i have played againest all my friends and i haven't beaten all of them over 
the long run. They all have every card in the deck and i'm like mising 30 
cards with 20 of those like foils maybe more. All i have is a machamp right 
now, i sold my Charizard and my Gyarados yes Charizard. You may ask if i'm 
crazy but i would say definelity not. I payed 3.00 for a pack and then i sold 
the Charizard for ten times as much. (30.00) Of course i didn't put the money 
to waste. I brought electabuzzes, dewgongs and arcainces, those cards are the 
main big men on my campus. So far my friends haven't beaten me no matter what 
foils they put in there deck. The only winning combination that i have seen 
so far is not a deck full of foils but a deck of  types that are strong 
againest mine. You have to find the winning strategy in your deck. Throw in 
lots of Bills. If i could have more then 4 bills in the tourneys.......i 
would put in like 8 of them, i can't stress that enough. Add lots of potions 
and supers, removals and supers, retrievals and so on. It just helps you over 
the long run. All in all i only have 1 foil in my deck and most of the time 
it doesn't even come onto my bench but i still manage to whoop ass almost 
every time i play. The lesson here.......... don't mistaken foils for 
ultimate "weapons" instead find ways to neutralize your enemy and then take 
them out instead of going into battle head strong with foils, from my 
experience the trainer of that deck usually loses! (i have played magic for 2 
years and then pokemon for as long as it has been out)