>Installment 1 of 3

In pokemon, the many different exciting combos of cards can sometimes sway
an experienced deckbuilder.  But, there’s something about the purity of a
mono-colored deck that I’ll be un-earthing today.
I will go through the each color(type) of pokemon and explain it’s
weaknesses strengths, etc. so let’s get started!

Fire:
Ah yes, every beginning player’s dream color.  From the mighty charizard to
the lowly Flareon, all the little kids (most of them anyway) loove this
type.

Strengths:
1. BIG attacks for less energy than you’d expect.
2. Cost-efficient retreating (most of the time).
3. Some colorless energy requirements
1. RAINDANCE!
2. energy removal (SER, anyone?)
3. this doesn’t seem like much at first, but Mr. Mime can screw up about 80
percent of fire dudes.
How do I beat this color?
Well first of all, crush the Vulpixes before Ninetales comes out and burns
your little heinie off.  Charizard isn’t as much of a threat because most
tournament-level decks have some kind of energy removal. Fossil magmar can
be a threat, but if you can keep retreating he shouldn’t be a BIG threat.
Power cards:
-Ninetales:  80 damage for only one fire discarded? How could it get better?
Hmm, one retreat cost, Lure is good too.
-Fossil magmar: good for haymakers and any other deck needing a speed rush.
-Charmander!  He may seem pretty little at first but he can do 70 base
damage by the end of turn three.

Fighting:
Haymakers aren’t all it’s good for!
Strengths:
1. The quickness of attacks
2.  Diverse resistance (Lightning & Fighting).
3.  The somewhat almighty haymaker.
Weaknesses:
1. All those pesky birds.
2. The Gengar string.
How can I beat this color?
There is no definite solution to fighting, although stall decks do well. 
But DO NOT let Chan/Lee get pumped in the early game or you can get used to
a discard pile full of basics...  The best strategy is to get rid of the
“important” cards in a fighting deck first, so that you can then focus on
getting your guys going.
Power Cards:
-Hitmonchan.  You all know him, you all love and/or hate him.
-Machamp.  His pokemon power is pretty good and a decent attack makes him
one of my favs.
-Aerodactyl.  His power is a “lockout” effect for about half the archtypes
in the field (especially Blastoise), but looking through the Killer Deck
reports, he isn’t used very much. (surprisingly)

Lightning:
You don’t need to knock me out, I’ll do it for you! (actually I like this
type but self-destruction can be a more-than-minor annoyance...)
Strengths:
1. Parilyzation
2. Bench destruction
3. Not much resistance goin’ on here.
Weaknesses:
1. Hit-mon-chan and the other Fighters.(this can be countered with Zapdos)
2. The self-destruction issue described earlier.
How to beat it:
Fighting works, but if your opponent pulls a Zapdos on you, he is stoppable
with Removals.
Power cards:
-What’s that Buzzing? Electabuzz!  One of the best basics in the game.
-Defender. It SHOULD be electric, anyway.

Well, that’s all I’m going to do for now, but there will be a future
installment of “the rainbow of color” sometime soon.  Next time I’ll cover
the Grass, Water, and Psychic varieties.

The Doduoboy
doduoboy@hotmail.com
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