I dunno' if I just came up with a deck worthy of an archetype. In
play-testing it has managed to clean house. It is the Dark Vileplume deck
everyone's been talking about and its card combinations make for a lethal
experience. I by no means have it perfected yet, but when I do (and believe me
I will) it will sweep most of the decks I've seen in competition.

  Pokemon (16)
    4 Oddish (Team Rocket)
    3 Dark Gloom
    3 Dark Vileplume
    3 Scyther
    3 Snorlax
  Trainers (18)
    3 Bill
    2 Professor Oak
    3 Computer Search
    2 Pokemon Breeder
    2 Pokemon Trader
    4 Energy Removal
    2 Lass
  Energy (26)
    20 Grass
    4 Double Colorless Energy
    2 Full Heal Energy

  Doesn't look too impressive, does it? It has a heavy reliance on Grass-type
Pokemon so that somewhat limits its versatility versus Fire Pokemon. However,
its card combos give it an edge over most decks. Let me demonstrate.
  At the beginning, it plays rather straight-forward. Bring out your best
staller to give you time. Scyther is probably your best bet for this. If you
can, power him up for some Slashes. His no Retreat cost and his Resistance to
Fighting can buy you some time to get your combos in play. Use Computer
Search, Pokemon Traders, Bills, and Oaks to set up the game lock early. Get
Oddish up to Dark Vileplume quickly. Use your Pokemon Breeders preferably.
You'll need to hold on to some Dark Glooms for later.
  Once Dark Vileplume's in play, the game will slow down. Neither you nor your
opponent will be able to play Trainer cards anymore. This is better for you. I
know what you're thinking... If I'm playing a deck that shuts down the use of
all Trainer cards, why do I have 18 Trainer cards in my deck? These 18
Trainers are there to do a few things at the opening: Speed Dark Vileplume
into play, disrupt your opponent's opening plays, (Lass and Energy Removal)
and allow you some chances to recover from a bad start. When Dark Vileplume
hits the Bench you'll no longer be able to use them, but at such a time you
hopefully won't need them.
  At this time, preferably turn two, you're free to set up. Both you and your
opponent will be trudging along trying to get Pokemon charged up for the
stronger attacks. If either one of you needs to get the Active away from
danger, you'll have to pay Retreat costs. So keep the game simple until you
can get a few Dark Glooms on your Bench. That's when it gets fun. At some
point, you'll find a Snorlax in your deck. This half-ton slob is actually a
critical component of this deck. When he's powered up, (it shouldn't be too
long with all the DCE in the deck) you can begin using his Body Slam.
Remember, you don't have to be afraid of Energy Removal and Super Energy
Removal. We shut down the use of Trainers already. While on the Bench, Dark
Gloom can use her Pokemon Power to flip to see who gets Confused. If you have
multiple Dark Glooms, you get multiple flips. Of course, Snorlax laughs when
the pollen touches his nose. He's completely immune to all status effects. It
was wonderful when I was playing my fiancee the first time: I managed to get
three Dark Glooms on the Bench with a powered-up Snorlax up front. I flipped
three times until I Confused her Active Pokemon, and then I used Body Slam to
see if I Paralyzed. It ruled! Four out of five times, I Confused her, but if
not I still managed to Paralyze her with the attack. With 30 damage on top of
that, her Active Poke was taking a first-rate beating. Remember, Paralyzation
replaces Confusion, so if you successfully Paralyze your opponent's Pokemon,
you'll have to restart the flipping process all over again. Needless to say,
she just sat there and watched while Snorlax ate all of her Pokemon.
  Usually, you'll have plenty of time to do this since decks need Trainers to
speed up the decking process. With Confusion, half the time Fire Pokemon will
end up discarding Fire Energy and end up hitting themselves. Retreating stinks
because Confusion will sometimes make that fail with a paid Retreat cost. And
Paralyzation won't allow for anything. Your opponent, deprived of the use of
Trainers such as Switch and Scoop Up, will have to sit there twiddling their
thumbs until you hit them again next turn. All in all, tons of fun for you,
with no fun whatsoever for your opponent.
  As with all decks, it's definitely not infallible! Fossil Muk completely
shuts it down, leaving you with second-rate Pokemon that will more than likely
fall victim to whatever Pokemon they're using. Another danger you'll need to
watch for especially is Ditto. He will copy Snorlax when he's out and can
power up with DCE just as fast as Snorlax can. Use some fancy attacking and
retreating with Scyther and the Oddish line to keep him away. Also, Snorlax is
weak to Fighting, so be careful with using him. In such cases Scyther works
best. Confusion doesn't hurt him too much because he can Retreat for free.
  If you find some new and imaginative way to tweak out this deck, e-mail me
to let me know. I want to hear how this deck works for you. Catch me at
ODYSSEUS@netscape.net if you have something to say. Later.


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