*ding ding!*
SATOSHI: Okay, okay. Perhaps I went a bit overboard in my last article by
saying that everyone that hates archtypes has never played them. Spike and
PokeLady did a great job correcting me, and I understand how annpying it is
to play someone with a carbon-copied deck. However, there are a few things I
would like to point out. Bear with me here, okay? And please, we all have
our own views, so NO HATE MAIL ABOUT HOW ARCHTYPES ARE STUPID. I respect
your opinions, but I don't need to hear them all. ;) Anyway...

1-Carbon-Copied Decks
Carbon Copied decks are very annoying. This I agree with. However, we all
must understand something. There is no way to find an exact hour, day, week,
or even month when someone realized "hey, hitmonchan and electabuzz are
pretty fast" or "hey, blastoise's pokemon power would work great in a
mono-water deck." What I'm trying to say is that not all archtype decks were
made just because of the popualrity they get now(both positive and
negative). You have to agree that it's a little farfetch'd...er..FARFETCHED
to believe everyone made their "Raindance" or "Haymaker" decks after they
became popular. Thus, banning them from tournament play would not be a fair
alternative, as many players(including myself) have been using blastoise's
power/fast, efficient killers before they had even heard of the word
"archtype." This doesn't mean we played these decks before the archtypes
came into being, it simply means we were not aware of the high use of the
strategy when we made these decks the first time.

2-Prices
Now, the prices of the cards in archtype decks can be(are) farly high.
However, who says you have to BUY them? Even if there is no Pokemon League
or any other type of organized events around your area, you could always go
for the mall tours around the U.S. I can tell you all from experience that
there are a lot of trainers/collectors out there that would be willing to
part with their priceir cards for cards that they need for decks and/or
collections. I don't remember buying any card for my raindance deck, as they
all came from trades.

3-Banning Of Archtypes-Where Do We Draw The Line?
Okay, here's where I go psychological. Say we do ban archtypes. No more
Turbo-Wiggly, Raindance, Haymaker, Stall, etc. and we go on with our pokemon
lives. Well, say tournament time rolls around, and you do very, very good at
a tournament with your..let's say...Super Fang/Meditate deck(which is not a
bad combo at all). Well, the opponents that you lost to start to think,
"hey, that deck did pretty good. I know basically what's in it from play
him/her, so I think I'll make my own." There is no way of stopping that, let
me tell you. Someone will always make a varient of a good deck. Anyway, the
next tournament you see that a lot of people are using your
raticate/meditate strategy. What are we going to do? This deck has become
popular, has a fairly good srategy, and lots of people are playing it.
Pretty soon, even more people are playing it. Sounds like a new archtype.
Are yoy going to ban this deck to? My point is, where do we draw the line?
Are we going to ban evey deck that becomes popular? Every deck that people
take a liking to? If we do this, deck options will run very short very fast.
Okay, so now you are saying 'we'll just ban Raindance, Haymaker, and
Alakazam Stall.' What does that mean? Would we not be able to use
Blastoise's pokemon power to power up water pokemon anymore, in fear of
being disqualified because of using a Raindance deck? Could we still use
Alakazam's pokemon power and Pokemon Center to get rid of damage, or would
that be a Damage Swap deck? Where would it all stop? I know this all sounds
situational, but this is what some players want. It seems more like a
hinderence than a help, if you ask me.

4-Variants
Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Some, however, do not see it
this way. They make it sound as all archtype variants were copied from a
book/magazine. Guess what? ALL DECKS ARE, NOT JUST ARCHTYPES. They may not
be copied, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a strategy that only you have
thought of. Seriously. You have a deck with Nidoking, Koffing, and other
status-altering grass types? Sounds like a Status effect deck. A fire deck
where you beat down the opponent? Better not have any Arcanine in it, 'cause
then it may be a Cleaner. Even if you didn't have Arcanine in it, didn't the
beatdown with fire theme come out of Brushfire? Yep. See what I mean? Better
not use weedle/breeder/beedrill, that's a Speedrill deck. An archtype. Same
with  All deck strategies have at least two people playing them.

SATOSHI: I hope I did not offend anyone by writing this article. In closing,
there is no perfect deck; there is always a way around it. Make a
Haybreaker, Rainsmash, or Damage Stomp deck and please, stop trying to get
the archtypes banned. Instead, make a deck to beat them.