Hello Pojo. I have to apologize for the scrunched format my last
article
came out in. I tried to use one of those HTML things and it didn't come out so
well. One day I'll be able to figure out how these damn computers work.
I guess my next topic will be the controversial Rain Dance deck. Without
a
doubt, more Pokemon players have ranted and praised these decks more than any
of the others. IMHO, Rain Dance is by far my favorite deck to play, and every
time my fiancee sees me pull it out, I smile when her eyes go wide with
indignation.
Honestly, I kinda' agree with all the Rain Dance haters. Truly, Blastoise
is
straight-up broken. If I didn't love playing it so much I'd probably whine
about it just as much. Also, I'd like to point out that I like to experiment
when I build new decks. However, in play-testing the vast majority of these
decks don't hold a candle to the caliber of my Rain Dance, much less Turbo
Rain Dance deck.
Now on to strategy. First of all, a proper Rain Dance deck runs four
Squirtles, four Blastoises, four Pokemon Breeders, and absolutely no
Wartortles. Not even for the metagame. Yes, I know alot of people are using
Mew. Yes, I know alot of people are using Lass. However, there are certain
inherent dangers in using Rain Dance these days. Unfortunately, when
constructing Rain Dance you can't afford room to step around these pitfalls.
Rain Dance is constructed with one strategy only, to get Blastoise in play as
soon as possible, preferably on turn 2! To do that speed is the one priority
that has to followed! To the exclusion of everything else. Oh, I can just hear
the nay-sayers: "Joey, you don't know what the heck you're talking about. I
play a Rain Dance deck with four Squirtles, three Blastoises, and one
Wartortle and it works just fine for me." Okay, I'm into the whole Bruce
Lee
concept of whatever works for you, but I've played a hundred variations of
Rain Dance and I didn't get it just right until I went with the 4/4/4 Breeder
formula.
Next, speed includes four Bills and four Oaks, especially four Oaks. A
bunch
of Computer Searches and a bunch of Item Finders as well. The only safe way to
guarantee Blastoise on turn 2 four out of five times is 4/4/4/4. That doesn't
leave a whole lotta' room for much else. If you do go with less CPU Searches
and Item Finders, you need some decent Pokemon stallers. Scyther, Lapras, and
Chansey are the best. I'd stay away from Kangaskhan and Lickitung, too much
retreat cost. Scoop Up works with these guys, but they aren't too useful
otherwise in this deck.
I'd like to point out why 4 Oaks, 4 Computer Searches, and 4 Item Finders
work well here. In no other deck can Oak be abused as they can in Rain Dance.
Every other deck follows the one Energy per turn rule. This prevents Oaking
more than once or twice per turn. You play one Energy and if you Oak again you
end up losing alotta' Energy into the discard pile. Rain Dance thumbs its nose
at such slow play. A good Dancer topdecks when you pick up the right card and
then Oaks 2 or 3 times to find enough Energy/Pokemon to get rid of the
opponent's threat and entrench yourself comfortably for awhile. If this
happens on turn 2, the game's pretty much over. I don't care what they have or
what they're playing. I once ripped apart my fiancee's Electabuzz/Mr. Mime
deck because I hit the right combination of cards early and topdecked like a
champ, and believe me, my fiancee's no slouch!
Admittedly, I haven't dabbled around too much with Dark Blastoise. I'm
still
a little hesitant about throwing him in a Rain Dance deck. Why the hell didn't
they give his attacks to another Poke like Cloyster? As it stands, I wouldn't
put him in. 4 Squirtles is just not enough Basics to give a reasonable chance
that Blastoise and Dark Blastoise will show up during the same game.
I digress. Another strong addition to any good Rain Dance is PlusPower.
Nothing less than 4 IMO. Rain Dance sometimes leave these out in favor of more
Water as well as strong Evolution lines like Seel/Dewgong or
Magikarp/Gyarados. Personally, I run neither. Lapras and Articuno do it for
me. However, neither one is my strongest attacker. That would be the mighty
Shellshocker himself, Blastoise. He has a 60 damage hump he can't get over, so
I use him to polish off BBP like Electabuzz. The other two Pokemon have a
considerable retreat cost so don't Bench them if it isn't necessary! Otherwise
they're Gust-bait. If need be use excess Pokes for CPU Search/Item Finder
fodder. Also, run a couple of Gusts in any Rain Dance deck. Often the
difference between victory and defeat lies in who gets a hit in first. So do
not ignore a threat loading up on the Bench. Deal with it ASAP. One thing... I
notice alot of players don't play PlusPower at the most opportune time.
PlusPower is there to kill, not to add a little more damage. So if it still
takes you two turns to polish off an Active, wait until the second turn to lay
the PlusPower down. It's meant to be used as a surprise. The only circumstance
that I can think of to use a PlusPower and not kill their Pokemon is when Mr.
Mime is in play. He will always take at least two turns to kill, unless you're
using Nidoking. So make sure it is two turns. If Squirtle is your Active, drop
a PlusPower the first turn to hit for 20, then see what you can do to finish
him off the second turn. Remember, this is not to include Confusion/Sleep or
Goop Gas Attack. If you see a chance to squash Mr. Mime in one turn, do it.
Everyone hates mimes!
Another imperative Trainer would have to be Energy Retrieval. Rain Dance
needs an abundance of Water to win, so it does you no good if it's all sitting
in the discard pile. By the way, don't discard one Energy with Retrieval just
to pick up two. That's just dumb. Do it only when you need to Oak to grab more
Water and you can't dump anything else (if Energy Retrieval is not used before
you Oak it's wasted.) Oh yeah, before I forget: Use PlusPowers before you Oak.
There's nothing wrong with doing this. If you Retreat the Active you lay
PlusPowers on, then the PlusPowers don't work. Otherwise, use them. If you Oak
while they're still in your hand then you end up throwing them away for
nothing. You'll need Item Finders to fish them out later. This situation will
probably come up often. Oaking is done to find more Water to power up attacks,
and you'll often find a PlusPower before you find enough Water. So make every
PlusPower count.
While Energy Retrieval is good, so is Nightly Garbage Collector. No
discard
and you get to throw back three Energy/Pokemon you've lost during the game.
These are incredibly useful in the middle/end game. It does wonders for
replenishing your Water supply. I usually run two Retrievals and two NGCs in
my Rain Dance. Another possibility is Switch. Some people prefer them to
retreating since just about every Water Pokemon present in Rain Dance have
high Retreat costs. Me? I don't like em'. I just Retreat them when it's
necessary because I know I can get the Energy back with all the
Retrievals/NGCs/Item Finders I run.
So the end result is something like this:
Pokemon (17)
4 Squirtle
4 Blastoise
3 Magikarp/Seel
2 Gyarados/Dewgong
2 Lapras
2 Chansey
Trainers (22)
4 Bill
4 Professor Oak
4 Pokemon Breeder
3 Computer Search
3 Item Finder
2 Gust of Wind
2 Energy Retrieval
Energy (21)
21 Water
Or even better is this juggernaut: (I rake guys over the coals with this
thing.)
Pokemon (14)
4 Squirtle
4 Blastoise
3 Lapras
3 Articuno
Trainers (28)
2 Bill
4 Professor Oak
4 Pokemon Breeder
4 Computer Search
4 Item Finder
4 PlusPower
2 Gust of Wind
2 Energy Retrieval
2 Nightly Garbage Collector
Energy (18)
Either one abuses Blastoise's power indulgently. Both recover fairly
quickly
from Lass (sometimes), and both have a reasonable chance of starting with a
strong hand. Once in awhile, a bad opening hand contributes greatly to a loss,
but more often than not you'll get what you need in the beginning to take off.
Have fun with it and good luck. Catch me at ODYSSEUSJOEY@netscape.net.
Later
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