In Star Trek there is a civilization known as
The Borg. They are extremely dangerous because once
something kills-injures a single member the rest of the
colony becomes immune to that entity....So as the
opposition must find a new means of destroying each of
the members...one by one by one.
As a player of Pokemon you want to be
The Borg. Hard to
handle and Diverse. You do not want to be predictable,
rather be as unpredictable as a live wire. Diversify your
strategies and decks. Your mode of operations must never
be trite and expected. To do this take with you to every
game your deck and most importantly your
Bag of Tricks.
-Every Bag needs a foundation
to start. This means a general knowledge of
many tips/strategies and the knowledge of every available
card in your playing environment. This means ALL, and I'm
not just talking statistically. Knowing that Pinsir has
60 HP is only the beginning. Try to know what EVERY card
and deck is capable of. There are no shortcuts.
-Don't be afraid to give your
opponent no means of recovery, Such as
hoarding Energy Removal or Super Energy Removal for that
pumped up pokemon coming of the bench after you KO
his/her active. Giving them no means to recover insures
your safety. This also holds for other cards.
-ALWAYS attack a
decks strength. Why you ask? This makes it so your
opponent has to
invest in their
weakness. Something which is REALLY bad for
them, and EXTREMELY good for you. That is why Potpourri
can be so strong if played right. Don't be afraid to gust
of wind that benched Electabuzz with 1-2 Lightning energy
on it when you could have gusted out a weaker pokemon.
Picture this... You have a decent pokemon as your active
and your opponent has a benched Electabuzz with 2
Lightning Energy and another benched energy less pokemon.
By all means gust out Buzz, get 20-40 damage on him and
force the opponent to
make a decision. Your job
throughout any given game is to force your opponent to
make as many decisions as possible in the hopes that
he/she will make a mistake. The more decisions you force
on your opponent the greater chance he/she will slip up.
This is the basic criteria for "Playing Your Opponents
Hand". In the Case above, your opponent
has several decisions. They can retreat, and Super Energy
Remove him/herself. Scoop Up and Super Energy Remove
themselves. Switch, and hope you don't have Item Finder.
They can attack and next turn face a KO-
( A Knockout is a powerful
thing, Its a Fetch-Energy Removal-one less pokemon to
worry about-closer to winning, type deal. All rolled up
into one! Was that clear?). Also it puts your
opponent back a couple turns and also puts them back to
square one. Energy less and with a weak pokemon as an
active. Please keep in mind however that strengths and
weakness aren't always statistics on a card. A weakness
may not be as obvious as Hitmonchan's weakness to Psychic
or Scyther's strength against Marowak. Most of the time
strengths can vary from high hands, high decks, trainer
resources, energy on the table and weaknesses the
opposite.
-0-60 in 1 turn flat!
I always play decks that
can control themselves. Decks that have the power to
search for ANY card ANYTIME. As practice I usually
Goldfish a deck first then try to play a solitaire game.
In the solitaire game I play 3 games with one deck. I
play each game 3 times, and if I cant reach the bottom of
my deck on the second turn 2-3 times in 1 game it just
might be trashed if I have already modified it
considerably, simple as that. I need control of my
deck, and I need it quick,
as do you.
- Never have favorites!
(Not Necessairly a
trick, more like a pointer) "Babying" a Promo Mewtwo is a
free "You're going to lose card" if you play a decent
opponent. Never Sacrifice your hand of trainers to pump
up for a Psyburn. Unless....You have in your sights a
huge advantage or a second turn KO.
This
will catch up
to you. This theory can be applied to other cards such as
Computer Search and Professor Oak.
Hmm.....Im running out of room
for my thoughts. Since I don't want to keep this too long
I"ll save the rest for another Article.
Well, that's it for now folks. I
hope to post more "Bag o' Tricks" Articles in the near
future so you can fill and diversify your own bags. I
apologize for the word size and font of my previous
Featured Articles. I have sent the update to
pojo.
It seems Pie has reached
"Imposter Status" On Gooey my Unique name is
"MewtwoPsycic/1" (Yes, I know that there is an "h" in
Psychic)
Thanks
Pie