Big Wiggalow (Colourless)
                                by Jason GM (16)
                               Sky Fox Games
                                  Oshawa, Ontario
                            Saturday, September 30th
                           Roughly 15-20 participants

Whew!  Well, this is my first-ever deck report, so I hope it is
received well and that you, the reader, can learn something from my
triumphs, and, much more frequently occurring, my mistakes.  :)  The
store I play at has a rather competitive metagame, with at least half a
dozen serious players and 50 or more slightly less competitive ones.  I
am the ONLY person in the League at my home store that plays Wiggly, and
there are only about 2 or 3 people who play Raindance.  Everyone else
plays either evo-based grass, psychic, or fighting, or God-Forsaken
haymaker decks!  Haymaker is SOOO popular in my area that it is
impossible to do well in a tournament and not see Hitmonchan in at least
2 or 3 battles.  Playing a Wiggly deck, which is naturally weak to
fighting, it can sometimes be hard to manage a game properly if my deck
doesn't go off fast enough, but I've found ways to work around it.  I
attended this tournament with a friend who's new to Pokemon but used to
play Magic, Graeme, who I helped build a TOP NOTCH Raindance deck (his
report'll be coming in soon).  This was his second tourney ever, and
last week's didn't go so well for him as he had a bad run in with an
annoying rules-monger kid who did him in on little gameplay
technicalities and taking a turn when he said "go" by mistake.  Anyway,
hope you enjoy my deck!

Big Wiggalow

Pokemon: 20

4 Jigglypuff (base set 2)
4 Wigglytuff
4 Scyther (base set 2)
4 Erika's Dratini
2 Erika's Dragonair
2 Lt. Surge's Spearow (Level 17)

Trainers: 16
4 Computer Search
3 Bill
3 Professor Oak
3 Super Energy Removal
3 PlusPower

Energy : 24
4 Double Colourless Energy
4 Full Heal Energy
4 Potion Energy
12 Grass Energy

What started off as a basic wiggly deck with only that single evolution
chain got a revamp two weeks ago when I realized that later in the game
my Dratinis were basically useless.  I had this epiphany as my behind
was being brutally beaten by a Dragonair deck that used Blizzard and
Take Away to destroy benched Pokemon, and primary actives respectively.
:) 
The base strategy of this deck is pretty standard stuff: get out a few
basics, Oak, Bill, and Search to get a 'Tuff out ASAP, power it up, and
Wave away. 
However, the addition of the two Erika's Dragonair's allows for a nice
anti-hay edge, and Take Away can destroy a Raindance deck gambling that
its Blastoise will actually last more than a couple of turns.  You'll
notice that this deck uses a lot of card drawing:  most people think I'm
crazy to use 3 Oaks instead of 2, and using so many Computer Searches
instead of Pokemon Traders.  Well, with the Dragonairs I can cycle two
Pokemon cards and as many energy as I feel like attaching back into my
deck using Take Away, usually after scoring a KO with Blizzard.  This
also eliminates the fear of wasting my DCEs (important to the speed of
this deck) in mid or late-game on something other than a Scyther or
Dragonair.  I can NOT emphasize what a strategically versatile card
Erika's Dragonair can be.  :D
Now, I know what you're probably thinking.  "What the heck is with the
Spearows!? get rid of them!".  Well, I keep the two Spearows there for
several reasons that I personally would not believe or understand if not
for the fact that I use them so frequently.  The first is Whirlwind:
against a slow-to-start deck, this causes havoc with the opponent's
energy distribution.  If an opponent has one or more basics to begin
with, they will ALWAYS lead with one of two things, either the best
Pokemon for the opening situation (according to its HP and damage
possibilities), or a stall Pokemon like Fossil Magmar, Erika's Dratini,
or Horsea.  Either way, the player is banking on having that Pokemon
out, and will either have to sacrifice an energy to retreat it, setting
them back one turn, or simply deal with not having their ideal Pokemon
as their active.  Secondly, a turn one DCE slapped onto  Lt. Surge's
Spearow can, provided the coin flip comes up heads, provide 40 damage
with Razor Wind.  Early on, this is a POWERFUL attack, and it can
provide a first-turn victory.  The third reason for using Lt. Surge's
Spearow is its retreat cost: free.  I believe that retreating can be a
wonderful stalling tactic and strategic manoeuvre, provided that it does
not cost any energy.  With four Scythers and 2 Spearows, this deck very
rarely has to pay to retreat.
I use four Computer Searches instead of say, 2 Comp Searches and 2
Traders simply because most of the time I am NOT searching for a
Pokemon.  I'm usually looking for an oak, DCE, or a PlusPower.  This is
also the first tourney where I've played with 3 PlusPowers instead of
three Super Potions.  The difference was astounding.

Firstly, the tournaments where I play are most likely different from
the norm.  Each person fights seven battles, and for each match, you
receive either a win or a loss.  You can not battle someone twice, and
you are paired according to your record.  What this means is that if you
win your first match, you'll be paired against someone who also won
their first match.  Win that match, and you'll get paired with someone
who also won both of their first two matches.  This creates a scenario
where matches get progressively harder.  Scoring at the end of the
tournament is done by totalling your points: one win equals one point.
Should their be a tie, your Streak is examined: this is how many battles
you won before your first loss.  This overall system makes sure that
every tournament is a real battle, and that the top players ALWAYS
compete against each other in the end.
Here's how my matches went!

Match 1 against Jeff A, Fighting / Grass Trainer:
I started this match with a rather excellent hand, containing, amongst
other things, a Scyther, a grass energy, a DCE, an oak, and a
Jigglypuff.  I set the Scyther as my active, keep Jiggly and a Dratini
on the bench, and I win the coin toss.  We flip our cards, and he had
decided to lead with a Brock's Zubat.  He had a few fighting Pokemon on
his bench, the most notable of which was a Brock's Geodude.  I draw
another basic, bench it, play the grass energy on Scyther and use Swords
Dance.  He draws, and bills three times, managing to get a total of four
Pokemon on his bench, 3 of which are fighting (the other is a Nidoran,
male).  He attaches a fighting energy to Brock's Geodude and passes.
Next turn, I draw a Wigglytuff, evolve a Jiggly, play the DCE on
Scyther, and I Oak.  I get a few energies, a DCE, and a Super Energy
Removal.  I slash for the kill, and take my first prize, yet another
Super Energy Removal.  The next few turns he tries to stall by
sacrificing three of his fighting Pokes, all the while charging up the
Geodude and evolving it into a Golem.  At this point, my bench is full,
I have two Wiggles, one of which is powered up, so he decides to throw
out his Nidoran to stall against Scyther.  I, deciding I don't want this
match to last particularly long, retreat Scyther, pull out Wiggly,
discard an energy from my hand (I hadn't played one this turn) and SEA
the Golem.  I Wave the Nidoran.  All he has left is Golem, and he can
only deal a total of fourth damage to Wiggly due to the energy he loss
last turn.  Next turn, I draw, retreat Wiggly ditching his DCE, ditch
his other energy for another SEA, and attack with Scyther.  The next
turn he passes, not being able to do anything.  I draw, and Slash the
Golem for the final prize, and the win.  I congratulate him on a game
well played.

Match 2 against Rob C, using a mono-grass deck.
I had NO idea as to what to expect from Rob.  He was a friend of
basically the best player in our League, Ryan, and I had never met him
before, so fighting him was going to be something special...
His deck was a mono-grass using Venusaurs and Erica's Victreebels.  I
knew the Victreebels would be problematic if he got them out, so I
decided to shut down any Bellsprouts as fast as possible.  I hunker in
for what I expect is going to be a long battle....
First turn.  I won the coin toss.  I cautiously play a Dratini as my
active with a Jiggly on my bench, since I had no idea what kind of deck
Rob was playing at this time.  He comes up rather empty with nothing but
a Bellsprout.  I have an ok hand with some energy and a bill.  I play my
lone DCE on the Dratini and hit the sprout for ten.  His turn, he plays
a grass energy and attempts to poison Dratini, failing. 
My turn, I draw another bill.  I use it and the bill from my starting
hand to draw four cards.  Here we go!  I draw three basics and a comp
search.  I drop the three basics, two Jigglies and one Scyther, comp
search for a Wiggly, evolve my original Jiggly, and Oak.  Bam, two DCEs,
a full heal energy, a plus power, and another Scyther.  I play the
Scyther, play a grass energy on Wiggly, and hit the Bellsprout for
another ten.  Next turn he's gone if he doesn't draw a basic.  Rob's
turn.  He does draw a basic, a Bulbasaur.  He attempts to poison
Dratini, and yet again, fails. 
I draw something irrelevant on my turn, retreat the Dratini, play a DCE
on Wigglytuff, and Wave for 60 damage.  Bellsprout goes bye bye and I
take my first prize.  Rob doesn't seem to be getting his deck working
too well.  Rob's next turn, he actually finally gets some card drawing
going.  He manages to get out a Bellsprout and another Bulbasaur.  He
plays a grass on the 'Sprout and passes. 
I draw another PlusPower.  I Wave to kill Bulbasaur.  His next turn
passes with another grass on Bellsprout, which is now a Weepinbell.  He
stalls by throwing his other Bulbasaur to my hungry Wigglytuff.  My
turn, I Wave the 'Saur, and take another prize.  His turn, he plays
another 'Sprout and evolves Weep into Victreebel, with another grass
energy played on it.  He attacks Wiggly with that annoying sleep/poison
attack, and figures he's safe for a while.  My turn, I play a full heal
on Wiggly and two PlusPowers.  Rob concedes, realizing he's been
beaten. 
I've gotta hand it to him, the deck could be great, but it just didn't
go off against me.  We shake hands and move onto our next matches

Match 3 against Matt, AKA Too Annoying,
Too Annoying is a rather small kid who plays an excellent fire and
electric haymaker, hinging on Aerodactyl for his Pokemon power,
Electabuzz for early damage and stalling, and Arcanine for massive
damage.  His deck is GREAT, and tends to work really well against most
opponents.  Coincidentally, only one of our matches has EVER gone beyond
5 or 6 turns.  I win against him about 50/50.
We start.  To sum up the match, I have a Jiggly and a Scyther, he has
an Electabuzz.  I have PlusPowers, a grass energy, and a DCE.  I have
one more point to add to my card.  :)  Matt and I have yet another 4
turn match to add to our long list.
 
Match 4 against Shawn R
Shawn has an okay water deck focusing on Dark Blastoise, Poliwhirl, and
Dewgong.  I usually take control in our matches pretty early on, but
today was a bit different.
I started with my usual draw of a DCE (actually, two this time), a
Dratini, and an oak.  In other words if this had had more basics, this
would have been pretty ideal.  He starts with a Horsea as his active,
and a Poliwag and Seal on his bench.  I once again win the coin toss (my
luck was great today in that respect), and I happily draw a Jiggly.  I
set him on the bench, play a DCE on Dratini, and hit the Horsea for 10
damage.  Shawn immediately realizes the danger the Horsea is in, but
plays a water energy on him and hopes that I don't make the 50% chance
through Smog, AND the 50% chance for 30 damage. 
I draw a Scyther, play a DCE on Jiggly, play the Scyther, and I fail to
get through the Smog.  This continues for two more turns, in which
Horsea stalls, Poliwag is powered up, and I charge up Jiggly  to four
energy.  I draw a Super Energy Removal, discard an energy from Jiggly to
use it on Poliwag, play a grass on Scyther, and oak.  I get a Wiggly, a
PlusPower, and enough basics to fill my bench.  I evolve Jiggly into
Wiggly, retreat Dratini, and sock it straight to Horsea.  He throws out
Poliwag, puts a water energy on Seal, and passes.  I draw, and nail
Poliwag for another prize.  He plays a water on Seal, and passes.  I KO
him for the win since Seal was his last Pokemon.  I congratulate him on
being aggressive throughout the match and playing well, and take my next
point.
 
  Match 5 against Tom
Here come the Haymakers!  Tom plays an annoying but wickedly effective
Hay/Permission deck, with 4 and 4 of Energy Removal and Super Energy
Removal.
Simply put, this deck is fast and effective.  It knocks off energy from
key Pokemon like my Wiggly and Scythers.  I lose this match despite
being able to stall for a while, the beginning of my problems being that
I went first, and as such as 2 energy out when he had one, making my
charged up Scyther prime fodder for a second turn SEA.  Every time I
attempt to power something else up, it loses its energy.  Surprisingly,
I take 2 or 3 prizes before Tom gets fully powered up.  Finally, my
three defense Scythers take too much damage to continue stalling, and
after losing the three of them I play Wiggly.  I quickly rifle through
my deck with Oaks, searches and Bills, and I deck myself knowing there's
nothing else I can do.  Tom does a little victory dance and hollers like
a mad donkey like he always does, but for once actually congratulates me
on playing well.  I've earned some respect, but no points.  :(
 
Match 6 against Michael L
Michael is a pretty good player, and today's he's playing a
Turbo-Char.  I dance happily for a moment in NOT having to face
Haymakers for all three of my final matches.  This was an ideal match
for me as yet again I lead with a Scyther, Dratini, Jigglypuff, a DCE, a
grass, and an Oak.  I play the Scyther, then bench the Dratini and
'Puff, play a grass on Scyther, and Swords Dance.  At this point he has
(I think) a Magmar and another fire pokemon out, the Magmar being his
active.  He charges up the Magmar (Fossil) and smokescreens. 
I draw a PlusPower.  I play the PlusPower, the DCE on Scyther, and I
Oak, coming up with a Wiggly, one or two DCEs, and the other three
Jigglies in my deck.  I attempt slash, manage to get through
smokescreen, and deal 70 damage to Magmar, killing it.  He powers up his
one remaining pokemon, drops one more basic and passes. 
I play a full heal energy on Wiggly, and slash for a near-kill with
Scyther.  Next turn, he draws, and passes.  I draw, retreat Scyther,
play a DCE on Wiggly, and Wave for the kill.  Next turn I wave with a
PlusPower (I think he had a Magmar out) for the kill.  He's benched out,
so I win.  We congratulate each other on fighting well, and move on, me,
to my final match.
 
Match 7
  Now, I have to say, I usually go up against Ryan, the best player in
our League and the friend to Rob C from Match 2 that I mentioned
earlier.  Luckily, Ryan was busy at the time so we didn't need to have
one of our huge, long, battles.  Instead, I got to go up against,
annoying RrulesMongerKid!  I pass my friend Graeme on the way to our
table and yell "Hey Graeme, it's time for some vengeance!"
He plays a pretty basic haymaker deck, with the added fact that if you
say anything wrong he capitalises on it and finds some way to chimp you
out of your necessary actions.
  The match starts, I won the coin toss.  He plays a lone Scyther, and I
play a Spearow as my active, and a Jiggly on my bench.  My eyes light up
as I see my hand.  A Wiggly, a DCE, two PlusPowers and a Computer
Search, and I draw a grass energy.  I play the DCE on Spearow, play two
PlusPowers on him, and Computer Search for my last PlusPower, hoping it
didn't get into my prizes...  I rifle through my deck, and finally find
my PlusPower, second last card!  I play it on Spearow, and declare that
I will attempt Razor Wind.  I pick up my 10 sided die- Even, I deal 40
damage plus 30 more from PlusPower.  Odd, I deal a piddly thirty and
have no cards left in my hand for next turn.  I roll...  8!  Yes!
Scyther dies, no more basics, first turn win!
 

The kid sits there stunned as I go to the front of the store to total
my points.  I ended up going 6 for 7.  It's announced that I tied for
second, but my streak was greater than the other person, and I take
Second alone.
 
Overall, this was my best tournament so far.  Erica's Dragonair is
insanely powerful, event though I don't even think I used Take Away once
in the entire tournament.  Everyone there had a great time, including my
friend who went 5 for 7 with his brand new Raindance.

Anyway, down to the Props:
Props to Remy, Alice, Mike, and everyone else at Sky Fox who dedicates
themselves to running a great League.
Props to Graeme for doing so well in only his second tourney.
Props to Tom for taking first place: he deserved his 7 for 7 win streak.
Props to the Wigglytuff  who now lives in my card-carrying bag, for
providing me with luck and an ever-smiling on-looker.
Props to Ultra-Pro, for making the aforementioned bag: they totally
rock.
Props to Lt. Surge's Spearow, for being the rebellious little card no
one ever loved.  :D

As for Slops:
Slops to the cruddy Base Set One booster I got as part of my prize, for
having a De-Evolution spray as its rare.
Slops to everyone who ever put down Lt. Surge's Spearow
Slops to that weird kid with the funny-shaped head who says Pokemon's
for kids because he only plays Magic.  Take that Funny-Head!

Thanks for reading!

Suggestions, comments, mad rants against Spearow?  E-mail me at
blitzpx@home.com