Pokemon - http://phatbowling.com/bestgym17/deck_making

1. The typical Pokemon strategy

The minimum number of good starting basic Pokemon in your deck should be at least 11 or 12 with 4 bills in the deck. Each starting basic has at least 50 HP (although we favor starting basics having 70 HP or more) plus most of the starting basics (preferably all) must each have at least one of the of the following elements:
(1) An attack (preferably requiring only one energy to attack to obtain the effect) or power that has some stalling effects (disable trainers, reduce damage, paralyze, confuse, limit damage or prevent damage next turn);
(2) Low retreat costs (one or no energy to retreat, such as Scyther);
(3) Resistance to something we expect to played a lot without a weakness to a common deck strategy or resistance to a very commonly played Pokemon one of our main Pokemon is weak to (for example, Moltres and Scyther are resistant to fighting while Chansey and Lickitung have weakness to fighting.). Examples of excellent starting basics are Magmar-Fossil and E-buzz. With 12 starting quality basics and 4 bills, you should have a high probability (87%) of seeing at least a second starting quality basic by your second turn to attack (after your second draw but before the end of your attack during you second turn). If our deck strategy requires or we choose to play some lower HP basics (Squirtle and Abra have some of the desirable characteristics of starting basics with a partial stalling with a one energy requirement attack and Squirtle can survive one attack against most Pokemon), the minimum number of starting quality basics decreases by on average one less starting quality basic for every two to three low HP basics. Basics beyond 16 are usually too many when 2 or more bills are in the deck. Knocking out Mysterious Fossil does not result in a prize card and, therefore, one can afford to allow Mysterious Fossil cards to be employed beyond the 16 basic limit.
We rarely play with stage 2 evolutions and then often use breeders, fujis (which recycle into your deck) and traders to ensure timely evolution and to be able limit the cards necessary to find and ensure that a stage 2 is available and developing. Computer searches (to pull the breeder or the Pokemon you need), item finders (to recover a discarded breeder or trader) and Poke balls are also of value but generally are too costly (discards) or risky (coin flip). Most of the trainers used in the deck to retrieve a stage 2 card should have other valuable functions (for example, a trader can be used to diversify the bench, pull a basic needed for a match up problem when the "right" basic just doesn't seem to be available) when they aren't needed to retrieve a card necessary for a timely stage 2 evolution. If a non-starting quality basic Pokemon is needed for the stage 2 Pokemon, then limit its use to a one-to-one ratio to the matching stage 2 cards in your deck.

Stage 1 evolution cards are usually limited to a total of 4 to 5 at most (An example of an exception might be 2 to 3 Muks to play on the "starting" basic Grimer to stop Rain Dance which threatens the fire Pokemon in the deck and to shut down Aerodactyl's power to stop evolution and 3 Arcanines to increase the chance of evolving to Arcanine early in the game a "cleaner" variant. Muk has a decent attack with 30 damage plus 50% chance of poisoning plus certain water Pokemon are weak to grass.) in the deck and limited to three types of emphasis: (1) specific disruption or retreating powers (such as Dodrio, Muk, Aerodactyl) that have potential value frequently during many games but the Pokemon are still generally able to fight or stall effectively; (2) ability to produce an average net benefit of 50 points in a single primary attack (net benefit from an attack = total average direct damage from the attack to the defender and bench + the probability of an effect times the expected average damage from the effect, for example two turns of poison is 20 times 50%, + the probability of triggering a status times the average damage avoided from such a status effect that reduces damage suffered on the next turn - average damage to self and own bench.) (Arcanine, Wiggly, Kadabra are good examples of meeting these criteria.); (3) the basic Pokemon needed for the stage 1 evolution meets the test of a starting basic and the stage 1 Pokemon is reasonably close to meeting one of the two other criteria. (For example, Fearow does 40 damage or 20 damage + 50% chance of preventing all effects and damage to Fearow. Fearow's basic, Spearow, has 50 HP, a free retreat and resistance to fighting.). Use traders to increase the drawing probabilities, rather than stuffing your hand with more than two or three of a particular Stage 1 Pokemon. Traders can be used to fix problems with the mix of Pokemon on the bench that occur in tougher games.

The deck should not be so reliant on evolution or a power being effective that an opponent's Aero or Muk or the failure to draw the right cards and develop the strategy will make the deck too weak to have a good chance of beating the average tournament deck. The one exception is when Muk fits in the deck's natural energy mix and strategy, then relying heavily on an evolution will be more acceptable. Usually our deck has a primary strategy and a couple viable secondary strategies. The secondary strategies are usually based on elements of a stall/decking strategy and a stall or fight/retreat(switch)/salvage (fuji/scoop) strategy. This means that after selecting starting basics needed to employ our core strategy (usually half or less of the total starting basics), this guideline will lead us to complete our starting basic forces with a combination of: (i) basic Pokemon one would typically find in a haymaker deck, (ii) some stallers, with preferences for Chanseys and Lickitungs, and (iii) starting quality basic Pokemon that work with our energy preferences, but diversify the overall weakness or resistance mix of the Pokemon on our bench or can employ at least one decent stalling effect.

When playing a lot of really fast decks (Oaks and bills) and when using close to the minimum number of basics suggested in 1.a., I might consider some Mys. Fossil trainers and defenders to accomplish one turn stalls (just need one more turn to get the energy I need played on that big Pokemon on my bench before he can attack), buy one turn to hopefully draw that trainer, energy or basic Pokemon card I need to avoid losing my last Pokemon in play and to survive the initial onslaught of Oaks and plus powers.

f. Ideally, Pokemon complement each other such that the weakness of one main Pokemon is complemented by the resistance of another Pokemon and/or the opponents' Pokemon that can take advantage the weakness of one of my Pokemon, if made active, tend to be weak to some of my offensive Pokemon (the ones used to deal out damage).

2. Energy Strategy
a. The average energy cards in the hand should be 2.0 to 2.5 cards on the first turn before I play my first energy card. Use some colorless Pokemon or Pokemon that can use some colorless energy (with DCEs to speed up your hitting power and energy options early on), energy searches and energy retrievals to cut the total amount of energy and energy oriented trainers (energy search and energy retrieval) needed in your deck. I'm playing with a lot of decks with 16 basic energy cards (usually two different colors and sometimes three) and 4 DCE cards and rarely feel the need for more energy cards in my deck. I only occasionally run into severe energy shortages during games.
b. Use fujis and energy retrieval to recover energy on damaged Pokemon, protect the energy supply of your hand and deck against aggressive energy removal and to increase the energy component of the hand and deck as the game progresses.
c. Don't be afraid to use energy to run away. A knockout is usually more costly. The low retreat cost Pokemon help, but always have some energy retrievals to recover the energy lost due to retreats, knockouts and energy removal trainers. Retreat plus Fuji can sometimes save most of the energy on the threatened Pokemon from going into the discard pile, replenishes the deck with cards and, most importantly, means that your opponent has used up valuable draws, trainers and energy with no prize card to show for it. With Fuji, the rate of drawing energy and Pokemon relative to trainers should increase as the game progresses. The higher Pokemon ratio in the deck as the game progresses increases the ability to select the optimal mix of Pokemon in play and allows you to spend the non-optimal Pokemon in your hand on retrieving discarded cards you need.
3. The trainer strategy
a. The "saving" trainers of potion, defender, fuji, scoop, Poke Center and switch are usually selected so that one has on average 1 of them on the first turn and on average at least 2 by turn three after adjusting for the number of bills and chance of drawing bills. (i) Scoops are for higher retreat cost Pokemon with less energy needed to attack or stall (Lickitung, for example), actives that are paralyzed that need to be saved to keep opponent from a prize card or basics made active with no energy attached (Scythers, Chansey). (ii) Fujis are preferred to scoops as the game progresses because scoops will start to force you to discard energy cards on damaged Pokemon while fujis will increase the deck size, buying turns and allowing Pokemon with some of their energy to return to the deck to have a chance to fight again (a set of 4 Fujis in the deck should make a deck with 16 Pokemon play like it has 18+ Pokemon and a deck with 20 energy cards plays like it has 22+ energy cards over a longer game). (iii) Switches are for those high retreat cost Pokemon or evolved Pokemon to be saved with a Fuji or to delay and possibly avoid the inevitable knock-out from a bad matchup of resistance and weakness. (At best, a switch can allow you the time to get a saving trainer to keep the Pokemon from being knocked out and to return the Pokemon to the deck the hand or the deck. At worst, you force your opponent to play a GOW to kill a Pokemon that was going to die anyway, and, thus, that GOW is hopefully no longer available to pick on something else on your bench.). (iv) Defenders and potions usually buy, at most, one turn additional turn by cutting the damage down enough to defer a knockout by one turn. Super potion buys two turns but at a cost of one energy. Thus, they are less effective and not used as much in the decks. (v) Poke Centers are limited in number in my decks and used in games either out of desperation (avoid a knock out of my remaining in play Pokemon) or when I've put no energy on some of my best stallers and low retreater cost Pokemon (for example, if Scyther's out there against fighting Pokemon and I haven't got that DCE yet and Chansey or Lickitung are the only other Pokemon with damage counters).
b. Oaks are for desperate attempts to draw a trainer or Pokemon before I lose my last Pokemon in play or to build an early bench of Pokemon and a supply of energy and trainers in my hand when playing a speed deck. My saving trainer/defensive tendencies cause me to favor a longer game and I don't want to deplete my deck and risk decking early. In most games, if my energy and my Pokemon mix is developing at the usual rate, I won't need an Oak. Therefore, I use between 0 to 2 Oaks in my decks. I often use all four Bills but may not even need to play them. When playing a lot of very fast decks, I may violate that 2 Oak limit and add computer searches to try to obtain an early Oak (or Bill). At least with a computer search, I can get an early saving trainer if I need it to prevent suffering a knockout if I have an Oak in my hand or really don't need to Oak (because I have a good set of Pokemon in my hand and on my bench and either don't need energy cards or have enough energy to survive). Early on against a speed deck I find that my hand gets depleted of its cards a lot faster such that I have very few or no trainers (maybe an energy retrieval or item finder), zero to two energy cards and the Pokemon in my hand by turn three aren't so valuable that I can't afford to discard them in favor of an Oak or a computer search to find an Oak. If the cards in my hand by turn three were essential I should have played them already or will play them before I Oak. The remaining cards can afford to be discarded in favor of an Oak. Deranged Parrot's comment on Oaks not cost as much is probably right, except in the insanity deck on turn one some energy gets unfortunately thrown away.
c. Some energy disruption (energy removal or ER and SER) is a necessary feature in my deck and a minimum amount is necessary to have some chances to cut down your opponent's development and effectiveness. Unfortunately, the number of cards is limited by the energy needs, Pokemon needs and other trainer needs of the deck. (For example, I may use energy removal instead of SER when energy in my deck is a bit light in an average game. When I seem to always have enough energy and a few of the wrong types of energy tend to be sitting in my hand during parts of a game, SER is used in preference to energy removal to have a chance to really slow energy development down in the early turns of the game or to prevent an opponent's defending Pokemon that is in trouble from retreating.)
d. My Pokemon mix and energy mix should be such that I generally don't need traders, computer searches, Poke balls, energy searches or item finders to find Pokemon and energy. Sometimes, with two or more energy types, I'll use some energy searches to help early on but will have some combination of fujis in use to rebuild my deck and put energy back in the deck for later draws and energy retrieval to recover energy for use later in the game. I don't mind discarding a trainer card to trade a card for a card (energy retrieval trades two cards for two energy cards), but using a trainer with a 50% chance of getting nothing is not efficient. Similarly, discarding two other cards and the trainer card to get one trainer card back is usually not helpful until relatively late
in the game given my trainer, energy and Pokemon mix.
e. I need at least 2 and preferably 4 Gust of Wind trainers to improve the odds of winning: gain a quick knock out by gusting in a Pokemon weak to my attacking Pokemon; gust in a defending Pokemon (that can't easily retreat without a switch or discarding some energy) where my active Pokemon has resistance and can stall or last longer as an attacker; gust in a damaged Pokemon from my opponent's bench to pick up a quick prize card (that I can hopefully use); damage a big Pokemon with an attacker of my own before that heavy hitter can deal out more serious damage to my Pokemon (Remember: the Pokemon that strikes first in a battle of equals usually knocks the other Pokemon out or at least forces your opponent to retreat, switch, fuji or scoop, while the first Pokemon to attack can usually fight a bit longer.); gust in and damage an underdeveloped Pokemon that could hurt me later on in its development (With my ERs and SERs, hopefully that gusted Pokemon can't retreat without more energy or without a switch and can't do as much damage to my weaker Pokemon until it gets more energy. Meanwhile, his damage is piling up and he will not have long to live if he does ever does get fully developed.). Gusts are also very necessary when my opponent uses more of my strategies (Fuji to keep cards in his deck and playing a lot of saving trainers to delay the taking of prize cards) and has not Oaked aggressively.

Why do the decks that follow the above guidelines win against speed decks (especially haymakers that Oak and bill a lot on early turns) and have a better chance against insanity decks?

Following the deck-building guidelines, I should usually have enough good starting Pokemon (higher HP and decent stalls) on my bench from the start to avoid running out of Pokemon in play and I should have enough saving trainers to avoid giving up more than one or two prize cards to my opponent early on in the game (within the first ten turns). It takes more than two turns without a lucky coin flip and plus powers for electabuzz to knock out a 70 HP Pokemon unless he's weak to lightning. Hitmonchan can only do 20 damage on his first two turns and needs three turns to do 40 damage per turn. Resistance to fighting is common in my decks. Even Chansey and Lickitung can survive a while against Hitmonchan with 120 HP and 90 HP. Magmar can only do 10 damage turn one and 20 damage plus a chance of poison on turn two. If my opponent gets very lucky in drawing and using a lot of plus power cards early on, he won't have them available later on with (item finders should not be wasted on recovering plus powers in the discard pile except when a knock out is assured by doing so) and can survive that storm of Oaks, bills, GOW, Energy removal and plus powers that an insanity or speed deck delivers in the first five turns. I can deny prize cards early on by retrieving those threatened Pokemon into my hand (scoop) and deck (fuji). Initially, I could use potions and defenders to get Pokemon out of trouble or buy extra turns before the Pokemon gets knocked out, but scoops and fujis are much more valuable because they effectively remove more, deny an opportunity for a prize card and, thus, buy a lot more turns on average. Poke Center is sometimes equivalent to a scoop and with damaged Pokemon on the bench with little energy really comes in handy early in the game. Scoop puts a basic Pokemon back in my hand to play next turn to help build my bench, but fuji saves evolution cards and energy cards. After turn ten, fuji is nearly always preferrable to scoop, since by then I'm ready to deal damage with at least one developed Pokemon, have the right stallers on the bench and don't want to lose to the discard pile all of the energy on a developed Pokemon or lose the evolution cards I've played.

I rarely Oak and then prefer to Oak either relatively early or relatively late in the game when the hand is close to exhausted of good trainers, has little energy left and the basics Pokemon and evolution cards in the hand are not really needed. I only Oak earlier in the game to avoid getting caught with a light bench, no energy or no saving trainers to stall or save. Four computer searches are more valuable (I already assume 4 bills are in my deck.) than four Oaks early on in my decks because I usually am only in need one more card to have all three early survival components adequately represented in my hand and in play (saving trainer cards, good starting basic Pokemon and energy cards for retreats). I often don't want to Oak because I usually have cards in my hand that might be useful later on but aren't needed to survive those early turns. I hate to waste cards in my deck and discards on computer searches and only will resort to it if I know I'll be seeing a lot more aggressive speed decks.

Even the most aggressive speed decks can't play more than one energy card on turn one. On turn two, only two energies have been played unless an evolution to Blastoise shows up (not an insanity or speed haymaker and you'll see that rainmaker coming with the squirtle on turn one). Your opponent cannot, except with extreme luck, knock out a 50 HP basic on turn one. By the end of the two players' first turns (collectively turn one), you ought to be able to anticipate what you need to play to survive in reasonable shape until at least turn five. By turn three, your insanity opponent is in serious trouble if you've drawn enough Pokemon to consistently keep two good starting Pokemon in play, can play one energy removal card to slow down your opponent and can "save" your in play Pokemon to keep them from getting into trouble and to keep your opponent from drawing a prize card.

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Page Updated Sat Aug 19, 2000 8:24pm EDT