>Dear Spike,
>
>I saw that you fixed up a rocket deck so I thought you
>would be the guy to send this to. I just today bought
>a bunch of 1st edition TR cards and I have come up
>with a deck that seems to be missing something and I
>can't put my finger on it. anyways here it is.
>
>Pokemon:
>4 grimer
>3 Dark Muk
>4 Venonat
>3 Venomoth
>4 Scythers
>
>Trainers:
>4 energy removals
>4 S energy removals
>1 item finder
>1 Imp. Prof. Oak
>1 computer search
>2 Prof. Oaks
>3 Bills
>4 switches
>
>Energies
>4 DCE
>18 grass
>
>Strategy: The idea is to get Muk out so retreating
>will be difficult. Then zap the crap out of thier
>energies leaving them high and dry. For good measure I
>put Venomoth out and confuse AND poisen then (not to
>mention his shift power) and Scyther comes in to clean
>up. (Dark Muk's power adds two colorless energies to
>the defending pokemon's retriet cost). The switches
>are for switching to Scyther. Imposter Oak is to help
>with the energy zaping and just to be a pain in the
>butt. The computer search oak and bill's are to get my
>evolutions out and powered. and item finder is there
>to get that one trainer that I could really use just
>about now if ya know what I mean.
>
>I haven't even got the cards yet. Which is why I am
>begging for your help. I don't have alot of money to
>spend on cards. This way I know before hand which
>cards to aim for. I was thinking about making it
>really sinister by adding an aerodactyle (forgive my
>spelling) which has a similar attack as scyther but it
>seems like too many evolutions. I am also skepticle
>about my choice of trainers. 
>=====================
>personal note
>=====================
>I love yall's magazine. I started playing pokemon four
>months ago with a Lockdown deck and was headed strait
>into the ground. Some kids tricked me into thinking
>fossil magmar was no good and I'll be darned if I can
>find him now. Then I found your magazine. You detailed
>listings of all the pokemon and deck garage section
>has helped me become a great deck designer. Designing
>decks is the thing I like most about pokemon. I have
>five decks now. two are my brothers (on permanent
>borrow) and three are mine. My "yet in testing stages"
>colorless mono, My Psychic Friends Network, and My
>Aquamono Blast (incomplete due to trading my
>articuno's for psychic cards becuase It stunk anyways
>without blastoise which I still only have one of).
>Along with I have helped my friend (whom I started
>playing with) make three good decks. Maybey someday I
>might even be good enough to a deck mechanic. Course
>I'll never be as good as you! (forget I picked you out
>of random becuase you fixed a TR deck, focus on the
>kissing up!)

***

Well, this is an interesting deck. Very interesting... Hmm. Dark Muk is gonna be one of the most-abused cards around now that TR has hit the shelves...or so it would seem.

1) I'm not going to argue with your Pokemon choices. They all seem very good, and your basics are all solid enough to hold out until you can begin attacking in earnest. While there are always minor things that can be changed (adding in a bit of psy resistance, etc.) it really isn't worth doing at this juncture. So let's just leave dem Pokemon alone for right now, and move on. The exception would be if we need more space, in which case we can drop one family (probably Venomoth) to 3-2 and maybe drop Scy to 3 too.

2) Okay. Dump the Switches. I mean, why? Muk is the only one of your Poke with more than a 0 retreat cost. (I don't think Muk's effect works on your own Poke... correct me if I'm wrong!) Also drop the Imposter Oak (again, WHY??) Now, add in 3 GOW, two more Searches, and a couple more Item Finders. This should do you pretty well. Pretty sweeping changes, but also pretty basic ones. There shouldn't be a problem.

3) Energy looks good. Don't fix it when it ain't broke.

***

16 Pokemon:

4 Grimer
3 Dark Muk
3 Venonat
2 Venomoth
4 Scyther

22 Trainers:

3 Bill
2 Oak
3 Computer Search
3 GOW
3 Item Finder
4 Energy Removal
4 SER

22 Energy:

18 Grass Energy
4 DCE

***

That should fix this deck up pretty well. One thing, though, and I hope you don't mind my offering advice--I find that when you try to make many different decks, often you end up with a lot of okay decks but no really, really good decks. I've been working on pretty much the same deck since I started the game in August, and I'm still making changes to it now and then. I know the deck like the back of my hand, and I like to think that helps. Just a thought--maybe you want to make sure that in your quest for quantity, you're not overlooking quality. Anyways, happy hunting!


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