Hey all! Sorry for the
lack of articles recently. I just got done with finals and
picked my job waiting tables back up here in sunny southern
Ohio. Between that, tennis tournaments, and filling out
scholarship applications, I haven’t had much time. But I do
have enough time to get this idea out to y’all.
Question: When was the
last time I did this?
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Uhuh, it’s about that time again.
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Don’t remember this? Copy and paste this link: http://www.pojo.com/DeckGarage/CardsMaster2004/2005/7-26.shtml
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Ok, I’m done now. It’s time for the next Deck Challenge!
This deck challenge dips into the scary world of Unlimited
for a little bit and goes back to the days when I did local
deck meching. Now, at the time, I was running three Standard
legal decks (since legal was Unlimited). The first deck I’m
not going to post because, frankly, I’ve lost the list. But
it was my tournament winning Clefable deck that TecHed in
Cleffas, Magmars (Fossil), and Scyther. I loved that deck.
(SIDE NOTE: Of course, when the TOs posted the winning deck
lists, I found many copies of the deck around my League. And
everyone was amazed at how I could still beat any Clefable
variant. TecHing is such a wonderful mechanism…)
The next deck was another deck I piloted to a win in my last
Unlimited sanctioned tournament. I do have the deck list
(roughly) for that in Apprentice format. Some of you may
recognize its similarity to a few old archetypes in
Unlimited:
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Good Morning Sunshine, The Earth Says Hello (Vers. 2.0.1)
1 Mr. Fuji
2 No Removal Gym
2 Challenge!
3 Switch
3 Gust of Wind
3 Professor Oak
4 Item Finder
3 Computer Search
3 Gold Berry
3 Focus Band
7 Psychic Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
3 Recycle Energy
I went through a few variants of this, going mono-grass for
a while, then to Fighting, then to Lightning (minus R.
Zappy), then to Lightning WITH R. Zappy, then to
Lightning/Psychic, then to Psychic. This version worked the
best at the time and, if I still had the resources, I’d
still be TecHing this deck. Its almost my baby.
But, sadly, its not my firstborn deck. No, I created another
deck before those two (though I did hit it off pretty well
with making a 4/2 Wiggly deck on my second try, TecHing a
3/3 Fearow line!). That deck contained 3 Stage 2 Lines,
running 3/2/1 of each line and only 12 trainers (I just HAD
to follow the rules on the back of the deck mat). And…it ran
like crap.
And I liked it that way.
Looking back at the deck, it had no win conditions other
than my opponent’s first few turns and moves. If the deck
executed itself well enough, my opponent would sit there an
agonizing hour, unable to win. And I would sit there and
laugh. I later dismantled most of the deck to make my two
Uber-decks, but I threw some leftover trainers into the
deck, concentrated on one line, and brought the deck around
toa pretty substantial force in Unlimited. However, the deck
was never tournament viable.
That’s because my deck concentrated on one card: Alakazam.
Yes, Alakazam in all his Unlimited glory. Unable to be used
in tournament well, but Darn good outside of that realm. For
new people entering my league, it was almost a right of
passage to challenge me with my “Stall deck” and win. For
me, I just kicked back and had a fun time with it.
Now, I still have my list for that deck around somewhere; I
just need to find it (actually still have it physically
together. But that lsit won’t be posted quite yet. That’s
because…:
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Deck Challenge #2: Stall Me
Format: Unlimited
Other Restrictors:
Your deck MUST contain 4 Abra and 4 Alakazam (both from
Base)
Your deck cannot contain more than 21 trainers.
Originality is encouraged.
Judging:
I know how most ‘Kazam deck works. Either pair it with
Venusaur for Trans to PokeCenter instant removal and instant
reattached or trans to a giant benched basic (Chansey,
Snorlax) and Center the damage away. I’ve played
these,they’re nice, I’d rather NOT see them again. I don’t
mind seeing Centers in a ‘Kazam deck (heck, I ENCOURAGE it),
but be original with your other inclusions. I’m probably
weighting Originality slightly, if not much, more than
Functionality. But if the deck isn’t at all functional,
don’t expect it to win.
Other Parts of the Challenge: Please go in depth on how the
first six turns of your deck would theoretically work. I’m
interested in this for tiebreaker and judging purposes.
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Thanks for reading and I hope to see your decks in my inbox
and Cardz2004@hotmail.com soon. The contest will end when US
Nationals ends. And, of course, there will be some prizes
for the lucky winner.
See y’all. Hopefully I’ll have something a little more
informative up next week!
