>Deck Name: "Rumble in the Jungle"
>
>Energy (17)
>
>17 Grass Energy
>
>Pokémon (20)
>
>3 Grimer
>2 Muk
>3 Venonat
>2 Venomoth
>2 Scyther
>3 Oddish
>3 Gloom
>1 Vileplume
>1 Chansey
>
>Trainers (23)
>
>4 Energy Removal
>3 Oak
>3 Bill
>3 GOW
>3 Switch
>2 Energy Retrieval
>2 Pokémon Trader
>2 Full Heal
>1 Super Energy Removal
>
>STRATEGY: I love conditions because they render
>pokemon HELPLESS. My main reason for including Gloom
>is because he has AUTOMATIC confusion! Vileplume is
>there to heal Gloom, but when the time calls for it
he
>can give a beating! All my basic pokemon except for
>Scyther have a 50% chance of paralyzing the opponent
>which buys me more time for evolutions. Muk is there
>to kill off any Pokemon Powers, plus his sludge is a
>decent attack. Chansey is there to take a lickin' and
>keep on tickin'. His 120 HP should last him, and if I
>need big damage, he's the one. It would help me if
you
>could please give me a rating for the deck. Thanx a
>lot.

***

Hmm, I see a lot of decks with this strategy it seems.
People keep on putting the Vileplume family in decks
that are centered around status effects. On the face
of it, though, there are a couple of things wrong with
that...namely the fact that Gloom confuses you as
well. But read on...

1) Let's skip by Muk and Venomoth. I have nothing
really to say regarding them. They're excellent
Pokemon. Let's leave it at that and move on.
Vileplume...I just really don't like them. The entire
family kind of got screwed over, but then life is
life. I have a much better solution. (drum roll)
Nidoking! He may not confuse--but you want poison?
This guy has poison! Also, did I mention that your
Stage 2 evolution is looking sick? People, don't even
bother sending me a deck with less than 4-3-2...unless
you've got a watertight explanation. Scyther is fine
and can stay. I'm a bit confused about Chansey. He's
an okay staller, but his "big damage" kinda sucks. His
only major selling point is stalling and psy
resistance. Why not try Kangaskhan instead? Everybody
visiting my garage is probably tired of hearing about
Kanga. Tough. You're gonna hear some more :-) It's
true that Kanga's strategy is a bit different than
Chansey's, but I think once you get the hang of it,
you'll appreciate the merits of an extra card every
turn. Thank God there's no hand size limit in Pokemon.

2) Damn, those are some mighty fine-looking trainers
you've got there. A bit too fine, in fact. Drop 1 each
Switch and GOW; you don't need them. Replace Trader
with Computer Search, and drop the Full Heal (no mo'
Vileplume.) Also drop the SER, as regular ER is better
in an energy-intensive deck, and there's little point
in running just one...

3) 17 energy? Ouch. We need to bring it up to at least
20. 22 would be preferable. If you don't have enough
room (though we've created some), go back and
carefully cut a Trainer or two. And, despite our
already tight room, a DCE or two would be nice--not
only for Scy and your colorless Pokemon, but also to
help out the Nidoking family in a pinch.

***

22 Pokemon:

3 Grimer
2 Muk
3 Venonat
2 Venomoth
2 Scyther
4 Nidoran Male
3 Nidorino
2 Nidoking
1 Kangaskhan

18 Trainers:

4 Energy Removal
3 Oak
3 Bill
2 GOW
2 Switch
2 Energy Retrieval
2 Computer Search

20 Energy:

20 Grass Energy

***

I ended up not being able to put the DCE in. I really
think it would help, so be on the lookout for some
Trainer or something that you don't end up needing
that often. This is one place where personal
experimentation is often worth more than any advice a
deck mechanic could render. This deck will play
slightly differently after replacing Vileplume with
Nidoking, but I think the switch in emphasis from
confusion to poison may be worth it. If you want to
"render Pokemon helpless," you can't get much better
than sticking them with Toxic. A Confused Pokemon may
flip heads, but a Pokemon taking an extra 20 per turn
is usually toast unless it can make it back to the
bench within the next couple of turns.


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