Viagra v1.0
by Scott Gerhardt
Games Galore
February 26th, 1999

   Greetings everyone.  Now that I have your attention with the title of my deck, lets talk a little about it.  It was a Friday night, and to be honest, I was getting a little tired of playing with Sponge.  Yeah, Sponge is a good deck - actually, I'd still say the best deck in the environment, but I was getting tired playing it and wanted to do something new.  Thus, Viagra was born.  This was a deck I wanted to try out for a while, and with Games Galore being non-sanctioned, I thought this was the perfect time to give it a whirl.  The deck was a whole lot of fun to play, and as you would see, was not overly bad in the process:

   First of all, the deck got it's name from it's ability to get 'tuff in a hurry.  By the way, this is a joke.  If you don't get the joke, don't e-mail me asking why it's funny.  If you don't get the joke, don't go ask your parents why it's funny either.  The last thing I need is a herd of hate e-mails coming my way as to why I tried to explain a joke.  For those who DO get it, isn't it funny? *smirk*

   Anyway, one of the first things you should notice is the incredibly low amount of energy.  Guys, it works.  With 4 Oak, 4 Bill, 3 Retrieval, the low amount works.  The Pokemon work well together.  Kangiskhan is great for searching for early components, as well as great Lass recovery.  Hitmonchan was selected due to a high number of people playing Wigglytuff, Kangiskhan, and Chansey in this area.  Scyther was random free-retreat that I could search for vs Hitmonchan.  Dittos are just amazing period.  With the trainers, Finders and Comp Searches are so key for the early and late game success of the deck.  PlusPower helped overcome the 70HP basics that gave me problems.  Gust of Wind worked like Energy Removal in this deck, killing off benched basics that were building before they became a true threat.  Retreival is a must, and Scoop Up was great for getting Kangiskhan or any other basic in my way out of there.  Lass was a key component to the deck's strategy, as you will see.

   Full strategy:  Get a Wigglytuff going on turn 2.  Use the Bills, Oaks, Searches, and  Finders to make this happen then, or as soon after as possible.  The turn you load up Wigglytuff, Lass them.  Lass will keep Wiggly's worst nightmare, Super Energy Removal, from absolutely wrecking him.  From there, you should have advantage long enough to get a solid enough start to win the game.  It makes things very hard to recover from.

   On to the report.  I am not going to use names, because I really don't want to.  Sorry.

Round 1 was a very quick match.  There is just about nothing to report.  I can't even remember his basic.  All I remember was that 'tuff came out on turn 2, and destroyed his only basic with a great deal of speed.  Sorry for the lack of memory, but I have slept a couple times since then.
Match Record 1-0

Round 2 vs Electric Grass.  This match went a little longer since I had to open with Kangiskhan.  The card drawing proved to be killer, though, as I eventually see my Jigglypuff and get energy on him.  The next turn, I Oak a couple times, get a Wiggly down with a DC on it.  To insure victory, I finder up a Lass and nail him.  Sure enough, he was holding an SER and that wrecked him.  From there, it was a matter of picking though his line of mostly Pinsir and Electabuzz.  He got 70 damage in on the Wigglytuff, but could not get the last 10 in.
Match Record 2-0

Round 3 my opponent never got to play.  I open with Hitmo to his buzz.  What started as an Oak to find a Lass turned into me finding 2 PlusPowers and desperately looking for the 3rd.  After about 4 or 5 Oaks in one turn, I get the needed 3rd PlusPower for the turn one kill.  Kinda sucks, but was part of the game - especailly since he had basics in his hand.
Match Record 3-0

Round 4 vs Rain Dance.  I run 3 Lasses.  I found one early, and wrecked his day.  That's all the really needs to be said.  Two basics, both destroyed quite quickly.
Match Record 4-0

Semifinals vs Potpourri-style Deck.  Well, I now know what my round 3 Opponent was running because I had to face him this round.  It was a 3-color deck.  Game 2 he proved what I already knew - my deck loses late.  He held off early and ran me out of cards.  Game 1 he opened with 2 Clefairys, and me with a Hitmonchan.  Lass secured he would draw no basics.  Game 3 he started with a Chan to my Chan.  I had a second basic and a PlusPower - he didn't, and again Lass saved the day.
Match Record 5-0

Finals vs Rain Dance.  Game 1 I see no lass, and he powers up everything and it's dog fast.  Not worth mentioning as I got ROLLED.  Game 2 I Lass early, and drill his hand.  Power up and attack is all I need to do.  This is how you beat Rain Dance.  Lass them, and pray they don't get real lucky.  Game 3, same story.  Lass destroys Rain Dance better than Buzz, better than Mime, better than anything!!!
Match Record 6-0

Coolness.  Viagra comes out on top.  I picked up $25 store credit I used to draft with.  I will not go into details in regards to the draft except to say it was 6 people, winner take all holos.  We drafted 4 base set 2 and 1 fossil.  This was the deck I got.

5 Weedle (yes, this is legal in draft)
2 Kakuna
2 Beedrill
2 Pinsir (opened in 1st and 2nd packs)
1 Nidoran (m)
2 Nidoran (f)
1 Caterpie
1 Metapod
1 Venonat
1 Snorlax
1 Meowth
1 Persian
2 Rattata
2 Raticate

1 Super Energy Removal
2 Computer Search
1 Full Heal
1 Recycle
1 Energy Search
1 Switch
1 Pokemon Center
2 Gambler

26 Grass Energy

Needless to say, I won every single game with this deck convincingly, getting out either Beedrill or Pinsir and going to town.  I picked up 11 Holos, including a Charizard and Blastoise for my efforts.

No Props and Slops - don't care about them.

Have fun guys!

Scott Gerhardt
Scott@pojo.com