Name: Gojira

Pokemon x 21

Cleffa Lv6 x 3 (Neo Genesis)
Eevee Lv14 x 3 (Neo Discovery)
Espeon C-70 x 2 (Aquapolis)
Larvitar B-22 x 3 (Expedition)
Murkrow LV25 x 2 (Neo Genesis)
Pupitar D-26 x 3 (Auqapolis)
Tyranitar B-95 x 3 (Expedition)
Tyrogue Lv7 x 2 (Neo Discovery)

Trainers x 21
Copycat x 3 (Expedition)
Double Gust x 3 (Neo Genesis)
Energy Charge x 2 (Neo Genesis)
Gold Bery x 3 (Neo Genesis)
Healing Field x 2 (Neo Revelation)
Pokemon Trader x 3 (Legendery Collection)
Professor Oak's Research x 3 (Expedition)
Switch x 1 (Legendery Collection)
Town Volunteers x 1 (Aquapolis)

Energy Cards x 18
Darkness Energy x 4 (Neo Genesis)
Full-Heal Energy x 1 (Legendery Collection)
Potion Energy x 3 (Legendery Collection)
Psychic Energy x 5
Recycle Energy x 2 (Neo Genesis)
Warp Energy x 3 (Aquapolis)

Optional: Drop one Copycat and Professor Oak's Reaserch for two Desert Shaman, and/or substitue all Professor Oak's Research for Professor Elm. Desert Shaman is there becase so many people run Elm still, or are risking Oracle. Then, we all seem to use Cleffa. Since the average hand is 5 cards in my experience, DSing for 4 is still likely to get you soemthing you need while making those "dead" Trainers from Elm go back into the deck. I have tested this, but I had abnormally large hands for that game. Had I not, I could have made them uite angry with Desert Shaman.

The stragety is simple: Expedition Tyranitar is a fierce attacker. Its Poke-Body lets him use any energy for his attack. Espeon let's you remove energies from your Pokemon and return them to your hand. Since it works on all energies, and not just basic Energy Cards, it works best on Special Energy Cards with coming into play effects, like Potion, Full Heal, and Warp Energies. With these bouncing off of it, Tyranitar becomes even more of a monster. If you have a 120 HP Pokemon healing 10 each of your turns (by removing and then re-attaching a Potion Energy) its good. With Healing Fields and Gold Berry, it's sick. Special Conditions? Not a problem: we have a Full Heal and three Warp Energies we can bounce. Cleffa, Espeon, and Tyrgoue all have a free retreat, so I focused more on Warp Energy than on FHE. With such a massive HP, the combo essentially gives you an extra 40 HP, usually more. Espeon also contributes an 80 HP free retreater who can hit for a minimum of 30 and more if the opponent is damaged. Since Stamp also does bench damage, this makes Espeon an excellent cleaner should all your Tyranitars fall. The Eevee is excellent since it can search out its Stage 1 and evolve imediately. Cleffa and Tyrogue are standard support Pokemon: Cleffa for draw power and Tyrogue for a nice opening attacker, and I only mention it for completeness. Last for Pokemon, I added an Umbreon to counter Metal or provide yet another cleaner. I was tempted to run Murkrow as it is easier to power up and get into play, but this is an "emergency" Pokemon: with The evo lines are tight out of necessity. A skilled player should be fine though.

Moving onto some unmentioned Trainers, Double Gust and Switch are standard fair. I kept a single Switch in case Ineeded an energy atachment for something else (since I can juggle Warps). With so many Trainers, Elm is less than useful. In my faster decks, I know run a Desert Shaman or two since it counters so much of the draw power so well. So I went with what would allow me to get cards reliably and still use non-Supporters: Copycat and Professor Oak's Research. Pokemon Trader helps you get the right Pokemon at the right time, and Town Volunteers and Energy Charge reclaim cards and fight decking.

The Energy are what really make this deck. I run low counts becuase if I am doing it right I just need to draw one and I am good to go. Darkness Energies are mainly included in case of Muk and of course for the sweet damage bonus (and of course, Murkow is useless without them). Speaking of which since there are just two Murkow, I felt Rainbow Energy uneccessary: Espeon needs a lone Psychic, and its power means I should always be able to keep some Darkness Energy ready. Also, it makes "bouncing" the Energy around more difficult as it's damge placement would also be triggered. Murkow is also supposed to focus on countering Metal, so when it is used, it needs to ahve many real darkness on it. A Full Heal and Potion Energy essentially give Tyranitar a "mutant healing factor" while Warp Energy, as mentioned earlier makes reterating a breeze (and also help ditch Special Conditions). Psychic can Power either Eevee, Espeon, or Tyranitar, and triggers Eevee's Power, of course. Recycle is for filler, and is great when you want to save an energy but need a Pokemon to go down fighting: save whatever the enregy is (say a "true" Darkness Energy for Murkow), and use Energy Return to put it in hand, then play Recycle Energy.

The main fiear for this deck is Muk, which Espeon can eat, other Psychics, which Tyranitar can eat, Tyrogues which you can counter with Espeon or your own, and Metal decks, which is what the Murkows are for: Tyranitar should be able to pile up a lot of damage before it goes down, so you should jsut need a clean 30-40 damage to finish them off. A speedy deck might beable to take you before you set up, but that is true of every deck.

For those who don't know, Gojira is Japanese for Godzilla.

nintendotaku@hotmail.com