Basic Defense V. 1.1 by Chris Magner
Colisseum of Comics
Orlando, Fl
Saturday, August 26th
About 25 People
This is my first deck report to Pojo. It may
read a little rough. Sorry, I'll take better notes at the next tourney.
This idea of this deck came out of necessity.
Here in Orlando, three major archetypes (YUCK!) are being played in the
tourneys: Haymakers, TurboTuff, and Turbo Rain Dance. The power of
these decks are so overwhelming, that you can't beat them offensively.
All you can do is match them and hope your cards come out as needed.
Well, I don't like depending on luck, so I figured
if I can't match them Offensively, then perhaps I could beat them Defensively.
After all, "The best offense is a good defense."
Here's the deck.
Pokemon (15):
Offense:
3 Ditto - Multiple uses, mainly for taking
down MP Mewtwo.
3 Electabuzz - Best in the game, especially
for those Raining Decks.
2 MP Mewtwo - Energy Removal? What's
that?
Defense:
3 Erika's Dratini - Hey look! Slash
and 3 PlusPower does only 10!
2 Mr. Mime - Scyther and MP Mewtwo do nothing!
2 Aerodactyl - Dratini's friend, keeping those
basic, basic.
Trainers (23):
3 Professor Oak
3 Mysterious Fossil
3 Computer Search
3 Gust of WInd
3 Pokemon Center
3 Energy Flow (Mewtwo, absorb those DCE's.
He, he.)
3 Scoop Up
2 Item Finder
Energy (22):
8 Lightning
7 Psychic
4 Double Colorless
3 Full Heal
Idea: Get Aerodactyl out by turn two.
If that fails, use Dratini or Mr. Mime to slowly damage the opponent whlie
taking little or no damage. During this time, power up the offense, then
go for the kill.
Sounds easy? Let's see....
Round 1 vs. Francesco's Haymaker
Uggh. I hate
Haymakers. Non-creative garbage. This was the first match, so all
the excitement overrode my memory banks. I recall he was saying over and
over he never gets a good hand during the tourneys. Half way through
this match, I found out that Aerodactyl is a very good fighter against the
Buzz. A Smogging Magmar gave my Driatinis a scare, but they with Centers
and Scoops, they were able to overcome the threat. The rest of the plan went
to perfection.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Brett's Haymaker
There are two kids
who strike fear into my heart when I play them. One is this kid, Brett.
The other is his brother, Nick. They design decks that would make you
weep. (Psychic Haymker...shudder).
Brett started with
a Scyther, I had a Dratini. His deck came off very slowly, giving me
enough time to put all of my pieces into play. Once set, his troops fell
quickly.
2-0
Round 3 vs. "V"'s Rain Dance (Articuno,
Blastoise, and Ditto)
My deck isn't desinged
for major damage or quick kills (no Pluspower). So, starting off facing
2 Articuno was going to give me a challenge. Dratini was out.
Every flip seem to be tails. I managed to build up a Ditto and Blizzard
(w/ Heads) an Articuno, following up with Freeze Dry. Then we hit a real
slow point. My Dratini vs. a Ditto. 10 Damage all around!
With 10 HP left on both, I scooped up the Draitini and played a ' Buzz,
Thundershocking for 10 (Flipped tails.) He Punched me for 40. I
saw an Articuno on the Bench with 40 damage, and one fully healed with no
energy. I scooped the Buzz, promoted Mr. Mime, knocking out the Ditto,
and started Meditating the fresh Articuno. A few turns later, it was
history.
The saddest part of the
match was he had a Squirtle on the Bench, two Blastoise in his hand, but no
Breeders. I hate when that happens.
3-0
Round 4 vs The Bragging Kid (Haymaker)
Something should be said
about being a good winner. Rubbing your opponent's nose in their loss
only makes you a jerk, and a few enemies.
This was a
nightmare. After losing the coin flip, I had out a Ditto and a Fossil.
He attached a Psychic Energy to his Scyther and passed. I attached an
Electric to Ditto and Sword Danced. He attached a DCE to scyther and
Slash. I did the same to Ditto, hitting Scy for 60. He returned
the favor by slashing with a PlusPower.
I promoted the
Fossil, held my breath, and drew a card. NO! Aerodactyl.
With no chance of winning, I forfeited. Then got insluted about how good
he was and how bad my deck is.
3-1
Semi-Finals:
3-1 was good enough to make it
to the playoffs.
Round 5: Bragging Kid
(Haymaker)
I love Karma. We
started, me with a Dratini and a Fossil. Not again. I stalled with
Dratini forever, drawing what seemed like endless Pokemon Centers. Then
I got a Ditto, a Mewtwo, and finally a CPU Search. I searched for an
Oak, and was finally feeling relaxed. A built up Ditto took down his 2
Mewtwos, while a Stacked Mewtwo had a field day. 5 out of 6 of his
pokemon were weak to psychic. (Chans and Mewtwos) Gust of Wind lived up
to it's nickname: Gust of WIn. Down to my last prize, he made a weird
move. He used a Scyther to slash my Ditto (w/ no damage). Fine,
but Ditto had three energies, and his Scy had 40 damage. Sidenote:
I had quite a fan club during this match. See, when you act like a poor
sport, nobody wants to see you win. There was one point when we realized
he had forgotten to place his prizes, which would have resulted in an
automatic DQ. I didn't push for it. I didn't want to win that way.
4-1 Going to Finals!
Yay!
Finals vs Michael's Fighting
Tuff.
First place gets $75 in
store credit. 2nd gets $25. We split the prize money, and each
ended up with $50. But we had a quick match (2 Prizes) just to see who
would win.
I started with a Buzz, and no
energy, and no way to get any basics. He had a "Chan. Not
good. I passed. He drew an Oak, threw down 2 PlusPowers, Oaked,
got another Pluspower, Played a NO ER gym, thought about Sneak Attacking and
Trapping, but decided not to. (What a sport) I was jabbed out of the
Pokemon Universe.
4-2 Overall.
Wrap-Up: This deck needs
some minor adjustments, but it is a tournament-worthy deck. It finally
gives players hope to undoing those archetypes. Will Goop Gas make an
appearence in the Hay and Tuff decks? I hope not. But it was being
mentioned.
I bought three packs of Gym,
got Brock (Holo), Erika (Non), and Charity. Funny. That last card
could give my deck problems....
Props and Slops
Props to:
-- Erika's Dratini and Mr
Mime.
-- Pie's Bakery for the article
on Erika's Dratini
-- Jennifer (my girl) for
putting up with this hobby of mine
-- Colisseum for holding the
tourney.
-- Nick, Brett, Michael, Kevin,
and all the Toys R Us crew for making me a better player.
Slops to:
-- Getting only one basic
on the open
-- The Bragging Kid
-- The two kids who were
caught stealing cards
-- Colisseum for holding
tourneys once a month (Not even DCI Sanctioned! AHH!)
-- Gym Packs that have
Brock's Zubat as the Rare
Questions, comments:
Thanks for reading.
Chris