Part 5: Mind Over Missing

Rock Club



There's just 3 clubs left to go, don't think there's anything that really happens between 5 and 6, so we'll be using this Haymaker deck by The Golux, though it's not the kind you're expecting. After all, there's plenty of random Basics to throw into a deck.



before you duel the members here! OK! A single match with 4 prizes! I'm going to defeat you!



Of course we're gonna use Farfetch'd, it- FUCK, we didn't get the slap.



Still, Hitmonlee is much less dangerous than the chan, so we'll use Farfetch'd to its full potential later. And I'm still putting Hitmonchan in because I need something dependable, christ.



If you let it power up, then it can snipe the bench for 20 damage, or smack you real hard with Hi Jump Kick. Alright, let's see what else he-



How could this be!?! I'm the one who was defeated! I must return to the Fighting Club to start my training over!

Oh, he never drew another Basic. Cool! That's actually weird considering he has FIFTEEN BASICS, but such is life. He used Mankey and Machop along with the hitmons and balanced it with various Colourless that he could cake in the 26 Fighting energy he probably kept pulling. That was about it for his strat, such is his deck name.



I just finished a duel! I won, of course! The Legendary Cards will belong to me! How about it? Would you like to duel me? OK, same as last time! We'll play with 4 prizes. Is that alright? OK then, let's begin!



He says same as last time even though this is the first time we've fought. Matthew only has the one Snorlax, so it's very unlucky to lead with it.



He's a bit of a staller, but we've got something in the back to take on this crying child.





Seriously. With 3 energy, Farfetch'd is able to dish out consistent damage. Somehow. It's dumb, but not as dumb as this endless stall! But hey, let's be frosty and go for Leek-



FUCK




Wow I'm in hell, but hey, since I can discard Psychic energy for Computer Search, Mewtwo can charge up in 1 turn. But due to Snivel and Defender, it's still alive!!!



Not gonna kill it this turn, so I'll get some more energy. Just because I can.



I'll never get the Legendary Cards if I play like that... I'm going to win the next time we duel.

Thank god that's over. He should be using the Geodude line to deal damage, instead of wasting time with Basics that don't do anything other than waste our time. 4 Defenders and 3 Gust of Wind tell you everything you need to know.



Rock Pokemon... doesn't the name rock? Won't you duel against my Rock Pokemon deck? Thanks! We'll rock this match with 4 prizes!



The Haymaker-Style is split between Farfetch'd, Hitmonchan, Promo Mewtwo, Jynx and Mr. Mime, since we hadn't had a Psychic deck yet, so let's not use Hitmonchan for once.



Meditate deals 20 damage plus 10 more for each damage counter on the opponent, so a reverse Rage, which makes it not as useful. Best used to pick off Pokemon that are barely under half health. The AI usually retreats around then, so you probably won't get it to stick. Also it has Doubleslap, whatever. You're right, I should have posted its card since I was highlighting it, but it's Jynx, it should never be highlighted.



Ponyta hits hard for its stage, but Rapidash only does 30 with Stomp or Agility with a chance of added effects and is pretty mediocre.



I have already had enough. But rejoice, my children, for the SAVIOR HAS COME!!!



HELL YEAH! Also get that crying child outta here. Andrew was another person that should've evolved his mons, but decided to just stick around and stall because I guess I don't have anything better to do with my time. I mean they're kinda right... However despite only having Rapidash and Jynx, he has a lot of energy space for them, making it hard to find other mons.



A Rockin' guy like me should be hard to beat! I've got to rock harder!



What? You want to duel? Alright. You want to duel now? Let's make it a quick single match with 3 prizes. OK, let's start!



Nice little boxing match to start us off, but since I threw the first punch, I'll win the war. Unless we keep healing it off.



No evolutions, baby! But aside from just endless punching since I didn't get many Basics, there wasn't much to the fight.



Whoa! I lost! Here! Take this! What's going on? Must be my unlucky day...

We didn't see the weirdness, such is one and done fights, but Ryan has a full fossil deck, so he has Shellder and Omanyte as Water mons, with energy to match. Though if you take down his Mysterious Fossils, his best options are Hitmonchan and Sandshrew. Also because he has so many Pokemon he'll never actually draw into the ones he needs.



Our duel will be played with 6 prizes! You won't get the Rock Medal unless you defeat me!

Club Master Duel





Marco, it's me, Doctor Mason. I have some information for you about Gene's deck - he's the Master of the Rock Club. His Rock Crusher Deck is extremely strong against Lightning Pokemon. But it's weak against Grass Pokemon! I suggest you study the deck from the Grass Medal Deck Machine. Oh! Before I forget... here's a booster pack for you! Marco! Go defeat Gene, the Master of the Rock Club! Mason Laboratory Doctor Mason



I'm absolutely gutted that didn't work. Oh well, we're getting lucky with the Leer flips.



Like real lucky, I love it.



But hey, we've yet to see one member of our team, let's give it a shake. Seems a bit fragile though...



You can fight Gene immediately, but if you don't know what you're doing, you'll walk right into a damn Dugtrio, which seems a little mean. His Diglett are fragile, but Defenders seem to be everywhere in this club, bah.





Ah I'm being coy, we're actually completely safe. Mr. Mime is probably one of the most annoying Pokemon in the game. If you don't have any status to disable its Power, then you can only ever 2HKO it at MINIMUM. This Dugtrio cannot touch us, though it'll take some time to actually kill anything due to Meditate being pretty mediocre.



How crazy, Rhyhorn has an attack that's not Leer. Well it's just Stomp, so whatever. Mr. Mime doesn't work amazingly against the AI since they tend to not evolve their Basics due to never drawing into the evolutions due to terrible deck builds, but that's not a surprise. But hey, at least the game will never be mean enough to base an entire club about the Psychic type. Haha.



He's stuck on energy with a big heavy snake that only does 10 damage and only exists to stall against small damage. It's over.



Wonderful... your persistence - persistence that can even break rock - has led you to defeat me! You are worthy of receiving this Rock Medal!



And take this Booster Pack, too. I look forward to the day we duel again!

Alright, six medals, it's time for a Challenge Cu-

Rival Encounter



The Challenge Cup is over already! Too bad you couldn't enter! The prize belongs to me! Lv8 Mew! You should really enter the next Challenge Cup! But then again, why bother, since I'll also win that one, too! See ya! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!



GUIDE: cool too! Challenge Cups are the best! I wonder when the next one will be?




Pokemon Power: Neutral Shield
Prevent all effects of attacks, including damage, done to Mew by Evolved Pokémon. You can't use this power if Mew is Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed.

Psyshock
Flip a coin. If heads, the Defending Pokémon is now Paralyzed.

Well if Mewtwo got a bunch of promos, then of course Mew did. They're all terrible, but that's fine, I'm very miffed about actually missing a Challenge Cup. But I've corrected many Bulbapedia mistakes over the years and the second cup takes place between medals 5 and 6, not 6 and 7. It kinda makes sense, you face Ronald right after medal 5, so to fight him again in a Challenge Cup immediately after is just weird. I also had the bright idea to save beforehand, so I'm not restarting. Ronald will win any Challenge Cup you don't do, but he doesn't add the prize to his deck. I'll use the deck I was planning on using elsewhere, it's not a big deal, you'll just have to get the missed Promo from a postgame Challenge Cup.

Anyway, the card itself, the Power is actually unique right now and very powerful... if Haymaker didn't exist. Still cool though. The card itself was released through the Jan 1997 CoroCoro and available in English through official TCG leagues in June 2002, though an error made Psyshock's side effect Confusion instead of Paralysis. This game marks the only accurate English translation, and the first one to boot!





And since we're cheating in the missed Mew, might as well get the two cards only available through Card Pop!, which require another game, and are completely unobtainable in the 3DS VC version of this game. You're not missing much. Venusaur is interesting, but the one you'll actually get in game is just so much better. Though attacking with this is risky since you won't be able to heal yourself if you get statused. It was created for this game, but you got a physical copy of this card in Pokémon Card GB Official Guidebook in Japan or the Pokémon Trading Card Game: Official Nintendo Player's Guide in English. So that's neat.


Mystery Attack
This attack does a random number of damage and may cause a Special Condition to the Defending Pokémon.

Well it could be interesting? We only have this scan of the GB card, since they were all included in a Pokemon card Price Guide for whatever reason, but this card cribs artwork from the regular Mew in this game, from the Mystery boosters. Weird, but gotta make the kids use Card Pop!. As an aside, the Mystery Mew was available in Japan from the Fossil expansion, but it was moved to a Promo for the English release, from official TCG leagues in Jan 2000.



Well hey, let's cheer ourselves up by visiting... the worst club in the game. Aw man.

Psychic Club



My Ghost deck is really strong! It doesn't have any weaknesses. And it's difficult for opponents' attacks to cause damage! Would you like to duel me? A single match with 4 prizes! Come on, my precious ghosts! Let's make his Pokemon disappear!



Lord help me I'm using an Eevee deck. This was suggested by TheMcD and while it's not optimal in the slightest, of course we've gotta use it! And Porygon to make the eeveelutions hit harder, but I'll just do more damage by not constantly switching to take advantage of this.



Zubat is as annoying as you think with Supersonic and Leech Life. But we've got something in the back, let's use it.




Double Kick
Flip 2 coins. This attack does 20 damage times the number of heads.

Stun Needle
Flip a coin. If heads, the Defending Pokémon is now Paralyzed.

For even more crazier options we're using 1 of each of the eeveelutions, one actual and one GB, each with different strengths. Regular Jolteon has some nice average damage in Pin Missile while GB Jolteon has much more consistent damage in Stun Needle.



Transforming into a random Basic just isn't as fun as the Defending Pokemon like the actual Ditto they didn't implement in this game, but what can ya do?



Robert's deck isn't massively threatening since Gengar doesn't do a lot of upfront damage and he's clogged up with Zubat, Meowth and Ditto. A surprise Pokemon Breeder might turn the tide, so knock out the little Gastly asap.



If you're unlucky enough to get two Sleep rolls, then Dream Eater does a lot of damage. Thankfully it doesn't heal Haunter.



The other Haunter only does 10 damage with Nightmare, but has guaranteed Sleep, as well as a rad Power to stall, if you get lucky.




Might as well get as much use from Porygon as possible, even if it's a pretty rubbish gimmick. Oh well.



But I see the future... you will lose... OK, a single match with 4 prizes! Here we go!



The Psychic Club love using some Colourless in their decks, and Lickitung is by far the worst. Has a load of HP and either paralyzes you or confuses you. What an infuriating combo.



It got paralysis all 3 times, so let's use the other Jolteon for Quick Attack, I guess. All the main eeveelutions learn it and it's an alright move, but definitely not something to rely on.



Don't ask how long it takes to kill a Lickitung, I don't remember and I don't want to know.



Hell yeah confusion. Just use a Switch, flipping to see whether you waste your turn is not worth it.



Cool. A nice way to absorb 50 damage, but becomes incredible Gust of Wind bait.




Come on people, let's get it together. At least Vaporeon can deal big damage as it's charging, but the biggest wall against this deck is Mr. Mime. Really, what are the chances we'll roll 20 or lower for our attacks? Anything set is 30 or above, which is definitely not allowed.



Our best answer is Quick Attack when it lands tails, letting us 4HKO Mr. Mime. But at least it's nearly de-



FUCK!!! Well at least we have our secret weapon.



Eevee and Porygon has -30 Psychic resistance and a lot of Psychic mons hit that benchmark, making us invincible while we slowly whittle down with Quick Attack. Joy. I didn't really realise how big of a problem Mr. Mime would be to this deck, but I've chosen it for this club, so we're sticking to it.



Oh wait we decked out, rip. Let's try that again and hopefully not face Mr. Mime. Or at least not use my Gust of Winds too early.



Now that's what I like to see! Well, I did get tails on the Quick Attack, what a surprise, but let's see what else you- oh you already know what's coming.



I can't believe my prediction was wrong... I see a vision... you're dueling me again.

Mr. Mime aside, her deck isn't that bad due to the glut of Psychic mons she's using, including a few Mew! Still, she has PlusPower and Trader to get the right things and ensure they hit harder, so try to avoid that.



so he'll probably duel you now. By the way. Would you duel me? Let's play with 4 prizes. OK. Here we go!



Uh, yeah that's the deck name. I think it's time to face another Wigglytuff.




Focus Energy
During your next turn, this Pokemon's Bite attack's base damage is doubled.

Bite

Vaporeon does some good damage when combined with Blastoise to set up with 5 Water energy, otherwise it's a bit slow. The GB scan is incorrect for whatever reason, all the GB eeveelutions don't require specific energy. Bite is consistent and you can make it nice and big the turn before you get all the energy, or you can't attack the enemy for whatever reason.



Well okay, feel free to drag in this duck, means Vaporeon doesn't take any damage. It's a perfectly fine strategy to leave some weak mons in the back so the AI gets greedy with sniping.



And then it rolls from there, not drawing any energy hmm?



You're no ordinary player if you can defeat me! Next time we play, I'm going to win!

Like you'd expect from the name, Daniel uses a lot of Pokemon that can induce Sleep, like Paras, Exeggcute and Jigglypuff. The only Psychic mon he uses is the Gastly line, so his deck is very simple, but can be quite a pain if you flip poorly.



who's visiting the clubs to win the Medals. How do I know this? Because I'm psychic! OK, let me test my new card strategy... against your deck! Are you ready? When you duel me, it's for 6 prizes. Shall we start then!?!

Club Master Duel





Marco, it's me, Doctor Mason. Are you getting any closer to inheriting the Legendary Pokémon Cards? Murray of the Psychic Club - I have some information on his deck! It seems to be a deck that uses Alakazam's Damage Swap! It will be difficult to defeat his deck of Psychic Pokemon. Psychic Pokemon are tricky since their weakness is Psychic Pokemon! Try to defeat him before his Pokemon evolves into Alakazam. Murray is a tough opponent... here, take this! Fight to the end, Marco, and don't give up! Mason Laboratory Doctor Mason



Alright, it's the worst fight in the game, Dr. Mason isn't kidding, Murray is tough because his strategy is so simple and so effective even an AI can pull it off! He has plenty of big Colourless Basics that'll become a problem if we let it.



He's a stalling little bitch as well, so my strategy of burning through my deck to overwhelm the enemy won't work as well this time.



But it's good of him to try and build his Kangaskhan up to attack, means all those Psychic energy go to waste.



Of course he's got more than one Kanga, but that's fine, watch the deck amount.





Oh boy, here we go. Alakazam is pretty deadly, not just because of its Power, though it's definitely a big reason. If you have a bunch of big Basics, your Active has practically infinite health, especially when combined with Scoop Up, which Murray has. Thankfully it's a little fragile and easy to snipe before it fully evolves, but when it gets to fully strut its stuff and annoy the hell out of you when it's attacking, this is by far one of the hardest fights in the game.



Thankfully he's running a bit low on energy, so Chansey will just sit there while he runs out of cards, but I can still do some good damage!




Bite

Rage
Does 10 damage plus 10 more damage for each damage counter on this Pokemon.

Surprised he let me KO the Chansey, but I'm not complaining! Flareon is the most dependable out of all 3 eeveelutions, with great damage in Flamethrower and perfectly fine in Bite, and even Rage when you're a little beat up, though it only goes up to 60 damage. Still, something very hard hitting is exactly what we need right now, the more damage the better.



Kadabra hits damn hard with Super Psy, but without another Fire energy, we can't OHKO in return.



If we used Bite every turn, you can see how long it would take to finally defeat Kadabra. Murray at least doesn't use Damage Swap onto any Psychic mons, so you ONLY have to contend with 3 Chansey, 3 Kangaskhan and 2 Snorlax. That's a lot of HP, but they're just annoyances until he pulls out Alakazam.



Well we beat a Kadabra... now he's ready to use his ace. Oh dear.



My strategy is just ignoring these monsters and sniping the big boys that can't do anything back. We're incredibly lucky that he hasn't put down any Mr. Mime, which is what Gust of Wind is there for so I can ignore them, or Scoop Up, to pick up any damaged Basic and place them down immediately after fully healed at basically no cost. It's a bitch and a half.



Running out of Gust of Wind, or even Switches, makes the rest of the fight a coin flip as to whether you can even do anything and it sucks. Like, really really sucks. The amount of times I failed to beat Murray due to any combination of immortal Actives or bad Confusion luck, or getting decked out by Mr. Mime is something I'm glad to never let see the light of day.



Alright, let's neuter the Alakazam for a bit, one energy discard for two opponent's is great, if only we got more than one before postgame.



So, since I don't have any Switches, if I don't want Murray to get a free prize card, then I need to get the heck outta here.




Fucking finally! Using up the energy and then flipping to see if you escape makes Confusion much deadlier than it should be.



Alright, annoying, but he's running out of options. Guess he discarded his Scoop Ups when he used Oak, not gonna complain!




Well this turned very bad very quickly, if I can get that last damn Gust of Wind, then I can win this match!



While Eevee and Porygon are great walls since Alakazam only does 30 damage, confusion still occurs. Still, it was a very, very close game, but I did have him in checkmate.



Really, where's the fun in letting him deck out. I can ensure you the rest of the game will be pretty damn easy compared to this, it seems no matter what deck you're using, you'll have trouble against Murray.



Well, you must be pretty good if you're trying to inherit the Legendary Pokemon Cards. Here, take this Psychic Medal.



I'll think of a new strategy, so come see me again! I'll be waiting! Ha ha ha ha ha......



PAPPY: I feel so much better! Here, let me give you this Mewtwo card.





Another day, another Promo Mewtwo. It's identical to the previous Promo, but different artwork, which is the case irl as well. It was available in Japan one month after its previous from the May 1997 CoroCoro magazine, and in English as an insert in the VHS and DVD releases of the first movie. This also makes it the first English card to get a reprint with different artwork.

PAPPY: Thank you for defeating Murray! I feel so much better since you defeated Murray!



There's only one club left to go, crazy. Next time, it's... the rest of the game! Seriously. Things are feel real Gen 1 in here.