I have been playing the Pokemon CCG for about two months now. Saturday
(10-23), I
played in my sixth tournament at Grand Slam Comics in Fort Worth Texas.
The
competition is intense there, and there are between 40 and 50 players in

each
tournament.
Grass haymaker variants have been winning for four weeks now, and
yesterday was no
exception. The winning deck was based on Pinsirs, Scythers, Koffing, and

Tauros. Bills,
plus powers, and energy removals are in full force.
I played my new deck and beat two fire and two grass decks until the
finals, where I
never did get out my Magmars. Had I had better deals, I probably had a
great chance
to win. First prize is commonly a box of boosters.

My deck:

Magmar(fossil)    4
Scyther           3
Electabuzz        4
Ditto             1 (sometimes 2)

Fire energy      13
Lightning         9
Double colorless  4

Energy Removal    4
Super ER          4
Super potion      4
Gust of Wind      4
Professor Oak     2
Energy Retrieval  4


My strategy is to avoid using Electabuzz against Hitmonchan. Get out
Magmar against
Scyther and Pinsir, and Ditto can really help out when playing Psychic
or Evolution
decks. The energy retrievals keep me full of the right energy, and the
potions can keep
the right pokemon attacking for a longer time. Without the potions, this

deck can be
hard to use against Hitmonchan because Magmar and Scyther are your only
weapons.
With proper use of Scyther, and Magmar backing up, the massive attack of

Hitmonchan
should be controlled. The potions give me the edge needed because
without
Electabuzz, I only have eight basics.
I finished second yesterday, and lost when I couldn't get my Magmar out.

I only had
two prizes left and by then it was too late. This does happen, but not
often.
Our tournament format is two out of three for a match. After beating two

fire decks in
my first two rounds(Electabuzz was my main force here), I beat two grass

haymakers in
the next two. They could not hold out against Magmar. In the final
match, I lost the first
game when I could not get a bench. My Electabuzz was confused and
poisoned by a
Koffing, and I lost quickly. With some computer searches, this might not

happen as
often. I am not very comfortable when I only have one basic out. With an

extra Ditto,
and two searches, it might not happen next time. I could give up a fire
energy, gust, and
super ER to add these cards. A few more dozen games of experimenting
should help to
refine this deck.
In the second game of the final match, I got a bench, but I was void of
Magmars.
Koffing again confused by Buzzes, and a consistent tails flip left me
helpless. When the
Magmars came out, I was overgrown with overfertlized Pinsirs. I think
that this
tournament exposed my two weaknesses(potential shortage of
basics/Magmars hiding). With the improvements noted earlier, I am
hoping for a stronger finish next time. This deck drew alot of attention

competition, so next time I expect some changes in their decks. A new
Moltres stall
deck was introduced after the tournament by the tournament assistant
director, and it
decked the tournament winner in 15 minutes. I am afraid that the future
is in quick-stall
decks(although I can't figure out how to make it work). Somehow I do not
find this strategy to be enjoyable. A box of
boosters might
change my mind!

stealthfighter   tuffhem@earthlink.net