Dear Pojo,
Please post this in Pokemon Card Game Tips & Strategy, Featured Articles, or
where ever you feel is the best place to put this article.
Tyler F.

Pokemon Archetypes
By: Tyler Futch

Right now I am going to look at all the different
archetypes in the pokemon Tcg, examine them, and tell
you which is the best in my opinion.

Here are the major archetypes in no particular order
(yeah right):
Haymaker
Rain Dance
Turbo-Wiggly
Sponge
Pottpouri (i probably mispelled that ;)
Wildfire stall
Alakazam Stall
Energy Transfer
Energy Denial
No Trainers

I will tell about each deck and rate it on a scale from
1 to 10, 5 being average. But since these are
archetypes, they should all be better than average,
right? See if YOU are playing a below-average deck!

Haymaker
Well, I am sure everyone knows what a haymaker does.
It uses strong basics like Electabuzz, Hitmonchan,
Fossil Magmar, Scyther, etc. to strike early and often,
and then keeps the pressure on with energy removal and
more trainer disruption.
Rating 9.7 (without dark vileplume, almost perfect)

Rain Dance
Helloooo, Blastoise. This deck wants to get a Blastoise
out as soon as possible and send out articuno,
gyarados, dewgong, or blastoise himself to deal massive
amounts of damage to the opponent as soon as possible.
The reason why this deck is rated probably lower than
you thought is because of Electabuzz being in so many
Haymakers right now, and because when the deck does
bad, it does very bad. A risky deck to play.
Rating: 7

Turbo-Wiggly
This deck is based on getting out a wigglytuff doing
60 (or more) damage each turn as soon as possible. This
deck is very consistent, especially with the back-up
"haymaker" pokemon.
Rating: 9.3

Sponge
A deck I do not know much about and have never played
with. I faced a Sponge deck once, and the game actually
came down to a coin flip! I won though, thank goodness.
This deck is kind of like a haymaker, except for the
promo movie Mewtwo. The object of the deck is to get
out a Promo Mewtwo first turn with 3 energy on it so
you keep attacking for forty next turn. At least that
is the best situation you could hope to have with this
deck turn one. The more I look at sponge, though, the
better it looks. Hmmmm....
Rating: 9

Pottpouri (mispelled.... again)
This type of arcetype is hard to classify because this
deck has many different variants. All variants I have
seen have had three or more colors though. The object
is to use many different types of pokemon in this deck
to take advantage of the opponent's pokemon's weakness.
I have no idea how to rate this, but I guess it will
get a...
Rating: 8.5

Wildfire Stall
A deck based around Moltres's Wildfire attack, that
discards the opponent's deck. This deck is very solid
in my opinion, becuase it can go on the offensive and
get an easy turn two kill thanks to chansey and its
double-edge attack. And this new type of stall gives
stall decks the chance to win a game even if there is
a short time limit. But Haymaker can still win quick
against this deck, so boo!
Rating: 5

Alakazam Stall
Aaaah, I love this deck! Once you get your opponent in
the lock, it seems there is no way to get out of it
without gust of wind, but a good Alazam stall will have
another Alakazam ready soon. With this deck, you want
Chansey, Kangaskhan, Lickitung, etc. soaking up damage
on the bench thanks to Alakazam, with Mr. Mime or a
wall pokemon out taking the damage. But with Mr. Mime
active, this deck can also deal some solid damage so it
can win due to prizes! An excellent deck, and very
annoying due to Pokemon Center and Scoop Up!
Rating: 8.5

Energy Trans
The object is to use Venasaur and his Pokemon power
to move around your energy so you can be attacking all
the time. I think it sounds like a good idea, but is
really not good at all. Why move around your energy
when all the other decks won't let you have any to move
around, huh? Very bad deck in my opinion.
Rating: 3

Energy Denial
Not really a deck archetype right now, but it could be
in the future. If I made one I would use the
Psyduck/Golduck line with other solid basics like
Movie Mewtwo and Scyther. Then there would be four
Energy and Super Energy Removals of course. Has the
potential to be a good archetype, and Psyduck/Golduck
really takes care of Fossil Magmar!
Rating: 8

No Tainers
O.K. it is not an archetype yet, it may never be, but
that does not mean it is not good. This deck will use
Dark Vileplume to keep the opponent from using
trainers, and then, I guess, beat the opponent down
with decent pokemon. Hmmmm.... get out Vileplume so
the Haymaker you are facing can't use trainers, and
then TRY fight with evolved pokemon with worse attacks
than haymaker pokemon against haymaker pokemon? Well,
maybe the archetype'll improve when Gym comes out...
Rating: 5.4

Well, from here it looks like.... Haymaker and
Turbo-Wiggly are dominating, with Sponge, Potpourri,
and Alakzam Stall hot on their Heels. Raindance is
still lagging behind. A couple new archetypes are still
in the making, and I bet No trainers will give a
Haymaker a run for its money in the future. Then we see
Wildfire, at an average spot, (wildfire players, its
just the truth) and Energy Trans lying dead in its
Spot.
   A final word: Haymaker is still dominating, while
Turbo-Wiggly has risen up from the depths to prove that
decks can take on Haymaker- and don't forget about that
Vileplume No trainers deck, because I certainly
won't. So has the perfect deck been made? Certainly not, and I belevie we
never will.

E-mail me at Mew151Mew@aol.com
goto my site for Tcg playing tips!!!
www.angelfire.com/games/hamsterstuff

By: Tyler Futch