>Dear Spike,
>
> Could you please take a look at my decks and e-mail me back on
>changes.
>My e-mail is *DELETED*.  Here are my decks.      Thank You
>Hurricane
>Pokemon (22)
>1 Blastoise
>2 Wartortle
>3 Squirtle
>1 Gyardos
>2 Magicarp
>2 Articuno
>2 Dewgong
>2 Seel
>2 Poliwarth
>2 Poliwhirl
>3 Poliwag
>Trainers (18)
>1 Computer Search
>2 Gust of Wind
>2 Energy Search
>2 Super Energy Removal
>2 Switch
>3 Bill
>2 Professor Oak
>3 Energy Retrieval
>1 Itemfinder
>Energy (20)
>20 Water Energy
>
>
>KO
>Pokemon (22)
>1 Machamp
>2 Machoke
>3 Machop
>1 Hitmonchan
>2 Primape
>3 Mankey
>2 Rhydon
>3 Rhyhorn
>2 Aerodactyl
>2 Hitmonlee
>1 Kabutops
>2 Kabuto
>Trainers (18)
>4 Energy Search
>4 Bill
>3 Gust of Wind
>2 Computer Search
>2 Energy Retrieval
>3 Mysterious Fossil
>Energy (20)
>20 Fighting Energy
>
>Dark Mind
>>Pokemon (20)
>1 Alakazam
>2 Kadabra
>3 Abra
>2 Gengar
>2 Haunter (fossil)
>3 Gastly (fossil)
>3 Hypno
>4 Drowzee
>1 Chansey
>Trainers (15)
>2 Computer Search
>2 Energy Retrieval
>2 Super Energy Removal
>2 Gust of Wind
>3 Bill
>1 Itemfinder
>2 Super Potion
>Energy (25)
>25 Psychic
>
>Killer Cut
>Pokemon (28)
>1 Venusaur
>2 Ivysaur
>3 Bulbasaur
>3 Pinsir
>2 Scyther
>3 Weedle
>2 Kakuna
>2 Beedrill
>3 Oddish
>2 Gloom
>2 Vileplume
>Trainers (7)
>2 Energy Retrieval
>2 Super Energy Removal
>1 Computer Search
>2 Super Potion
>Energy (25)
>25 Leaf Energy

VULPIX: You may ask... why are we bashing these decks? I mean, they're certainly not tournament winners, but aside from the usual horrendous oversights like trying to run 3 or 4 evolution families in the same deck, they seem to be okay. Well... note that there are 4 of them. That's right. There are indeed people who send in 2 or 3 or 4 or even more decks at a time when Spike is struggling to fix ONE deck for everybody who writes in. In case you weren't aware, this tends to get Spike a teensy bit pissed off.. And it's not as if it's some huge secret that you're not supposed to send in multiple decks. I think it's plastered in several locations around the Deck Garage and the immediate vicinity. That's why, despite this person's otherwise polite request, we must laugh as we tear his submission to shreds.

Now, let's go through the decks one by one.

Hurricane: Aside from the usual "Run-4-Evolution-Families-So-I-Don't-Ever-Get-Anything-Out" and "Shuffle-All-My-Trainers-Into-A-Big-Pile-And-Pick-A-Bunch-Seemingly-At-Random", this is a pretty good deck. Unfortunately, those two things are enough to kill it. There is one laudable thing, and that's the Bills and Oaks, which gives you somewhat of a chance of matching basics with evolutions. That's good, because you sure as hell aren't going to be searching for them. In short: Powerful if it goes off. Which it almost certainly won't, because it's slower than molasses on a cold day.

KO: This is my favorite. No less than five evolution families, one of which is Aerodactyl (!!!) and another one of which is Kabutops. Gee, I sure hope no one in your area has ever heard of Scyther...but let's leave that topic for a minute and return to Aerodactyl. I always get the hugest kick out of people who put Aerodactyl in evolution decks. I suppose it would work okay if you somehow managed to get your other four evolutions out by turn 3. As for trainers, I have three words for you: Four Energy Searches. Mm-hmm. Pass.

Dark Mind: You cut back a little on the evolutions, I see. Glad to see you compensated by raising your energy to 25 and screwing yourself over on trainers. In short, almost no card drawing whatsoever coupled with some really bizzare trainer choices. But I have to give you credit for actually showing evidence of coherent thought wih regard to evolution families. Overall, probably the best of the decks so far.

Killer Cut: Okay, we saw how many evolution families we could cram into a deck. Now let's see how many total Pokemon we can shovel in. Just for fun, let's choose this deck to really have some solid Stage 2 lines, thereby increasing our chances of finding them but screwing ourselves out of space for trainers. Our trainers for this deck will be determined by what we have left over from all the other decks. That, and whatever space we have left after we put in 28 Pokemon and 25 energy.

These decks make me want to laugh and cry at the same time. Actually, what's interesting is that they're all on the verge of being good, if some more so than others. If the guy would stop trying to make so many different decks and consolidate his efforts on one deck... not to mention read some of Spike's fixes and advice instead of sending in 4 decks in one email... he might have something going.

SPIKE: All sympathy has been drained from me. I will not dignify this submission with any more of a response than it's already gotten. Begone!


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