Hey there. I'll be ready to hear your problems in a moment. We have to
wait for my secretary to finish vaccuuming my inner office for graham
cracker crumbs. I kinda got suckered into babysitting my neighbor's 7 year
old son, Todd, for the day while his parents work. Guess the kids have a
holiday today. Must be nice.

   Ah, I can tell by the audible grumbling that my secretary has finished.
That and the vaccuum is now off. We're ready to go into my office and
discuss your deck. One thing- I'm going to have to bring Todd in there with
me. If I leave him out here, my secretary is liable to stick something sharp
in him.
   You're going to behave for the nice lady, aren't you Todd?

Todd- Yes Dr. Crash. I is going to be reeeeaaaallll good.

    You're not going to kick her like the last person, are you?

Todd (Massaging rear end)- No.

     Good. Ok, let's go into the office. Tell me what your trouble is.


>   Doctor Crash, can you please help my deck?
>
>In it I have:
>Pokemon  10 basic, 4 stage 1, 2 stage 2
>1 Blastoise
>2 wartortle
>3 squirtle
>3 charmanders
>2 charmeleons
>1 charizard
>2 syther
>3 magmar (F)
>Energies 27
>11 water
>16 fire
>Trainers 17
>3 switch
>2 oak
>2 computer search
>2 pokemon breeders
>2 pokemon traders
>4 bills
>2 gusts
> My stratigy is fight with syther and magmar while I power up my
>Charizard and blastoise using breeders and traders to help. I am trying
>to get another blastiose and charizard and may be some ninetails and
>vulpixes. Can you help me fix my deck, my semptoms are I am having
>trouble against non evolution decks such as haymakers. I have never
>played a raindance but I'm worried about them too. I am planing on
>entering a tournament, does my deck have a strong chance.
> THANK ALOT!
>                  email me at linda@hotmail.com


     Hmmmm. You do seem to have a problem. Immediately I'm going to tell you
that big Water and big Fire are very hard to combine. Both require a heavy
investment of their respective Energies. Blastoise's Raindance Power only
works with Water types and Energy, so to capitalize, the best strategy is
usually to include just Water in your deck. Charizard, on the other hand,
can use any type of Energy, which is wonderful, but his only attack costs 4
and throws away 2 each time. Very wasteful. Having both in the same deck
means they will compete for the Energy and neither will benefit to their
full potential.

     What do I suggest? Blastoise is really the better of the two. Besides
having no real drawbacks to its attacks, it can also benefit your other
Pokemon as well.

Todd- CHAAAAAARR!! Look! I'm a Charizard!!! CHAR!! Charizard is hungry!

   No Todd!! Don't bite the nice lady's ankles!! She needs those to walk and
stuff. C'mon. Hey does Charizard want a cookie?

Todd- Char? Cookie!!

   Well sit down and shut up or you'll never a get a cookie again in your
entire life.

  Todd- I'll be good.

    Ok, like I was saying, Blastoise is more helpful than Charizard is in a
deck. However, some early Fire is still a good idea, especially with the
immense number of Scythers running around out there. I'd suggest removing
the Charizard and the Magmars. You may keep the Charmanders and the
Charmeleons though. Both have a decent colorless attack and make excellent
surprises in a deck which uses all Water Energy.

    The Blastoise's Power will wind up being the crux of the deck, so you
should up the number of Blastoises to 2. Never put just one of any important
Pokemon into a deck. It will invariably wind up as a prize during that
battle when you need it most. 4 Squirtles will give you a good chance of
starting this crucial line as well. You can put the Wartortles away though.
Pokemon Breeders make the job easier and faster. You'll need some fatties to
do mega water damage once Blastoise is in place, so scrounge up some
Articunos. They have no weakness and resistance to Fighting. HP is nice too.
And as much as Scyther is an excellent card, this is one case where I'd
actually remove them in order to utilize the Raindance power more
effectively.
Instead of Scythers, I'd put in Laprases (Lapri?). Lapras is a nice Basic
Pokemon with a Water gun attack and some good HP. He just makes this deck
smoother than the Scythers would.

   Todd- Squirtle! Squirtle! Squirtle!! Can I be a Squirtle, Dr. Crash? Can
I? Can I? Can I?

    I suppose so Todd. You've been pretty quiet.

   Todd- Oh boy!! I'm a Squirtle! Ooh! Here's my Water Gun!!

    Ack!! Stop that! You're spitting on me!  I don't need a Raindance in my
office Todd!

   Todd- Ok. I'll do my Skull Bash attack! Here I go!

     No! Don't! That door is-- (WHUMP!!) . . .closed. Sigh.

    I think Todd will be taking a rest for a while, so why don't we discuss
your Trainers while he's inert?
     The Bills and Professor Oaks are fine. You'll need them to move along
Blastoise's Raindance power.
     Put the number of Pokemon Breeders up to 4, to assure that you get the
family off the ground.
    An Item Finder and a Computer Search will allow you more freedom to get
that which you need.
    The Gusts of Wind are good and the Switches are even okay. I normally
throw Switches aside, but you'll likely benefit from their presence in this
deck.

      By the way, just to point this out, you had 61 cards in your deck. It
was just a case of an extra Energy, nothing really inexcusable. But were
this a Tournament like you had mentioned intention to entrt, your deck would
be illegal and you'd be removed. Just be very concsious of this in the
future.

    Here's a new, better Fire/Water deck for you:

     4 Squirtles
     2 Blastoises
     3 Articunos
     3 Charmanders
     2 Charmeleons
     3 Lapras

     4 Bills
     2 Professor Oaks
     4 Pokemon Breeders
     1 Computer Search
     1 Item Finder
     3 Switches
     2 Gusts of Wind

     26 Water Energy (Anything using Raindance requires a heavier Energy
count)

     Todd- Wow lady. That looks like a nice deck. Can I hold it?

   No Todd, she's going to need it to go beat her enemies now.

     Todd- Hmmmph. I never get to beat my enemies.

   You don't HAVE any enemies.

      Todd- I do too. The O'Toole's dog, Rufus is my enemy. He ate my
frisbee. Charizard would never eat my frisbee. If I were a charizard I'd eat
Rufus. Have you ever eaten a dog lady? Prob'ly not. My friend, Huey says he
once ate a dog, but he didn't know it cuz it was mixed with some chinese
noodles.

    Don't say that to my patients Todd!! That's gross!

      Todd- No this is gross! Rrraggabloggablegg!!

   Quit making faces, and get your finger out of there Todd! Look, this deck
is fixed. You'd best make a run for it before Todd gets really out of
control. I think my secretary gave him a chocolate bar when I wasn't
looking. You can pay her on the way out, please.

      Todd- More chocolate?? Charizard wants chocolate!!! RRROOOAAARRRR!!!

      No!! Those are my brown loafers!! Look what you've done!!

      Todd- Can I have a cookie now?

     Yeah sure. Here, have the whole blasted package. Just go away.

      Todd- YAY!! I've evolved into Cookiezard!! Yay!!

    No wonder my neighbors looked so desperate. Good luck!!

                     Dr. Crash
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