Hello, Pojo. I would like to address a subject not often touched in the
majority of the articles circulating Pojo. Strong play. A strong deck that
someone copied off the net isn't going to do someone a lick of good if they
don't have the faintest notion of how to play it. Incidentally, that seems to
be the case everytime I attend League. Players just copy a deck off the net,
claim that they just built it, and receive praise from everyone the deck
happens to beat. Well, these "Gerhardt Specials" still lose to me more times
than not, not because they're weaker decks than mine. It's because my
fundamental play is stronger than theirs.
  I'm going to go through a series of examples I consider important to strong
play. Most of these examples can sometimes be ignored. Remember, there are
always exceptions! However, following these (rules) can, and often does mean
the difference between winning and losing.

  1.) Whenever a free retreat cost Pokemon is in your opening hand, always
promote him first. When the starting Pokemon are flipped over, having a free
retreat cost Pokemon in the Active spot gives you the most options available
when choosing the best Pokemon to use against your opponent's Active guy.
Sounds like a mouthful, huh? Case and point... Player 1 is using a pretty
straight-forward Haymaker. He's got Hitmonchan in the Active spot. Player 2 is
running an Exeggcutor deck. Ya' know. Load em' up and go into a flipping
frenzy. She has two Exeggcutes and a Scyther in her hand. She puts Exeggcute
into the Active spot. Whoa, that's a mistake. Not only does Scyther retreat
for free,  but he's also got a Resistance to Fighting that will hold
Hitmonchan off for a while during which time Player 2 can build the Exeggcutes
sitting on her bench. Player 1 goes first... Jab for 20. Player 2 lays an
Energy on the benched Exeggcute. Player 1 drops a PlusPower and Jabs for 30
this time. The Active Exeggcute dies. Player 2 replaces her Active with--- the
other Exeggcute!! You can pretty much see where it's going from here. Player 2
is headed for defeat not because the deck stinks, but her play stinks. I bet
if I saw her deck and made a few adjustments according to my style of play, I
could make a tournament contender out of it. I'm sure of it!

  2.) When Scyther has 1 Grass Energy and is in the Active spot, always use
Swords Dance. Yeah, I know that's pretty much common sense. However, too many
people that I've seen will simply pass their turn, knowing a DCE (Double
Colorless Energy) is not in their hand. Next turn, they may pick up that DCE!
However, that's not the main reason I use Swords Dance. I like to bait my
opponent into making plays. To master this technique is to truly master
Pokemon, and indeed all strategic card games. A Swords Dance attempt baits
your opponent into using an Energy Removal, because no one wants to get
smacked for a 60 hit point shot if they can avoid it. So instead of using the
Energy Removal on the prized DCE that you might not even have, they waste it
on a measly Grass Energy. Desperation to avoid the next turn's 60 damage hit
can even lead to more foolish actions. A player might play a Computer Search
to find an Energy Removal, losing four potentially valuable cards just to
prevent the Swords Dance from occurring. (1 for the Computer Search, 2 for the
discard cost of playing Computer Search, and 3 for the Energy Removal).
Another might choose to Oak in order to find that Energy Removal, losing
God-knows how many good cards. All because you chose to Swords Dance instead
of passing.

  3.) Drop Pokemon on your Bench for a purpose, not simply to fill up your
Bench. Kids are notorious for breaking this one. Every Pokemon placed on the
Bench should have some purpose. Maybe you're intending to evolve so you can
take advantage of some later stage Pokemon Power. Maybe you need time to build
Energy to attack. Maybe you want to load up the Bench so Wigglytuff's Do The
Wave attack does max damage. In all of these scenarios, the Pokemon on the
Bench have some purpose. Matter-of-fact, I often hold Pokemon in my hand.
Dropped Pokemon with little Hit Points or high Energy requirements have a way
of getting Gusted to the front line against their will. In some situations
playing the wrong Pokemon can lose the game for you. I'll give you an
example... The other day at League, I played Chris. He was running a Raindance
deck. I played a straight-forward Fire burn deck. Needless to say, I had to
keep most of my Fire-types away from the action long enough to build them up.
(Chansey and Ditto saved my butt a few times during the game.) Anyway, we both
were down to one Prize each, and our decks were running dangerously low on
cards. Well, I had a Moltres in my hand. I planned on dropping him towards the
end to Wildfire away his remaining cards to secure the hard-earned victory. It
seems I didn't have to. He's got a built-up Gyarados as his Active and he
managed to get the first hit on my Scyther. Even though I could bring Scyther
up for 60 damage (Gyarados is weak to Grass), he'd just kill me the next turn.
So he solved the problem for me. He drops a Magikarp. I could of slapped him
for being so dumb. Keep in my mind Blastoise was no longer even on the table.
Chris just dropped a well-fought battle into my lap. It was a simple matter to
Item-find one of my Gust of Winds and bring Magikarp up to the front for the
win. I was pissed! So do not drop Pokemon on your Bench just for something to
do, because clever players will take advantage of it.

  Well, most of these are just some thoughts an old Poke-player like myself
have from time to time. Regretably, I have much more to put down. With time,
I'll be able to get to some other stuff. The name's Odysseus and you can catch
me at Odysseusjoey@netscape.net. Until then, Goodbye.


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