From: XGymbo01X@cs.com
Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2002 9:16 AM
To: Pojo@pojo.com
Subject: Deck Fix
Turbo Darkness
This is my darkness deck that has all of my favorite dark type pokemon in it:

Pokemon 20
4 Rockets Scyther
4 Houndour(Dark)
3 Houndoom(Dark)
4 Charmander (Rocket)
3 Dark charmeleon
2 Dark Charizard

Trainers 18
4 Imposter professor oak
4 Imposter professor oaks revenge
2 Pokemon breeder
2 Rockets explosive gym
3 Energy removal
3 Super Energy Retrieval

Energy 22
4 Dark energy
14 Fire energy
4 Grass energy

The strategy for my deck is too just tear my opponent apart with houndoom's crunch then flamethrower, Scythers blinding scythe, and Dark Charizards continous fireball.The reason for the imposters is to get my opponent angry when he/she has to shuffle their hand into their deck and get new cards. And the Super energy retrievals is for the fire energys that Houndoom eats when he uses flamethrower. I have only won a few times against my friends with this deck and I was hoping you could modify it a bit before I enter a tournament with it. I hope you check this one out.
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Alright, hmm...it's a deck with multiple deck ideas swirled into one. Please to those of you that read these decks PLEASE post what format this is in. I have no clue what to work with as far how to tweak/recommend things. Anyways, let me get started!

First we have the Pokemon: Well, I shall make this unlimited just for the sake of card space and current cards listed in your deck. Hmm...wow. Well Houndoom is more solid in Unlimited compared to Dark Charmeleon. Alright, we'll change those Houndooms to the Houndoom with Black Fang from Neo Revelation. This card can grab back it's lost energy and such, and can deal some mega damage with some decent flips. So a 4/3 Houndoom line should be decent. Get some Cleffa in there as well as drawing. Well...if you keep Rocket's Scyther in there, the Energy gets a little complicated, so let's just change a could of those to Jungle Scyther, always a good splash. Speaking of splashes, we can get a Gligar in there too. As for anti-Slowking, play 2 Igglybuff and 1 Magby.

Next we have the Energy: It is in my experience that any amount of energy that is over 18 is too much. You can get better cards in the deck that provide better space and gives the deck a better overall performance. Go with speed over excess Energy, doing this will not only allow you to get the energy, but allow quicker setup. So...anyways, cut the Fire all the way down to 6. Get 4 Darkness and 3 Rainbow in there. As well as 3 Double Colorless. This maximizes the energy flow and allows the concept to work on Houndoom attacking with Darkness, and having Fire to be able to retrieve the Darkness Energy from the discard. The DCE is in there to power up the Gligar/Scyther.

And finally, we have the Trainers: Well, as much as I like the Imposter Oaks, Lass is just superior to them both. If you can play Lass in the critical moment, like if you have no Trainers in your hand, or you have a Cleffa ready to Eeeeeek. You need some drawing compared to the excess energy. Since you are playing so much Special Energy, heavy Professor Oak wouldn't be a good thing, as you'd discard your energy to grab more cards. So go with Elm. And then play some backup Oak for some extra speed. Gold Berry for healing, Ecogym for keeping your Energy save from Energy Removal. Computer Search and Item Finder for speed as well. Gust of Wind to pick their Pokemon, and Nightly Garbage Run/Energy Charge to get back lost Energy/Pokemon. Well, there you are, and here's my updated version of your deck:

Pokemon: 16
4 Houndour (Discovery/Darkness)
3 Houndoom (Revelation)
3 Cleffa
2 Igglybuff
2 Scyther (Jungle)
1 Gligar
1 Magby

Energy: 16
6 Fire
4 Darkness
3 Rainbow
3 Double Colorless

Trainers: 28
4 Computer Search
3 Item Finder
3 Professor Elm
3 Gold Berry
3 Lass
2 Gust of Wind
2 Professor Oak
2 Ecogym
2 Nightly Garbage Run
2 Energy Charge

Good luck and thanks for stopping by, keep your decks coming in!
Thanks,
Gymbo