Author Topic: I am back and have something to say. everyone should read! also a deck to see DARK_PIDGEOT Member # 31206 posted February 19, 2003 10:47 PM             Hello all as i have said i am back, but from where? also you are asking, who is this guy and why do we care? well, i'm going to explain. i have been on a break from pokemon for awhile playing magic and *cough*yu-gi-oh*cough*. sorry about the last one but i have to truthfully say my real love is in this game we all love, Pokemon. yu-gi-oh is so boring compared to pokemon, and i can now say i have hung up my yu-gi-oh belt and have come back to the good side. But i have to tell you that i have learned a lot from the other game i play, magic. this game has taught me a lot about tcg games in general, and i would like to share this with all of you. it is my professorly duty to the game. I haven't been playing pokemon since the beginning, just since fossil, but i do know a lot about this game, and what i most love about this game is building decks, playing them to a winning record is just a plus . but i also know how to play. anyway i am rambling on. this article is about deck strategy and how to play the deck you make to its full potential, in otherwords DECK STRATEGY. what magic taught me a lot was card usage. if you don't know about magic, in the decks that are played each card has its purpose and should never be a dead card(except for to much land ). lets take a look back at the old modified, and at 1 of the best archetypes since this game has been started, feraligator. this deck was amazing in how it won 80% of the games it played(except to the best anti-archetype, dark muk)misty's wrath and trash exchange really had there place in this deck( more trash exchange than wrath, cause wrath was a staple in a lot of decks)those 2 cards fueled the early game and surprisingly enough the elms ruled the later game usually getting 7 nrgs out of the deck to finish off the win. but my point is this deck ran smoothly most of the time,because the cards in it had a purpose and weren't usually dead cards, and hopefully one deck will not dominate a format, like feraligator did in mf, ever again. then came mmf where slowking ruled the board, locking the opponent down and letting you win the game easy. i never liked slowking and loved to see it go, cause now we have a even ground format where not one deck rules. instead we have about 7-10 decks that are good and it usually comes down to who is weak to who. although i am seeing steelix plow throw quite nicely. it seems the format is coming down to big hitters. but also we need to think, not just about the pokemon in our deck, but the trainers in our deck. cause with out trainers your deck goes down the drain. like my sig says "a deck is only as good as its trainers in it." i believe that there should be a staple trainer engine for ever deck or atleats close depending on the deck: 4 elm-a must have. i know that there are a lot of draw supporters but to copycat, play your trainers like tools, traders, or stadiums, and then to elm. this is a big advantage. (i'll explain this; this is called "card advantage" where you have more cards or have gone through your deck more than your opponent. this sets you off on a faster start and allows you a more freedom in your play.) 3 copycat-this card is good except when the other guy has milled through his hand and has 3-4 cards left then copycat becomes useless, cause the chance become very slim that you'll draw something you'll need. 3 draw?-this could be any kind of draw like oak's research, juggler, bill, bill's maintenance. but this does depend on the deck more than anything. 3-4 pokemon traders-helps greatly on getting that "tech" pokemon card at a certain point in the gamem or just to build that stage 2 up. 3 goldberry-these are great on your big guys to keep them in the game, and perfect to make your 3 metal steelix really irritating. 2-3 focus bands-because it is so flippy its really up to you how many you put in but you should have at least some, because in the chance you do get heads it becomes a big set up advantage cause you get time to set up for it dying which will help you win games. 3-4 double gust-depends on the deck again like crobat should play 4 while tyranitar should only play 3. but this should be and i can't stress this enough SHOULD be in every deck. this card is the best "trick" pokemon has. (trick meaning spontaneous advantage, you can set up and have board advantage, but to be able to bring out and kill one your opponents is really really good in this game, because all those turns it took them to set up that stage 2 pokemon were just wasted in one turn and they have to rush to get another one out while you sit and blast away at him.) that’s about 22(depending on wether you take more or less of a certain card) trainers that will keep your deck in working order but you can add more and experiment with them as you like. I’d say around 24-25 trainers are good in a deck. which brings me to another point, EXPERIMENTING!, also known as "testing." this is the other thing i learned from playing magic. "testing" is playing a deck over and over and over against all known deck that you might come up against. so before a tourney i would suggest that you and some of your friend get together, "proxy" some decks, and play until your get carpulltunnel from shuffling so much. what you want to work on is, scenarios. what to do in a given situation like what trade for when to use and elm over a copycat and what pokemon to buildup against curtain decks. this will help you greatly going into a tourney, cause when you sit down and see hwat they are playing you know exactly what to do. i did not get to go to my local SBZ because of the weather, but i would have liked to see what was around so i could better myself for later tourneys. but since this is deck help and strategy i need to at least post a deck. so here is the deck i would have played at the sbz. 17 pokemon 3 onix (ng) 3 steelix (ng) 4 electabuzz 2 murkrow (ng) }combo to kill babies 1 steelix (aq) 1 pichu (ng) 3-cleffa 23 trainers 4 elm 3 copycat 2 bills maintenance 3 goldberry 3 focus band 2 forest gaurdian 1 trader 2 time capsule 3 double gust 20 3 dark 4 metal 3 rainbow 6 lightning 4 recycle ok ok, i know i kind of went off of my must have list but like i said it all depends on the deck. this deck is like a "haymaker," but we all know that there is no true (except for unlimited) and should never be a true haymaker again. i'll explain the different cards: the guardians are like a search card for what i need at a certain time. instead of 3 trader i only use 1, cause sometimes you just need that specific pokemon, but the guardians let me search for metals, draw, or pokemon so it serves a much larger function than just traders, which is what i was talking about before, put cards to there best use in certain decks. i also like the time capsules over volunteers because of one simple reason you can't use volunteers unless you have 5 cards you can get back, unlike capsule which lets me get early pokemon back, instead of waiting till i have 5. it needs, i think one more good draw card, so the maintenances should be oak's research instead. i would love to see what this deck could have done in the current metagame, but oh well mother nature didn't want me to. this deck can handle kingdra and blastoise pretty easy, but i think in the future the steelixs will become scizor because he is good, but not "broken" like some people are saying. i would think he would win a one on one battle with steelix, but only time will tell. but i hope the readers learned something from this and feedback. i'll be posting more deck listing later on, about different deck i think will be good in mmf, this is just part 1 of my rant . also sorry mods if this is to much talking for deck help and strategy but it does pertain to it. thanks again! -------------------- A deck is only as good as its trainers in it. -DARK_PIDGEOT One of the founding members of TEAM BANDA_DE_FOCO. From: WEST CARROLLTON, OHIO, UNITED STATES | Registered: Jul 2001  |  IP: Logged Spectreon Member # 60305 posted February 20, 2003 07:44 AM            Where are the Stadiums? Stadiums are such an important part of the game, and there are plenty that will hender your deck more than it will help. Just a thought -------------------- To evolve, treat Eevee poorly, when it hates your guts, let it get ko'ed in th night while holding Spell Tag. PS, if it gets ko'ed outin the day, then it will die, go visit its grave in Soul House of Lavender, next to Fuji Spectreon: The Scary Ghost Pokemon Spectreon often haunt graveyards, sneaking up and scaring unsuspecting visitors From: Lavender Town, Kanto | Registered: Jan 2002  |  IP: Logged Extreme Espeon Member Member # 38528 posted February 20, 2003 03:28 PM            Hey Dark Pidgeot! Nice deck! Your playing Steelix (Makes me happy!) Oughta try it against mine sometime! See ya! -------------------- The Evolution of Steelix: My many Steelix deck versions: Electro-Crush (Rockets Zapdos) Steel-Slash (Rocket's Scyther) Steelix's Memory (Neo 3 Aerodactyl) Whirpool Crush (Umbreon, Dark Vaporeon) Crush Down (Arcanine) Kabulix (Kabutops) Steeleon (Espeon, holo Discovery) And maybe more to come! New Project: Swap n' Memory Raging (Aerodactyl [Revelation], Alakazam [Base/LC]) Espeon is 1! Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged Johnny Blaze Member # 234 posted February 20, 2003 06:41 PM             Welcome back. I knew that there was much more strategy invovled with Pokemon thatn Yu-Gi-Oh. In case you havent heard Town Volunteers has the same ruling as Time Capsule. So you can shuffle up to 5 if you do not have 5. If you have 5 then you have to shuffle all 5. Nice article btw. -------------------- Johnny Blaze at the 2000 ECSTS MTM vs. Johnny Blaze at the MBI2 From: Clifton Park, N.Y. | Registered: Feb 2001  |  IP: Logged DARK_PIDGEOT Member # 31206 posted February 20, 2003 07:16 PM             Thanks Johnny Blaze, i was hoping sooner or later it would have the same effect. it would seem stupid for it to have the ruling that i said. supporters should be good not bad lol, since you can only play one a turn. Thanks again, i hope more people reply so it doesn't seem like i did this for nothing. i know it sounds like i think i know everything, but i don't. if i did i would be winning every game, and what fun would that be. this is mainly for the newcomers so they can get a little jump start in the game. i would love for all you veterans to give your two cents. maybe, if the mods feel this is a good, helpful atricle they can sticky it to the first page for awhile. :crosses fingers: -------------------- A deck is only as good as its trainers in it. -DARK_PIDGEOT One of the founding members of TEAM BANDA_DE_FOCO. From: WEST CARROLLTON, OHIO, UNITED STATES | Registered: Jul 2001  |  IP: Logged PsycoDad Member # 40531 posted February 21, 2003 05:43 AM            Hey Dark Pigeot Welcome back. I would add Pokemon Fan Club to your draw 3? section. It works well in man decks and lets you play 3/3/3 on 2 stages without worrying about geting a basic. On to your deck. 4 buzz is extreme. I would also add a sprout tower or 2 for Light Dragonite. A teched caterpie with a daks can OHKO many grass weak pokes and will come in handy as well. PsYcODAd From: Shelby, Michigan | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged

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