>Okay, this deck seems pretty solid, but I'm not sure.  The deck has one
>real purpose, to inflict some sort of status effect onto your opponent. 
>Also it was being built along the theme of
>not-to-many-rares-since-I-have-no-money.
>
>Pokémon (17)
>4 Koffing (base)
>3 Oddish (Jungle)
>2 Gloom (Jungle)
>
>2 Vulpix
>4 Magmar (Fossil)
>
>2 Jigglypuff
>
>Trainers (21)
>2 Switch
>4 Plus Power
>3 Bill
>2 Proffessor Oak
>2 Full Heal Energy (Origianlly 3 Full Heals, but I could only find one)
>1 Full Heal
>3 Energy Removal
>2 Scoop Up
>2 Computer Search
>
>Energy (22)
>12 Grass Energy
>10 Fire Energy
>
>  Okay, the pokémon are pretty much self-explanitory.  All have the
>ability to inflict some form of a status effect, or in Magmar's case keeps
>the opponent from attacking.  The trainers may need a bit of explaining
>though.
>Aside from the obvious choices (Bill, Oak, Computer Search) the
>trainers seem a bit odd.  The full heal energies are there because I
>couldn't find two more full heals.  The full heals are run, along with the
>switch and scoop up, to cure Gloom of it's confusion after using Foul
>Odor.
>  Normally I would run two or three Gust of Wind cards, but in a deck
>that inflicts status effects, benching pokémon seems to defy the whole
>purpose..  The three energy removals are there to keep an opponent from
>retreating (hopefully) and curing any status effects.  Plus Power is
>there because most of the attacks do 10 or 20 damage, if they do any at
>all.
>  The energy seems a bit low, but then, all attacks only require one or
>two energy to work.
>
>  Okay Spike, that's my Status Effect Deck. (Oh wow!  What a creative
>Name! =P) If there's anything you can do to help make it better, I would
>greatly appreciate it.

***

Okay... good deck. It would be nice if putting in tons of rares were an option, but that's certainly nothing we can't work around. =) And the strategy is one that's been proven to work many times over.

1) First of all... I'd take Vulpix out. I know how incredibly adorable he is, but the fact is that he's not very good in a pure status effects deck. Having to load 2 energy on him just for a measly 10 damage and possible confusion will be a bad investment more times than not. That leaves you with 2 slots. The rest of your Pokemon look pretty good. I think that I'd replace Jungle Oddish with TR Oddish when you can--being able to automatically inflict one of two status effects for one energy would be good in this deck. We've got two slots to work with, and I think as long as you're going to be running 4 Koffing, you may as well put in a couple of Weezing. 10 more damage is good, and the ability to blow itself up as a finisher or to nail a threat can be good.. Other than that, Poke are fine.

2) Trainers are, for the most part, right on the money. I can tell you've been reading my Deck Garage articles. =) What I am going to do is add in a fourth Energy Removal and a couple of Energy Retrievals, for which we will take out a few energies. As you said, you don't need much energy already, and Retrieval helps you get the color of energy you need at the right time. Finally, I would drop out a PlusPower for an Item Finder. This card can be so useful in certain situations, and it can even become that 4th PlusPower if you need it to be.

3) We can probably drop fire energy to 9 and grass to 10. Given the addition of Retrieval, these changes shouldn't cause any problems if you didn't have energy problems before.

***

17 Pokemon:

4 Koffing
2 Weezing
3 Oddish
2 Gloom
4 Magmar
2 Jigglypuff

22 Trainers:

2 Switch
3 Plus Power
3 Bill
2 Oak
1 Full Heal
4 Energy Removal
2 Scoop Up
2 Computer Search
2 Energy Retrieval
1 Item Finder

21 Energy:

9 Fire Energy
10 Grass Energy
2 Full Heal Energy

***

Good luck with this deck. It looks pretty darn good, not to mention annoying as hell. And maybe I'll get to play against it online sometime, eh? Take care.


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