Single Card Strategies - GLOOM

by Keith Williams



Hello fellow trainers!  I would like to take the time to enlighten you on a
little used, underacheiving card in the Pokemon Trading Card game, He goes
by the name of Gloom and woe to those who do not take him seriously...

Name: Gloom (Jungle Set)
Type: Stage 1 -- from Oddish Card
#: card 37 of 64
Rarity: Uncommon
Color: Grass
HP: 60 HP
Weakness: Fire
Resistance: None
Retreat: 1
Pokemon #: 44
Species: Weed
Level: 22
Attacks:
[G] Poisonpowder: The Defending Pokemon is now Poisoned.
[GG] Foul Odor (20): Both the Defending Pokemon and Gloom are now Confused
(after doing damage).


ANALYSIS

At first glance, it doesn't look all that great.  60HP's for a stage 1
evolution isn't that good.  Many evolved Pokemon can take it out in one shot
and that is always a threat.  Fire Pokemon eat this card for lunch and that
too is a very serious weakness. However it does have a low retreat cost of
one, which is very reasonable and it's SPLENDID attacks MORE than make up
for the weakness.

Poisonpowder is a GUARANTEED poison shot.  Granted it doesn't deal any
additional damage, but for 1 grass energy you can put a Pokemon and his
trainer "on the clock" so to speak.  Poison is a very useful tool in
eliminating potential threats. It is a slow way to finish a Pokemon off and
leaves time for your opponent to use a quick Scoop Up, Mr. Fuji or even
merely retreat to the bench to remove the effect, but it forces your
opponent to deal with it, forcing him to waste resources to remove the
poison and that in itself is an advantage for you.  However for Gloom it's
the 'finisher' for his primary attack, Foul Odor.

Foul Odor is an incredibly strong attack for a moderate Pokemon.  A mere two
grass energy enables you to 1.) Deal 20 points of damage which isn't
fantastic like Electabuzz, but it's good and 2.) GUARANTEED CONFUSION.  This
ability is incredibly strong when used correctly in a deck.  No other
Pokemon can make the claim of GUARANTEED confusion for so little energy
cost.  It's drawback is that it also confuses Gloom.  This drawback however
is easily remedied and a deck could be built around that drawback and have
ways to deal with it.



TESTING

My first experiences with Gloom came shortly after Jungle came out and Scott
Gerhardt was in early development of the Haymaker variant, Potpourri.

I was at the Trainer Showdown in Houston, Texas early last year and I met up
with Gordon Kane. He was working on a deck with Venomoth which gave my
'classic' Haymaker a pretty heavy beating.  I was facinated on how he would
use Venomoth's attack to confuse my Pokemon and sit back and watch me
self-destruct under the effects of confusion.  I immediately saw the
potential of confusion and how it could be used as a powerful weapon.
Afterwards Gordon, Scott, and I talked about Venomoth and it's confusion
effect and Scott said that his new Potpourri deck didn't really have trouble
with it. My 'classic' Haymaker however could not withstand it. We also
concluded that Venomoth, while a great Pokemon in it's defense, still was a
'50/50' Pokemon and therefore not reliable in tournament play.

Fast forward two weeks. Scott has been on a rampage with his Potpourri deck.
It's all over the internet, people are playing it and winning all over the
place.  Gordon and myself are playing it.  It truly is the strongest deck
during that time (pre-fossil).  Immediately I set my sights on building the
'FOIL' deck.  (No, not the shining foil cards) A deck designed SPECIFICALLY
to eliminate Haymakers (and their variants).  I was still amazed at Gordon's
Venomoth deck was able to put Hitmonchan and Electabuzz in a rough
situation.  I also knew that I HATE coin flips.  They never work out and
always fail when you need them the most.  Enter Gloom.  Gloom guaranteed
confusion AND as a bonus would guarantee poison as well.  Looking at it's
basic evolution, Oddish, I saw that it had 50 hp's, not bad.  Two, 1 energy
attacks, one with a 50/50 status effect (see Electabuzz), the other a
'Summon Target Oddish's Brother'.  I quickly built a deck around Gloom and I
had my perfect foil.  I took it to my local tournaments and knocked around
all the Haymaker players.  They couldn't understand how my deck worked and
couldn't isolate the threats within the deck.

Here's how it looked:

Gloom Day
----------------
4 Oddish
3 GLOOM
1 Vileplume
4 Scyther
3 Electabuzz
2 Lickitung

7 Electric
12 Grass
4 DCE

4 Bill
3 Oak
3 Switch
3 Super Energy Removal
2 Gust of Wind
2 Scoop Up
1 Energy Retrieval
1 Item Finder
1 Computer Search



"How does that kill a Haymaker deck?"
(This was taken from one of my old reports, Here is the link:
http://www.pojo.com/KillerDecks/decks1199/1103e.htm It has been edited) =)

The original idea behind this deck was to crush Haymakers. The trick is
Gloom's Foul Odor and it's GUARANTEED confusion. However it has a drawback
in that it will confuse Gloom as well. That is not really a problem. Gloom's
retreat cost of 1 gives a 50/50 chance of successful retreat. 3 Switches
also help to send it back to the bench to cure it. Last but not least is
Vileplume. I RARELY use Vileplume at all in this deck. He is merely there to
cure Gloom and of course, he is a heavy hitter for 3 grass, with a somewhat
nice Pokemon Power (when it works). Anyhow once Gloom retreats, Scyther
moves up, then Scyther retreats (for free), Gloom comes back, no longer
confused and ready to strike. Hit the opponent's active with Gloom's
GUARANTEED poison and now it's in a REAL rough spot.

Ok so how do I kill a Haymaker deck? Well I wait for Hitmonchan or
Electabuzz to come out to active. Both have a
nasty retreat cost. I use Gloom's Foul Odor to confuse them. This makes sure
that they will sit there and either a.) waste energy TRYING to retreat or
b.) attack and TRY to not to deal 20 to themselves. Follow this up with
poison and usually it's game over for that active. This used to work great
after Jungle came out because people were removing Scoop Ups from their
Haymakers to add other trainer cards. People just don't realize how
IMPORTANT Scoop Up is until they hit a status altering deck. Lickitung was
added for psychic protection and his confusion ability as well. Scyther is
used for extra punch but mainly for keeping Hitmonchans frustrated and the
retreat trick mentioned above. Electabuzz is the 'cleanup' hitter which can
follow up Gloom's attack with some heavy damage.


A couple of weeks later someone came up with a rough version of 'Turbo
WigglyTuff' and that kept me from playing the deck exclusively.  It's tough
to stop turn two 'Tuffs' without Hitmonchan to Jab/Haymaker it out of the
universe. I went back to playing Potpourri to win and then Fossil came out.
Fossil Magmar basically killed my Gloom Day deck.  People took out their
Hitmonchans since Scyther was in everyones deck and replaced him with
Magmar, which just beats on my grass Pokemon. I still bring the deck out
from time to time. It's a strong deck and most of all it's FUN TO PLAY.


CONCLUSION

Gloom has alot of potential in an environment dominated with basic Pokemon.
His abilities are incredibly strong and can lock a game down and slow it to
your pace.  However to make him work effectively you have to dedicate plenty
of resources to make his drawback not so bad.  Switches seem to be the best
remedy, Full Heal could also be substituted in but are not as good an
utility card as Switch.  Perhaps Team Rocket's new energy card, Full Heal
Energy could be worked in.

Thanks for reading.  Good luck trainers!


Keith Williams
Pokemon Master Trainer
Occasional Exclusive Contributing Writer to the Pojo
Supporter of the Brian Brokaw Official 'Bill' Movement =)
Major Supporter of "Work Your Way up the Low Bracket to Avoid Having to Play
Scott Gerhardt" =)
Self-Proclaimed Force Behind Psychic Stall Deck (Wait, that looks like
Scott's Escalator deck....SHHHHHHHHH!) =)
2nd Runner-up on "Who Wants to Marry a Pokemon Master Trainer?" (Scott won
that too!) =)