>Hi Spike,
>
>Since you're one of only a few mechanics worth
reading, I thought I'd
>send my deck to you as your ideas seem more focused.
>
>I've been playing Pokemon for a few months now. My
kids have surrounded
>me
>with it and no doubt are the cause of my obsession.
>
>I enjoy constructing decks and have made plenty that
are quite
>original, (I'm sure I'll send you one soon), but it
seems my favorite
>one to play with is the good ol' haymaker (for
reasons explained
>later). Please note this deck evolved from the
leftover scraps of
>Pokemon my kids left behind after construcing their
decks. Of course I
>bought and traded a few to fill in the gaps.
>
>Why a haymaker? Although I love my kids dearly, I
fully enjoy the looks
>of despair as I decimate their Pokemon. (Having a
passive-aggressive
>personality, this seems like a feasible way to punish
them for whatever
>it was they did - hence the deck's name.)
>
>They have this cousin with a Raindance deck that has
been giving me
>some
>competition lately. Ever since I traded my Gyrodos
for his Hitmonchan
>and some trainers. He plans on adding more Blastoise.
For me that means
>more trouble.
>
>This has led me to make some changes. My deck used to
have 3 Dratini
>and 2 Dragonare in place of the Machops and a
fighting energy. It used
>to be a haymaker with a side of energy removal, but I
felt I needed to
>speed things up. Now it's just a haymaker. The
strategy is simple, I
>send out a pokemon and expect him to fight 'till he
faints. Retreat is
>only an option if weakness or resistance comes into
play.
>
>I need to be able to take on the heavy competition,
though. (i.e.
>another "true" haymaker, and a "real" raindance deck
- I already know
>what to expect from a stall deck). I've considered
swapping the Machop
>for Fossil Magmar, but that would make 3 energy types
and could slow
>things down, beside giving me an un-needed weakness
to raindance.
>Energy doesn't seem to be a problem, although there
have been a few
>close calls. I have noticed a problem with double
colorless energy.
>Although it's great for speed and the element of
surprise, when someone
>removes it, (and they always will), it sets you back
2 turns instead of
>one. I've considered swapping a dce for a basic or
perhaps another
>Retreival. Please let me know how you would improve
this deck. I assure
>you your suggetions will be tried.
>
>Thanks.
>
>"Punish the children"

>4 electabuzz   (is there a more efficient Pokemon?)
>4 machop       (4 because I don't have another
Hitmonchan... yet)
>3 scyther        (how can people actually compare him
to Farfetch'd?)
>3 hitmonchan  (did I say Jab, I meant special punch)
>
>2 professor oak         (only a fool or a stall would
be without them)
>4 bill                        (see above)
>2 computer search     (a gift for all occasions)
>4 energy removal           (I like to save these...)
>2 super energy removal  (...and used them with these)
>4 plus power           (did you do your math before
deciding not to
>retreit?
>                              did you take these into
account? probably
>not)
>3 gust of wind          (just in case you did
retreit)
>2 energy retrieval     (for those games that last
more than a few
>rounds)
>
>4 double colorless energy
>8 electric energy
>11 fighting energy

***

First of all, I want to thank you for the long,
detailed e-mail (with proper grammar! Be still my
beating heart...) and also to express my delight at
getting a letter from an adult who takes Pokemon
seriously. A few things to say...First of all, there
is still IMO no better way to hose Raindance than
Electabuzz and Scyther. The addition of Articuno now
means that Raindance has a Pokemon that is not weak to
ANYTHING...but surprisingly few people are using it.
(I say "surprisingly few" starting from the assumption
that *everybody* should be using it...lol) And then,
on the subject of beating other hay...well, that can
be tough. You have Scyther to kill their Hitmonchans,
and Hitmonchan to kill their Buzzes...but THEY have
the same Pokemon to do the same thing to you!

1) First of all, I might recommend dropping the
fighting half of the deck altogether for Magmar. With
so many Scythers floating around, Magmar can give you
the edge you need. Of course, that makes you much
weaker to Raindance, but think about it...with most
dances these days running either Gyarados or Articuno,
Hitmonchan ain't that great in the first place.
Whichever route you choose, I think you need another
Scyther, another Hitmonchan (if you keep fighting--and
yeah, you knew that) and should drop Machop. While
Machop is arguably one of the better first turns,
after the first couple of turns he becomes just a
weak, limited Pokemon for your opponent to bum a free
prize off of. That leaves you with a grand total of 12
Pokemon--a bit low in my opinion. Try putting in
something like Kangaskhan or Lickitung, or maybe
Jigglypuff, to help you deal with psychic decks.

2) Trainers are pretty much standard for this kind of
deck. The one thing I don't see, that you may want to
think about, is Scoop Up. If you need an extra card
slot or two, try dropping one each of trainers like
PlusPower or Bill, instead of dropping a lot all at
once. Finally, there's Item Finder, and you might
wanna try and sneak this in. I finally got convinced
to put Item Finder in my deck after continually
getting both Oaks in the same hand (thereby wasting
one...grrr.)

3) You didn't mention energy problems, so I'll assume
there are none, and leave things as-is. Oh yeah...the
DCE issue. I would say: do NOT take it out. Any hay
with 3-4 Scythers should be running 4 DCEs, no
question about it. It's true that DCE is ER bait, but
there's a simple solution to this: put it on at the
last possible moment! This gives you at least one good
attack, and quite possibly more.

I'm not going to give you a complete new card listing
here. For some reason, I seem not to be doing that so
much these days. Maybe it's because the general
caliber of the decks I post has risen, and my changes
aren't drastic enough to warrant a listing. That's a
good thing.

Good job on this deck, dude. Go forth and make your
kids weep. And feel free to send me some other decks
of yours--I probably won't post 'em (gotta give others
their turn) but I'll be interested to see them, and
I'll tell you what I think. By the way--that comment
about my ideas being more focused? I had to laugh,
because nobody who knows me in real life would say
something like that :-)

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