One Hit KO

This will be a short post.  I don’t have a whole lot to say other than I received the first cards for the card pool.  If you’re following along, you may want to open up the Challenge page and take a look at the card pool as I just added the new list to the page.

Pikkdogs’ package was larger than expected.  (I assume Pedro would make some comment here, but I sent him on some meaningless errand to keep him out of my head.)  It contained the following cards.

3    Raichu Prime UD 83
3    Eelektrik NVI 40
3    Tynamo NVI 39
1    Pikachu HSP 3
3    Minun UL 34
1    Victini NVI 15
1    Manaphy UL 3
1    Tyrogue HS 33
4    Engineer’s Adjustments
2    Black Belt
1    Dual Ball
1    Rocky Helmet

From this new card pool, I slightly updated the list as such.

	Pokemon		Trainers		Supporters/Stadiums		Energy
2	Hoothoot – HS 66	2	Moomoo Milk	1	Copycat	22	Lightning
1	Noctowl – HS 8	2	Poke Communication	2	Prof Oak New Theory
3	Tynamo	2	Pokemon Reversal	2	Black Belt
3	Eelekrtik	2	Switch	4	Engineer’s Adjustments
2	Pikachu – HS 78	1	Rocky Helmet
1	Pikachu HSP 3	1	Dual Ball
3	Raichu Prime
3	Minun
1	Manaphy

Well, the deck can kinda work.  I put it together and played a few solitaire hands.  It has some major problems, though.  The main thing it lacks are Pokemon search and hand refresh.

If you’re lucky enough to hit a Communication, then you can usually grab an evolution.  However, the chances of getting Communication are low.  Also, the chances of hitting Dual Ball are very low.  You need to get a Raichu and/or Eelektrik early, and it just doesn’t happen.  When you do get one early, it seems like you’re stuck.  Great Ball and even Pokeball would help quite a bit over the current options.

The draw/refresh supporters are too few.  Noctowl can help, but it’s not worth wasting one of only 2 Communication to get Noctowl.  So, the main point here is that the deck needs more Dual Ball, Communication, PETM (Professor Elm’s Training Method), Great Ball, and Pokeball.  On top of that, it needs more PONT, Juniper, Bianca, Copycat, Cheren, etc. The idea is that you can afford to burn stuff like Dual Ball, Pokeball, and Great Ball (even if you get no Pokemon) if you can then draw a bunch of cards.

Now, another troubling point is the energy issue.  This one is much harder to fix, but it’s worth discussing.  It is difficult to keep Raichu powered.  Even with 2 Eelektrik in play, you still need to pull 2 out of the discard and play one from the hand.  It’s not sustainable, especially when you factor in the need to discard to Engineer’s adjustments and the fact that there’s no other way to retrieve energy from the discard pile.  I think that 2 Energy Retrieval would help, as you’re pretty guaranteed to get more than 2 energy in the discard.  Any time that happens, you probably can’t suck it all back out in one turn.  If you’re lucky and no Pokemon get KO’d while setting up, you’re ahead of the game, because Raichu can pull all that energy to him.

Finally, and this is similar to the energy issue, is the fact that you will get stuff KO’d.  With only 3 Eelektrik (and 3 Raichu), you’re doomed if they get 2 key KO’s.  If you lose 2 Tynamo, the game is almost lost for sure.  There needs to be a way to retrieve Pokemon.  Either Super Rod or Flower Shop Lady is needed.  Barring that, Revive would be the next best thing.

All of this discussion is aimed toward making this deck better, but please keep in mind that I’m not stuck on running this deck.  If the card pool doesn’t change much, it’s the play, but if you donate other Pokemon lines, then I could see the entire deck changing.  It’s all about maximizing the card pool, and I think this is the best way at the moment.  As always, if you want to donate, just email me at challenge@onehitko.com or fill out the form here.

Ed, I’m back from the supermarket.  They looked scarred when I pulled the gun, but they didn’t put up a fight when I told ’em to give me 10 brown bags.  They just asked if I wanted to carry ’em in paper or plastic.  Are you ready to start the article?

I gotta go.

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