>Hey I just wanted to know if you could please help me
with my deck. It
>is
>plant and fire and I do petty good with it I haven't
been in many
>tournaments.  Heres my deck.
>
>
>4 Vulpix
>2 Ninetales
>2 Magmar(1 basic 1 fossil)
>2 Bulbasaur
>2 Ivysaur
>1 Venusaur
>2 Scyther
>2 Grimer
>1 Muk
>
>3 Dbl. Colorless
>10 Plant Energy
>18 Fire Plant
>
>2 Comp. Search
>2 Trader
>2 Gust of wind
>2 SER
>1 Clefairy Doll
>1 Energy Retrieval
>1 Impostor Oak
>
>Strategy: My strategy is to get out my Scyther and
magmar to hold off
>the
>opponent while I pump up Ninetales or Venusaur on my
bench.  The SER
>help a
>lot to mess up your opponent.  My Comp.Searches and
Traders help me get
>out
>my big hitters faster.

>I think I need some help with my trainers. I'm not
sure what ones I
>need the
>most so if you can help I'd greatly appreciate it.
>
>Thanks.
>
>Oh and I call my deck Flamming Forest.

***

Eeesh. I'm sorry, but this deck has some major
weaknesses. In particular, it suffers from the classic
"good Pokemon families used badly" syndrome. I think
we'll actually have to exchange some or all of the
families in order to make it effective.

1) Ninetales in multi-color deck = bad. Venusaur and
Muk in same deck = bad. One of each Magmar = kinda
bad. Your Muk and Venusaur evolutions = bad. There;
we've isolated what's wrong with the Pokemon; now
let's see what we can do about it. First of all, who
to keep--Venusaur or Muk? I'm thinking Muk. One, he
takes 1 less energy to do his attack--good in a
multi-color deck. Two, Grimer has a colorless attack.
Lastly, being able to shut down your opponent's Powers
can be very useful in the current environment. Then we
have the question of Ninetales. As much as I'm a
Ninetales junkie (and I am, believe you me) I have to
admit that he doesn't work well in this deck. The
*amount* of Fire Energy isn't so bad as the fact that
you are statistically unlikely to draw it when you
need it. One Energy Retrieval isn't enough to help
much. Plus, we'll be changing the apportionment of
energy just a tad. So...fire Pokemon with colorless
energy requirements? Three that spring to mind are
Rapidash, Charmeleon, and Arcanine. Of the three, I
think Charmeleon goes best in this deck, even though I
personally like the other two better. Lastly, Scyther,
whom I have no problem with. He'll stay. We might even
want to put more in. Oh yes--make both of your Magmars
Fossil, and add in maybe 1 more.

2) Mmm...Clefairy Doll and Imposter Oak. Let me
guess--you're suffering from a Trainer shortage?? No
biggie (my own deck had to putter along on Pokeballs
and Item Finder for a while) but we need to take those
out. You don't really need both CPU Search and
Trader--leave Search in (more versatile) and boot
Trader to open up some slots. SER isn't that great in
this deck; have 4 regular ERs instead. Ohhhhh...did I
mention you need Bills and Oaks? I didn't? No, really,
you do. GOW is interesting. Perhaps you ought to think
about a Switch or two? You be the judge...if you find
yourself needing Switches often, change the GOWs for
Switches. But don't fix it if it ain't broke.

3. Energy. This is where I'm going to have to yell.
It's my opinion that anyone who puts only 10 Grass
energy in a Venusaur deck should be clubbed with a
frozen fish. Nothing personal, you understand.
Venusaur is gone, but the need for more Grass remains.
Try and make them more-or-less equal. The amount of
energy you really need depends on whether or not you
plan to attack with your Muks.

I'm going to present my conception of a revised
version for your deck. Keep in mind that there are
many other Grass families (Beedrill, Nidoking,
Nidoqueen) and some Fire families (Flareon, Rapidash,
Arcanine) which would go nicely in this deck. Feel
free to change things, but do try to keep it within
the realms of logic...and don't take out the Oaks,
Bills and ERs, whatever you do.

***

18 Pokemon:

3 Magmar (Fossil)
3 Scyther
4 Charmander
3 Charmeleon
3 Grimer
2 Muk

28 Energy:

2 DCE
12 Grass Energy
14 Fire Energy

14 Trainers:

2 Comp. Search
2 GOW
2 Energy Retrieval
3 Energy Removal
3 Bill
2 Oak

***

I don't think I have to explain the logic behind most
of these choices. Energy was probably the hardest
part. I cut the amount of overall energy and gave a
little more to Grass, but kept Fire highest because
you'll need Fire energy for those Magmars. You should
probably play around with the energy balance until you
find what works best for you; my card list is simply a
guideline, as always. Your evolutions are also better
constructed now, and you'll be able to draw through
your deck quicker. Some good basics (Scyther, Magmar)
and good evolutions (Muk, Charmeleon) make this a deck
with the potential to hit hard. Just, please, resist
the temptation to put Charizard
in :)