Let's face it, not all of us have the money to build the biggest,
roughest Haymaker or Rain Dance deck around. Or, maybe, you're just
bored with that kind of deck. One of the neat things about Pokemon,
though, is that you don't need all those rares to build a quality
casual-play or league deck.

Decks on a Budget are based around these simple ideas:
* Creativity: Let's face it, you can't build a Haymaker without rares.
So don't. Build something else new and different. (:
* Inexpensive cards: Budget decks usually have very few rares in them,
so even a new player can build one easily.
* Realistic Expectations: While these decks are good, strong decks,
they may not be powerful enough to demolish a $300 tournament deck.
These decks are designed to be played for fun as well as to win. The
emphasis placed here is on casual play, league play, and FUN! (:

Let's start with this one:

Deck on a Budget -- Psychic Blast

4 Abra
2 Kadabra
4 Gastly (Fossil)
2 Haunter (Fossil) *Rare*
4 Meowth
2 Persian
4 Jynx

3 Energy Removal
2 Bill
2 Gust of Wind
2 Switch
1 Professor Oak

28 Psychic Energy

This deck was originally built out of Zap!, Power Reserve, and Water
Blast, and it's still very functional using those original cards.
Tightening it up by removing the Mewtwo, adding a Jynx and the Energy
Removals, and replacing the original Gastlys and Haunters with the
Fossil types made it stronger and still not too expensive.

What makes this deck tick?
Well, surprisingly, part of it is the low retreat costs. The only
Pokemon in the deck with a retreat cost over 1 are Jynx and Kadabra.
Abra, Gastly, Haunter and Persian all retreat for free. This enables you
to manuever your Pokemon to bring out the one that will help you most
more quickly, whether you need a blocker in the form of Gastly or
Kadabra's powerhouse damage.

Another nifty feature of the deck is the damage reduction. Haunter has
Transparency, Kadabra has Recover, and Persian has Pounce, all of which
help to reduce the amount of damage your Pokemon take, without you
having to include extra cards in your deck.

How do you play it?
The deck's philosophy is pretty simple. Start a Gastly in front if
possible, and a Jynx if not. If you're facing another Psychic deck,
think about starting Meowth in front for the time being. Use the cheap
one-Psychic-energy attack on Gastly or Jynx to stall for time and rough
up your opponent while you put together a Haunter and either a Kadabra
or a Persian. The Haunter is for mid-game, and Kadabra or Persian will
be your heavy hitter. Once Haunter's ready, you can use him to rough up
the opponent some more, and bring in Kadabra or Persian for the KO. This
is the ideal scenario, but the Pokemon in this deck are very flexible
and can work outside this ideal with little trouble.

What do I do about those irritating Colorless guys?
Yes, it's true, a Colorless deck can put a serious hurt on this and any
other mostly-Psychic deck. There are two ways around it in this deck --
one is the Meowth/Persian line, and the other is Kadabra. While Kadabra
can't hit them all that hard, he does have the Recover attack, which
will generally allow him to outlast most of the Colorless guys. Since
the deck has quite a lot of energy in it, Kadabra's Recover is very
functional and can be done without too much worry.

Why Meowths? Those guys are awful!
Well, when I built the deck originally, Meowths and Persians were the
only Colorless guys I had the four/two combination for. And yes, I'll
concur that Meowths are hard to use. However, their Pay Day attack is
pretty well balanced -- the chance to draw a card is pretty powerful.
The reason I'm using Meowths, though, is really for the Persians. I
think Persian is often underrated -- the zero retreat cost, 70HP, and
the Pounce attack more than make up for the weaknesses of Meowth.

Why not Alakazam and Gengar?
There are a couple reasons I chose not to use them. One is that they are
rare and difficult to get, particularly Alakazam. The other is that they
don't really do what the deck does, which is manuever and strike hard.
Also, I have tried the deck with them and they seem to slow it down too much.

Please feel free to copy and use this deck, or alter it to suit your own
needs. I've been very successful with it, and would enjoy hearing from
other players how they've used it or improved it. I would also love to
hear about other people's budget decks. You can mail me comments or
constructive criticism at lopaskar@san.rr.com.

==Leanne