> You seem to be the fastest at getting decks gone and
I have to have
>this
>posted quickly since i'm entered in a tourney on
January 14.
>
>4xScyther
>3xElectabuzz
>3xHitmonchan
>3xMagmar
>1xGastly
>
>4xDCE
>7xElectric Energy
>7xFighting Energy
>7xFire Energy
>3xPsy Energy
>
>4xPluspower
>4xER
>2xSER
>2xBill(i like to deck myself to much)
>2xPr.Oak
***
I really, really wish people would tell me what their
decks' strengths/weaknesses appear to be. I really
ought to trash submissions that don't supply this
information, but I'm too much of a nice guy. So far,
that is. All those of you out there thinking about
sending in a deck--don't stretch your luck. Anyways,
on to the deck. This seems to be a Potpourri, which
(unfortunately for you) is the one deck archetype that
I have the least experience with. Still, I have a
passing familiarity with it (thanks in large part to
Scott's excellent article) and so I'll try to help you
tune it up.
1) I can't argue with any of the Pokemon choices
except for one: Gastly. Even if he's a Fossil, he has
no business being in there. Get him out of my sight.
Shoo. Begone. And his psychic energy, too. Now
then...Potpourri usually puts Mr. Mime in there, but
you've chosen to go a different route. Nothing wrong
with that, I suppose--I hate the little guy myself.
I'd put Kangaskhan in, just like Scott says--maybe
even two of them. Ponyta seems kind of superfluous,
what with the Magmars and all. So we'll leave the
Pokemon and move onward.
2) Your trainers look nice. I'm tempted to cut the
Super Energy Removal, simply because you want to watch
that energy, but the "King of Potpourri" recommends
them, and who am I to argue?? You need another Bill
and Oak definitely. Gust of Wind and Computer Search
should find their way in, too. Not to mention Scoop
Up. (Okay, okay, I'll 'fess up--I'm sitting here
reading Scott's article as I'm fixing this deck. Hey,
even deck mechanics sometimes need outside help. I'm
not God--I just have tea with Her on Sunday
afternoons.)
3) Since we've lost the Gastly, we've also dumped the
psy energy. Everything else should stay just as it is.
***
13 Pokemon:
3 Scyther
3 Electabuzz
3 Hitmonchan
3 Magmar
1 Kangaskhan
22 Trainers:
3 PlusPower
3 Energy Removal
2 SER
3 Bill
3 Oak
2 Scoop Up
3 GOW
1 Energy Retrieval
2 Computer Search
25 Energy:
4 DCE
7 Electric Energy
7 Fighting Energy
7 Fire Energy
***
I chose to leave out 1 each Scyther and Kangaskhan and
replace both Finders with Searches, simply because my
own experience has been that Item Finder's usefulness
is limited compared to Computer Search. I'm actually
not the person to ask about Potpourri decks, but I've
done the best I can. Feel free to get a second
opinion--in fact, I might recommend it.
<Editor's Note: You're gonna get your second
opinion right now. I randomly decided to list my own comments on this deck
since I sorta invented it -Scott>
Here we go. First of all, I want to commend Spike on the job he did fixing it up - you did a very good job in my opinion. From here, I'm gonna take what Spike put, and kinda show you the direction I would take with it.
The first thing I noticed was that we went from 28 energy to 25. This is definately a step in the right direction, but probably not going far enough. I personally play 22 energy in my deck, but I honestly recommend 23 for everyone else until they have played this deck very thoroughly. So, let's go ahead and drop one electric and one fighting energy. In one of the energy's spots, we're going to put in a second energy retrieval. This is really much more efficient. So right now we have a card slot to play with. Actually, I'm going to go ahead and fill that card slot with an Item Finder - a card I find incredibly key in the success of Potpourri.
Pokemon-wise, we have 13. This number does scare me a little, as I usually run 14, but I think it's completely conceivable to run it at 13 right now, so I'm not going to mess with that. As Spike mentioned, I usually run Mime - I had dropped the Hitmonchans. That is a personal choice, and running the Chans will be fine. My only other comment is about Hitmonchan. With all the fight-resistant Pokemon out there right now, A pokemon you might want to experiement with is Machop. He has the same basic 20-for-1 attack that Hitmonchan has. The differences is 20 less HP for Machop and 1 more retreat for Hitmonchan. I'm still playtesting it, so you might want to consider it, as an option.
Trainers are last. Not too many changes there. I would drop a Comp Search for an Item Finder. I would drop 1 Plus Power in favor of either a Gambler or a Lass. Both cards are fairly useful on their own, and both give you a good way to prevent decking - a common way to win around here when two really good players have to play each other.
That's pretty much what I see. I'm gonna say this, though - I no longer feel Potpourri is the best deck in the environment. It's really good, but I think it's not the best, at least until Rocket comes out. I play it from time to time, but it is no longer my stock tournament deck. That's it!
Scott