>Dear Spike,
>As you can see by the title, I am bringing in my electric/fire deck for
>a tune up.
>I hope you dont mind if i bring my Charmeleon in, He hates wating
>outside.
>
>
>Electric Fireballs
>
>Pokemon: 20
>Electric
>4x Pikachu  (I dont really know which version of these to put in)
>2x Raichu    (same as Above)
>1x Dark Raichu
>3x Electrobuzz
>
>Fire
>4x Growlite
>3x Arcanine
>4x Fossil Magmar
>
>Trainers: 20
>4x Bill
>3x Oak
>3x Pkmn Trader
>3x Nighttime Garbage Collection
>2x Challenge
>3x Energy Removal
>2x Computer Serch
>
>Energy:20
>10x Lightning
>10x Fire
>(I dont know if I should add some dbl colorless)
>
>My strategy is to stall/kick butt with Magmar and Electrobuzz while I
>get enough energys on Raichu and Arcanine to Attack.  I also am partial
>to Charmeleon, so Im kindof in debate over wheather to put him in
>instead of Arcanine.

***

Okay. Let's see what we can do:

1) Good strategy. No problem with it. But 20 Pokemon is probably just a tad bit high. Until we find out how much space we're going to want for trainers and Energy, I think we should drop Magmar to 3 and drop one of your evolution families to 3-2. The Pikachu/Raichu debate is a thorny one. As far as Pikachu goes, I'd say there's no question about it: League Promo is the best one around. If Base had at least 50 HP, we might use it for its colorless energy requirements... but it doesn't, and we won't. For Raichu... well, Dark Raichu is pretty funky, but he and Fossil both use a ton of colored energy. In this deck, I'd go with Base Raichu. Now for Charmeleon vs. Arcanine... it's your call. It essentially comes down to attack damage vs. retreat cost, not to mention the fact that Charmeleon can attack without either discarding or damaging itself. Also to be considered are basics: do you consider 10 less HP to be worth it for a first-turn attack and more potential damage? (Or you cou!
ld use TR Charmander, though I'm
2) I'm really going to have to think about all the TR trainers. But it looks to me like this could work pretty well. Getting to fill your bench is always nice, and Nighttime Garbage Collection works well in conjunction with the Challenge and with all your searching. I'd really like two things--PlusPower and Gust of Wind--but I suppose you can live without them. *sigh* The alternative would be to take out the Rocket trainers, probably replacing them with 3 PP and 2 GOW. You might want to try the deck both ways. Use one of the three spaces we've got for a fourth Energy Removal. Now it's on to energy.

3) Add in two DCEs... there's just no excuse for not having them in this deck. The low amount of energy scares me, but the garbage collection should help here. This is another reason for going to Charmeleon--he uses less energy overall. It might also be a reason to go with TR Charmander, if you find yourself Embering too much energy away.

***

18 Pokemon:

4 Charmander
3 Charmeleon
3 Pikachu
2 Raichu
3 Electabuzz
3 Magmar

20 Trainers:

3 Bill
3 Oak
2 Computer Search
3 Pokemon Trader
3 Nighttime Garbage Collection
2 Challenge
4 Energy Removal

22 Energy:

10 Lightning Energy
10 Fire Energy
2 DCE

***

I think I slipped a bit on my counting. Probably from the beginning where you said you had 20 Pokemon, but you actually had 21. No biggie. I just dropped a Bill. I can't believe I really did that, but I did. I honestly don't know what else would have gone, though. Maybe a Trader. Play around with the energy balance... this is one part of a multi-color deck that is usually best solved through careful testing.


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