Step Lively. you're the last patient of the day. I know it's only 11 AM,
but we got plans here for the afternoon.
Today is Bring Your Pokemon day at the baseball stadium. It doesn't
matter
that the home team always loses, it's the thrill of actually being there. I
just can't watch baseball on TV. Too slow, but at the stadium, you don't
mind for some reason.
The fact that we're allowed to bring our Pokemon only adds to the fun. My
secretart and her Vileplume are dressed up in the teams colors: Grass stain
Green and Tobacco juice Brown. I've decided to bring my Beedrill. He doesn't
get out much and nobody's going to make me wait in line for long with an
angry Beedrill by my side.
Hypno is coming too, but he'll be selling peanuts and Pepsi to help
pay
off his credit card debts.
So let's get this ball in the air. The game of summer
is afoot. I don't
want to be late to see my Hypno do some actual work for once. I'm surrounded
by laziness, you ever notice? Oh, well, let's see this deck.
>Dear Dr. Crash,
>
>I've been working on trying to get a fairly original deck together that
>would stand a chance against energy removal decks as well as against
>Sponges. So here it is.
>
>Pokemon:
>Gastly (Fossil) x4
>Haunter (Fossil) x2
>Gengar x1
>Electabuzz x3
>Voltorb (TR) x3
>Electrode (Base) x2
>
>Trainers:
>Energy Search x2
>Plus Power x2
>Professor Oak x3
>Energy Removal x3
>Bill x3
>Pokemon Trader x2
>Super Energy Removal x2
>
>Energy:
>11 Electric Energy
>11 Psychic Energy
>3 Full Heal Energy
>3 Potion Energy
>
>The basic strategy is to get the pokemon out quickly, as well as to get
>some energy quickly. Each of the pokemon, beyond the final evolutions,
is
>capable of sustaining and doing some damage on as little energy as
>possible. That's how it's meant to fight energy removal decks.
Hard to
>stop something that'll do 20 damage on one energy. The Gengar line is
also
>there to fight against Sponges as well as to help against Haymaker decks.
>The electric pokemon will also give a Raindance deck a fit.
>
>Now, what I need the most help on is with the trainers and energy. I
have
>each of them in there for a reason, however I know that it can be tweaked
>slightly. The Potion and Full Heal energies are nice, but not fully
>necessary, though I'd like to keep the full heals in there just in case.
>The Potions also come in handy since the basics are a little low in HP in
>some cases.
>
>Either way, you have full reign to help out with what's wrong or that needs
>to be tweaked. All help would be appreciated, Doc.
>
>Signed,
>
>Gabe Colbaugh
>
>
>---
Ok, this deck certainly doesn't strike out. It's got some
good
foundations to begin with. You're right in that most of the work is in the
Trainers. But there's a few changes I'd do all around too.
The Pokemon are good. The Ghost lineup isn't know
for it's powerful
yet cheap attacks, but thet are still very solid and reliable mostly. And
seeing as the deck is named after them they stay.
4 Gastlys is great. They counter Energy Removal
good. Haunter is an
extremely annoying Pokemon. Low on HP, but half the time the damage is
negated anyhow. Gengar is really vicious with a useful Power and a decent
attack too. I'd definitely add another Gengar though. One is just too few to
have in the deck and with just one, you'll probably never see it when you
want to. Two gives you a chance at least.
Electabuzz is of course always welcome. Fast,
strong, tricky. Yup yup
yup. I can't say anything that hasn't already been said about Electabuzz,
well except that he likes carrot juice in his mashed potatos and is seeing a
female Raichu named Eileen, but that's not really pertinent here. Add
another Buzz. He's too good to run below the limit.
I've always liked the Base set Electrode. I feel
his Pokemon Power is
good for speeding up your game when you're in a lull. The bad side is that
your opponent immediately gets a prize for this. This is bad. If we were
dealing with Pokemon with really heavy costs like Ninetales or Zapdos, i'd
say go ahead and use Electrode. However, the ones you have are very
cost-efficient and Electrode will just be sacrificing himself for no reason.
We'd be best to find something else to put in.
We got Psychic, and Electric. Some Colorless is in
order.
Lots of players prefer the cheap fast Pokemon too. Haymaker,
Sponge and
Wigglytuff all use this strategy. Counting upon this, you could incude a few
Dittos into the mix. Whatever you copy probably won't need a lot of Energy
and you can hit them with their own eapons to boot. Ditto has proven to be
the most versatile, game changing Pokemon in the field. Take advantage of
it's potential.
As for the Trainers, we need to do a bit more work
here. They are ok,
but there are better ones, ones suited toward this deck's abilities.
You only have 3 Bills. This is OK, but 4 is optimal. Bill is
risk free,
so why not have 4? Every top deck has 4 Bills.
The three Oaks is good too. Although you've got quick
creatures, it's
good to have plenty of options in playing them. Don't go Oaking all at once
though. I've seen too many players Oak themselves to the point of no return.
With the Oaks and Bills should also come a set of
Computer searches and
Item Finders. Both are invaluable. Computer Search played early on
establishes your strategy better. Item Finder played later gets double
usage out of a key Trainer. Play them well young padwan.
Since several of the Pokemon here have low or
nonexistent retreat
costs, Mr. Fuji is a great choice for placing weakened fighters back into
your deck. This also helps you reuse your Energy wiser.
Since Energy costs are not a big issue here, 3
Super Energy Removals
will act as a nice cushion of support for keeping thugs at bay. The loss you
deal will most likely outweigh the minor setback you face.
In order to better manage Energy and resources,
Nightly Garbage Run is
a card you can't play without. It will place Basic energy (Yes to all you
vigilant readers, this time I said BASIC.) back into your deck and the same
for Pokemon. This means you can play longer and outlast the opponent if need
be.
Finally a few Gusts of Wind will make sure you
can protect your
fighters and screw your opponent's. It's fun card. Invite it to tea
sometime, you'll see how fun it really is. But don't give it more than 2
lumps of sugar or you'll never get the stains out of the drapes. Trust me.
Now it's time for the Energy. Since we've got
Dittos, we need Double
Colorless Energy and 4 of them.
2 Full Heal Energies are very nice as well.
Status effects are
becoming more common and the Full Heals will combat this well enough.
Lastly, toss in 6 Electric and 9 Psychic Energy,
stir, bring to a boil
and seek help because you're cooking Pokemon cards.
Oh boy, it's approaching noon. I can hear
my secretary grinding her
cleats upon the carpet in anticipation. I'd best wrap this up.
4 Fossil Gastlys
2 Fossil Haunters
2 Gengars
4 Electabuzzes
3 Dittos
4 Bills
3 Professor Oaks
3 Gusts of Wind
2 Item Finders
2 Comuter Searches
3 Mr. Fuji's
3 Super Energy Removals
4 Nightly Garbage Runs
4 Double Colorles Energy
2 Full Heal Energy
6 Electric Energy
9 Psychic Energy
Viola! This deck will be able to manage very well
against most Energy
Removal threats. Between Fossil Gastly, Fuji and Nightly Garbage Run, your
management of your resources is top of the line. The Ghost family is
especially nice in that the can hurt Promo Mewtwos and Alakazams without
being double damaged in return.
You won't want to blow all your cards at once
with this deck. The
middle of the game is definitely yours and more often than not, you'll
outlast simply due to recycling.
Well you can pay my secretary now as we all
leave. You're more than
welcome to go to the ball game if you've got a Pokemon to bring along. We'd
enjoy the company. Well I will anyhow. My secretary gets a bit too
emoptional at these events. Once she threw my wallet at the left fielder.
You can also help out my Hypno by buying some peanuts or something.
I'd chat longer, but the national anthem is
coming u in a short few.
I really want to be there. John Stamos's younger brother is singing it and I
want to see the horse explode when he hits that low E.
Good Luck!!
Dr. Crash Landon
________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com