Hey everyone,

        I've been going over my files for the most part today. Nothing
special, just stuff that needs to be done. Normally, my secretary
does this menial work, or at least pretends to. But she's off in
Beverly Hills on that stupid Survivor spin-off of hers.
        In the meantime, I've gotta deal with the temp agency's idea
of a replacement, Trish. She's already set three accidental fires.
She's not allowed to touch anything with an electrical cord now.
        But if I'm going to be paying for a vapid pile of skin and teeth,
I'm determined to get something in return. So, Trish is now in
charge of watching my secretary's Vileplume. All she has to do is
make sure Vileplume doesn't eat the drapes or soak up all the
water in fish tank.
        So far the results have been..mixed. The Vileplume scored a
point when she successfully sprayed PoisonPowder all over Trish,
forcing her to run nauseously to the bathroom down the hall,
fumbling with those tricky, tricky doorknobs all the way.
        Then Trish scored a point when she managed to get the
bottle of copier toner away from Vileplume before she (Vileplume)
could pour it all over the rug.
        Vileplume then snuck a little Sleep pollen into Trish's box of
Kleenex. Once rish was asleep, Vileplume darted out the office
dorr and began running loose down the hall, putting everyone to
sleep and Solarbeaming the heck out of Ol' Walt's shoeshine stand.
        However, Trish recovered from the Sleep by her body's
internal clock telling her it was time for The Young & the Restless.
Unfortunately. Vileplume was gone and Trish went running. She
eventually found the little flower trying to ask the potted azalea
plant by the elevator for the time. In what has to be the most
impressive flying tackle I've ever seen outside a WWF arena, Trish
managed to press Vileplume against the floor and drag her back
here.
        That's where the battle of plant versus human left off. I haven't
heard any commotion outside my door recently, so it either means
that they have reached an undersatnding or that one is dead and
the other missing.

        Maybe if I ever feel inspired to get out of my chair, I'll go see
which it is. But not until I take care of this deck...

        In the grand, 3-week old tradition of shared information in the
Deck Garage, this is yet another installment of the Crossover Fix.
This time around, the Vulpix loving Spike has sent me a deck to
look over. Spike has also take a stab at this deck and you can find
his interpretation in Spike's Shed once you've finished reading
mine.

       Let's look at this deck now.


>
>   My friend made a deck and asked me to fix it with
> his range of cards. He loves Team Rocket. This is as
> best as i could do and i thought i might ask you for
> help.  "Kazam...Ka..zam...zam" Be quite Alakazam.
> Sorry Spike My Alakazam helped too. Not sure where
> he
> got the Rocket Alakazams though. Here's my friends
> deck to a somewhat modified version. Alakazam I need
> this chair. "Ka....Zamm" Sorry again Spike my
> Alakazam
> too my chair but he's levitating me. Now without
> further Interuption I hope. All cards unless
> specified
> are Rocket. My friends deck: Psychic Inferno
>
> Pokemon:24
> 4 Abra
> 3 Dark Kadabra
> 2 Dark Alakazam (Still figuring out)
> 3 Drowzee
> 2 Dark Hypno
> 3 Charmander
> 2 Dark Charmelion
> 3 Eevee
> 2 Dark Flareon
>
> Trainers:10
> 4 Bill (Base)
> 2 Cpu Search (Base)
> 2 Imposter Oaks Revenge (Screws Up Heavy drawers)
> 2 Nightime Garbage Run (When He Screws Up. Lots)
>
> Energy:26
> 10 fire
> 15 psychic
> 1 Full Heal Energy (So his drowzees can use Long
> Range
> Hypnosis unseccesfully)
>
> ! major Prob is his lack of cards I think hes gonna
> get a big b-day present from me. Beter Cards. I'll
> get
> what you say for hime Spike. "Ka...Zam...Al...Zam"
> Yes
> Alakazam you can help. By the way could you send you
> Vulpix over Alakazam is afraid of fire Pokemon. I
> did
> Psychic part first or he wouldn't have done a thing.
> See ya Later "Zam...Zam...Alakazam" Alakazam Says
> Hello Spike and His Pokemon. What a scardey cat. Ohh
> god he transformed into Persian Gotta go.


           Ok, this is interesting. A Team Rocket themed deck. I can
deal with that.
           My first thought is that a deck does not need to be
exclusively filled with Team rocket Pokemon to be considered a
Team Rocket deck. Indeed, there are some very nice cards out
now which bear the Team Rocket name in the title. Perhaps these
would satisfy his yearning for Team Rocket power as well.
           But, you can also choose to base the deck around a Dark
or Team Rocket Pokemon and have others in for support. After all,
the argument could be made that Team Rocket is always stealing
Pokemon and the non=Dark Pokemon are just the results of theft.
(Not that I encourage theft of any kind.)

          First things first...the ratios. There seems to be a
dependence upn too many Pokemon and not enough Trainers. This
seems to be pretty common lately. I don't know why. Many times
we at the Pojo have stated that Trainers are what makes your deck
run smoother.
         Having lots of Pokemon won't do you much good if you can't
get to them within your deck or are stuck in a situation where your
Flareon is getting smashed by a Lapras. This is countered by
having a good amount of Trainers in the deck.
         So let's remove a few Pokemon to give us room for the
Trainers.

         Dark Charmeleon can hurt for 70 points of damage, but it
needs 3 Fire Energy to do its thing. This can result in you not
having the proper amounts of Fire in a dual color deck. Although
you get the 70 damage either way, 3 Fire energy is a large cost
and replacing them is annoying.
         The Dark Flareon is a bt more manageable. It's HP is no
better than the Dk. Charmeleon, 50. (ICK) BUt, it has a semi-
decent attack for 1 Colorless that gets stronger the weaker Flareon
becomes. It's Fire-based attack is good  enough to deal 30 quick
damage, with a possibility of 50. Here you must discard as well,
but you gain a bonus to the discard with extra damage and 2
Energy is a lot easier to build up to than 3.
          Those Drowzees aren't That wonderful, at all. Long-Distance
Hypnosis can easily backfire, which is very bad. It's only attack
costs 2 and deal just 10 daamge with a status that may or may not
be in effect on your next turn. Dark Hypno is better, but not exactly
a great fit in this deck. It's good attack requires a lot of succesful
coin flips. sure it can be an instant Wiggly-buster since it ignores
Resistance, but the odds of you getting 4 Heads are thin. Expect
maybe 2.
          The Dk Kadabras and Dk. Alakazam are much better
POkemon. Dk. Kadabra is a semi-strong attacker. He deals a
straight 30 every time. But it's his Power that is good. Ditch one
crappy card for a new one. Now you're talking. Once he become
Dark Alakazam, then he's really good though. Dk. Kazam is the
best Hit and Run Pokemon out there. Teleport blast will let you
smack around a weak Pokemon and then get out of harm's way.
The other attack is great against Colorless Pokemon, so don't be
afraid to keep him out either.
          We should also add in some good Basic defense. Several 
Scythers will provide you with some excellent early power.

          Now let's look at the Trainers.

    Well the bills are good, but you need 4.
     Those Computer searches are a great idea. They'll get you
those Dark Kazams faster if you need them.
     You should also put in a few Professor Oaks. I know he's not
part of Team Rocket, but the card is too good to leave out.
     Now put in a set of Gust of Winds. They're a key card for
keeping those big boys off your Pokemon. They're also ideal for
grabbing an easy KO.
      Be sure to add in some Nightly Garbage Runs. I see you have
a couple already. Good. This card is necessary to keep your
strong POkemon like Dark Alakazam and Scyther in the deck to
draw at all times. Equally it gets back useful Energy.
      Since Dark alakazam is a Stage 2, he may not appear till later
in the game. Sometimes getting that Kadabra is a pain in the
rump. So toss in a few Pokemon Breeders to make the transition
from Abra to Alakazam seamless.
       This deck will also benefit from a set of Rocket Sneak
Attacks. It will rob your opponent of his most valuable Trainer.
That's a big advantage for you in battle. Target stuff like Oak, Gust
of Wind,  PlusPower and Scoop Up to ensure victory for your side.
        Since most of the Pokemon in this deck have some pretty
weak HP amounts, I'm actually gong to suggest puttin in s couple
Super Potions. This will help keep your Flareons in the game much
longer and Kadabra can use it as well at times.
         Also, there will now be an abundance of Stadium cards in
many decks. Of all the Stadiums out there, I think No Removal
Gym would benefit this deck the most. You really can't afford to
have Energy stripped from Alakazam or Flareon. No Removal Gym
will keep the penalties for removing Energy at a maximum for your
opponent.

        Finally, you'll need Energy. Well, there should be a good
supply of Fire for the Flareons to use. They'll go through a fair
amount of Energy. 8 Energy will be plenty.
        There should be an equal amount of Psychic Energy for
Alakazam. Also, a set of those fun double Colorless Energies.
They're good for Scythers and maybe even Flareons in a pinch.

          So here's how I'd fix this now.

       4 TR Abras
       3 Dark Kadabras
       2 Dark Alakazams
       3 TR Eevees
       2 Dark Flareons
       3 Scythers

       4 Bills
       3 Professor Oaks
       2 Computer Searches
       2 Pokemon Breeders
       4 Gusts of Wind
       2 Super Potions
       3 Nightly Garbage Runs
       2 No Removal Gyms
       2 Rocket Sneak Attacks

       3 Double Colorless Pokemon
       8 Fire Energy
       8 Psychic Energy

      And Voila! (That's French for "It's time to polka, for Ponyta and
Pidgey too. C'mon put on your lederhosen and try not to step on
little Pikachu! You'd better grab yourself a partner, like Tentacruel
or Bulbasaur (Bulbasaur!) Hold on a minute, there's still at least a
Hundred and Twenty-Seven more!")
      This deck will benefit from a wide array of Trainer capabilities
and it's low, low retreat costs. Having low retreat will allow you to
really take advantage of Dark Alakazam's Teleport Blast.
        Remember you can find an alternate fix to this deck in
Spike's Shed. Be sure to see what he and Vulpix think.

          Well I suppose I'll go get a cup of coffee and see which of
the two office miscreants are still alive, Trish or the Vileplume.
         
           Well, what have we here? The entire floor is covered with
copies of...is this a Vileplume's rear end? Oh, that's just creepy.
And what about you Trish, why are you just lying there stiff? Didn't
you see Vileplume doing all this stuff? Trish? Hello?
  
          *SNAP* *SNAP*

         Hmmm, I see Vileplume has learned StunPowder now too.
Won't my secretary be overjoyed to kearn this? I know I'm not.

                          Good Luck!!
                     Dr. Crash Landon