Yaaaaaaaaaaaaawn....oh man. It's only noon? This day's never going
to end. I'll never make it.

        There's this alley cat, see? And, *Yaaaaaaaaaawn*, he's decided that
the cement wall outside my apartment is major babe central. Every night,
he's out there doing his feline karaoke version of Tom Jones's "What's New,
Pussycat?" or whatever it is cats sing to get dates.
        I've never heard such a set of pipes on anything less than a foot
high, but the past 4 nights have been pure torture. Earplugs, extra pillows,
shotguns. Nothing's been able to rid me of this nuisance.

        I guess, once I've become completely exhausted and delirious from
lack of sleep, that I'll just pass out wherever I happen to be, most likely
on the I-90, knowing my luck as of late.

       Anyhow, once I rub those little nuggets of gunk from my eyes, I'll
take a look at your deck. Let us sluggishly schlep into my office
here..*OOF*...let's open the glass door first. Sigh, gonna be a long, long
day. Can't be longer than the nights at least.

>
>This is a deck made from the pits of hell! A pikachu deck! It's got some
>colorless too, but there is the evil pikachu line. I did pretty good with
>the
>deck at a local tournament,  but I need to know how to make it better. The
>strategy is after the deck list. Here it is!
>Pokémon (20):
>4 Pikachu (2 League Promo 1, 2 Jungle)
>1 Raichu (Fossil
>2 Dark Raichu
>
>3 Electabuzz
>
>4 Clefairy
>3 Clefable
>
>4 Lickitung
>
>Trainers (20):
>2 Switch
>3 Bill
>3 Energy Removal
>3 PlusPower
>2 Mr. Fugi
>3 Gambler
>2 Goop Gas Attack
>2 Pokemon Trader
>
>Energy(20):
>18 Electric Energy
>2 Potion Energy
>
>My strategy is to start with a Lickitung or Clefairy. Only use Clefairy if
>you have a Clefable in your hand or a Pokemon Trader. While Lickitung
>stalls
>or Clefable Metronomes, charge up (no pun intended) a Pikachu or Electabuzz
>on the bench. Evolve the Pikachu into a Raichu or Dark Raichu when you have
>enough energy, and switch it with the weakened pokemon that's attacking.
>Then, use Mr. Fuji to bring the weak one back and start all over! I have a
>real problem against fighting decks, and that's mainly why I sent this
>email.
>Potion Energy can help that Clefable or Lickitung stay attacking for
>another
>turn. Since most of the pokemon in this deck only do around 30 damage, Plus
>Powers get you past an annoying resistance. An extra 10 damage really
>helps.
>The bench killing Raichus can always helps knocking off that Magikarp
>before
>it becomes Gyarados! Thanks for all of your help!
>
>Ryoga-
>
>PS- I only have 2 Dark Raichu, so please don't add another one. Thanks
>again.


       Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn. Oh, sorry.

    This is a decent start. I like the name. Pika-Palooza. That's cute.

  All, right. Let's get cracking. Maybe some activity will keep me up.

The Pokemon, eh. There's some good and some bad. None of your choices truly
suck, but there's such an overwhelming weakness to Fighting in this deck it
screams "Slap me up with Hitmonchan!!"
There's little you can do about the Fighting weakness in the Pikas and
Raichus. Electabuzz is also way too valuable to ditch. But we should focus
upon not getting whipped by a Haymaker.

   Pikachu- Boy are we lucky that he's pretty much the mascot of Pokemon.
There's plenty of Pikas to pick from. (Pick a peck of Pikas?) I think the
Movie Promo Pikachu is the best one available, since it finds its own Energy
and deals a whopping 50 damage. If you can, get 4 of these guys. You don't
have to always use it's wasteful attack, but it can get the Energy required
for Raichu much faster. If you have trouble finding 4 promos, a couple
Jungle Pikachus will work nicely too.

   Raichu- I think that the Fossil Raichu is the worst of them all, with
only 1 expensive attack. The Base and Rocket Raichus are better. 2 Rocket
Raichus and one Base Raichu will be good.

   Clefairy/Clefable- Clefairy should have been made with a tattoo across
its forehead saying something like "Gust of Wind me!" 30 HP and Fighting
weakness won't keep it around long and everyone knows it becomes the
annoying Clefable. You're better off removing them.

   Electabuzz- What's to say? The best Basic in the game now. This is an
Electric deck. He's Electric. Hence the twain shall meet. Stick with the
three you have.

   Lickitung- Not a bad guy per se, but just more Fighting weakness. Drop
him in favor of something better.

   Here's what you should add now.

   Scyther- A very good Basic. The most appealing quality is the resistance
to Fighting. Solid attacks and free retreat are excellent as well. His Slash
is basically a colorless attack, so there's little need to worry about
Energy requirements. There's little reason to not have 4, so go for it.

   Zapdos- The Base Set Zapdos offers the best moves and HP. He's electric
so the Energy thing never comes up. But the best part about him is that for
an Electric Pokemon, he has no weakness and resists Fighting. He DOES take
up a serious amount of Energy though. Zapdos is best used as a staller or a
late game sweeper. You won't need more than 2.

     This is the part of the day where a nice hot cup of Hawaiian Kona or
Columbian Blend would really come in handy. Unfortunately,the coffee machine
is not in service thanks to a certain secretary who should pay more
attention to what she's doing and less attention to the Star Tracks in
People magazine. I asked her to brew me up some coffee while I went to the
post office around the corner on the street.
     Instead of putting in the usual scoops of Kona grinds, she stuck the
scoop into a bag of fertilizer for the Venus Flytraps and made coffee out of
that. It ruined the coffee machine and didn't taste so great either.
      The cafeteria on the ground level has decided to go all trendy on me
and only serves drinks ending in "cino" now. I just want coffee!! Sigh.

      All right, my rant is over. I'll fix your Trainers now.

    Most of your Trainers are pretty good. I do see some big holes though.
I'll elaborate when I get to each.

    Bill- 3 is good. 4 is better. This is a deck that's gonna win by KO, not
decking. So you need to get those power cards into the deck as soon as
possible.
    Oak- WHAT? No Professor Oaks? This card is so invaluable. Add 2 and move
on.
    Gambler- Well. This deck doesn't really need Gambler. It's a good card
for when you need to put cards back into your deck, but it can screw you too
and I don't like that. Remove them.
     PlusPower- Like you said, the Pokemon here don't deal tons of damage.
Raichu and Zapdos can, but are both later game creatures. You need power
early on. Add one more PlusPower.
     Pokemon Trader- Not a bad choice, but in this instance, I think a
couple Computer Searches would be better. It's more desirable to be able to
find anything you need rather than just a Zapdos or Scyther. The loss of 2
cards is minimal compared to the advantage you gain from finding a needed
card instantly.
      Goop Gas Attack- This cards seems out of place. It's more of an
insurance against a threat that may not even be there. There aren't that
many decks totally reliant upon Pokemon Powers. Raindance, Damage Swap and
DarkMuk are probably the biggest three.  You could get much better use out
of those spaces than Goop Gas Attack.
      Nightly Garbage Run- This deck will consume a good deal of Energy,
either with Attacks or retreats. Energy Retrieval is okay for this, but now
that we have Nightly Garbage Run, the scope of possibilities got bigger. You
can shuffle 3 Energies into your deck, or a Raichu or Scyther if necessary.
It's better than Retrieval in many ways.
      Item Finder- This deck isn't the fastest thing on wheels, which is
just fine. We all know the story of the tortoise and the hare. But later in
the game, you may have used up your PlusPowers or Computer Searches. Item
Finder gets them back and extends their playability.
      Mr. Fuji- Fuji is a very good card, but ideally in this deck, I'd go
with Scoop Up. Some of the retreat costs are high and after you retreat,
there won't be much Energy left to shuffle back into the deck. With the 4
Garbage Runs you can still get back the lost Energy. Since Zapdos makes a
nice stall, it's good to be able to call him back up when in danger. 2 Scoop
Ups will be good.
      Gust of Wind- This card is too good to leave out, just like Professor
Oak. It's defensive, offensive, both, all that and a bag of pretzels cuz I
don't care for chips. 3 Gusts of Wind is a nice number to have.
      Energy Removal- Sorry, but this deck just isn't cut to be an all out
smackdown. Usually, Energy Removal is most commonly in those types of decks,
although it doesn't have to be. Still, since there's just not enough room
for them, they gotta go.

      Energy- This deck only needs Lightning Energy really, but it does have
it's share of the colorless element. That's why it may be adviseable to add
some Full Heal Energies and a couple Double Colorless Energy as well.
      3 Full Heal Energy and 2 Double Colorless Energy will work out good.
16 Electric Energy makes up the bulk of the energy.


      Let's get this new decklist hammered down in print before my eyes roll
out of their sockets into the heating grate, never to be found again.

      4 Promo Pikachus (or 2 Promo and 2 Jungle if 4 Promo is too tough to
get.)
      1 Base Set Raichu
      2 Dark Raichus
      3 Electabuzz
      4 Scythers
      2 Base Set Zapdos

      4 Bills
      2 Professor Oaks
      4 PlusPowers
      2 Computer Searches
      2 Item Finders
      4 Nightly Garbge Runs
      2 Scoop Ups
      3 Gusts of Wind

      16 Colorless Energy
      2 Double Colorless Energy
      3 Full Heal Energy

    And that's a Pika Palooza. Now you're not so much of a sitting duck
against Haymakers. Decks with a lot of Energy Removal may give you a run for
you money however. That's why the NGR's are in there. Raindance hates
Electabuzz and Promo Pikachu so that should not be too tough a conquest. Let
Promo Pikachu do his stockpile thing if he has to be active, and get a
Raichu on him as soon as possible. Zapdos should be your cleanup batter. Try
not to use that 100 point attack if you don't need to though. It's quite
debilitating.

    You may pay my secretary as you go. I don't think shes busy right now.
Today's the day all the new magazines come so god forbid she not find out
what Tom Cruise is wearing.

     I've got a break coming up now. I think I'll just curl up here on my
desk, pull the blinds closed, and take myself a nap.
     You know if this desk thing works out, I may go home, get my pajamas
and come back here. Maybe I'll have a campout. I'll build a bonfire, roast
S'mores, tell ghost storeis to the fish and toss pushpins into the ceiling
in the shapes of constellations. Yeah it'll be great. A night at work away
from that darn alley cat.

      I hope my Hypno doesn't snore.

                           Good Luck!
                    Dr. Crash Lanzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz




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