Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Thunderstorm Warning

 

Here's the deck that started it all. This was my very first deck coming back to the Pokémon Trading Card game. I built this deck from scratch with a strategic concept in mind—that at the time—sought to do the unthinkable and play second in order to get a jump on the damage stack. This Slugger style deck utilized heavy volumes of [Outrage] Dragons with Switch—to circumvent Special Conditions and effects (such as Hypnotoxic Laser)—while creating an immense HP cache between all the Benched Pokémon. This HP cache would hopefully prevent the opponent from gathering the first Prize, and ultimately hope to get a jump on the Prize card exchange as well.

 

Akin to this, Pokémon-EX were very prominent at that time, and some decks were loaded with nothing but them. Considering this, I sought to load my deck with a majority of single Prize Pokémon to offset the exchange of Prize cards further. The strategy worked especially well since it further enabled heavily damaged [Outrage] Dragons to swing back out later and deal epic amounts of damage. At two for one, I only have to knockout 3 Pokémon-EX—while the opponent would have to Knock Out at about 5 Pokémon on average to claim victory (even with my own Pokémon EX).

 

This deck also sought to make explicit use of Lysandre, Pokémon Center Lady, and Ghetsis at the time, which was totally unseen in any format, and especially crushing to players who were unaware of their tactical prowess. One of the biggest combos of this deck back then was the starting combination of just [Dragon Pulse] Rayquaza and Muscle Band—dealing an immense 60 damage for just one energy—that players then desperately struggled to keep pace with. In my initial test run, I went undefeated for 10 rounds straight before finally just calling it quits.

 

The decklist has changed a bit since then, such as the removal of [Team Plasma] Zapdos (which I can almost swear attributing a great amount of success to—thanks to the super utility of the [Agility] attack)—as well as a questionable tech of Eco Arm. Jolteon-EX now takes the place of Zapdos to some questionably greater success, but the tech of Eco Arm might be better off swapped out for another copy of Lysandre or Pokémon Center Lady. I believe the original deck ran three of each, and their heavy volumes were immensely useful.

 

The Meta has changed a lot as well these days, introducing a number of cards (such as Max Elixir and Strong Energy) that fairly make this deck obsolete. The utility of Ghetsis is especially significant to this, as its was a terrifyingly crushing card at the start of the XY series. Yet as players these days veer more towards the utility of Supporters in the Expanded format these, it sees that Ghetsis doesn't have quite as much of an impact as it used to. I believe I originally included 3 Ghetsis in this deck for good measure—and playing a Ghetsis on turn one would reasonably end the game right there.

 

 

Titanic

 

Prepare yourself for the most terrifying experience you've ever known, aboard the legendary Titanic on the fateful night it strikes an iceberg in the Atlantic and begins to capsize. I considered this deck at one time to be among one of my most unique and powerful. It utilizes a very heavy defense strategy between the effects of Hard Charm, Jamming Net, and multiple {Ice Shield} Aurorus. This super defensive strategy can turn Kyurem-EX in the sink shipping iceberg itself—or have Keldeo-EX hanging on forever—as these combined effects (including Rough Seas) prevent total of 90 damage on average and will have the opponent dragging along the icy edge to their doom. This particular decklist is an outdated one—and will be updated with a replacement of 1 Zekrom for 1 more Keldeo once the servers go back up. 

 

 

Toaster for Breakfast

 

Bill Murray is stuck in an endless reoccurring phenomenon where he wakes up everyday stuck in the day that should have just passed, Feburary 2nd, Groundhogs Day. Among the midst of his despair being stuck in this endless miserable cycle, Bill Murray wants to kill himself with a toaster in the bathtub. Here's an entertaining deck that actually began as a {Dual Brains} Magnezone deck revolving around [Gyro Ball] and Robo Substitute. I don't remember what happened that night, but this is the deck is evolved into.

 

Here be have the typical [Call for Family] strategy to load up the bench and take some of the strain off the resourcing demand for Stage 2 evolution climbing. The idea here is to get out both Magnezone, then use their abilities to quickly power-up your lightning Pokémon for the swift kill, and keep alive as long as possible under the burn of their heavy voltage.

 

 

Tokyo Biker Gang

 

Motorcyles are extremely popular in Nihon. There are various biker gangs among the metropolis of Tokyo—both male and female. These biker gangs take in the sights of the city, and revel in all that is the glory of the motorcycle. This deck pays tribute to these inspiring people, utilizing an Out-Fighter strategy that aims to build up Politoad and Poliwrath from the bench, so that Politoad's Ability unlocks free McDonalds for everyone, thus enabling Poliwag, Politoad, and Poliwrath to ignore all Colorless energy in their attacks. This enables those Pokémon to attack for free, which boasts some serious horsepower at the hands of Poliwath's fist-bumping, bench punching [Steamroll], and Poliwhirl's gut-busting HP punishing 100 damage [Finishing Blow].

 

Frozen City here acts as an amplifier to boost the total amounts of damage breached by our Pokémon—successfully stacking with the power increasing effects of Muscle Band and Silver Bangle—as well as the disruption power of the mighty Lysandre. Karen makes a special appearance in this deck as useful tech to extend the appearance of our Tokyo bikers and hopefully enable them to ride on long into the night.

 

 

Tony Hawk's Birdhouse

 

Here's an oldschool deck of mine where I thought to combine the immense power of Team Plasma Pokémon (namely Lugia-EX and it's {Overflow} Ability) with the disruption power of {Drive Off} Swellow. Tapping into [Team Plasma] Tornadus-EX and the effect of its mighty [Windfall] attack, the idea is to pop off a 900 degree aerial spin with N, providing double 6 card draws each turn to blindly flip through the contents of the deck to accomplish a number of basic missions.

 

The first mission is to fill the bench up as quickly as possible. Deoxys are needed to supercharge the power of Tornadus and Lugia to One-Hit KO potential. The second mission is to pop off as many Colress Machine as possible so that Tornadus or Lugia can begin attacking ASAP. The third mission is to get Taillow on the bench and evolve it to Swellow so that its {Drive Off} effect can be used as powerful disruption against any opponent's preventive effects. As typical with Skateboarding, the Team Plasma strategy here generally suffers in the damage stack, where the heavy consistency of Pokémon Center Lady helps to dial back that damage to keep the downhill jam rolling all the way across the finish line. 

 

 

Total Recall/Kindergarden Cop

 

Here we have another Double Feature deck in the same style as the Jackie Chan Fearless Hyena/Rumble in the Bronx deck—presented back in June 2016. This Double Feature stars the legendary bodybuilding action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, in two of his most popular movies of the 90's. This deck utilizes the mighty [Recall] Charizard with the lightning step evolution chain jumping combination of Evosoda and Wally. This combination enables a Rare Candy like effect while the Supporter side of the combo helps to guard against Item lock effects. [Recall] Charizard embodies a Slugger strategy, and aims to act as this deck's protector, doing massive amounts of damage between attacks of Charizard's previous evolutions.

 

This Slugger strategy gives way for M Charizard to build up from the bench, and ultimately swing in to take everyone down by the force of its daunting [Heat Inferno] attack. Frozen City acts as bracer to the deck's damage theme, and could even use another copy somehow—maybe exchanging 1 Judge for 1 more Frozen City.

 

 

Trans Am

 

One of the most legendary muscle cars of all time, the Pontiac Trans Am once ruled the ranks of the drag scene. This deck seeks to pay tribute to this legendary monster of the stretch, with the fast-paced hard-hitting power of [Burning Roar] Entei. This card takes a very special deck structure to tap into its potential. You'd never be able to tap into it going by the mainstream. This forces a person to start from scratch to figure out the dynamics, but its power is reasonably worth all the effort. [Burning Roar] can attach up to 4 energy total, but with the proper deck consistency, returns about 3 energy on  average. This is an immense boost, that can enable a player to swing out the next turn and start dealing some massive damage.

 

To further the potential of this deck in particular, Lugia-EX is included here over say, Flareon-EX for the type diversity that Colorless provides. It helps to give some edge against Water-type Pokémon, alongside another really advanced tech of 2 [Torment] Semisage. Semisage not only provides the Type advantage in many cases, the effect of its attack also enables a permanent lockdown against M Pokémon, and a powerful stall to prevent other Pokémon from being able to use their most powerful attacks outright.

 

 

Trapped on the Moon

 

Here's a unique pallet swap using my Lunatone/Ether deck engine as seen in End of the World. This deck paints the grim tale of being trapped on the moon's icy abyss. The Ether/Lunatone combination can enable Yveltal-EX to attack on Turn 1—effectively getting a huge jump on the damage stack with anywhere from 60~100 damage! Meanwhile, the remaining Ethers can then be used to energize Kyurem-EX from the bench—whose powerful [Icecalibur] attack deals 130 damage itself and can lockdown the opponent by preventing their Active Pokémon from attacking.

 

For some type diversity, I included Reshiram and Zekrom here as tech cards. They make good alternative sluggers—given their high HP and the raw power that the [Outrage] attack can boast akin to that. This deck utilizes heavy Float Stone, so Team Aqua's Secret Base makes a perfect placement here. Float Stone just works wonders, and is provided in high volume (despite Darkrai-EX) to extend upon that mobility power as best as possible.

 

 

Trauma Ward

 

A hot busty nurse is in her third trimester and is about to give birth any day now. Suddenly, her water breaks, and her hot young boyfriend is on a race to rush her to the hospital. I came up with this deck concept when thinking how to make use of the Mythical Collection Manaphy. It utilizes a Max Elixir/Trainer's mail combo in conjunction with a heavy healing Rough Seas/Pokémon Center Lady combo. Froslass provides additional support as an outlet for [Rapid Spin]. This can be used to Mega Evolve—or just to buy some extra time to heal up—while an opponent that can't get around Froslass risks having their Active Pokémon Knocked Out by the effect of {Drag Along}.

 

Splash Energy helps to create an extension on Froslass and M Blastoise—enabling this deck to include fewer physical copies of those cards—in place of more technical contents (such as Trainers' Mail).

 

 

Tree House

 

Here's a pallet swap of the Tree Climber deck I posted back in June 2016. This deck seeks to utilize Kangaskhan and M Kangaskhan-EX, who are about to build a tree house together in their giant backyard. [Triple Draw] Makes a really powerful utility to take in a bulk of cards for Rare Candy evolution line jumping. Normally, a heavy tech of 2 Skyla would be recommended to support this, but I personally don't it would be needed here given the immense consistency and aggressive straight draw volume of effects between [Triple Draw], Cheren/Tierno, Steve, and Professor's Letter.

 

Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Tremors

 

This deck is based on the movie Tremors, the 1990 Sci-Fi Action film about a group of people trapped out in a nowhere town that have to survive against a crush of giant wurms. This deck does its best to emulate the action-terror through its collection of superpower Fighting-type Pokémon, and tactical utilities which supercharge the speed of the deck and amplify their crushing retaliation.

 

 

Trickster Online

 

One of the most unique decks I've ever come up with. This is a deck about an MMO I once fell in love with. Trickster Online is one of the most beautiful games I've ever seen, and this deck in particular hosts a ton of symbolisms representing concepts from the game. These include the Day and Night ambiance; the Desert Village boss Tutankhamen; the sheer joy of tossing masses of items from your inventory; the Galder Throw skill; and the dropping of Unique items from Boss monsters on a really lucky day.

 

 

Troll Spank

 

An older deck of mine, that sought to tap into the alpha potential of another one of my favorite underrated gems, [Hundred Furious Lashes] Tangrowth. This deck utilizes hyper-energy acceleration between Virizon-EX, [Synthesize] Shaymin-EX, and the legendary Ether/Lunatone combo. Trevenant-EX eventually found its place in here as the leather strap, and makes a really lovely edition to this deck as a powerful alternative option to Tangrowth. Dark Explorers Carvine also makes an interesting appearance here as a powerful tech card, given the prominent energy acceleration here to support it, and the power of [Spit Squall] which can instantly send an opponent's Pokémon home crying.

 

 

Ultimate Ninja Storm

 

So this is a deck about playing Ultimate Ninja Storm, and your brother is playing with Saskue, and you're playing with Choji; and then he gets his Max Storm but then you get your Max Storm—and even though he's playing with the better character—you still beat him because you're a better player.

 

This deck utilizes and Ultra Ball/Shaymin strategy to draw through masses of cards as quickly as possible. When {Set Up} Shaymin-EX first came out, I was intrigued at what kind of special potential this Ultra Ball strategy could boast for unique card types. From there, I just began attempting to assemble the most outrageous card advantage/bench support cards I could put together in order to super reinforce the potency of the deck structure. This is ultimately the deck that came together, and I was crazy surprised to find out how amazing it did. I drew like half my deck on turn one, and by turn two was stomping my opponent with Raichu.

 

The original deck actually included 4 Shaymin I think, but one was cut to make room for Special Charge. It also included 2 copies of Flash Energy and 2 copies of Dangerous Energy, but they were omitted in replace of pure Basic energy to help prevent mix-matching problems. The Basic energy base is now tweeked in favor of Dark energy, because [Ascension] Zorua becomes helplessly stuck without it. The Supporter base seeks to keep the draw as one-sided as possible, and attempts to take full advantage of the high Shaymin-EX volume through the use of Professor Birch's Observations.

 

 

Ultimate Power Rangers

 

Go Go, Power Rangers! *duuuuh nuuuuh nuuuh nuuh nuh nuh nuh*

 

Here we have a {Fight Song} Altaria deck—featuring the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. As you can see, all the Ranger have assembled, and they are eager to kick some serious tail. This deck bridges on the lightning speed of Basic Pokémon, while the Dragon-type boasts an especially distinct advantage with their attacks that can cut through all preventive effects.

 

Traditionally, the challenge these cards face is the moderate damage power their attacks deal. But this deck seeks to rise above that challenge through the power of {Fight Song} Altaria, to turn these attacks into absolutely crushing ones. If you're going to run Altaria, I strongly believe in heavily supporting the evolution climb with 3 or 4 Level Ball in the least. Heavy consistency of Level Ball helps to bring Altaria together with lightning speed. Lots of other power boosting cards help to further reinforce this deck's One-Hit KO potential, while it seeks to heavily rely on wheel Supporter to help spare its precious special energies and copies of Altaria.

 

 

USS Donald Rumsfeld

 

All aboard the USS Donald Rumsfeld! The United State Military doesn't actually have a ship named in honor of the previous Secretary of Defense, so imagination is the next best thing. This deck features and Out-Fighter strategy to setup for the legendary {Diving Draw} Empoleon and the relatively modern Empoleon BREAK. {Diving Draw} Empoleon was a huge card back in the Pokémon Trading Card game throughout the Black and White era. It boasts some incredible power, potentially dealing 120 damage for a single energy.

 

With the addition of Splash Energy and Empoleon BREAK, this legendary card sees even higher worlds of potential. Splash Energy enables us to continuously cycle out Stage 2 material cards. Which in this deck, aims to give us greater on-demand access to the Empoleon BREAK, without having to include the card in excessive copies.

 

Between [Call for Family] and [Errand Running], alongside a heavy artillery of evolution line building support such as Dive Ball, Evosoda, and Wally, our mighty ship or submarine will be able to perform tactical maneuvers in record time. Since [Attack Command] can be somewhat liable due to the numbers game its damage is based on, Lysandre makes a heavy presence here for the disruption power he boasts. This disruption potential is great for sniping tricky benched Pokémon and sitting ducks that won't be able to readily retreat once brought out to the front.

 

This issue was brought to my attention in an initial run of the deck, where [Attack Command] struggled against low bench numbers, and although the infinite looping power of Splash Energy and Empoleon BREAK reigned triumphant in the end, the prize gap grinded down far too close for comfort. That's where the accelerated evoltution support draws inspiration from, as well as the addition of Life Dew, to offset the prize balance in the face of many heavy 170HP Empoleon BREAK.

 

 

USS H.W. Bush

 

All aboard the USS HW Bush, a United States Military Warship that's built to bring the house down. My strategy here veers from the second-rate [Water Duplicates] technique and it's immensely liable defensive issues. The USS H.W. Bush utilizes an Out-Fighter strategy instead, that attempts to build up a huge, nearly unstoppable offensive from the bench. Between the effects of [Call for Family] Skarmory and [Errand Running] Lapras, every card needed can be had with the ease of instant access.

 

As Grenninja BREAKs build up on the bench, they ready for a continuous and relentless assault. The primary technique behind this involves the utility of Splash Energy for the Greninja BREAK evolution line. The effect of Splash Energy returns all Pokémon to the hand after a Knock Out, which enables first a better concentration of the deck structure since the extension provided by Splash Energy enables us to run less copies of Greninja BREAK itself. As the evolution chains build and overlap between one another, an endless barrage of 170HP Greninja BREAK becomes an alarming reality for the opponent.  Powerful techs here include Chaos Tower to protect against troublesome Special Conditions—and Max Potion/Gold Potion to take full advantage of Greninja's low energy dependency—and provide a quick and easy heal back to 100%.

 

Just pay extra special attention to how you play your Splash Energy with Max Potion in mind, because you can only make use of one or the other, and playing your cards wrong can cause you to end up wasting one of those precious resources.

Vegas House Party

 

Hope you're ready to have a good time, because this deck is about the evening of a lifetime. This concept began when I decided to try making a deck that enraptures the potential of Alpha Recovery Azumarill. This is a very difficult card to utilize, but I like to believe all cards have their greatest potential if simply you can figure out how to tap into it. I originally attempted to over-utilize Azumaril, but then gradually worked my way to a light touch. With the new addition of a number of powerful cards, this deck now features a very powerful healing/defensive strategy, that aims to infinitely suppress any and all damage to a near flawless victory.

 

Nearing the end of the deck, I couldn't decide which between the two cards, Altaria-EX and Lugia-EX was the better tech to include, so I dialed back a copy of Diancie-EX to make room for them both here. The attacks among Pokémon in this deck are very energy demanding, so I felt it was important to have some cards that can attack for two energy or less. For this same reason, I felt the need for Special Charge, but there was no room for it, so I had to squeeze it in.

 

Our enchanted evening boasts all kinds of symbolism in it—from slipping a ring on someone's finger; to interlocking hands; to the pressure on until the champagne pops; all the way to cuddling up underneath the covers together at the end of the night in Carousel view.

 

Victoria's Secret

 

Here's a unique deck of mine about the love women have for a particular luxury item—underwear. The empowering effect of underwear for women is simply legendary, rivaling the power of the man's care and affection. To best capture the essence of this power, this combines three of the most powerful facets in the game—Team Plasma cards, M-Rayquaza, and {Victory Star} Victini with attacks that invoke the Paralyzed Special Condition. Really, this deck is like a brand new treasure chest full of luxury underwear. This is a diverse spread between a number of different linear strategies, so the consistency of the cards aims to help support the best fluid access to all the cards as evenly as possible.

 

Hoopa-EX is included here as a special tech that can be used to hyper-accelerate our M-Rayquaza and {Power Connect} potential, but is only included as a 1-of, because this potential might not be so explicitly needed. It's there where you need it, but otherwise, the heavy consistency of Ultra Ball and Pokémon Fan Club should easily be able to make up the difference when Hoopa-EX isn't available.

 

 

Vixi Fuuu

 

Absolutely loved the art for the {Benevolent Boss} Pangoro ever since the first time I saw it, so I decided to see what I could come up with to work around the challenge of its high energy hike. Although its Ability suggested some immense potential with the likes of Sky Field, I ultimately decided that strategy would be too hard to keep together, and so decided to just bridge off the general bonus without trying to stretch those limits to any extremes.

 

This here is my original concept, that sought to utilize the Emolga-EX/Energy Switch combo to quickly meet the energy needs for Pangoro. Emolga-EX's starting potential is split between the heavy hitters Landorus and Lucario, whom provide a solid alternative option in the event Pangoro winds up running a little late to the show. Emolga-EX sitting on the bench can easily be mobilized for a One-Hit KO against the nightmare bird Yveltal-EX—who'd normally be a problem for the contents of this deck. Float Stone acts as another heavy utility for this deck—providing some amazing mobility that strongly benefits every Pokémon in this deck outside of Emolga-EX.

 

Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

W.H.O.P.P.E.R.

 

Team Plasma deck I envisioned a while back when the Team Plasma era was still in heavy swing. You know it takes two hands to hold a whopper. This deck sought to tap into some seemingly ignored alpha potential of the immensely powerful [Team Plasma] Tornadus-EX. This card is just quite possibly the most powerful [Team Plasma] EX of them all. Its setup attack [Windfall] provides heavy card circulation, that enables quick access to Colress Machine (doubling and tripling energy access in a single turn). [Jet Blast] itself does immense amounts of damage by itself when fully charged, but gets an immense boost here from [Team Plasma] Deoxys.

 

A few other common tools in my arsenal were also included in this deck to further its adaptability. This includes the Super Scoop Up/Scoop Up Cyclone split utility for full resets and heals on big Pokémon EX. At the heart of this deck is [Team Plasma] Porygon-Z for its {Plasma Transfer} Ability, which together with the Scoop Up technique, intended to create an infinite power cache for Plasma Energy to be cycled between the heavy hitters Tornadus and Deoxys. The consistency of these cards was split in a heavy 3-3 to ensure reasonable access to both cards equally (since Rare Candy was sought to be used here).

 

 

War on Terrorism

 

An original Tyrantrum deck of mine that I later affixed with a Carbink BREAK/Ultra Ball strategy. This deck opts Fossil Researcher for Twist Mountain. Although a little less reliable, this deck has a greater central theme to support and needs every Supporter to be able to assist in that. The heavy consistency helps to provide the greatest possible success with getting Restored Pokémon out on the bench, while a heavy tech of 2 Skyla helps to provide an extension to their accessibility.

 

 

Waterworld

 

Here we have the fifth edition in my Seafaring deck series, that I created at that the release of the very powerful [Icecalibur] Kyurem-EX. Naturally, this card boasts immense potential with the [Seafaring] strategy, but instead of doing the obvious cliché deck that includes an emphasis on this one card, I decided to do something more creative, and just tech a single copy, with a split between every available Kyurem-EX card. This deck also includes Ancient Trait Articuno, which makes another perfect compliment to the [Seafaring] strategy as a powerful finisher thanks to the additional prize it can collect. Some potential edits to this deck could include swapping the consistency of Colress with Professor Juniper, as well as replacing Muscle Band with Fighting Fury Belt.

 

 

Weight of the World

 

Here's a deck that combines an Out-Fighter style of play, that utilizes {Plump Body} Snorlax and Hard Charm to create a nearly impenetrable defense while the mighty M-Aggron-EX powers up from the bench through a strongly reinforced Max Elixir strategy. M-Aggron-EX makes a perfect selection for an Out-Fighter style of play, since it boasts the power to naturally One-Hit KO everything under 250HP. [Megaton Slam] is by itself somewhat a finicky though, since it relies on the flip of a coin, and that's where the heavy tech of {Victory Star} Victini plays a crucial role here. This final edit of the deck includes the replacement of Fighting Fury Belt with Float Stone to help with mobility of heavy Pokémon—as well as a 3-2 split between {Plump Body} Snorlax and [Revenge Blast] Cobalion—to help diversify this deck's offensive potential (without detracting from its potential at the start of the game).

 

 

West Park Fire Station

 

One of the decks in my original series back when I first got back into game. The idea I had in mind was to create a series of decks that diversified on the Type disadvantage by including a strong EX tech of an different type from the main deck, that could mobilize on a Double Colorless Energy. Through the start of the XY series, a number of EX boasted this potential, having their first attack utilizable for a Double Colorless Energy, and thus providing any deck with the ability to diversify upon their Type advantage through this universal potential attack. I really loved the TOKIYA Charizard  art, so naturally I had to take my best shot at a deck revolving around this card. This is the version that the deck eventually evolved to be, which retains its original Victini-EX/Victory Piece energy acceleration strategy.

  

 

Wild Mountain Honey

 

"Ooh, mama, well look what's been done...you can only see the stars. After a setting sun...you run for the money. You don't even know about wild mountain honey."

Here's a deck with a Steve Miller Band theme, that originally began and a dual type Grass-Fire deck containing Entei-EX, and later evolved into this {Goodnight, babies} Hypno and Chaos Tower deck where the power of Hypno's Ability powerfully compliments everything from [Helping Hand] Illumise to [Adrenaslash] Ursaring. [Call for Family] Shaymin was apart of the original deck, and remained as a catch for the opening spot at the start of the game. I like it for the flavor it adds to the deck, but it might be replaceable for another copy of Teddiursa and [Team Plasma] Ursaring.

 

Windows 8.1

 

Old school deck of mine created at the re-release of Super Scoop Up in the Furious Fists expansion. The idea here was to use the power of [Team Plasma] Deoxys and Lugia to beat down on the opponent, then enabling a full reset and heal through heavy Super Scoop Up use. When it came to Pokémon-EX (and their heavy double prize toll), Super Scoop Up appeared to hold some obvious alpha potential for turning the power of Pokémon-EX into a one-sided benefit.

 

As a fun fact, I improvised a really interesting technique for this deck that involved including 3 copies of [Team Plasma] Porygon-Z for no purpose other than as combo material for Team Plasma Grunt. The idea here was to provide a specific resource and spare me from having to waste my precious resources (such as Colress Machine and Plasma Energy) to Team Plasma Grunt. As crazy as it might seem, it actually worked really good! And between the power of unKOable [Team Plasma] Lugia/Deoxys—and Pokémon-EX crushing {Safeguard} Sigilyph—I dominated VS with this deck over the course of many matches.

 

As another fun fact, Muscle Band actually wasn't even apart of the original decklist I did this with, but is actually an addition that I later decided to work in as bracer for {Overflow} Lugia's power against Yveltal-EX. Without it, Lugia generally fell short just 10 damage from a one-hit KO that it could not afford to miss out on. I'm entirely sure, but I believe a copy of Professor's Letter and a copy of a basic Psychic energy were the cards removed to make room for a heavy tech of 2 Muscle Band.

 

 

Wraith Overdose

 

The brand new casino that just opened up in the center of downtown just rolled out three brand new Wraith Overdose to showcase its high luxury prowess. This is a Greedy Dice deck that revolves around the powerhouse Chandelure-EX with its double Special Condition invoking attack [Eerie Light]. It also features the very elusive Xatu with a very special powerplay potential from Ancient Trait Natu. [Eerie Light] boasts some amazing stall potential between both Confused and Burned, thus enabling Chandelure-EX to easily retreat on a Mystery Energy, for Ancient Trait Natu to swing in and deliver a Knock Out collecting an additional prize from its ability (plus ANOTHER potential prize from Greedy Dice).

 

Rotom Dex provides an second chance with your Prize cards and Greedy Dice, which you can do a search with to see how many are in your deck. And for the jackpot baby, land two Greedy Dice among your Prizes, and a single Knock Out with Natu can enable you to collect up to 4 or 5 of them in a single go!

 

 

Wrath of Heaven

 

Ninjaaaaaaa!!! !!!HNT!!! Here we have a deck based on the very popular Technu game, Wrath of Heaven. The strategy here embodies a continuous stealth kill technique with Gengar-EX and Virbank City Gym, whose potential is heavily reinforced by a number of ninja tools such as {Empty Shell} Shedinja and Robo Substitute, which enable Gengar-EX to hide from detection after an attack with [Dark Corridor]. Poison and Virbank City Gym will rack up heavy damage, while the opponent won't even be able to collect a prize if-and-when they Knock Out Shedinja or Robo Substitute. Other tactical tools provide more diverse ninja options—all setting up for a potential S Rank finish with the legendary Wrath of Heaven technique.

 

 

WrestleMania

 

The self-proclaimed "biggest night in sports entertainment". This deck encompasses the whole she-bang, and revolves around a Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick deck that I had been tinkering with but never got around to perfecting. This deck focuses on M Lucario as the prime selection for Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick, but {Ancient Power} Archeops could easily make a replacement for Hawlucha as an alternative option for that powerplay.

 

The Maxie deck engine here seeks to utilize heavy consistency of Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick, accompanied by a heavy volume of hand modifying cards in hopes of boosting synergy to make a quick (and potentially consecutive) powerplay with Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick. Meanwhile, raw power from the Fighting-type provides a steady alternative play option to cut liability back in the event Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick doesn't come together right away.

 

Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

X-Men Genosha Island

 

This deck is apart of an X-Men themed set of Legacy decks that I originally thought to do a whole series of each type for. I never did get around to finishing the whole thing, and decks such as the Fighting-type Age of Apocalypse (featuring Landorus-EX)—the Metal-type Omega Red (featuring Scizor Prime)—or the Lightning-type Adamantium Rage (featuring Eelektrik/Raikou/Zekrom) don't even have prototypes for them. This deck here retells the story of Genosha Island, where many of the X-Men and various other mutant were held in captivity and slavery. In this rendition, the Blob goes on a rampage and apparently nobody can stop him. A number of other mutants revolt, such as Starfire, and eventually capsize the island.

 

 

X-Men Phoenix Saga

 

Here we have an X-Men Legacy deck based on the Phoenix Saga, that utilizes a really unique energy discard strategy between the effects of cards such as Red Genesect and [Team Plasma] Moltres-EX. Paired with this is the ever so popular Virbank City Gym/Hypnotoxic Laser combo. The attacks here don't conventionally do a lot of damage, so Virbank/Laser is intended to provided some offensive reinforcement to their power. {Bright Look} Ninetales takes a center-stage in this deck as well for its potential with Virbank/Laser—in addition to its powerful pre-XY Lysandre power.

 

 

X-Men Psi-War

 

Another X-Men themed Legacy deck that utilizes a Darkrai/Dark Patch linear with Virbank/Laser. A really flashy tech of [Hex] Giratina and Mew-EX create a vivid portrayal of the legendary X-Men Psi-War cover depicting the Shadow King with his hold over all the helpless X-Men. [Hex] makes a really strong tech to Virbank/Laser—and Mew is complimented by the presence of [Foul Play] Zoroark—which hopes to provide Mew with a extremely powerful on-demand attack. I couldn't go without this tech—it just makes the deck to me. However, if you wanted, you could probably opt out the eye candy pair for an additional copy of Darkrai and Spiritomb—then reversing the Zoroark split in suite of [Brutal Bash]—and finally switching the 3 Blend Energy over to 3 Basic Dark energy (since they'd no longer be needed).

 

 

X-Men Savage Land

 

This X-Men themed Legacy deck details the journey into the Savage Land with Professor Xavier and Magneto; where the mighty Sauron rules the skies, and various other dangerous monster lurk the unforgiving terrain. The strategy behind this deck is an improvised Virizion/Genesect combination that furthers its potential off the energy acceleration of Lunatone & Ether. With this combination, it's possible to begin using [Emerald Slash] on Turn 1 if you play second. Tack this alongside the crushing disruption of Judge and it threatens to the put an opponent at an immense disadvantage. Akin to this, I opted for G Scope instead of G-Booster. However, one could probably go with another copy of Float Stone in its place to great success—or switch out G-Scope and Plasma Energy for G-Booster and Double Colorless Energy.

 

 

X-Men Spring Break

 

This was the first legacy deck I ever built, which started my concept for the whole series of X-Men themes. This theme here reflects the very popular 95 Fleer Ultra X-Men Spring Break cards, which depict the X-Men in the sun and sand enjoying themselves on the beach. The strategy for this deck majorly revolves around the energy acceleration of [Seafaring] Manaphy to quickly power-up powerful EX attackers like Kyurem, Keldeo, and Mewtwo. Given how EX dominated the Legacy format tends to be, Suicune provides a powerful tech to stop such decks dead in their tracks. Many Legacy decks are also very Item card dominated, and that's why I personally believe that 3 copies of Ghetsis is a must-have for any Legacy deck. This deck also runs a number of other crucial techs for Legacy—such as Tool Scrapper and Silver Mirror—in heavy consistency to best its chances.

 

 

Yakuza Grind House

 

Here we have a Dragon-type deck that illustrates the dangerous underworld of the Yakuza grindhouse, where the gang members (both men and women) live outside the law to their greatest indulgence. There are no rules in the underground, and that's fully exemplified by the effects of Hydreigon and Latias' attacks, which can pierce through all preventive abilities. This deck utilizes a Out-Fighter style that sets up from the bench, and since the Pokémon here hold no one-hit KO potential, this deck includes a Bursting Ballon/Rock Guard/Ecoarm suite to strongly reinforce its offensive potential. Heavy healing from Pokémon Center Lady puts up a heavy defense, of which I really wanted 4 copies of, but opted out a copy to make room for a tech of Special Charge.

 

 

Yokozuna

 

Energy acceleration/Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick concept deck I had tinkered with a little. The primary strategy for this deck provides the energy acceleration of Landorus and (Latias as its backup starter), to quickly power-up a Yokozuna Groudon for a giant throw down. Archeops makes a backup Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick option to Mega Groudon. It holds the power to throw many decks out of the ring entirely. Meanwhile, out primary Yokozuna Groudon makes quick work of other heavyweights between the effects of its two attacks—[Tromp] and [Giant Claw]—alongside the utility of Strong Energy and Fighting Fury Belt.

 

 

Zen Force

 

M Alakazam deck working through an interesting setup through [Call for Family] to quickly get the all your Alakazam out on the bench, then using cards like Elsa and Teammates to get all the Spirit Links together for some heavy mega evolving. Deoxys and Wobbuffet play a strong backup to [Zen Force] given how much synergy exists between all their attacks. This deck also features a really unique combo involving Tool Retriever and AZ, which together create a powerplay that enables players to cycle M Alakazam-EX between copies of one another to create full HP resets and boom additional bonuses off Alakazam's triggered {Kinesis} Ability.

 

 

Zen Garden

 

Evolution line jumping Florgress BREAK deck that utilizes the pair of [Luminious Blade] Gardevoir-EX and [Geomancy] Xerneas to deal heavy damage for almost no cost thanks to {Calming Aroma}  Florgress. This deck is heavily reinforced to cycle through cards and patch together the missing item pieces with lots of support from Trainer's Mail and Misty's Determination. Teammates themselves provide an instant evolution jump for Florgress and Rare Candy, where getting both Florgress BREAK out can considerably be an every game thing. Together, they provide a free play on Pokémon Center Lady, heavily reinforcing the crushing power of Gardevoir-EX and Xerneas.

 

 

Zero-Dark Thirty

 

Zero Dark Thirty covers the events of a secret mission to kill/capture/save? acclaimed Terrorist leader/CIA US Military co-operative Osama Bin Laden. This deck primary utilizes the power of [Team Plasma] Tornadus-EX and [Windfall] to make a powerful setup for an unstoppable offensive backed by the effects of heavy disruption provided by cards such as {Unruly Claw} Crawdunt, Malamar-EX, Crushing Hammer, and Team Flare Grunt.

 

 

We're Gonna Have Us A Champagne Jam

Pokémon [21]

1 — Lugia EX — Ancient Origins (68/98)
2 — M Charizard EX —  Generations (12/83)
3 — Charizard EX — Flashfire (11/106)

2 — Ho-Oh BREAK — Ho-Oh BREAK Box (XY154)
4 — Ho-Oh — Ho-Oh BREAK Box (XY153)

2 — Emboar — Black & White (20/114)
2 — Pignite — Boundaries Crossed (25/149)
3 — Tepig — Black & White Blister Promo (BW07)

2 — Victini — V for Victini Tin (BW32)

Trainers [24]

1 — Master Ball — Plasma Blast (94/101)
1 — Ultra Ball — Sun & Moon (TBA)
2 — Level Ball — Next Destinies (89/99)
2 — Evosoda — X&Y (116/146)

2 — Teammates — Primal Clash (160/160)
3 — Shauna — X&Y (127/146)
3 — Cheren — Dark Explorers (91/108)
4 — N — League Promo (BW100)

2 — Charizard Spirit Link — Evolutions (75/108)
4 — Energy Pouch — Fates Collide (97/124)

Energy [15]

3 — Double Colorless Energy
12 — Fire Energy

Epilogue

Happy New Years! It's time to party!!

I've got a grand ball prepared for you all tonight, featuring the mighty Ho-Oh BREAK and [Heat Inferno] M Charizard-EX!!! This deck utilizes a [Stoke] strategy, alongside the effects of Energy Pouch and {Inferno Fandango}, to burn up the dance floor all night long!

The consistency of our starting Pokémon base is primed to put our feet on the ground and keeps our steps in perfection motion. We have 3 Charizard and 4 Ho-Oh to prime our successful starting spot. Together, they give us an 80% success rate of starting with at least one of them. Lugia-EX is a wild card, that provides us an additional starter and ups the success of having a good starter to 93%.

It's not a perfect 100% or plus, but due to the nature of the game's dynamics, is sure play out with that kind of success or better! The reason for this being we only have 5 cards in our deck that we don't want to start with—2 copies of Victini and 3 copies of Tepig. Victini is our superstar for empowering the success of [Stoke], when it comes to important coin flip effects, that additional chance is a must. It reduces your chances of failure to 1 out of 4, which is really great odds for your success. The 3 Tepig is an elevated measure from the traditional 2-2-2 line prominently used. That extra copy at the Basic level helps us hit the ground running, which is very important here given, how the foundation of this deck's strategy lies in {Inferno Fandango}.

Okay now, just 5 copies of these cards produces a 50% chance of getting on in our opening hand. However, the chances of us NOT getting at least 1 copy of our other Basic Pokémon in our opening hand—is a very pitiful 19%. The math is simple. We have 8 cards between Ho-Oh, Charizard, and Lugia, with 6 cards left to draw, and 59 cards remaining in our deck. 8 times 6 is 48—divided by 59 is 0.81 (or 81%). 81% is the success rate we will draw one of those starting Pokémon follow the first card, inverse that value out of 100 and the chances of us NOT drawing at least 1 copy comes to 19%.

This actually stacks a 50% chance atop a 19%—furthers lessens the probable chance of total failure overall. It's just very—very unlikely. And that's how the Pokémon base is primed for our success.

This is important to our success with always choosing to play second. Playing second is very important for us to make best use of [Stoke]. This attack is at the center of our deck's strategy, as it hyper-accelerates our offensive potential, and enables us to make a very powerful 100 plus damage attack on following turn.

Even if we can't make an attack the following turn, this deck still boasts the potential to make a powerplay on the effect of [Stoke], providing amazing versatility against more offensive swarmer decks. The technique for this involves equipping Energy Pouch to our [Stoke] Pokémon, then simply evolving Tepig to Emboar to evacuate the dancefloor. Through the combination of these effects, we can gather energy carefree with [Stoke], and return them all to our hand with Energy Pouch, then directly attach to our next Pokémon for an instant fully powered offensive!

This deck utilizes a lot of Item cards, which does make it somewhat vulnerable to Item lock. However, the offensive power of [Stoke] and their follow up attacks kind of see this leaning towards Seismitoad Item lock being the only significant threat. It has weakness advantage, and isn't easily Knocked Out on the next turn as Trevenant can be by either Charizard-EX or Ho-Oh BREAK.

Items are crucial to success of the typical deck, so one should always remember their importance. The Item here is just as primed as the Pokémon base to help ensure we have a ball tonight! We have 2 Evosoda that boost the evolution heavy dynamics of our grand ball. It wouldn't be a champagne jam with the champagne—but just like any other alcoholic drink—too much could surely kill us.

That's where the tactical spread from Level Ball, Ultra Ball, and Master Ball comes in. The spread between these Item cards aim to act as a dynamic extension to all the different types Pokémon were catering to here. If you take a look, you will see how each acts as extension to particular Pokémon, while themselves doubling up with one another to act as extensions to each other, and further our overall direct retrieval potential. If you use a Level Ball to grab Tepig, you have 2 Evosoda to back up the remaining copy of Level Ball, and the two copies of Pignite—along with a copy of both Master Ball and Ultra Ball—with can retrieve anything.

Master Ball never has a bad use, so make use of it as soon as you can, especially for the Emboar line. Ultra Ball is a very tactical addition that both acts as an extension to Master Ball's universal potential, while also providing us the opportunity to thin out some of our extra content once the party is in full swing. The consistency of these cards is very important to our initial success, yet unfortunately, can become a liability to us and our Wheel Supporter effects (adulterating the consistency of our draw with now useless cards). Just one Ultra Ball provides us an additional benefit to clean up a little mid-game and keep the party in good order.

Moving on to our Supporter spread, it might seem underwhelming, but alongside the utility of our consistency and heavy retrieval power of our Item cards, is actually very proficient to carry us through the night. Four copies of N make up the general foundation of our draw power. N's heavy draw power at the start of the game, in addition to his ability to act as disruption against opponent's turn 1 retrieval cards makes him the best host for the night. From there we have a heavy split between Cheren and Shauna, whose differing potential is intended to create a wild dance between them.

As a one-sided draw with a decent medium range, Shauna is a great backup Supporter to N. However, our needs can be rather particular here, and when we have cards in our hand we need to keep, or have accumulated a decent sized hand from a previous wheel, Cheren makes a much better play to retain the majority of cards in our hand and make a more concentrated draw off the top of the deck. Given how varied their needs can be, they're provided in an even heavy split of 3-3 to ensure there is a good chance to make best use of them both as consistently as they might be needed.

Finishing off the night as the ball drops is Teammates with the big Happy New Year! Teammates is our final Supporter—provided as a heavy tech of two copies here. Teammates is like a super-extension to the inevitable Knock Out on our of our primary Pokémon. Just a single play on Teammates works wonders for bringing everyone together for a celebration!

It can grab a copy of Charizard Spirit Link and M Charizard-EX to instantly Mega Evolve the next turn; or a copy of Energy Pouch and Evosoda to make another powerful follow-up with Ho-Oh BREAK; or a Double Colorless Energy and another Supporter to keep the excitement heavy. Teammates is just a really versatile retrieval card that works wonders for decks with very diverse needs such as this one. The heavy tech of 2 copies provides a decent consistency, that helps to keep it out of the way at the start of the game where it's least likely to be needed, while seeing its appearance heavy as the deck thins out, enough to have a good chance of making use of it at all.

Consistency is prime—so that our luck might be the most consistent of all. One thing you never want to do is test your luck, and that principal is the reason behind the high consistency of Energy Pouch. This card is very important to the success of our strategy here, so we need the best possible chance to draw it that we can get. We really don't want to test our luck with a single less copy than the max—even if 3 copies is a decent consistency for a card you want to have a great chance of getting to within a single shuffle and draw.

Energy Pouch isn't only important, it's also vulnerable to plays on very popular tech cards such as Startling Megaphone. To best protect against this, we want to play those Energy Pouch one by one as they're needed, while the consistency here helps to heavily reinforce our chances of being able to replace one right away if-and-when it's needed.

The heavy tech of two copies on Charizard Spirit Link hold the same purpose as it does with Teammates. It's a card that only has one use, and although it's a pretty important use, it's still not something we can afford to have adulterate the consistency of other more prominent resources (such as Item cards and Supporters). Just two copies has genuinely proven itself to me to be sufficient in decks like this where the Mega Pokémon doesn't lead the dance. Don't forget that it also gets a really good extension from Teammates, helping to ease the comfort of providing just two copies here.

Once the first one makes a successful play, the second one should be thrown down right away on anything to help get it out of the way. This same technique can be used for the first one as well, if you see you're going to have to make a narrow draw on Shauna. It helps to thin the deck significantly, while the extension that Teammates provides can help to make up for the loss of consistency later. Use your head for what it's there for, and don't let a good opportunity pass you by. All's well that ends well.

Full Retaliation

 

Pokémon [16]

1 — Manaphy EX — BREAKpoint (116/122)
4 — Seismitoad EX — Furious Fists (106/111)

4 — Magikarp — Shiny Gyarados Box (XY143)
4 — Gyarados — Ancient Origins (21/98)

1 — Suicune — Plasma Blast (20/101)
3 — Lapras — BREAKpoint (28/122)

Trainers [30]

2 — Red Card — X&Y (124/146)
4 — Dive Ball — Primal Clash (161/160)

2 — Xerosic — Phantom Forces (110/119)
2 — Judge — BREAKthrough (143/162)
2 — Shauna — X&Y (127/146)
3 — Professor Juniper — Plasma Blast (84/101)
4 — N — Fates Collide (105/124)

4 — Team Magma's Secret Base — Double Crisis (32/34)

4 — Hard Charm — X&Y (119/146)
3 — Jamming Net — Phantom Forces (98/119)

Energy [14]

4 — Splash Energy — BREAKpoint (113/122)
4 — Double Colorless Energy
6 — Water Energy

Epilogue

Ho ho ho~ Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus in the on the double getting all his presents to the good boys and girls all over the world. But some boys and girls aren't going to be getting anything nice for Christmas, because they've put their name on the naughty list this year, where they'll face the Full Retaliation of Santa's Workshop!

Our journey on this still magical Christmas Eve begins with Santa Claus and his sleigh—Seismitoad-EX and [Errand Running] Lapras. These are our primary starters for this deck. The consistency here leans in favor of Seismitoad-EX, because the damage exchange and Item Lock disruption provided Seismitoad is a bit more significant of a contributor to our competitive potential. Lapras however still makes an excellent follow-up for us, with its unlimited retrieval power for Trainer cards, that can powerfully help us setup to make victory of the night!

The hearts of children all over the world are spilling over in anticipation tonight, and you can just see from Manaphy's expression, that they can hardly sleep tonight. The magic of their hearts is what propels us on this night with our top Reindeer, Suicune, as the bells jingle around us, and the presents are placed for deserving (while the undeserving await the wake up call of their life).

Suicune and Manapy are our main tech cards. Manaphy enables quick mobilization, to switch from setup to offensive right away, or enable tactical maneuvers on a rough exchange. Suicune on the other hand is an offensive/defensive powerhouse, that can become our ultimate driving force, and plow through the ranks of Pokémon-EX as we jingle all the way!

We don't have any time to waste on Christmas Eve, so we always want to play first as often as we can. You might question this because of Item Lock, but trust that Item Lock can be tough whenever it falls. You don't need to always worry about getting it down right away with the first attack. We have a couple more pressing issues at hand, such as locking down our perimeters, to help ensure our safety from the creatures of the night.

And for this night in particular, safety is by far our biggest concern.

Santa Claus has a lot of experience under the his belt, and that's why we're utilizing this supreme defensive strategy, incorporating the combined power of Hard Charm and Jamming Net, to put up our maximum defenses. This strategy by nature further suggests we play first for best results, to make best use of Jamming Net, in hopes of quickly wrangling any creatures of the night before they get too out of control.

If that does happen, Santa Claus has all the might to wrangle one with his bare strength, between the combination of Xerosic of Jamming Net. This tech addition of 2 Xerosic is a prominent signature of mine whenever running Team Flare Gear. It helps to make best use of the gear, and in a single powerplay, can turns the tides against the opponent in the very heat of battle!

Now, the action begins once we get Team Magma's Secret Base in play. This represents Santa's Workshop, and the homes of all the people in the world, whose warm welcome awaits the arrival of their presents. The presents of course are represented by the golden Magikarp, but some people aren't going to be getting any sweet presents at all. The most they'll be getting is coal—and the coal is definitely the last thing you want to see here—just the same as it is on Christmas Day.

Finding coal on Christmas morning has to be one of the most heartbreaking things ever, sure to make even the toughest boy or girl break down in tears. And maybe that's why it's so befitting that Splash Energy represents the coal in our deck. Equipping [Full Retaliation] Gyarados with this lump of coal enables the full wrath of the North Pole to extend its reach to all naughty children on the list.

You see, Splash Energy can return Gyarados and Magikarp to our hand, thus enabling us to place our golden presents elsewhere on the bench, then triggering Team Magma's Secret Base, and ultimately taking the power of the next [Full Retaliation] back up to its maximum intensity.

Santa Claus has no problem giving naughty children what they deserve. He has a hard policy for being naughty. So hard—that it takes two Hard Charm to represent it. And equipping two Hard Charm to Gyarados is one of the best powerplays you can make with this deck! It stacks with Jamming Net to super-reinforce our jolly team against the bad vibes of naughty boys and girls. Many of them are sure to be very bitter on Christmas morning—we can even expect some hate mail from them later.

Hate mail is of course a good way to instantly land yourself on the naughty list for next year—represented by Red Card. Red Card stacks really powerfully with N, and our other draw Supporters, in hopes the naughty boys and girls will eventually learn their lesson and clean their act up. Red Card can be a powerful disruption by itself, but it's provided here in a tactical split between Judge. This tactical split provides us an extension on our disruption potential, which can work a miracle for us in times where it seems like we might not make it through the night.

It also provides us an extension on our draw potential, which you can almost never have too much of. Draw power is as important as teamwork—and here the two go hand-in-hand to make the Christmas magic happen. Santa's expertise once again comes into play here, understanding that some of our resources are very precious to us (such as our special energy) so that we can't really afford to discard them (especially at the opening of the game). For this reason, Professor Juniper has been tuned to 3 solid copies to help reduce the chance of Mrs. Claus having to make any hasty decisions.

This aims to work out for the best, because 3 copies is a really prime consistency for any card you'd like to get to within a single shuffle and draw with Supporters like N and Shauna. The midrange consistency helps to keep that card out of the opening hand, but sees its probability of being draw significantly increase, once the hand has been played out, and is then replenished in near full.

Lots of help surrounds Mr. and Mrs. Claus in the form of our wheel Supporters base, whose heavy presence is intended to reinforce the chance of having alternative play options to Professor Juniper when it is in our hand. Many times over, our best play can involve wheeling out instead of discarding to draw, because discarding to draw can not only waste precious resources entirely, it can reduce the consistency of our deck's best content, and dramatically effecting our ability to finish the job we set out to do!

8 to 3 is a pretty heavy split—granting us lots of grace to make our rounds long into the night without losing anything important along the way. Good little boys and girls like Shauna are counting on us to deliver the goods. And Shauna is here as our little helper because we can count on her just the same. You see, Professor Birch's Observations was our main option, and although it seems like that card would fit the theme perfectly, we really can't afford to make any gambles on Christmas Eve.

Getting the short end of Professor Birch's Observations can be a dramatic hold up for us (one that we might not be able to recover from). But thinking smart, and taking no chances, we ask Shauna to come along on the ride with us. Because it's easy to see how the magic of a young girl's heart can be always be counted on to keep our pace steady as we drift through the night.

Proclaiming Merry Christmas to all...and to all a goodnight~