OK, last Friday I was on pojo, and I say sneasil on Card of the day.  I though, hmmm that looks really good.  And The whole only 4 energies thing was no problem for me, about the amount of 1 color in my decks.  So yes, this is a dark/fighting deck.  So I thought about it, and wasn't sure about it.  then on the way to the pokemon league, I decided to make a deck around it.  But since dark energy and sneasil are fairly new, and rare, it took me 40 minutes to get the cards.  So I only had 1 hour 20 minutes to play, but I decided to play all the best people in the league. here's the deck.

The Measles.

4 sneasils -And amazing card
2 ryhorn -Better than you'd think
1 scyther -Very useful
2 ditto -good for having the same as your opponent, but faster
3 the rockets trap -my version of energy denial
4 rockets sneak attack -NO oaks for you!
1 no removal gym -gotta protect my dark energies
1 eco gym -if you don't have no removal, this works
4 bill -2 for 1 coupon
3 oak -don't get me started
3 plus power -just a silly 10 more damage
4 recycle -this is the only deck I would think about using this, but it's the only way I can get most of my energies back. it works.
3 gust of wind -no, not that one, that one.
2 scoop up -almost had me that time
1 goop gas attack -Mr. mime and blastois, no more trouble
1 nightly garbage run -whoops, went a little overboard on the oaks
4 computer search -gotta power up the sneasils
3 item finder -like a good recycle for trainers
4 dark energy -duh!
4 double colorless -works on all my pokemon
6 fighting energies -power up everyone else
 

    ok, you may laugh when I say ryhorn, but think about it. resistant to lighting, first turn 50% chance of invincibility, 2nd turn 30, that's 60 for all you electebuzz and wigglytuff, and works perfectly with DCE.  and ditto and scyther are just great pokemon.  And The thing about sneasil,  is he does TONS OF DAMAGE For BARELY ANY ENERGY! First turn fury swipes does 10 or 20 usually, but with a dark energy, you get 20 or 30, on turn 1, which is a great opener (thats why hitmonchan and TR Zapdos got so popular) But the 2nd attack is what gets you.  Beat up is so good, It unproportional to the energy cost.  for 2 darkness energies and a full bench, the odds are with you, that you will ko any archetypical pokemon, including wiggly.  You get to flip 6 coins(with a full bench)  and 20 times the heads.  that means your average amount of lips, 3/6, does 60.  but don't forget the darkness energies act as pluspowers, so it does 80.  you have a 75% chance of ko-ing any of those quick basics.  and if you add a pluspower, than It's almost impossible to not ko those big basics. I hate flipping coins as much as the next guy, but with these odds it's fun just to taunt your opponent with them.   his bottom stats could be any better either.  Here's what happened.
 
 

match 1 vs. ryland.
    Now this guy got lucky and beat me at the last tourney,and last week in a tie to sudden death luck win,  so I was really mad.  he played a magmar haymaker.  I took a 5 minute turn, but got out a no removal gym, a ryhorn, a ditto, and 2 sneasils.  he had out an electebuzz, and a magmar. I powered up ryhorn real quick, and ko the buzz.  He couldn't er me, because I used trap and sneak to either get rid of them, or take away enough cards so he couldn't use them.  he sent out magmar, but we all know it's not fast enough to beat a powered up sneasil.  I koed him easily, and that was it.

1-0

match 2 vs Mindy
    Mindy, one of the few girls at the league, has a very odd deck, almost like she's trying to start a new archetype.  And she never changes it, even though it stinks.  It uses jynx and mr. mime to build up damage, and backs it up with wiggly.  This deck it anything but a speed deck, and she could even deal damage to me sneasil.  I powered it up, and koed 2 jynx, and goop gased out a mime. but she still got in a wiggly,(with 1 pokemon on bench, hehe) and yet koed my sneasil.  Now everyone knows when a wiggly koes a sneasil, then ryhorn gets mad. real mad. with the aid of 2 plus powers, I koed  the wiggly that turn.  she sent out an abra, and psyshocked, I figured why go all out and search for a scoop or something, so I waited, she evolved into kadabra, just to stay alive another turn.  That didn't work. retreat ryhorn, out with another recycled dark energy powered sneasil.  and that was the end of it.  Mindy is cool though, and a good loser, I guess she's used to it. as you can tell, by now I'm getting a little cocky. she was getting a little mad, and she kept calling sneasil "the Measles", hence the name of the deck.

2-0

Match 3 vs. Guy
    No, that's his name, Guy. he played a rain dance machamp deck? I donno, But I've known this guy for years.  basically, I smeared him. I think he did 3 damage the whole time.  oh well

3-0

Match 4 vs Guy
    yeah, he wanted a rematch. I beat him again, that simple

4-0

match 5 vs. Mark
    Mark played probable the best deck you can make against my deck. he played a wiggly fighting scyther deck.  almost like he knew I was coming.  But He was pretty sad.  He got nothing.  only pokemon, and useless energies.  lucky me!

5-0

match 6 vs. Andy
    Good pizza, bad Andy.  Andy Rosales isn't into this whole "little damage, llota speed" that all these archetypes are into.  He plays a deadly charizard chansey deck.  Yo may think that's terrible, but when he hits you for 100 every other turn, you'll se how he plays.  And I was also mad because I hadn't beaten since i stopped using my rain dance deck in january 2000.  But that all changed.  I used my trapper deck combo to leaved him hitting me with growliths and charmeleon.  he almost koed one of my sneasils, but I smeared him.  By now my head was to big to fit out the door, so I played one more guy.

6-0

match 7 vs Scott
    Now scott has been my long time rival for years now.  Me and him had been neck and neck for a long time.  he played a magmar haymaker, much like his friend ryland at the last tournament.  He was really really mad when I single handedly eliminated him from the last tournament(I beat him in both the winner's and the loser's bracket.) So He made a colorless + dugtrio deck to beat my mewtwo electebuzz sponge deck.  Little did he know, that wasn't the best move.  Unfortunately, he didn't have his deck with him, so I played his modified Neo theme deck.  Basically, he put up a good fight, and koed one of my sneasils, and he never had any trainers, and My traps never worked.  so it was pokemon against pokemon.  I could get any dark energies so he got another sneasil with a pikachu, but I cleaned house with ryhorn, (told you it was good!!!!!) he stalled with that sting ray looking pokemon( I don't know neo's) But I koed that, and went head to head with a kingdra.  I finally got a sneasil out with some energies, but only 3 benched pokemon.  I still managed to beat him.  That may not sound close, but I wasn't getting much energy, and The last thing I needed was for him to get on a role.

7-0

match 7 vs jacob
    Jacob is cool, and he plays a promo legendary birds deck, but we both had to go, so we called it a draw.  oh well, that's not a loss is it?

final. 7-0

props
to Mindy for being a good sport
to the guys at toys R us and wizards who own pokemon league.
to all the people who traded me for these cards

slops
to ryland for annoying me for a rematch
to Andy for calling me a little monkey
 

sneasel, is not only amazingly strong and fast, and deadly, but his name is also fun to say.  and I told you ryhorn was good! don't laugh! stop it! Hitmonchan? NO way, weak against mewtwo and can't hurt scyther and zapdos, come on.  oh well
whatever, Cya!

Matt Haithcock
matth@greenvillenc.com