>Hello Spike and Vulpix,
>
>I've been trying to contact a few deck mechanics since February, and
>haven't
>had decks posted. I've been interested in this concept since I saw it
>in the
>12/99 issue of Pojo magazine, and my decks needed fixing! But no one
>has
>answered. My latest attempt to send a deck to you was better than my
>last
>mails to Crash and Jared, but with some of my bad choices combined with
>all
>your rules, it still hasn't been fixed. So, I did what happened with
>the last
>two mechanics: got impatient and fixed it myself.
>
>But with my recent troubles with the tuning up of this deck, I figured
>I
>needed to try one more time. So, I'm re-sending the deck in this
>e-mail,
>while doing something I have never tried before: typing in a readable
>font
>:-) And I promise this time not to touch the deck AT ALL until you
>answer.....
> unless I'm playing against someone
>:-)
>
>Now that I've bored you to death with that, here's the deck, finally
>:-)
>
>WIPEOUT
>
>20 Pokemon:
>3 Psyduck
>3 Horsea
>2 Seadra
>3 Seel
>2 Dewgong
>2 Omanyte
>3 Magikarp
>2 Gyarados
>
>14 Trainers:
>3 Mysterious Fossil
>3 Bill
>2 Prof. Oak
>2 Gust of Wind
>2 Potion
>1 Super Potion
>1 Mr. Fuji
>
>26 Energy:
>24 Water
>2 Psychic
>
>My strategy is to stall for a little while, using Seadra or
>Omanyte/Psyduck,
>to build up a Dewgong or Gyarados. Omanyte and Psyduck's method is to
>keep
>the opponent from using trainers, and knowing when (though I do not
>plan on
>using Omanyte's Water Gun). Potion and Super Potion are a LOT more
>helpful
>than most people say, and Mr. Fuji can keep my opponent from getting a
>prize,
>keep me from decking, and give my deck some more of it's main problem,
>energy. (I used to have Omastar and Golduck, but only one of each, and
>I
>really needed more room. Besides, their unevolved forms are effective
>enough.)
>
>Questions:
>- Do I have enough energy?
>- Is there too many Pokemon?
>- Will I get the "Spike/Vulpix Did Not Have To Add Any More Bill Or Oak
>Award"? (Yet again, :-) )
>
>Note: I have a somewhat limited card supply, so I can't exactly
>get--quote
>from mail to Crash--"17 Charizards, 20 Blastoises, 46 Chanseys, 92
>movie
>promotion Mewtwos, and 800 Mr. Mimes" within a month. I do have one
>Gengar
>though :-) (Note #2: I do not smile as much in real life as I have
>virtually
>done in this e-mail.) So try not to make this a Raindance.
>
>Thank you for the time to fix this, or even the time to read this super
>long
>mail.
>
>                                    Sincerely,
>                                                Me

***

To answer your questions:

-More than enough, in fact.
-Oh yeah. We'll get to this in just a second.
-Actually, I stopped giving this award after consistency became a problem. Sorry =(

Now then, on with the fixin'!

1) Okay. You've got way too many disparate Pokemon, and methinks you're trying to cram a few too many different themes in here. First of all, I'd really think about losing Omanyte. You are using 5 total card slots for a 40 HP Pokemon with Water Gun, and while his Power kicks ass, his general use is detracting from the rest of the deck IMO. Now then, Psyduck is okay, but you are using him the wrong way. In my opinion, Headache is actually a really *BAD* attack that should only be used as a last-ditch resort. If you want to keep your opponent from using trainers, Lass him (or her.) This deprives you of your own trainers, but it's better than using up an attack. Try instead adding a Psyduck and putting in three Golduck. Golduck is just awesome with Hyper Beam. You're probably going to take out the Seadra line to do this, but this should be OK as Seadra is not quite as good in my opinion. Its Agility doesn't quite do enough damage to make it completely worthwhile (as opposed to Rapidash's) and its ability to ramp I hope I'm not giving you problems with card supply, but getting your hands on a few non-holo Kangas shouldn't be too much of a problem.

2) Your trainers are nice, although there are some fairly huge holes still. You've got three spaces already from removing the Fossils. Add in here another Bill and a couple of Computer Searches. Now delete all the Potions and the Fuji. Potions are just not good enough anymore, and Fuji can be good, but there's no point in having only one in your deck. You've got 4 spaces, so stick in everyone's friend Energy Removal. GOW is already here, so you're done with trainers! If we have the space, and I'm not sure we will, we'll put Fuji back in.

3) 26 energy = too much. But you won't need the psychic anymore, so drop it down to a more reasonable 24 water energy. (How were you planning on keeping Headache running on 2 psy anyway?) Whether to put DCE in for Kangaskhan is purely your call, since none of your other Pokes can use it except perhaps to pay retreat. I won't mandate any, but think about it...

***

17 Pokemon:

4 Psyduck
3 Golduck
3 Magikarp
2 Gyarados
3 Lapras
2 Kangaskhan

19 Trainers:

4 Bill
3 Oak
3 Computer Search.
2 GOW
4 Energy Removal
3 Mr. Fuji

24 Energy:

24 Water Energy

***

Whoo. Yeah. We had a LOT of space left over, because I failed to account for all the other stuff we had taken out. I decided to add in another Oak, another Search, and 3 Fuji on the theory that these things never hurt. You could also use PlusPower, an amazing card, but I went for Fuji. You had it in the original deck, so I figured you might be having trouble decking or something (which, with so much drawing power, you certainly might if you're not careful.)

Anyway, we've trimmed this deck down considerably. It should, at the very least, play a lot better now. Just keep an eye out for electric. That's about it.


____________________________________________________________________

For the largest MP3 index on the Web, go to http://mp3.altavista.com

____________________________________________________________________