OK, folks, I'm back with another Deck-on-a-Budget. This little monster
relies on, believe it or not, the Pokemon used by Team Rocket. Yep,
Koffing, Lickitung, Meowth, and so forth. While it doesn't pack a lot of
hard hitters, the status effects this deck causes can be wonderfully
irritating. Besides, it's always fun to turn over a Koffing at the
beginning of your match and tell your opponent, "Prepare for trouble!"

I've decided to start including both the budget version of the deck and
alterations to build more expensive versions, so that as people upgrade
their cards, they can upgrade their decks.
---------------------------------
Prepare for Trouble!

3 Koffing
3 Meowth
2 Persian
3 Lickitung
3 Bellsprout
2 Weepinbell
1 Victreebell *Rare*

4 Energy Removal
3 Switch
3 Gust of Wind
4 Bill
2 Professor Oak
3 Mr. Fuji

20 Grass Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
----------------------------------

To create a more expensive version of the deck, you could exchange the 3
Mr. Fujis for 2 Scoop Ups and a Computer Search. You could also cut out
one of the Switches for a second Computer Search or Item Finder.


How does this deck work?
By using annoying status effects to drive your opponent nuts! Every
Pokemon in this deck, aside from the Meowths and Bellsprouts, has some
sort of attack that affects your opponent's Pokemon. Koffing is the king
of Poison and Confusion, Lickitung has Paralysis and Confusion,
Weepinbell has Poison, Persian cuts down the damage your opponent can do
with its Pounce, and Victreebel can pick its opponent and keep it from
retreating. Even better, Full Heals don't fix the status problems that
Persian and Victreebel cause.

It doesn't hit that hard ... how do I beat my opponent?
Koffing is the man for the job. You start a Lickitung up front to take
early damage, or a Bellsprout to get another Bellsprout, and start
powering up Koffing. Once Koffing's ready to roll, its status effects
will handle pretty much everything your opponent can throw at you until
you have a Weepinbell or Persian to dish out more damage on your
opponent's last couple Pokemon. This deck definitely goes through
stages. There's the Lickitung stage (early game), the Koffing stage
(mid-game), and the Persian / Weepinbell / Victreebel stage (end game).

Speaking of that, what the heck do I do with that Victreebel?
A good question. Victreebel is a role-player in this deck. It has a very
definite mission to fulfill. It functions in one of two ways, either
polishing off someone who's already taken a lot of damage, or stalling
your opponent by luring out Pokemon that aren't powered up. Energy
Removal is Victreebel's best friend -- it not only keeps your opponent
from retreating easily, it also prevents them from harming Victreebel.

If this is a Team Rocket themed deck, where are Ekans and Arbok?
Another good question. I tried it with them in place of the Bellsprout
line, and it didn't really work. Ekans is just not a good basic. It's
very fragile and its attacks are pretty weak, which led to some
extremely quick losses when I didn't have very many Pokemon at the
beginning. I'm figuring that once the Team Rocket expansion hits, it'll
be easy to re-substitute the Team Rocket versions of Ekans and Arbok in
this deck, but until then, the Bellsprout line is much more functional.

Please feel free to copy and try this deck out. I've been running it
through most of this season of the Pokemon League, and it's pretty good,
and very entertaining to play. It does require a careful touch in spots,
so it's not the best for a novice player. I would love to hear other
peoples' constructive comments and criticisms, so please mail me at
lopaskar@san.rr.com if you've got ideas or comments.

==Leanne

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Leanne Opaskar                  lopaskar@san.rr.com