Psychic Buzz (TCG)

The Psychic Buzz Deck is a type deck found in the Pokémon Trading Card Game Fossil Expansion Player's Guide. The deck is classified as one of the tournament winning decks, containing more rare cards and strategy than other easy-to-build decks.

Description

CONCEPTS: "Psychic Buzz" is a really good multitude of offensive weapons hidden in a seemingly defensive deck. Electabuzz and Mr. Mime will be dishing out most the punishment onto your opponents, while Slowbro and Gengar line provide support. Psychic and Lightning seem to have so much synergy it's amazing that more combo decks featuring these two colors are not dominate in the tournament environment. The "Psychic Buzz" player should take advantage of this opening and make the most of their "metagame tech".

TIPS FOR PLAYING: "Damage Swap" decks are overpowering to nearly all opponents...once they get rolling. Up to the release of the Fossil expansion however, they were extremely slow to get up to speed. They all relied on Alakazam (a Stage 2 Pokémon) and it's manipulative Pokémon Power. Alakazam can be incredibly slow to get into play unless the entire deck is designed around making this happen. Unfortunately that never seems to leave the TCG player with an offense that can make effective use of the Damage Swap safety cushion that they instigated with so much effort. Now that Fossil cards are available, we can consider using Slowbro's Strange Behavior as a reasonably suitable replacement for Damage Swap. And Slowbro's Evolution is orders of magnitude easier to pull off in the heat of battle than Alakazam, making this a much more reliable feature.

Of course, as reliable as getting Slowbro into play may be, this deck isn't content to merely stall its way to victory. Both Slowbro and Slowpoke will serve useful in tight situations or occasional lapses of action. Slowpoke's Scavenge attack is best used retrieving one of the card drawing trainers that present itself as the most appropriate for the circumstances. Professor Oak is typically the card of choice here, but on rare occasions Slowpoke may find an Energy Retrieval or Computer Search of more value. Pay close attention to the cards that have already passed through your hand and which are most likely to remain in your deck. it is impossible to determine this exactly without checking your prize pile, but just one Computer Search played and a full minute browsing through your decks contents should make this information crystal clear.

Electabuzz and Mr. Mime are the front line heroes of "Psychic Buzz". Electabuzz represents the most cost efficient and longest lasting basic Pokémon in the game. Put him out in front of the beginning of the game to keep pressure on the opponent. Virtually no other monsters have a 2nd turn attack that's capable of doing a 40 damage. Thunderpunch combined with a paralyzing attack move and a huge 70 Hit Points make Electabuzz arguably the best all around Basic Pokémon in the game.

Mr. Mime's attack move Meditate, plus its Invisible Wall Pokémon Power makes this Pokémon the most feared from the Jungle expansion. Meditate always starts off a little slow, but finishes huge. When used in combination with a Gengar using Curse from your bench, you can either speed up the demise of Mr. Mime's defender or stall it to take advantage of an good matchup. By transferring an additional damage counter onto the defender prior to your attack, Meditate might just have enough firepower to finish them off that turn. Or, by transferring a lone damage counter off the defender and onto a more feared benched Pokémon, Mr. Mime can strand a defender that's unable to sneak under his Invisible Wall.

Gengar is the top of the evolution line in a whole new series of powerful Pokémon. Fossil Gastly has great Hit Points and nice first turn attack move. No retreat cost and no weakness will guarantee that Fossil Gastly can tough it out for a few rounds of attack. Of course, this deck doesn't stop with Gastly for Psychic abilities. Evolve into Haunter as soon as possible. Haunter's Transparency Pokémon Power basically doubles the number of rounds that it can stay in battle without increasing Gastly's Hit Points. Against, no weakness and no retreat cost make Haunter useful for Nightmare attacking until a Gengar can be drawn. As soon as Gengar is drawn, retreat Haunter first, prior to evolving. You'll want to make the most use of Curse from your bench, and Gengar will require an energy discard in order to retreat.

PITFALLS: Just like the Pokémon that make this deck great, major threats against it are fresh from the newly released Fossil expansion. Aerodactyl and Muk shut down "Psychic Buzz" by keeping all of its evolved Pokémon out of play, or turn off all the really cool Pokémon Powers that accompany them once they are in play. The best defense this deck has against these nasty opponents is Haunter's Nightmare attack move. Use a Gust of Wind to bring out the enemy Pokémon in question and disable it as soon as possible by putting it to sleep. On your next round, retreat Haunter (for free) and bring in a heavy hitter like Electabuzz to get the K-O and remove the threat for good.

Deck list

Quantity	Card	Type
4×	Electabuzz
4×	Gastly
3×	Haunter
2×	Gengar
3×	Slowpoke
2×	Slowbro
3×	Mr. Mime
4×	Bill	T
3×	Professor Oak	T
2×	Computer Search	T
2×	Energy Retrieval	T
2×	Scoop Up	T
2×	Gust of Wind	T
2×	Super Energy Removal	T
15×	Psychic Energy	E
7×	Lightning Energy	E