Gimme another quarter! C'mon! All right, c'mere...go! Go! Oh, don't
think I can't see you behind me Blinky. I know your tricks. Just you wait,
got one! Now who's running?? Get over here you little blue coward. Gotcha!
Who's your daddy?? C'mon little bugger, squeal fer daddy! Oh no, gang
attack! Nowhere to run, crap! Curse you pixellated pipsqueaks!

       %^^^$@#%@#!@% machine, I oughtta take a $%$&&#$ chainsaw and tear
apart yer ^%&^#$ insides...um....hi. er, Ahem, yes. I was just entertaining
myself with a rousing game of Pac-Man. Forgive the cursing but it's an
addicitive piece of nostalgia.

       The cafeteria downstairs is remodeling their image. They feel it
needs to be updated. I hope the food gets updated too, that's the same
cheese danish that's been in the pastry case since 1986. But, they wanted to
get rid of the old video games they had in there. They were just gonna toss
out this wonderful Pac-Man game. Can you imagine?

       I dunno if you're old enough to remember the way that Pac-Mania hit
this country back in 1982. I was just a kid then, but I can remember mowing
the lawn for enough money to run up to the corner store for a box of candy
that cost 10 cents (Yes, Lemon Heads were only a dime once....ooohhh
nostalgia!) and to play Pac-Man for the afternoon. I had to mow a lot of
lawns to become any good. So I was shocked that they'd just set a piece of
my childhood out to the curb like that. It works fine and isn't even in poor
condition. Go figure.

        I don't think my secretary particulary likes my new Pac-Man machine.
She just keeps staring at it, batting at the joystick a few times and
mumbling something about Sony Playstation and her not being the crazy one
around here.

       You're lucky. I've run out of quarters, so I guess that means I'll
have to fix your deck. Step into my office and out of where the game can
distract me with its blinking pixels, beepy-boopy noises, its arthritis
inducing buttons...its one coin slot that's been jammed full of Bazooka gum
since 1993... the primitive contours of its plywood console...it's time-worn
and faded paint...Aaaah! Quick give me your deck before I go running back
just to bask in its light.




>Hello, again, Dr. Landon.  Capriciola here with my deck, VenoMewtwo.  While
>not the most creative name, it combines the names of two of the decks main
>attackers.  Here is the deck:
>VenoMewtwo
>Pokemon-15
>3x Mewtwo
>3x Scyther
>3x Koffing
>3x Venonat
>3x Venomoth
>
>Trainers-25
>4x PlusPower
>3x Professor Oak
>3x Bill
>3x Computer Search
>3x Scoop Up
>3x Super Energy Removal
>2x Lass
>2x Nightly Garbage Run
>2x Gust of Wind
>
>Energy-20:
>10x Grass Energy
>8x Psychic Energy
>2x Double Colorless Energy
>
>Finally, after a lot of thinking for original concepts, I came up with
>this.
>It's mostly a status-effect deck with the strategy of attacking with
>Mewtwo,
>Scyther, or Koffing in the beginnning (all have good attacks), while
>building
>a Venonat on the bench, then evolving it into a Venomoth as soon as
>possible
>to get some nasty status damage on your opponent.  Yes, it might be
>somewhat
>less powerful due to usage of Full Heal Energy lately, but it is still a
>potent deck.  I still think it could use a fix, however.  I'm also not sure
>if I should use Nightly Garbage Run or Energy Retrieval.  In playtesting,
>NGR
>did not do as well for me as Energy Retrieval.  Well, that's everything! 
>See
>ya around, Dr. Landon.  I'll be sure to pay your secretary as I leave.
>Thanks for the help!


      Al work and no Pac-Man makes Crash a dull boy...All work and no
Pac-Man makes Crash go crazy...Ahhh...shake it off! Now I know why that
thing took over years ago. It's evil.

      While your deck doesn't contain any Pac-Men, I won't fault you for it.
It doesn't have any ghosts, which is a plus.

      So, let's see here. the Pokemon are all good. Scyther is a necessary
addition to any Grass deck and a lot of other decks as well. You didn't
specify which Koffing you're using, so I'll assume it's the good one from
the Base Set. Any attack which guarantees a status effect, one or another,
is worth having around. The Team Rocket one doesn't have this guarantee, so
it's nowhere near as good. Promo Mewtwo is, of course, a great card for most
decks.
       I'm glad to see someone using Venemoth. I think it's a very underused
card for what it can do. If the opposing Pokemon has a weakness, you can
exploit it. This is great. The chance to both Confuse AND Poison the enemy
is stupendous. Toss in some Resistance to Fighting and a free retreat and
we've got a winner. I'd honestly like to see it used more, but as a Stage 1,
it's not gonna see too much play. However, as most Stage 1's go, Venemoth is
among the very top of the pack.
       I'm not going to change any of your Pokemon. The numbers are
balanced, as are the Weaknesses and Resistances. The worst one there is
Venonat, but he's a necessary evil I suppose.

        Now for your Pac-Man, I mean Trainers. Trainers, definitely
Trainers. Not Pac-Man-ooooooooooooh..Pac-Man...aggggggggghhhhhh.
        Your Trainers are pretty good, overall. I do feel that they could be
better suited to fit the nature of this deck though. Destroying your enemies
via status effect can be tedious. Even Scyther and Mewtwo won't speed up the
rate at which poison works. So we need to examine the later portion of game
a bit more. The opening looks fine, you've got Computer Searches, Bills-
albeit 1 shy of the standard 4, tsk tsk- and Oaks.
        Since several games, I'm sure, will take a while for you using this
deck, I'd suggest putting in 2 Item Finders. They are especially important
in retreiving things like Scoop Up and Gust of Wind.
        The other thing i'd do is increase the number of Nightly Garbage
Runs you have. To answer your question of which I feel is better-Garbage Run
or Energy Retrieval, the answer is Garbage Run. You can choose 3 energy
versus 2 with Retrieval. You needn't discard anything to get that Energy and
you're allowed to substitute Pokemon instead. The only advantage Energy
Retrieval has over Garbage Run is that Retrieval allows the Energy to go
straight into your hand, not the deck like Run. But this is a small price to
pay for the heightened versatility of Nightly Garbage Run. speaking of
which, you should really have 4 in here. Add 2.

        To make room for these card, we gotta pull some stuff out.
Unfortunately the stuff you put in is all worth keeping. This means we have
to sacrifice. I hate to do it, but me, I'd pull out the PlusPowers. They're
nice, but not directly needed for the deck's effectiveness, whereas Item
Finder and Garbage Runs are. I know some times a PlusPower will be just the
thing to make a KO sooner, but this is just something you gotta get past and
use the more needed cards.

        I also feel that your deck may have more of a reliance on Trainers
than other decks. This isn't a mindless "draw and smack 'em" deck. There is
actual strategy involved, so I'd switch those Lasses for 2 Rocket Sneak
Attacks. You can still eliminate threats with RSA, but you won't feel the
pinch of losing your Trainers too.

        Your Energy count is just as I'd have it. I don't think you ned
quite that much Psychic Energy for just 3 Mewtwos, so i'd take one Pstchic
Energy and another Grass Energy and convert them into 2 more Double
Colorless Energies. The speed advantage of DCE with Scyther is intense, and
I'm sure you'll agree that it makes sense to help this combo out by giving
it the best chance of success as possible.

         I didn't change a whole lot here. Just the Pluspowers for 2 Item
Finders and 2 more Nightly Garbage Runs and those 2 DCE's, so a new decklist
isn't needed. This deck stands upon its own well.

          What do ya know, you're cured! My secretary would appreciate
payment before your departure. Now if you'll excuse me, there's a video game
beckoning me in a chorus of seraphim voices.

        Oh, yeah, I don't have any quarters. How about you? Can I borrow a
quarter? You don't have any? Yhat kind of patient are you? Look at me, I'm
Mr. Come-Into-Crash's-Office-Without-Any-Quarters-Guy! "I don't have any
quarters!" Go get me some &$%%^^% quarters man!!

         Maybe my secretary has some!  Hello beautiful...oh I see you've got
a whole stack lined up here for me on your desk. You're too kind. What sign?
I don't see any sign, you mean this here?

               QUARTERS - $1.00 EACH

       That's highway robbery! Do you expect me to pay you four times the
price for one lousy quarter? No. I won't do it. Not even Pac-Man can make me
waste money like that. I'll just go to the cooler for a drink and cool off.

        La la la...wakawakawakawakawaka...nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggg!!!

     OK! Here's a 20! Gimme that stack!

           So I'm a vidiot....But I'm a happy vidiot.

                Game over already?? Cursed ghosts...


                             Good Luck!!
                           Dr. Crash Landon


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