Jedi
25th April 2004, 09:07 PM
I've decided to try my hand at writing some article for the forum. Despite what seems to be popular belief, Pokemon posts are still allowed here. As far as I know anyway.
For this particular piece I want to talk about the drawing engine in decks. This is restricted to unlimited play since that’s all that I play. Sorry, but I don't have the information about modified format to make any decent deductions about good draw engines. This of course is just based on my thoughts and opinions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
At first I was using just a boring, generic set up; as follows.
4x Professor Oak
4x Computer Search
3x Item Finder
I've also tried this with slight variations such as three Oaks and an Elm, or three Oaks and two Elms. Four Item Finders if it suits the deck. Now this is an alright engine in its own right. However, it just doesn't give enough speed that some decks need. This works pretty well in an evolution deck because you need some set up time and you don’t want to be burning your deck in the first 3 turns.
My decks generally follow the same theme, go for prizes, and do it as fast as possible. The main point is speed. The speed is of course directly related to the draw engine. To improve upon the fore mentioned set, I would need to find some way to get more cards without some crushing draw back like Elms extra effect:
"You can not play any more trainer cards this turn."
That sentence is the reason not to play Elm. It's quite exasperating when people tell you that they use four Elms instead of four Oaks since Elm is better because you don't discard.
Anyway, how can you have broken cards like Oak and keep it from not being broken? The e-cards answer with supporters. Yes, these watered down cards make great companions for Oak. Sure, you can only play one supporter card per turn, but that doesn't stop you from playing normal trainers. For that reason, my next engine includes these:
4x Professor Oak
2x Professor Oak's Research/Copycat
4x Computer Search
3x Item Finder
Supporters aren’t the predominant cards here; they just add a little aid in drawing. This build is faster then the first one, but it still works for evolution decks if you'd like. Perhaps it would be more suitable for stage ones rather then stage twos.
Onto my reason for writing this. Always looking for ways to improve my decks, I decided to try something a little different. To my surprise, it actually worked out. This hasn’t really been tested much, so it may or may not work; only more testing well tell I suppose. I was going to wait a while before posting this so that I had more time to test it, but this forum does need something now. I modeled this engine after the "direct-draw" engine used in certain modified decks. The plan was to basically just draw cards rather then replenishes your hand like Oak does.
2x Professor Oak
4x Bill
4x TV reporter
4x Computer Search
3x item Finder
First thoughts when seeing this is probably something like, "Damn, that's 17 cards, almost a third of the deck." (18 if you spring for that fourth Item Finder.) Because you have more drawing power, you can cut down on the number of other things needed in the deck, like energy and Pokemon.
Two other things to note about this engine are: It takes a lot of cards out of your deck, and it's using 4 supporters. There can be problems when there are too many supporters in a deck. You some times get two TV reporters in your hand at once, it's not really that big of a deal though. Use one, save the other for your next turn. Using a TV reporter doesn't stop you from using Bill or Oak. You shouldn't use any other supporters in the deck except one; I'll get to that.
At first I tired this without the two Oaks, but there was too much improvement when I added them to take them out again. Some times you just need to use a Computer Search to get an Oak and a new hand.
The one other supporter card that I recommend is used with this deck is Town Volunteers. I'd say use one, probably two of these in the deck. The deck I'm using only has one, but I know another one is needed. This card can be a game saver, it has saved me more then once. Something to remember though, you need to get exactly 5 cards with it, you can't get less.
As I mentioned, that last engine is one that I'm testing. Maybe it just worked really well with the deck I was using. Someone might want to try it out though, see how it works.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The deck
-Energy-10
9x Lightning Energy
1x Recycle Energy
-Pokemon-12
3x Slowpoke
3x Slowking
3x Electabuzz
3x Rocket's Zapdos
-Trainers-38
2x Professor Oak
4x Bill
4x TV Reporter
4x Computer Search
3x Item Finder
4x The Rocket's Trap
3x Energy Removal
3x Gold berry
3x Imposter Oak's Revenge
3x Gust
2x Switch
1x Sprout Tower
1x Rocket's Training Gym
1x Town Volunteers
Anyone that's going to reply with how trapper decks are dead because of Cleffa, don't bother posting it. Cleffa is being used less then it was, so it really isn’t a concern of mine.
I'm sure this is a very annoying deck to play against. It's pretty much a slowking trapper with lots of disputation. The Pokemon are good kill cards because of the damage they do quickly, so they fit the draw engine well. It’s pretty self-explanatory.
I'll just end this very long post on that I think.
~Jedi
For this particular piece I want to talk about the drawing engine in decks. This is restricted to unlimited play since that’s all that I play. Sorry, but I don't have the information about modified format to make any decent deductions about good draw engines. This of course is just based on my thoughts and opinions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
At first I was using just a boring, generic set up; as follows.
4x Professor Oak
4x Computer Search
3x Item Finder
I've also tried this with slight variations such as three Oaks and an Elm, or three Oaks and two Elms. Four Item Finders if it suits the deck. Now this is an alright engine in its own right. However, it just doesn't give enough speed that some decks need. This works pretty well in an evolution deck because you need some set up time and you don’t want to be burning your deck in the first 3 turns.
My decks generally follow the same theme, go for prizes, and do it as fast as possible. The main point is speed. The speed is of course directly related to the draw engine. To improve upon the fore mentioned set, I would need to find some way to get more cards without some crushing draw back like Elms extra effect:
"You can not play any more trainer cards this turn."
That sentence is the reason not to play Elm. It's quite exasperating when people tell you that they use four Elms instead of four Oaks since Elm is better because you don't discard.
Anyway, how can you have broken cards like Oak and keep it from not being broken? The e-cards answer with supporters. Yes, these watered down cards make great companions for Oak. Sure, you can only play one supporter card per turn, but that doesn't stop you from playing normal trainers. For that reason, my next engine includes these:
4x Professor Oak
2x Professor Oak's Research/Copycat
4x Computer Search
3x Item Finder
Supporters aren’t the predominant cards here; they just add a little aid in drawing. This build is faster then the first one, but it still works for evolution decks if you'd like. Perhaps it would be more suitable for stage ones rather then stage twos.
Onto my reason for writing this. Always looking for ways to improve my decks, I decided to try something a little different. To my surprise, it actually worked out. This hasn’t really been tested much, so it may or may not work; only more testing well tell I suppose. I was going to wait a while before posting this so that I had more time to test it, but this forum does need something now. I modeled this engine after the "direct-draw" engine used in certain modified decks. The plan was to basically just draw cards rather then replenishes your hand like Oak does.
2x Professor Oak
4x Bill
4x TV reporter
4x Computer Search
3x item Finder
First thoughts when seeing this is probably something like, "Damn, that's 17 cards, almost a third of the deck." (18 if you spring for that fourth Item Finder.) Because you have more drawing power, you can cut down on the number of other things needed in the deck, like energy and Pokemon.
Two other things to note about this engine are: It takes a lot of cards out of your deck, and it's using 4 supporters. There can be problems when there are too many supporters in a deck. You some times get two TV reporters in your hand at once, it's not really that big of a deal though. Use one, save the other for your next turn. Using a TV reporter doesn't stop you from using Bill or Oak. You shouldn't use any other supporters in the deck except one; I'll get to that.
At first I tired this without the two Oaks, but there was too much improvement when I added them to take them out again. Some times you just need to use a Computer Search to get an Oak and a new hand.
The one other supporter card that I recommend is used with this deck is Town Volunteers. I'd say use one, probably two of these in the deck. The deck I'm using only has one, but I know another one is needed. This card can be a game saver, it has saved me more then once. Something to remember though, you need to get exactly 5 cards with it, you can't get less.
As I mentioned, that last engine is one that I'm testing. Maybe it just worked really well with the deck I was using. Someone might want to try it out though, see how it works.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The deck
-Energy-10
9x Lightning Energy
1x Recycle Energy
-Pokemon-12
3x Slowpoke
3x Slowking
3x Electabuzz
3x Rocket's Zapdos
-Trainers-38
2x Professor Oak
4x Bill
4x TV Reporter
4x Computer Search
3x Item Finder
4x The Rocket's Trap
3x Energy Removal
3x Gold berry
3x Imposter Oak's Revenge
3x Gust
2x Switch
1x Sprout Tower
1x Rocket's Training Gym
1x Town Volunteers
Anyone that's going to reply with how trapper decks are dead because of Cleffa, don't bother posting it. Cleffa is being used less then it was, so it really isn’t a concern of mine.
I'm sure this is a very annoying deck to play against. It's pretty much a slowking trapper with lots of disputation. The Pokemon are good kill cards because of the damage they do quickly, so they fit the draw engine well. It’s pretty self-explanatory.
I'll just end this very long post on that I think.
~Jedi