<< The Don't Mix Water and Electricity Deck
Pokemon (21)
4 Squirtle (2 base 2 Rocket)
3 Wartortle (base)
2 Dark Wartortle
2 Blastoise (base)
1 Dark Blastoise
4 Pikachu (3 Jungle 1 pokemon the First Movie Promo)
2 Raichu (Base)
1 Dark Raichu
2 Lt. Surge's Pikachu
1 Lt. Surge's Raichu
Trainers (11)
1 Here Comes Team Rocket!
2 Computer Searches
3 Poke'balls
2 Professor Oaks
3 Recycles
Energies (24)
14 Water
14 Lightning

***

Well, this is the deck that Jedi sent to me for this week... so when you're done, wander on over to his corner of the Pojo and check out what he had to say about it...

1) Okay, first, you've got four separate evolution lines in here. (I count Dark Blastoise and Blastoise as separate families, but not Dark Raichu and Raichu.) That is bad. Running more than 2 evolution lines in a deck is never the hottest of ideas, and you want to stick to 1 if you can (especially if that one is a Stage 2.) Hmm... but nevertheless, let's see what we can do while keeping both Blastoise and Raichu in.

First of all, take everything out; we will start from scratch to keep it simple. That gives us 21 slots. Now select the families. I like Dark Blastoise for Water since Blastoise's Power is not so useful here, and also because D. Blasty can use more colorless energy. I like Base Raichu for the same reasons, and as far as Pikachu goes I'll recommend the League promo as usual. (Not that hard to get-- I've got 8 or 9 of the suckers)

Running 2 families, we absolutely need to trim them both down as far as possible. I think 3-2-2 D. Blastoise and 3-2 Raichu is not unreasonable. That's 12 cards. Now for some BBPs. Electabuzz is definitely in, and Scyther is good as a cover for the large Fighting weakness and also for all-around versatility. Normally I run 4 of these when I use them in a deck, but here I think 3 will be better to conserve space.

2) This is an Evolution deck, so you will need plenty of trainers to get your evolutions into play and get them charged up. (Shocking revelation: Evolution decks need lots of trainers to get their evolutions and get the energy for them!! Wizards of the Coast representatives, take note!!!) Used to be I thought that 2 Oak was passable, but I am now convinced that most aggressive decks cannot afford to play with less than 3 Oaks. So put them in. Also put in at least 2 each of Item Finder and Computer Search. These are your main searching and drawing.

Support trainers come next. Nightly Garbage Run-- with 3-4 Oaks you'll also want 3 or 4 of these, otherwise you lose important deck elements and may deck yourself. Gust of Wind is a must-have, and PlusPower is also good-- Scyther and Electabuzz like PlusPower a LOT. These days you want a Gym-- since you probably won't have room for Removal, I'd run No Removal Gym to blow up other gyms and to prevent YOUR energy from getting whacked. Interestingly enough, Bill should probably be added last, after you see what other space you have.

Oh yes... You may notice that certain trainers from your original deck are now, to put it bluntly, GONE. That's because there are now better cards present. With consistent card-drawing, you don't need the Pokeballs. Item Finder replaces Recycle, trading versatility for certainty and immediacy-- heck of a trade if you ask me. And Here Comes Team Rocket is just a gimmick card that has no real place in any deck I've ever seen. Trade it for something good.

3) Energy can be determined fairly easily. First of all, 4 DCE-- that's a no-brainer. Keep in mind that most of your Lightning Pokemon don't use more than one energy of color (assuming you use Raichu's Thunder only rarely, which will probably turn out to be the case.) Adjust your colored energy ratio appropriately.

In case you didn't quite follow all that, here's a general idea of what your deck should look like:

***

18 Pokemon:

3 Squirtle (Base)
2 Dark Wartortle
2 Dark Blastoise
3 Pikachu (League Promo)
2 Raichu (Base)
3 Electabuzz
3 Scyther

21 Trainers:

3 Professor Oak
3 Bill
2 Computer Search
2 Item Finder
4 Nightly Garbage Run
2 No Removal Gym
2 Gust of Wind
3 PlusPower

21 Energy:

4 DCE
7 Lightning Energy
10 Water Energy

***

I'll be honest with you-- I think you could make this deck better if you decided to forego an evolution line in one of the colors. But it was apparent that you wanted Blastoise and Raichu in some form, so I tried to keep them in. Take your time learning how to play your leaner, meaner deck-- it will take some adjustment, but the time invested will pay off. Good luck!


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