I've basically been playing this type of deck since i began the game, 
but its changed quite a bit.  This deck's name is "Abra's Revenge" 
because even though a few Abras die in almost every game, Kadabra and 
Alakazam always come out to avenge their fallen comrades.

Psychic:
3 Jynx:  Jynx provides a great attack with meditate, and at 70 hp is a 
     long lasting basic
4 Abra:  Jokingly called "Supreme Being".  Pretty weak, but its       
    evolution stages are great, and it can stall for a while with psy 
     shock
3 Kadabra:  "Supa Psy" is awesome, and recover keeps it alive.  Only  
    60 hp though.
2 Alakazam:  Damage Swap
18 Energy

Fighting:
4 Hitmonchan:  Best basic in the set to start a game with.  A meditate 
     by Jynx after Hitmonchan's special punch is a 2-hit 100 damage   
   combo.  I used to use all the superpower pokemon (Machop,      
Machoke, and Machamp), but they're not great, so I took them out      
for more trainers and more Psychic pokemon.
10 Energy

Trainer:
4 Switch:  Excluding Abra, which retreats for free, all the pokemon   
   have a retreat cost of 2 or higher.  These are very handy for      
getting past resistances to psychic or fighting.  Also, if u have     
 an Abra on the bench, and ur active pokemon becomes paralyzed,      
asleep, confused, or poisoned, switch it with Abra (this heals      
it) and send it back out.
4 Bill:  2 free cards
2 Gust of Wind:  Another way to get by resistance, or kill a pokemon  
    on the bench with an annoying power (ex: Blastoise or Alakazam).
2 Super Energy Removals:  Annoy your opponent by spoiling their plans.
2 Computer Searches:  Get u the cards u need when u need them.
2 Professor Oaks:  Often turn the match around by giving u 7 good     
 cards in exchange for the useless junk in your hand.

I've played this deck, and several variations of it, at a local 
tournament.  The tournament is held every Saturday, and my friends and 
I are usually there.  The tournament is single elimination, best out 
of 3.  I haven't gotten first yet, but out of the 4 weeks I've gone, 
I've only lost 2 matches, and I've won 6 (I did have to leave early a 
few times, tho).  My two losses have both been to the person who ended 
up winning, and both of them have used far more expensive decks.  This 
one will set you back $35-50, depending on local prices.
The following report is of one of the tournament days a couple weeks 
ago in which my friend, who at the time played a mono-water deck won. 
I made it to the semi-finals.

Round 1:  Water/Fighting

The first kid I played at the tournament basically knew what he was 
doing and had a good sense of strategy, but his deck probably cost 
$10.  The match began with me having a Hitmonchan versus his polywag. 
 Needless to say, he was a little outclassed.  I wound up killing, or 
"knocking out" 2 polywags and a seel with that one hitmonchan, while I 
charge up a Jynx and Abra on the bench.  After I killed Seel, he had 
no pokemon on the bench, so I won.  The second match was slightly 
harder.  I began with Abra and he had Machop, but by the second turn, 
I'd gotten a Jynx.  He soon got a Polywhirl and a Dewgong out.  Abra 
finished off Machop, but was quickly killed by Polywhirl.  
Fortunately, on the next turn, I drew a Hitmonchan.  I put energy on 
it, switched it with the Jynx, and began jabbing it.  Hitmonchan 
killed the Polywhirl and hit the Dewgong with a Special Punch before 
he was taken out.  Jynx killed the Dewgong with a Meditate, and the 
match was over.

Round 2: Mono-Fire

Mono-Fire decks are usually very strong but slow.  This one focussed 
less on the strong (and fairly expensive) fire cards, like Charizard, 
and more on the cheaper, quicker ones like Ninetales, Arcanine, and 
Magmar.  I don't remember exactly how this match went, but I do 
remember that he had a pretty good deck, I won both matches before he 
won any, and that he was the SLOWEST opponent ever.  He spent about 5 
minutes a turn, even if he did nothing.  Even though he didn't come 
close to beating me, we were still the last ones finished that round. 
 He liked to start his matches off with Magmar, whom i easily defeated 
with my Jynxes, and then brought out a heavy hitter like Arcanine or 
Ninetales.  He continually used Leer with Ninetales, making me send up 
pokemon weak from my dumping damage on them with Alakazam's damage 
swap.  With my switches and Gusts of Wind, I kept Ninetales in the 
back until I had a Hitmonchan and Jynx, or a Kadabra ready to battle. 
 The Super Energy Removals (probably the most annoying card in the 
game) kept down the Ninetales and Arcarnines until my attackers were 
ready.  This card also made him say, "I hate you" about 20 times.

Round 3:  Mono-Water
There were now 4 people left in the tournament of the original 27 (I 
got a by in the elimination round).  My opponent for this round was 
one of my friends, who eventually wound up winning the tournament.  He 
was playing a Rain-Dance (Blastoise's power) deck.  This deck sets up 
a Blastoise on the bench and attacks with another water pokemon, 
usually Gyarados (my least favorite card because it can destroy my 
deck unless I have a Kadabra).  Rain-Dance allows him to put as much 
energy on a water pokemon per turn as he wants.  The match began going 
my way.  I started with a Hitmonchan and had a Jynx on the bench.  
Between the two of them and some switches, I took out all his basic 
(there really aren't any good basic pokemon for water) and the one 
Blastoise he managed to evolve from squirtle.  The second match was a 
complete blow-out.  I began with an Abra, and he started with a 
Magikarp.  It was even until I drew a Hitmonchan.  I was about to win, 
when one of his 10 minute long turns began.  He used computer search 
for a Professor Oak, and used it immediately.  He evolved Magikarp, 
which was hurt for 20 by Abra, into Gyarados, then put a Seel and 2 
Squirtles on the bench.  He then used another Oak, and a pokemon 
trader with a Seel for a Blastoise.  Because he could not do anything 
else it was my turn again.  I put energy on Hitmonchan attacked the 
Gyarados with Abra's Psyshock, the paralysis failed.  He then used 
some Bills and Energy retrievals, evolved Squirtle into Blastoise with 
a Pokemon Breeder, and put 4 energy on the Blastoise and 4 on the 
Gyarados.  Gyarados destroyed Abra, and my turn began.  At this point, 
I'd basically lost.  I kept the match going for about 10 more minutes, 
but because of Gyarados' resistance to fighting, I couldn't get 
through it to his other pokemon.  A Gust would have been very helpful, 
but I had no luck that match.  The final match began very evenly, but 
eventually turned into a repeat of the one before with one exception: 
 I had an Alakazam out, so I lasted a while longer.  I kept a few 
Jynx's alive long enough to take out some Gyarados's, but again 
because of resistance, Hitmonchan was useless, except as a sacrifice 
to by time.  Had it not been for this resistance, I could have 
probably defeated him in at least one of the last 2 matches, because 
Gyarados was tanking (taking all the damage for his other pokemon).  
The tournament was over for me, and he split the prize (20 dollars 
store credit for first, 10 for second) with the other finalist.

Well, that's about all that happened that day at the tournament.  You 
can catch me at ECBeast83@hotmail.com.  Please mail me with deck 
suggestions.


                    -by B. Mateo, the << ECBEAST >> 

___________________________________