Okay, a few weeks ago I wrote in saying that I thought Prop 15 would really
help the playing environment.  After reading a lot of other articles and
talking with some other players, I tink that I may have been a little too
excited about it.  I think that a much better way to deal with Archetypes is
simply to crank out the banning stick.  Here's a list of bannings and
restrictions that I believe would limit Archetypes and perhaps allow for a
more creative environment:

SER: Ban.  The power to set any pokemon back two turns of energy is just too
devastating and gives energy-manipulating decks (like Raindance) or low
energy decks (like Hay variants) a serious advantage.  Normally these don't
take up more than two slots anyway, so I suggest totally banning it.

ER: Restrict.  This isn't totally broken, but it is too powerful when 4 are
allowed in a deck.  I suggest restricting to 2 per deck.

Imposter Oak's Revenge: Ban.  This is part of the crusade against trapper. 
The only way to prevent that sort of deck is to totally ban the key cards.

Team Rocket's Trap:  Ban.  Same reason as IOR.

Tickle Machine: Ban.  Same reason as IOR.

Professor Oak: Errata or restriction.  I think that Oak is really important
to any deck, but if it needs to be limited, either of the following actions
may be considered:
    Limit to 2 per deck
    Errata to state that playing Oak prevents you from using any trainers
during that         turn as well as your next turn.

Wigglytuff:  Ban.  Do the Wave is just too broken.  This guy simply needs to
be banned.

Blastoise:  Ban.  Raindance is also too broken.  Considering that there are a
lot of really powerful Basics and Stage 1 pokes in Water, Raindance decks are
just too strong.

Hay Pokemon: Restrict.  Haymaker is too fast and is relatively uncreative.  I
therefore suggest the following restriction:

The following pokemon may not constitute more than 6 total combined spaces in
the deck:
    Hitmonchan (B)
    Electabuzz (B)
    Scyther (J)
    Magmar (F)
    Ditto (F)
    TR Scyther
    TR Hitmonchan
    Lt. Surge's Electabuzz (either)
    Blaine's Taurus
    Lapras (F)
    Jynx (B)
    MP Mewtwo
    Farfetched (B)

Other Pokemon may be added to this list; either as they are released or if
any have been overlooked.

Total banning of the following Haymaker pokemon may be considered:

    MP Mewtwo
    Electabuzz (B)
    Scyther (J)
    Ditto (F)

Personally I believe that the best way to deal with Haymaker is to restrict
the number of pokemon, rather than to ban the pokemon or speed trainers.


Well, that's all I can think of right now.  Obviously this is going to tick a
lot of people off, but it's my opinion and no-one has said you need to accept
it for truth.  I believe that these restrictions would increase the strategy
and creativity on the playing field and allow for more creative decks and
prevent the major problems Props 15 and 2T bring. 
                                                    -FossilMagikarp

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