A Few Questions About Next Format

[FoxKin45]

Hey everyone! Thanks for taking the time to stop by. So I have a few questions I would like to ask and any/all answers will be greatly appreciated. So lets start off with I don't intend to come back into the game until the format switch. I don't want to invest into a deck and have the format switch again in a month and be down 200-300 dollars. From what I can tell on the forum is that it is RUMORED to be xy-on. So for the sake of this post I want to assume xy-on will indeed be the format. If it is not I don't mind too much but I want to make sure I will have a deck for the 2015-2016 starting season. So as the title says I haven't played since pre-release Plasma Blast. So to avoid making a pointless wall of text I want to list my questions, so here goes.

1. What are the CURRENT tier 1 decks.
2. What will be the tier 1 decks if xy-on is the format?
3. What are the staple trainers going to be in xy-on?
4. What trainers will be rotated out in xy-on?
5. What could be some rogue decks in xy-on?
6. What have been the BIG rule changes since Plasma Blast?
7. Trollandtoad still the place to buy cards?
8. Potential deck ideas for xy-on?
9. How do megas work in TCG?

I do have one last question but wouldn't be able to express it in a sentence. I LOVE themed decks. (Plasma, Galactic) and was really dissapointed to see the small collection of Aqua/Magma cards. Is there potential for an Aqua/Magma deck currently or will their be more Aqua/Magma cards in future sets to make said deck a possibility?

**Also any other information you think I should know would be appreciated!

 

[Vom]

Hey, welcome back to Pokémon!

Spoiler: 1

You can find a list of all the decks that are popular here, along with their tier and a skeleton list for every variant of it: http://www.pokebeach.com/forums/forum/metagame-deck-discussion.250/
To answer your question: Seismitoad-EX decks and Yveltal-EX decks.
In case you're not familiar with it, Seismitoad-EX is a [W] Pokémon released in the Furious Fists (FFI) expansion. The reason why it's so good is because its first attack, [C][C] Quaking Punch 30, prevents your opponent from playing any Item cards, stopping hammers, lasers, switches, anything you could use to get out of that situation.

As for Yveltal-EX, it's a [D] Pokémon released in XY (XY ) whose first attack is [D][C] Evil Ball 20+, which is basically Mewtwo-EX all over again but deals 20 more damage than Mewtwo's infamous X-Ball. It's second attack is not bad either, as it deals 90 damage and moves an Energy from Yveltal to the Bench. This could be used in a pinch to move a DCE from it and power up some back-up attacker. Combine Evil Ball with lasers and Muscle Band, and you're starting to hit big numbers pretty quickly, especially if your opponent has a lot of Energy on their Pokémon.

Spoiler: 2

That's hard to predict. If the rotation is XY-on, a lot of staples and popular things will go. N, Colress, Skyla, lasers, ViriGen, Flareon and Donphan are some examples. The consistency of many decks will decrease, and people will start running Shauna/Birch's Observations. The things that imo will definitely be Tier 1 next format (assuming an XY-on format) are Yveltal variants, M Rayquaza variants, and maybe M Manetric-EX.

Spoiler: 3

Probably Shauna/Birch's Observations, perhaps even that Supporter that lets you draw 3 whose name I'm forgetting atm. Muscle Band, Ultra Ball, Switch, and the like for sure. Oh and let's not forget VS Seeker, Lysandre and Lysandre's Trump Card.

Spoiler: 4

N, Colress, lasers, G-Booster, Colress Machine, Juniper (which doesn't matter because of Sycamore), Skyla, Shadow Triad, Max Potion, the Ace Specs, and Random Receiver are the only notable Trainers I can think of that will be rotated out.

Spoiler: 5

As much as I'd like to talk about this, I'm terrible with rogues, mine always end up being bad Dx

Spoiler: 6

Idk if you were around when it happened, but Catcher now requires a coin flip, also you cannot attack on your first turn if you go first unless a card allows you to.

Spoiler: 7

I recommend you buy your stuff from http://www.tcgplayer.com/, their prices are great and there is a BIG selection of stores.

Spoiler: 8

Same as 5, unless you want a M Rayquaza deck.

Spoiler: 9

Let's say you have your Basic in play since your last turn and now you drew your Mega. You just put it on the basic, just as if you were evolving any other Pokémon. There are no requirements for Items or anything, just the same rules as for regular evolution. Also, if you M Evolve, your turn ends. That is, unless you have those magic Pokémon Tools called Spirit Links. You attach the one that corresponds to your mon (they're all called *insert Pokémon name here* Spirit Link) and then you M Evolve and zap. You M Evolved without ending your turn.

EDIT: Sadly, at this point the Magma/Aqua decks aren't very competitive, and so far there's no more support announced.