4.18.00
Deckbuilding For Starting and Advanced Players
Today I will be discussing the principles of a
good deck for BOTH starting and advanced players.
~STRATEGY~
Every deck needs a good strategy for it to become
successful whether it be fast, High Hp, cheap attacking pokemon or pokemon
with extremely high Hp combined with Alakazam to keep your active alive.
For those of you who have just picked up pokemon TCG I suggest that your
first deck should be an archetype or a variation of an archetype. For
advanced players, try and come up with your own strategy. If your
stumped on a strategy just flip through your binder and look for unique
cards that can support a strategy.
~POKEMON~
After you’ve decided on a strategy you need pokemon
to support the strategy. So if your strategy is to damage the bench and
the active pokemon then finish everybody off with Jynx’s Meditate
attack, put in some Fossil Raichu and other bench damaging pokemon along
with maybe a few Mr. Mime along with 4 Jynx because of their meditate
attack. You also might want to include some haymaker pokemon for some good
start of the game power and strong pokemon to fight for you why you charge
up your evolutions or heavy energy pokemon. Here’s a list of haymaker
pokemon for you to use.
WATER-Lapras
FIRE-Magmar(Fossil)
PSYCHIC-Jynx & Promo Mewtwo
FIGHTING-Hitmonchan
ELECTRIC-Electabuzz(Base Set)
GRASS-Scyther(Does not need grass energy)
The next thing you need is a lot of basics to prevent a
mulligan. I’d say you need around 10-14 basics. Another thing you might
want to consider is some stall pokemon used to stall why you build up your
heavy hitters. Unlike haymaker pokemon that fight why you charge up, these
guys let you just about get your whole bench pumped up while they sit
there and die. Here’s a list of stalling pokemon.
1st class choice(s)
Chansey-Almost never give her energy. Her MAIN purpose is to stall
why you pump up your pokemon NOT to kill herself.
Kangaskhan-My personal favorite because of his ability to draw
cards. This is one of the few cards that works great with only one in a
deck. Do NOT charge up Comet Punch.
2nd class choice(s)
Likitung-He can stall forever with a one energy paralyze attack and
90 Hp. Also great for those of you short on cash because he’s an
uncommon.
Snorlax-His unique ability to avoid status effects, greatly helps
his stalling ability.
3rd class choice(s)
Onix-Not that great except for his Hp. It’s really not worth the
2 energy for harden and he’s not colorless which is the main reason
he’s a 3rd class stall.
The next thing to have is a powerhouse. Almost all
decks need a powerhouse. Why? Without powerhouses the late-game will just
demolish you. The problem is, powerhouses take a long time to build up so
that’s where you use a haymaker/stall pokemon.
The next thing to learn is to pyramid your evolutions.
Why? Because it gives you a greater chance of getting out the evolution
and if a basic/stage 1 is “knocked out” you should still have enough
basics/stage 1s to reach you final evolved form. In other words; if you go
3-3 on the Dewgong line and a Seel faints you now have a useless Dewgong.
Oh yeah, you should almost never have more than 2 evolutions line and no
more than 1 stage 2 line. As for pokemon quantity, never have more than 20
and never have less than 12. And almost always use MULTIPLES! (There are a
few exceptions)
Now with pokemon to support your strategy you need
~TRAINERS~
Now with your strategy and pokemon set, you need
trainers. The trainers, like pokemon, need to support your strategy.
Here’s an example of how to choose trainers.
John is building a new energy denial deck with Golduck,
Dewgong, Lapras, and Kangaskhan. John thinks to himself that he’ll put
in 4 energy removal and 4 super energy removal to support his theme. He
also decides to put in 3 energy retrieval to get back those energy lost
with Super Energy Removal. After thinking he also decides to add in 3 Gust
Of Wind so that benched pokemon can’t get pumped up. Then he puts
in 2 switches because of his pokemon have fairly high retreat costs. And
last he puts in 3 Bill and 2 Oak for card drawing power and 2 Gambler so
he won’t deck himself.
Here’s a list of a FEW of the best trainers
Bill
Oak
PC Search
Energy Removal
Super Energy Removal
Energy Retrieval
Gust Of Wind
Switch
Item Finder
Pokemon Trader
Scoop Up
Mr. Fuji
Gambler
Pluspower
~ENERGY~
Most decks need between 20 and 27 energy. For heavy
energy decks or discarding fire decks I suggest 28-30 energy. Haymakers
usually run 18-24(Including DCE). How I figure out the energy is to start
off with pokemon and trainers then find out the space I have left for
energy. If the amount I have fits between the average of my deck type I
put in that many energy then play-test about 5 or so games then determine
a number from that and play-test that number. Here’s an example of how I
find out energy...
I already have 14 pokemon and 23 trainers and am
playing a haymaker. 23+14=37. So now I subtract 37 from 60. 60-37=23. 23
energy fits between 18 and 24 energy so I’ll play-test with that to see
how it works.
~THE METAGAME~
I’m pretty sure most of you know what the
“metagame” is, but for those of you who don’t it means it’s what a
pokemon player does to determine what the popular strategy/deck/type is
around his/her area. After deciding what the “metagame” is in your
area you might want to change your deck so it’s not so vulnerable
against the “metagame”. Another thing you might want to do is make a
deck to combat the “metagame”. For Ex., the “metagame” around your
area is Charizard decks. To combat these you might want to make a water
deck with Energy and Super Energy Removals to keep Charizard at bay while
you destroy him with water pokemon.
If you choose to make a deck to combat the”metagame”
make sure your deck can combat against other decks beside the “metagame”.
Here’s an example of a deck following these
principles...
4xPsyduck
3xGolduck
4xLapras
4xSeel
3xDewgong
1xKangaskha
--------------------
4xS.E.R.
4xEnergy Removal
3xEnergy Retreival
3xGOW
2xSwitch
3xBill
2xOak
---------------------
20 Water Energy
This deck has 12 basics which is between 10 and 14. It
has between 20 and 27 energy. It has a powerhouse(Dewgong), Haymaker(Laprs),
and a stall(Kangaskhan). It has a good strategy and supports the strategy
with pokemon and trainers(Energy Denial). It also refers to the
“metagame” of the Charizard decks. There is no DCE in this deck
because kangaskhan only needs 1 energy and Dewgong is for Aurora Beam.
JohnDaTycoon - johndatycoon@mindspring.com