Advanced Card Advantage

By now, everyone should be familiar with the term
"card advantage".  But your average player has little
understanding of its true meaning and the power of
drawing more cards then your opponent.  Card advantage
can be loosely defined as using one of your cards to
destroy or nullify two or more of your opponent's
cards.  It can also mean simply drawing more cards
than your opponent.  

To understand the true meaning of card advantage, you
must first be familiar with the "void state" of a
pokemon game.  The void state is when a player has an
empty hand and is drawing one card per turn.  The
player may be well off with a strong pokemon with
plenty of energy cards attached, and a strong bench,
but what he or she does every turn is solely dependent
on what card is drawn.  In this situation, and in
situations when the cards in your hand are not useful
at the time, the single most important thing you do
each turn (besides attacking) is drawing a card.  It
is in the void state when card advantage is most
obvious and important.

When a player is in the void state, every card drawn
beyond the one per turn is the equivalent of an extra
turn taken (minus the attack).  This may not apply to
every single pokemon situation that can come up, but
it can be considered the framework of card advantage.

The other aspect of card advantage is dealing with two
or more of your opponent's cards with one of your own.
 There are several cards which can do this directly
(see card list) but the most common way is to kill an
opponent's pokemon with lots of energy attached.  If
your opponent spent turns drawing cards to build up
that double evolved Charizard with at least 4 energy
cards attached, he essentially has invested at 7 cards
into one pokemon.  If you manage to kill it with a
basic water pokemon for example (easier said then
done) with 3 water energy cards attached, you have
gained a 3 card advantage.  

Also, if you use Energy Removal on the Charizard when
your opponent is in the void state, he or she has
invested seven cards which are now useless at the time
until he draws an energy card considering they are
running on one card per turn.

Deck manipulation cards (such as Computer Search, Item
Finder, etc.) work against card advantage since you
must discard cards that you wasted a turn drawing. 
While most people will disagree, they should be
avoided because the drawback is too great.  Running a
deck with 4 Bills, 4 Professor Oaks, etc will almost
guarantee that you will draw what you need andmaintain
a healthy card count.

Another thing to remember is that basic pokemon are
dependent on another card (such as an evolved form) to
be useful.  Playing too many evolved forms of pokemon
is too risky, even when playing with plenty of card
drawers.  Not only that, but you must draw the basic
form before you draw the evolved forms or else you
have "dead" cards in your hand.  This is like giving
your opponent a hidden card advantage since you wasted
a turn drawing a card that doesn't help you.

Now lets break down a few "card advantage cards":

Energy Removal - can be used to nullify a pokemon by
leaving it unable to attack.  Usually a temporary
nullification, but a definate advantage.  The one
mistake a lot of newer players make is using this card
to remove energy from a pokemon that they are about to
kill.  This is because attacking is the last thing you
do every turn and they only think about the active
pokemon as a threat.  Keep this in mind when playing
Energy Removal.

Super Energy Removal - same thing

Bill - instant one card advantage gain.  You use Bill,
you get a card to replace it plus another card.  This
is a good example of direct card advantage.  There is
no reason not to play 4 in any deck.  Equivalent of
taking an extra turn.

Professor Oak - always a definate advantage when used
properly.  When used in the void state, provides a
direct 7 card advantage and usually a win.  There is
no reason not to play 4 in a deck considering there is
little chance to draw all 4, but they always seem to
come up when you need them.  It is risky to run the
maximum of 4 Oaks, but my theory is if I can't beat
you with a huge card advantage (up to 28 cards), then
I deserve to run out of cards and die.

Meowth, Kangaskhan, etc. - in the right situation, it
is worth taking up your active pokemon spot for that
extra card per turn.  Not for every deck, but should
be considered when choosing your 60.

Jonathan Coronel
(¯`·.f4¡®¤€h¡£Ð.·´¯)
red13__@yahoo.com

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