Hello peoples,

       Midway through October, my secretary usually decks the
office out in vivid festoonery for the upcoming Halloween night.
Unfortunately, she is on a leave right now, taking place in CBS's
combined spin-off of Survivor and Big Brother, "Survivor: Beverly
Hills.". She's doing pretty well, better than the other housemates.
     
      How's that? You know, I haven't brought everyone up to speed
on the mansion lately. Thanks for reminding me. I missed out on
last week's episode since my cat fell behind the TV and
accidentally took the VCR with him.
       But now I have a new VCR and managed to tape this week's
episode. Here's a recap.

       It's Week 6 in the Survivor Beverly Hills mansion. Five elitists
have already been sent packing to join everybody else in the real
world. Tawny, Clayton, Lesley, Gustave and the most recent
departee, Morris have all been cast back to their sheltered little
realities. Morris was kicked out last week for accidentally
smashing all the wine bottles while rearranging the furniture. The
loss of the supply of Chateau Briand was too much for the others
to bear and Morris got voted out.
      Now Week 6 is here and it will be someone else's turn to take
their bags out the front door and miss out on the grand prize of
their own personal island in the Caribbean.
      Week 6 has brought with a sense of familiarity for the
houseguests. They've eliminated the problem people and now
bonds are starting to form. The trigger-happy Frederick can often
be seen recounting safari expeditions with Rico over a glass of
Rum by the fireplace. In the bedroom wing, you can usually see
Bunny, Dahlia and Minerva sharing fashion tips and scoffing at
celebrities and their spouses. Even my secretary has formed an
unlikely friendship with Vance. They both enjoy spending all day by
the pool working on their tans, while the evenings are spent in the
conservatory studying various new age pursuits.
      All is not fun and games here though. The producers have done
their best to make things unpleasant for everyone. First they
cancelled the Wall Street Journal subscription, setting Vance,
Claude and Bradley's tempers aflare. Then the chef went
conveniently "ill" forcing the guests to prepare their own meals for a
day. Earlier this week, the production crew staged a power outage
in the morning so that the women couldn't use their various
gadgetry to beautify their appearances. Without their precious
crimping irons and portable vanities, the girls were not to happy
campers.
       Which leads us to the Sceptre Challenge. Remember, the
person who claims the Sceptre of Superiority cannot be told to
leave the mansion during the weekly Shareholder's Meeting.
      This week the challenge was a combination Immunity and
Reward challenge. The producers sequestered everyone into the
kitchen while they hid a gold bar, stamped with the word
"Immunity", valued at over 5,000 dollars, someplace within the
mansion. The houseguests were then released and the first to
locate the bar would be awarded both the Sceptre and the gold bar
itself to keep, no matter when they are ejected.
      
        Bunny scoured the entire kitchen area thoroughly, turning up
nothing, because, in her haze of stupidity, she completely forgot
thet she had been in the kitchen while the bar was hidden, making
the kitchen an impossibility. Needless to say, she lost.
        Siobhan, like a true idiot, headed straight for the basement
where she was immediately greeted by her allergies to dust and
mildew. She got a headache, gave up and went to lie down.
         Bradley suspected the producers to be extra sneaky and
went into the library, where he opened every book there as if to
expect a hollowed out section of one containing the bar. At over
5,000 books to look through, Bradley was in the library hours after
the contest ended, well into the night. By the way, it wasn't there.
         Frederick figured that a bar of gold was near indestructible to
gunshot blasts, so he methodically traversed his way through the
house blasting large, smoltering holes into everything until he found
the gold. His shotgun was swiftly taken away by Claude as the bar
of gold was definitely NOT in Claude's loafers and there was no
reason to point the gun THERE.
         Most everyone else wandered around, uprooting everything in
a desperate frenzy of greed, until the mansion looked as though it
had been struck by a tornado.
         In the end, the gold bar was discovered by Dahlia, who was
apparently never much for scavenger hunts. She looked
halfheartedly for about 3 minutes before wandering outside to the
pool for a swim. As she was about to dive in, she saw a gleam
from the bottom of the pool. Several seconds later, she came up to
the surface with the bar of gold and consequently had earned the
Sceptre of Superiority for the week.
         At that evening's Shareholder's Meeting, the vote was
unanimous. Because he was still in the library, ripping open books,
unaware that the contest had ended long before, Bradley wasn't
there to defend himself. He was notified by the producers that he
was kicked out and had 2 hours to pack up and go.
         This leaves us with 10 people left. So far my secretary has
done a fine job of not irritating anyone much, something I didn't
think she could do. Maybe next week she'll get kicked out and I
can have some order in my office once more.

          But with her there, and myself here, it's my job to make
sure all the decorations get put up. I certainly can't depend upon
Trish, my secretary's replacement to remember anything important.
She somehow got halfway to the office this morning when she
called me from a pay phone to say she had to drive back home
because she forgot her car keys. (????)
          So while I'm putting up orange crepe paper here, I may as
well go over the latest deck sent in.

          We're still doing Crossover Fixes with the Deck Garage.
What's this mean? You get twice the advice, for the same low
price. (Free) Once you read one deck fix, you check another
Mechanic who will have also fixed that same deck in addition to
one of his own choosing to be shared elsewhere. All decks in the
Garage have been fixed in two places, versus the normal one.
          This deck was sent to me from Satoshi. Satoshi's Shop will
have his version of the fix which you can compare to mine. Be sure
to look back and forth for double the strategy.

           Also, since the spotlight lately, within the Pokemon
environment, is upon the Prop15-3C format being sponsored by
Wizards of The Coast, I'll be doing this week's fixes according to
that format. It's very likely that 15-3C will become the standard
format and that we'll be seeing a lot more of it to come.
           Here's the deck.


Please help me with my deck I haven't used it in a battle yet but I'll
send it to you any-way. (note: I don't have a lot of trainers, I make
up for this with some powerful Pokemon.) O.K. here it is. Energy:
total 26 12 Fighting 13 Plant 1 DCE Pokemon: total 23 4 Machop 2
Machoke 1 Machamp 3 Rhyhorn 1 Rhydon 2 Digglet 1 Dugtrio 3
Bulbasaur 2
Ivysaur 1 Venasaur 2 Paras 1 Parasect Trainers: total 11 3 Energy
Removal 1 Super E R 2 GOW 2 Energy Retrevial 1 super Potion

Well that's my deck oh, and by the way I call my deck Fighting
Plants.
 If you receive another e-mail like this one I may have sent you 2,
post this one.

Aaron

        Normally, in the traditional environment, the one filled with
Haymakers and Wigglytuffs, a deck with this many Pokemon and
this few Trainers would get trounced. But Prop15-3C makes this
deck not appear so unplayable.
        With a limit of 15 Trainers, overall and no more than 3 copies
of any Pokemon, it becomes a bit easier to build varied decks. No
longer must we totally subscribe to the Hay-Wiggly beatdown
philosophy. (I didn't mind it, but I'm real good at Wiggly decks
anyway.)
        So with the new format in mind, I'll now analyze the deck.
 
     You have a lot of Pokemon. The new format will, by default,
require a lot of Pokemon since we can't use all the spare space for
Trainers anyhow. This means that we can put about 20 Pokemon
into the deck now, whereas once 14 was the top end.

     The Pokemon you have are pretty varied in thier types and
uses. The Machamp family isn't very spectacular. They need lots of
Energy, do damage to themselves at times and are prey for the
popular Psychic types.
     Paras and Parasect are only average at best and don't really
provide anything that can't be found in a better Pokemon
elsewhere. So out they come too.
     Rhyhorn and Rhydon have amazing HP and can deal some
pain, but they are Energy intensive and extremely heavy in the
retreat departments. I'm not crazy about how Rhydon's attacks are
iffy at best either. I think there are better types.

     What I do like is Venusaur and company. Now that there's a lot
less Trainer support, we can begin to look toward combo decks
once more. Venusaur is the king of combos.
     So if we use Venusaur's Energy Trans Power, we'll need to
combine with some Pokemon who can realy utilize this ability to a
maximum.
     First in my head is Exeggcute and Exeggutor. Exeggcute is
nothing special. Hypnosis is nice, but not that reliable. Exeggutor
is the real powerhouse though. Big Eggsplosion is just sick. For
each Energy you get one coin flip to deal 20 damage. With 5 or 6
Energy, you can easily destroy the average Pokemon. Getting that
Energy is simple with Venusaur around and Exeggutor can get
away simply by using Teleport.
      We'll need a little backup for this duo though. For additional
combo power, I'd suggest Promo Mewtwo. He can deal some nice
damage, makes an excellent starter and can couple Absorb with
Energy Trans for some excellent recycling power.
      Getting your team built up can also take time, so some Team
Rocket Scythers may be just the thing to defer damage a long as
you can. Shadow Images stays in effect multiple turns, leaving you
free to stand your ground and build your defense. Its 40 damage
attack is harsh too.

       That will make quite the effective lineup, battlewise. So now
we need some cards that will help you keep yourself in the game
at all times.

       Professor Oak is now TWICE the card it used to be. Seven
cards was cool once. Now it's a gamesaver. You'll need the
maximum of 3 slots devoted to having Oak in your deck.
       Gust of Wind is also more of a clutch card now too. It
shouldn't be used so frequently, but instead saved for times when it
can really make a difference. However you choose to use it now
though, it's extremely important to have.
       Misty's Wrath Will also become a great card in this limited
format. It allows you to scan 7 cards and keep two. Discarding the
rest is a bit painful, but you do get your choice and if you choose
to can the Energy, Mewtwo can probably get it back easily enough.
       I'd also put in some Resistance Gyms. Your Pokemon won't
have a lot of Resistance to affect anyhow, except TR Scyther and
he can avoid damage just as well. What Resistance Gym will help
you with is letting Mewtwo damage those colorless Pokemon early
on when they're vulnerable.
        Computer search will be extremely useful for the same
reasons as before, but more so now that it's less likely you'll draw
the needed card en masse.
        Item Finder should play an important part too sinc egetting
back the only copy of whatever Trainer in your deck will be pivotal
in situations. 15 isn't a lot. a few Item Finders can stretch 2
Trainers into 4.
        Lastly, Secret Mission is an extremely underrated card in this
environment. It can act like a Bill or an Oak, depending upon your
opponent's hand. It let's you see what your opponent is planning
and gets rid of useless cards in your hand. Very strong in this kind
of format.

         Well, we can't overload our decks with Pokemon and
Trainers are capped. So that leaves Energy. I'd stick in a bundle of
Grass, a handful of Psychic and some Double Colorless Energy
since they go so well with TR Scyther and extremely well with
Exeggutor. A couple DCE's on Exeggutor is worth 4 coin flips for a
maximum 80 damage. Bang!

          This is my version of the deck. Check out Satoshi's Shop for
an alternative look.
 
           3 Bulbasaurs
           3 Ivysaurs
           3 Venusaurs
           3 Exeggcutes
           2 Exeggutors
           3 Team Rocket Scythers
           3 Movie Promo Mewtwos
           3 Professor Oaks
           2 Computer Searches
           2 Item Finders
           3 Gusts of Wind
           2 Misty's Wrath
           2 Resistance Gyms
           1 Secret Mission
           3 Double Colorless Energy
           3 Full Heal Energy
           12 Grass Energy
           7 Psychic Energy

      And Voila!! (That's French for "Come on Down! You're the next
contestant on The Price is Right!") This deck will function on an
overall defensive level in the Prop15-3C environment. Venusaur will
help you recover instantly from those who decide to use Energy
Removal cards or Pokemon. The Pokemon here can all hit hard
and almost as fast given their special skills. This deck has some
very strong combo power and shouldn't be taken lightly. Most of
the Trainers are exclusively for furthering your Pokemon support
and not so much about disruption.

        Well, I've gotta get back to hanging these decorations. I
should also check on Trish too. She's had her head underwater in
the apple-bobbing barrel for way too long now...

                   Good Luck!!
                Dr. Crash Landon