To anyone that knows me you may realize that it has been awhile since
I've actually done anything here at Pojo's.  That is because I was busy with
MageKnight for awhile.  But, I'm back and ready to put out a really good
article.  

      This article is focused on what the game used to be compared to what
it is now.  Before you groan and say "Not another one" I beg you to read on
as this will prove to be a very good read.

            The good ol' days of Pokemon.  Does anyone remember when all of
the Base Set holographic cards could fetch prices of 20+$?  Back then those
cards were far too expensive for my tastes but recently the Base Set singles
have been going for around 5$.  The primary deck back in 1999 was anything
that could beat your best freind's 6 color deck.  Primarily another 6 color
deck with tougher Pokemon in it.

      Things have changed since then and it is kinda sad to see the game
struggling like it is.  People are quitting because the deck they want to use
looses all the time.  They refuse to play an Archetype and therefore suffer
for it.  Well, I must admit that I'm one of them.  But, however I do not mind
loosing.  As long as I can see where I erred.  Almost any deck can beat any
other deck.  It just requires the deck's player to show some skill and effort.

      I learned these lessons the hard way at Pokemon Leauge one day.  I was
challenged by a player who was working on one of the Gym Leader's challenges.
 He had a water deck that consisted of Misty's Seadra.  Once I found this out
I became cocky and decided to give him a chance by playing very loosely.  
But, however, due to several extremely lucky coin flips this person knocked
out 6 Pokemon in a matter of about 8 turns.  I was shocked to say the least...

      I again got cocky while playing a kid that used a
Cloyster/Lugia/Zapdos deck.  I saw him lay that 30 HP bivalve Pokemon
Shellder and snickered.  He would have a 50 HP evolution at the best.  And,
on average it could deal only 30 Points of damage.  I soon learned that this
kid trusted his coin.  Dealing 60 damage per turn with his cloyster he
quickly wiped the floor with me.

      After these mishaps (That happened on the same day).  I went home very
subdued.  I laid my deck out on my bed and almost wept.  I had been playing
the deadly combo of Slowking and Sneasel!  How could I do so horribly!?  Then
it dawned on me what went wrong.  Reading through my old Pojo magazines I
realized where I had erred.  The deck was new to me and they had had some
experience with theirs.  So, after realizing my problem I quickly whipped my
Gengar's Curse up.  This was the first really good deck I had made.  Centered
around the Fossil Gengar it was a deck that nobody in town could beat me
with.  The deck has undergone many changes due to the release of the Gym
series and Neo:  Genesis.  But it is still lethal in my hands.

     I guess the whole point I'm trying to make here is that with enough
practice with the right (and properly built) deck.  You can have great
success.  It does not have to be an archetype to be a winner.  And by the
way, if loosing is what you hate you'd better get used to it in games because
everybody looses at some point.  It's just part of the game.

                            That's all for now.  If you find that this
article makes no sense whatsoever then please return it for a complete refund
of the cover price.  Thank you for shopping with us and have a nice day! ;)

              The NatsumeGengar
                                     NatsumeGengar@cs.com