The Anti-Haymaker, Version 1 by Philippe Van Lieu and Jimmy Cannon [Roman epic adventure mode on] For months how, the deck Archetype that has been sweeping the PokÈmon TCG tournament scene has been Haymaker. This deck has to be the most powerful (and controversial) archetype becuase of it's speed and ease of playing it effectively. The most popular format has been the version that uses Hitmonchan, Electabuzz, and Scyther, along with the abnormal abuse of SER, Item Finder, and Computer Search combined. Other popular variants of the Haymaker have surfaced to adapt itself to different tournements and just an overall upkeep, like InSaNiTy, Sponge, and God knows what else. But each have surounded themselves around Hitmonchan, Electabuzz, and/or Scyther, and SER. Controversy has revolved around this deck. Although using it is more or less a guarenteed win (which is a good thing considering that many tourneys have a box of cards as a prize), people claim that it takes the fun out of the game and in tournaments all together. Since nothing (yet) has been able to constantly defeat Haymaker, it reduces the number of original decks in tournaments (only because people want to win the tourneys). A while back, I (Philippe) proposed the idea that there are literally billions of different decks out there (the equasion to determine this is too long to post in text like this), and at least one of them has the ability to defeat all forms of Haymaker avalible. We (Jimmy and Philippe) think we've found that deck. This is our Anti-Haymaker (later to be named "Panix"). In about two days after it's initial creation, after at least 10 games of playing several different variants of Haymaker, it stomps all over them (9 games were won, 1 game lost to bad draws). We found our winner deck. Just recently posted the deck list on the PokÈGym Forums, but it got nothing but puzzled remarks from other people. They were totally confused that why Potions and Dittos and such were in our deck. So instead of replying to everyone there like we did, we'll just write an article for it. First, the deck. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Anti-Haymaker (aka Panix) PokÈmon: 4 Gastly (Fossil) 2 Haunter (Fossil) 2 Ditto 2 Moltres Trainers: 3 Defender 2 Computer Search 4 Bill 2 Professor Oak 4 Energy Removal 2 Potion 2 PokÈmon Center 2 PokÈmon Trader 2 Lass Energy: 11 Psychic Energy 12 Fire Energy 2 Double Colorless Energy Doesn't look solid, now does it? Well, you're sadly off. Key factors of this deck are: Ä Eat away at the already disintegrating Haymaker deck, thus forcing your opponent to either deck out faster or to play a lot slower to prevent decking. Ä Prevent damage done (Potion or PokÈmon Ceneter), which slows the damage process. Ä Keep Hitmonchan pinned to the ground. With Hitmonchan basically out of the way, there are only 2 (Electabuzz and Scyther) who still work. Ä Use their own Haymaker PokÈmon against them (Ditto). Here's a tip: The low basic PokÈmon count helps deck your opponent's deck faster. Your opponent things he/she might be getting a card advantage with their very large hands, but it's only digging them an early grave. Overall, using these cards will slow down the Haymaker enough to either pummel the weakened PokÈmon or the thining deck. Points to address: Ä This deck is specifically Anti-Haymaker, although it can by played against other decks. Ä If played right, there will be very little to no energy on your PokÈmon. So SER has no effect on this deck. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Single card tips for the Anti-Haymaker: So... wondering how to use this new deck effectivly against Haymaker? Well, it takes a great bit of strategy, however when you've got it down, you'll be devestating Haymakers left and right. Ä Gastly Gas gas gastly! Gastly is in here as a way to keep Hitmonchan down. Psychic PokÈmon, resistance to Fighting... I don't care what you think, but that Hitmonchan is going nowhere. Next, Gastly's Lick attack. 10 and possible Paralyzation is good enough for this guy. It'll stall your opponent a bit from attacking. Third, Energy Conversion. Considering that Haymakers use SER like there's no tomorrow, Energy Conversion is a way to get _any_ energy back, at the cost of 10 damage. This helps out to get some Fire back for Moltres or a DCE back for Ditto. If you slap on a Defender, you'll get those energy without having to worry about that 10 damage. Also, Gastly (along with the other PokÈmon in the deck) turns Gust of Wind into mush. Considering that the most any Haymaker PokÈmon can do to Gastly is 30/40 damage (without the aid of Plus Powers), that "gusted" Gastly will just retreat or get Potioned. Think of it this way. You've got a Ditto as your active and a Gastly on your Bench. Your opponent has an Electabuzz as their active. During your turn, you did 30 damage to the Electabuzz (through Ditto). Since your opponent doesn't want to get pummeled by Ditto again, he decided to Gust with the Gastly and attack that Gastly. Well, it's not like it did any good, because during your turn, you retreat with the Ditto and finish the Electabuzz off. Or the opposite. Your opponent Gusts your Gastly with a Moltres or Ditto on your bench. Big deal! That Moltres can just be used to stall by eating away your opponent's deck, or the Ditto can dom some greally good damage to the Haymaker PokÈmon. This situation with Gastly and such has occured several times during game play. And in either way, it's a lose situation with Gusts. Ä Haunter Sheesh, everyone should know this one. One word, Transparency. Prevent a lot of attacks done by Haymakers is a good thing. Very good thing. Along with Nightmare, your opponent's Haymaker PokÈmon aren't attacking for a while. On top of that, it's also a Hitmonchan stomper. Another way to keep it pinned to the ground. It also effectivly prevents the horrible effects of Gust of Winds (as you might have already read about in the Gastly section). And above all, due to it's stalling ability and low energy cost, it too nullifies the effects of SER. Not that Haunter can directly counter SER, but since it can stall very well (and so can you if you use Potions and such), there's no reason for you to not get 2 energy back on it. Ä Moltres Simple. Wildfire, burn away your opponent's deck. The number of cards in your deck is greatly important, for it's the number of turns you can take. The less cards you have in the deck, the less number of turns left to play. This also limits the number of attacks one can make. And since attacking is vital to the Haymaker, less attacks means a less of a chance to win. This also aids in the process of decking out your opponent's deck. Read this example: In a game I recorded, Wildfire was used 6 times against my Haymaker. I eventually had to forfeit because it would have eventually decked itself. At the time of forfeiting, Hay had 6 cards left, and the Anti had 11 card left. If the Wildfire wasn't used, then the Hay would have had 12 cards left, while the Anti had only 11. My Hay would have eventually won becuase the Anti Haymaker would have eventually decked itself. Now, Wildfire is basically Moltres' only use. Building up for Dive Bomb is NOT RECOMENDED, because it's just a major target for SER. Besides, it's not really needed at all. After at least 10 games or so of play testing, Dive Bomb was never used ONCE. Speaking of SER, if you have your Moltres as your active, and you attack a Fire energy onto it, use Wildfire THE SAME TURN. Because that Energy, if not discard for Widlfire, will be none the less discarded due to SER or ER. Also, it gives SER one less PokÈmon to target. Ä Ditto So what's this pathetic PokÈmon doing here? Well, a lot. Basically, this is your method of using your opponent's Haymaker PokÈmon against them. How? Well, think of this: First turn (if your opponent has an Electabuzz as their Active), slap a DCE on Ditto, and you've got yourself 30/40 damage. (Remember, any energy on Ditto counts for any energy at all... including electric energy) FIRST TURN! If you opponent fails to Paralyze the Ditto on their first turn, the Electabuzz is just about nuked on your next turn. Considering that Ditto can use any energy as any energy, you can be faster than your opponent's Haymaker. Slap together a DCE, hurt Electabuzz. Slap a DCE and one other, hurt Himonchan or Scyther. First or Second turn damage can really impare the power of Haymaker. Also with Ditto, you'll rarely have to worry about Ditto's HP through switching. Since every Haymaker PokÈmon has 70 HP (and up), if your opponent switches their PokÈmon around, Ditto remains uneffected, no matter that damage is on it. And the chances of Ditto itself having 50 or 60 damage on it is not very likely, so Gusting it to the bench with 50 or 60 damage is not so much of a problem (but a dent in your deck if and when it happens). Ä Potion Now I'm sure asking, "Why the heck is Potion in here?!" Simple! To slow the damage process. Think of this: Your opponent has a Electabuzz and you have your Moltres as actives. Your opponent has one card left in their deck and one prize left. Your Moltres has 40 damage on it, which will mean your opponent's Electabuzz will KO your Moltres before your opponent draws out (through Thunderpunch). You draw your card. It's a Potion! Use it on your Moltres, bringing it down to 20 damage. Since it has no energy (in this example), it doesn't attack. Next turn, your opponent draws their last card, and only does 40 damage to your Moltres. Well, you can sit back after that, because in your opponent's next turn, they'll draw out. In the many games I've played against the Anti-Hay with my Hay, there have been several situations like this. Moltres and other PokÈmon have been saved from being KO'd with Potions and PokÈmon Centers several times, or at least saved long enough to do some really good damage to either the PokÈmon or the deck. If you use Defender and Potion together during the same turn, you'll be able to stall the damage process a lot. Ä Defender Defender also softens the Haymaker's damage process. It also counters the effects of Plus Powers. Your opponent needs to waste 2 Plus Powers to ignore the effects of Defender, if the Defender didn't prevent the initial damage in the first place. There's not much else that can be said about this. Here's a tip, use it with Potion. Easily stop and remove a total of 40 damage, which is more than an unaided Electazbuzz can do. Ä Computer Search Search for the good stuff. Double Colorless Energy, Moltres, anything. Duh! Ä Bill Draws. Ä Professor Oak Draws a lot. Here's an obvious tip, never use this unless you have more than 7 cards extra than your opponent's deck. Ä Energy Removal Here's a tip: Slow down your opponent's Haymaker with Energy Removals. Remove the right type! Instead of removing a Fighting Energy on an Electabuzz, go for the Electric energy. Ä PokÈmon Center Are all your PokÈmon about to get KO'd? Use PokÈmon Center! Considering that the PokÈmon in this deck use little to no energy (Moltres needs only one fire to be effective, Ditto can use Double Colorless, Haunter needs only 2), a PokÈmon Center in this deck is very useful. SER can remove two turns worth of your energy, but then PokÈmon Center can remove like 5 turns worth of damage dealing. This means that your opponent needs to play 5 more turns to do the same ammount of damage, but by then their deck is slimming out to almost nothing. Ä PokÈmon Trader Sick of Moltres? Need a Haunter? Trade for it! Duh! Here's a tip: Always have one of each PokÈmon (Moltres, Gastly/Haunter, & Ditto) in play. Ä Lass Your only true defense against SER. I don't care what anyone says, Lass is worth it. Here's a tip: You've got a Moltres? Are all your PokÈmon energy-less? Well, there's no doubt that your opponent has an SER in their hand. If you use Lass, it'll remove the SER from the hand for the time being, probably long enough for your Moltres to Wildfire it away. Ä Double Colorless Energy: Attach this with Ditto, and you've got one Anti-Haymaker PokÈmon! Here's a tip: Never EVER play a DCE first for an energy cost. If you've got a Ditto out and your opponent has a Scyther, attach a regular energy first. Then during your turn, if that energy is still there, attach the DCE to do some good damage. If you attach the DCE first, then that's an incentive for your opponent to use a Computer Search, find an Energy Removal, and then remove the DCE. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Strategies for Countering Specific Haymaker Cards: Not sure about what to do when a Haymaker card attacks? Use these time tips: Ä Scyther: > Ditto: Turn one, a Basic Energy card. Then Swords Dance. Next turn, attack a Double Colorless Energy, Slash for 60. Thurn three, Slash. Bye Bye Scyther! > Energy Removal: ER a Double Colorless Energy or a Grass Energy attached to the Scyther. > Haunter: Transparency Ä Hitmonchan: > Ditto: Turn one, attach a basic Energy card, 20 damage. Turn two, (Potion if you can) attach a DCE, 40 damage. Turn three, 20 damage. > Gastly: Fighting Resistance, Psychic Attacks > Haunter: Fighting Resistance, Psychic Attacks, Automatic Sleep, Transparency > Moltres: Fighting Resistance Ä Electabuzz: > Ditto: Turn one, attach a Double Colorless Energy, attack for 30/40 Damage. Turn two, attack for 30/40 damage. > Defender: Thundershock has no damaging effects, Thunderpunch only does 10 or 20 damage, which can be removed by Potions. Ä SER: > Lass: Shuffle the SER back into deck. > Moltres: Use only Wildfire, never has energy on it when opponent can use SER. With Lass, SER might be the top card when you Wildfire. > Gastly: Uses cheap attacks, able to retrieve any energy card. > Haunter: Uses cheap attacks, Transparency can stall until Energy is reattached to attack. > Ditto: Also uses cheap attacks. > PokÈmon Center: OK, no Energy, remove all Damage then. Or, use it so that your opponent has no PokÈmon to target with an SER, which will allow you enough time to Lass it. Ä Item Finder: > What are they going to Item Finder for that you can't counter? Ä Comptuer Search: > What are they going to Search for that you can't counter? Ä Plus Power: > Defenders: Can prevent the initial damage so that the Plus Power has no effect. > Potion: Any damage done by a Plus Power is removed. > Lass: Shuffle it back into deck, and then Moltres can Wildfire it away. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Conclusions: Well, what else can wee say? This is _THE_ Anti-Haymaker. If played right, it can trample Haymakers. We feel that the above tips will help you to play this deck a lot better than playing it without knowing the tips. Study them, practice, learn what is best for you. Then play against Haymaker can kick it's arse to the moon. Also, this deck will also be evolving as the Haymaker evolves though different decks. We've stylized this deck under the American card sets. We are unsure how this deck will hold up under a Gym or Neo enhanced Haymaker. If you wish, you can put together a Panix variant which is more effective than this one. Suggestions? Comments? Tips? Money? Send them to us! Philippe Van Lieu - nick15@pacbell.net Jimmy Cannon - iviegax@hotmail.com Enjoy this wonderful deck!