>Crimson Shadow:  Original -X-
>_____________________________
>
>PokŽmon (12)
>-4x Kangaskhan (Jungle)
>-4x Scyther (Jungle)
>-4x Magmar (Fossil)
>
>Trainers (24)
>-4x Bill
>-4x Super Energy Removal
>-4x Energy Removal
>-4x Energy Retrieval
>-4x Item Finder
>-3x Pluspower
>-1x PokŽmon Trader
>
>Energy (24)
>-13x Leaf Energy
>-9x Fire Energy
>-2x Double Colorless Energy
>
>Strategy-
>	There are a number of strategic possibilities with the cards
>
>selected in this deck.  There is the ever popular energy removal technique
>in which you have the SER and ER.  You then use the Item Finders to get
>the SERs back to reuse.  A technique for the Energy Retrieval Cards is
>to discard a basic energy to get two energy cards back, simple.  Repeat
>over and over to reuse energy over and over.  The Bills are obviously
>to get cards quick, if you get a Kangaskhan out first without enough
>energy to use Comet Punch, just use Fetch like you would use a Bill and
>hey!  You got yourself a card.  Easy.  Also, if you didn't notice, the
>cards pretty much compliment each other.  Kangaskhan is weak to fighting,
>but Scyther has a resistance for fighting.  Kangaskhan's resistance to
>psychic helps against all those psy decks.  One problem is that there
>is no English card that I could find that has a resistance to fire to
>complment Scyther's weakness to it, so that is the purpose of the Magmar's
>compliment.  Also, Magmar's weakness to water is a problem when fighting
>a rain dance, but there are only two water pokŽmon (Gyarados[Base] and
>Articuno[Fossil])
>that have resistances (to fighting).  So we can work things out here.
>One thing that seems to be a problem in my eyes is that I seem to have
>included little energy.  Maybe or maybe not in your eyes, I still feel
>it is managable with the Energy Retrievals, though.  The Pluspowers just
>seem to be included for, obviously, more power.  The PokŽmon Trader is
>to trade pokŽmon if you are, for example, playing against a fighting
>deck and you only have a Kangaskhan, which is weak to fighting, and you
>want to switch it for a Scyther, which is resistant to fighting.  Hope
>you post it, please tell me if it is quality or crap.
I enjoy receiving decks like this one. If you really want me to choose your deck for posting, do like this trainer did and include how you play your deck and why, just like I ask for on my main page. Now, I can address things in terms and reasoning that makes sense to the trainer and can understand the reasoning behind why the trainer plays with certain cards or combinations... and, naturally, I can address weaknesses that I can see in the deck and offer valuable suggestions.

As I look over the deck, I do see a few minor things. The biggest weaknesses you are going to face do not lie in Rain Dance or fire decks. Instead, drawing yourself clean out of cards is an extreme possibility. With Kangaskhan and Bills, you are looking to draw a lot of cards. This mixed with energy removal frequently can create a 'slow down' effect in the game. You keep your opponent from attacking by removing all his or her energy, and then you draw cards. Your only hope with such a strategy is to be able to attack quick. Unfortunately, Kangaskhan is not a quick pokemon. With his 3 retreat cost and requiring 4 energy to attack for *any* damage, he is a great staller and starter, but NOT a good fighter.

So how can we fix this weakness? Well, there are two possibilities. The first is to reduce the number of Kangaskhans in the deck and choose a pokemon that attacks quickly. Electabuzz and Movie Mewtwo are popular choices in this department. The other choice is to make use of Scoop Ups. Use the giant Kangaroo pokemon to draw cards for a while and stall, then scoop it up back to your hand and attack with another pokemon.

Your other weakness that seems to stand out is you have very few basic pokemon. 12 is the lowest I would EVER run in a deck, and in most cases where I only play 12 basic pokemon, I have lots of draw cards, like Bills, Professor Oaks, Computer Searches, Gamblers, and the like. I'm going to recommend an interesting strategy for this deck... Growlithe/Arcanine. With Kangaskhan stalling, and Scyther or Magmar capable of the same, build up a real hitter, then either retreat or Scoop Up your active to send in the big puppy.

Pokemon (14 Basic + 2 Evols = 16 Total):
3 Kangaskhan
4 Scyther
4 Magmar (Fossil)
3 Growlithe
2 Arcanine

One of the advantages of Scyther is that he can run completely off of any energy we want. This said, we can focus on the pokemon that require energy of a specific type. This would be Magmar and Growlithe/Arcanine. So, choosing 4 double colorless energy, and then filling the rest of our deck with 20 basic fire energy will keep the heat on.

Energy (20 Basic + 4 DCE = 24 Total):
20 Fire
4 Double Colorless Energy

Lastly, let's go over the trainer choices you picked. With room for (60 - 16 - 24 = 20) 20 trainers, we'll focus on card drawing and energy removal as you desired, but make sure we have enough Scoop Ups to pull that Kangaskhan out of the way when we get Arcanine ready to go up front.

Trainers (20 Total):
4 Bill
2 Professor Oak
1 Gambler
2 Computer Search
4 Energy Removal
4 Super Energy Removal
3 Scoop Up

Best of luck!