful 20 for 2 colorless, and has only 1 retreat cost
(or zero with a dodrio in play). Lets drop these to 3 too though to make
needed energy room.
TRAINERS
Again a pretty good mix here. Professor Oak, Energy Removal, Bellsprout
Temple (to nuetralize Erika's Dratini, Erika's Jigglypuff, and the Brock's
Lickitung and regular Lickitung mainly) and Super Potion are all fine at
their current levels.
Lets remove 1 Nightly Garbage Run, 1 Goop Gas Attack, and one Golden Nut to
make some room.
Lets Dump Charity alltogeather. While it does have some uses (mainly in
making the defending pokemon have 30 damage so they cant use a Golden Nut)
there are beter, more usefull trainers we can use.
Lets also dump the Bill. We will make up for the lost card drawing by
increasing our Professor Elm count to 4. This will also help us keep energy
and our evolution line in our deck, decreasing the need for Nightly Garbage
Run a little bit.
Now lets put in 2 trainers that I like to see in every no rares deck, Plus
Power at 4 and Gust of Wind at 2.
ENERGY
The Double Colorless is a given at 4. We allready have lots of healing in
thsi deck, so lets ballance our Potion Energy and Full Heal Energy at 2 each.
That leaves 7 slots. I think 4 Water Energy for Amnesia and 3 Fighting Energy
for Poison Sting should work ok here. Now lets look at our final deck.
POKEMON (16)
4 Doduo
3 Dodrio
3 Wooper
3 Electabuzz (Neo)
3 Gligar
TRAINERS (29)
4 Professor Oak
4 Professor Elm
3 Energy Removal
2 Nightly Garbage Run
2 Goop Gas Attack
2 Bellsprout Temple
4 Plus Power
3 Super Potion
3 Golden Nut
2 Gust of Wind
ENERGY (15)
4 Double Colorless Energy
2 Full Heal Energy
2 Potion Energy
4 Water Energy
3 Fighting Energy
Good luck with this deck and thanks for sending it to me.