From: Matthew [yeagers@urx.com]
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2001 9:08 PM
To: Pojo's Pokémon TCG Tips!
Subject: Why archetypes are good... By Matthew
Okay, certain nocturnal birdies have been trying to get trainers to use non-archetype decks, and say that archetypes really aren't that good.
 
Okay, let me say something.
 
ARCHETYPES ARE GOOD! That's why they're archetypes! Duh!
 
Let's see...
 
So you can beat Slowking with Muk. Again, duh! Muk metagames Slowking, as it does Typhlosion, DK Vileplume, and various other decks. Metagame*! Guess what? THAT DOES NOT MEAN SLOWKING IS BAD! Just because Slowking loses to ONE LOUSY DECK TYPE does not mean it's weak, it just means it has weaknesses and is not invincible. And why would anyone want to eliminate archetypes if they're so weak, as has been implied? Here's why archetypes are popular...
 
They're good!
 
If you use a Jumpluff deck, you lose. If you use a Southern Islands Pidgeot, you lose. Same with Base Beedrill, 100 HP Gatr, Nidoqueen, Nidoking, Misty's Poliwrath, or most any other stage 2. Typhlosion (I pray, I pray that you know which one...) is pretty much the only tournament viable Stage 2 out there... not really because of difficulty of getting it out quickly enough and having it stay out there (the pre-dominant problem in the pre-Neo environment but much less of a problem now thanks to Cleffa and Gold Berry, but because the previous stages are almost unanimously pathetically weak, it takes up an excessive amount of deck space, while you build it up you waste energy attachments, and because cheddar cheese is yellow.
 
However, decks like Wigglytuff, Clefable, Slowking, Electrosteelix, Typhlosion, and others are popular because THEY WIN! That's it! Certain decks can beat them consistantly, but really not any others.
 
So does that mean that you can't use your favorites? NO! I like Sandslash, a lot! So I made a Brock's Sandslash deck that worked okay, but didn't win against the tough decks in the league. That was fine with me! I had a blast losing horribly to the better decks. Why?
 
Because Pokémon is fun! Even when you lose to ARCHETYPES!
 
Use archetypes if you want, don't use them if you don't care for them!
 
This has been another article by me, Matthew.
 
E-mail me at yeagers@urx.com

Matthew.