<< 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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