This is sort of a rant about the two types of Pokemon Players as I see
it; those who like archetypes, and those who want to see them banned.

Now the people who like archetypes, usually play them. Myself, I like
archetypes, it shows that the game has some strategy behind it, which is
why most parents in my area don't like it. "It won't make you think",
they say. But I don't play an archetype. I play a Promo Eevee deck. But,
nonetheless, archetypes (especially the big 3) are everywhere, and I
think it's a good idea, especially for new/little kids playing the game
with say, a Rain Dance. If they play their friends, and win, it will
give them confidence, and make them want to play more, making good
players with original decks because they loved the game early from
winning so much.

On the other hand, the people who want to ban archetypes have a
completely different opinion. They say any deck widely played should be
banned because it's "too powerful". Do you know how many Wiggly decks I,
and many of my friends, have beaten with an original deck? I'd venture
to say I've lost very few games against a Wiggly deck. All you need is a
few disruptive trainers (RSA, and Lass are great archetype counters),
and take away what they need (Breeder, SER, CPU Search, Oak, etc.)
Believe me, 2 RSA and 2 Lass in my deck have worked more wonders than
any other trainer in my deck has, because I play archetypes so often.

Then there are the extremists, who say don't ban only archetypes, ban
the card that makes them powerful! They say ban Wiggly, Buzz, Chan,
Scyther, Fossil Magmar, Movie Mewtwo, and other powerful Pokemon like
that because they make the game un-fun (some even say Professor Oak, but
I won't even START on that). Aside from the fact that those cards aren't
as powerful as people think without the right combo, little Ash Ketchum
type kids who are just learning the game like to play with their
favorite Pokemon. What if you're playing a kid at the League, and he
plays a Movie Mewtwo down because Mewtwo is his/her favorite Pokemon.
Are you going to say, "Oh no, you can't play that"? For one, you'll
probably turn the kid away from Pokemon, making less and less people
play the game, you're also insulting his creativity. What if it's a
completely different deck with Hypno and Slowbro, but just put him in
the deck because he got it from a movie, and has maybe 1 in there?

Which brings me to another point. Whenever I play with my deck, I start
with Electabuzz or Scyther (usually). I don't play my Eevee's because
they're GOW bait at the start. So I have Electabuzz active. People have
gotten so paranoid about archetypes that they pack up their cards,
accusing me of playing a Haymaker, "how unoriginal", and if they're
kids, having parents yelling at you because you're upsetting their kid
(it's happened to me). Just because I put Electabuzz in a deck means
it's a Haymaker? Has it gotten to the point where any good card in a
deck makes it an archetype the moment it pops up?

That's just my rant. Comments can be emailed to me (if there is any) at
ironchefchinese@home.com

TristanC