Competitive Pokemon TCG Decks Base Set-Now

[Chipadat]

OK, so I'm on my hunt to complete all of the world championship decks. Since I just started playing the card game a couple years ago, I really wanted to learn the older cards in a competitive perspective. But there are decks that aren't from the world championships that I would like to learn. Like I said though, I don't know these old decks and I need help. Just make sure the deck wasn't a world championship deck. Thanks for your help

 

[Otaku]

I'll let you know the first competitive deck I learned... that really was competitive.

Haymaker.

Haymaker dates back to the Base Set. The name is derived from Base Set Hitmonchan being one of the main attackers: a "haymaker" is a knock out punch in boxing. The deck can be classified as a kind of "aggro beatdown" deck; you hit your opponent hard and you hit them fast. It includes some control elements as well, because the card pool of the time just made it so easy to do so. The big restriction isn't that the deck must contain Hitmonchan; at least among older players the name now describes any mono-Basic, aggressive beatdown strategy.

The classic Haymaker deck relies on low Energy attackers with a good damage-to-Energy ratio to deliver a steady stream of damage. Cards like Bill, Computer Search, Item Finder and Professor Oak allow you to quickly access most of your deck; if the opportunity to win via running through your entire deck for the needed cards presents itself, it can go full-on-aggro and do just that if nothing misfires. PlusPower is included to up your damage yield quickly; this is why you'd rip through your entire deck as anything with 60 HP or less from the card pool of the time is within donk (win via OHKO against lone opposing starter T1) range. The original version of the deck made sure to run Electabuzz and Machop (again, both from Base Set) to aid in the task; additional Fighting Weakness exploitation as well as Lightning Weakness exploitation were important.

When games cannot be won that quickly, the deck will use Gust of Wind, Energy Removal and Super Energy Removal to disrupt the opponent's set up, sometimes even with Lass if you are comfortable with your set-up and believe it will cripple the opponent. Switch and/or Scoop Up are used to get your current Active out of the way of whatever you need up front, with the latter also serving as healing. There were a couple other cards I believe were used in the original build, but they were quickly rendered obsolete (I probably didn't even need to mention Machop).

When Jungle released, Scyther and Double Colorless Energy were added. A variant called "Potpourri" strove to hit all Weaknesses of the time, but it didn't really gel until after Fossil released. Fossil Magmar would sometimes be in this deck, and Energy Search helped a bit with Energy costs. The promos from the first Pokémon movie gave us Mewtwo (WotC Black Star Promo 3) which created another major division in the deck; it replaced Jynx (Base Set) for Potpourri builds and even "core" Haymaker decks would often include it, as its "Absorption" attack made it a bit easier to power-up in the crowded deck.

Team Rocket gave us Rainbow Energy and Nightly Garbage, making it even easier to make the otherwise tight Energy and Pokémon counts work. Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge gave a few other options for the various roles, but the most important was Erika's Jiggypuff and its "Pulled Punch" attack: [CC] to hit for 40 damage so long as the opponent's Active had no damage counters already on it. So with upwards of four PlusPower and a Double Colorless Energy, now even 80 HP Basics were vulnerable to the donk. After that we hit Neo Genesis and Haymaker takes a significant hit due to Mind Games decks built using Neo Genesis Slowking (and often Neo Genesis Sneasel).

Here is a list for Base Set through Team Rocket, reconstructed from memory; do not take it as a definitive list as I am likely forgetting something/adding a few personal flourishes (very few ran Gambler)

Pokémon x 12
3 Electabuzz (Base Set)
3 Hitmonchan (Base Set)
3 Scyther (Jungle)
3 Mewtwo (Promo)

Trainers x 34
4 Bill
4 Computer Search
4 Energy Removal
2 Energy Search
1 Gambler
4 Gust of Wind
3 Item Finder
2 Nightly Garbage Run
4 PlusPower
4 Professor Oak
2 Scoop Up
2 Super Energy Removal

Energy x 12
2 Double Colorless Energy
2 Fighting Energy
2 Lightning Energy
2 Psychic Energy
4 Rainbow Energy

 

[tototavros]

OK, so I'm on my hunt to complete all of the world championship decks. Since I just started playing the card game a couple years ago, I really wanted to learn the older cards in a competitive perspective. But there are decks that aren't from the world championships that I would like to learn. Like I said though, I don't know these old decks and I need help. Just make sure the deck wasn't a world championship deck. Thanks for your help

Non-worlds decks:
Feraligatr (Neo)
Entei (Neo)
Beat Up (Neo)
DialgaChomp (DP)
Gyarados (DP)
GengarPlume (DP)
LostGar (DP)
MagneChamp (DP)
BlastGatr (DP)
FloatZone (HS)
RockLock (HL-)
InferCatty (HP-)
Skittles (HP-)
AMU (DP-)
ShuppetDonk (DP-)
UxieDonk (DP-)
Sabledonk (MD-BW)

 

[Naglfar]

This kind of stuff interests me too, when I hear about what the game was like so long ago I want to try those decks out. I would be down for playing in some tour-esque league-type thing that cycles through all of these old formats. I would be down for that in pretty much any card game with a long history, to be honest.

 

[Chipadat]

Non-worlds decks:
Feraligatr (Neo)
Entei (Neo)
Beat Up (Neo)
DialgaChomp (DP)
Gyarados (DP)
GengarPlume (DP)
LostGar (DP)
MagneChamp (DP)
BlastGatr (DP)
FloatZone (HS)
RockLock (HL-)
InferCatty (HP-)
Skittles (HP-)
AMU (DP-)
ShuppetDonk (DP-)
UxieDonk (DP-)
Sabledonk (MD-BW)

Could I have some deck lists, if that's too much work then where can I find some?

 

[bbninjas]

Could I have some deck lists, if that's too much work then where can I find some?

Google it. I just googled Gyarados Stormfront decklist and wallah - a decklist. (I knew the Gyarados was from Stormfront by the way, but Dp should be fine too).

 

[CruelBear]

Depending on how long you've been playing, you may already know some of these, but they're decks I remember since I started back in 2010. I'll try not to include anything that can be built in expanded.

Donphan (HS)
Typhlosion/Reshiram (HS-BW)
Zekrom/Pachirisu (HS-BW)
Charizard (MD-on) - One of my personal favorites with Ninetales HS; too bad I got a playset a month before they announced his rotation.
Jumpluff (MD-HS or HS-BW)
Machamp (MD-HS?) - This is one that could possibly stand up to current decks despite power creep.


Then of course the classics to complete the 3 major decks I knew from Base-Fossil:
Blastoise
Mr. Mime/Alakazam

If you need a decklist for any of these, let me know, and I could either find one or replicate it reasonably.

 

[Otaku]

Then of course the classics to complete the 3 major decks I knew from Base-Fossil:
Blastoise
Mr. Mime/Alakazam

Base Set Blastoise (Rain Dance) decks are indeed the only one to rival Haymaker. Base Set Alakazam (Damage Swap) decks were a major deck, but they worked mostly because of the ignorance/hit-or-miss-card-distribution of the day. Wigglytuff (Jungle) and Muk (Fossil) are the other factors to consider; sometimes the two were run together, other times they were combined with Haymaker Pokémon to form either a more general beatdown deck (Wigglytuff) or control-ish deck (Muk). There were a lot more that got made and were played, but once they start crashing into the the two and two-halves "main" decks, they tend to fall short.

At least, that is how I remember it, partially first hand, partially from researching it later on.

 

[CruelBear]

Base Set Blastoise (Rain Dance) decks are indeed the only one to rival Haymaker. Base Set Alakazam (Damage Swap) decks were a major deck, but they worked mostly because of the ignorance/hit-or-miss-card-distribution of the day. Wigglytuff (Jungle) and Muk (Fossil) are the other factors to consider; sometimes the two were run together, other times they were combined with Haymaker Pokémon to form either a more general beatdown deck (Wigglytuff) or control-ish deck (Muk). There were a lot more that got made and were played, but once they start crashing into the the two and two-halves "main" decks, they tend to fall short.

At least, that is how I remember it, partially first hand, partially from researching it later on.

Huh, okay. I knew Wigglytuff was good, but I didn't actually hear of people using Muk. Of course, I was like 7 at the time, so most of my "experience" with early competitive Pokemon TCG is going to a Toys R Us once where people were playing, and reading a guide or something that had decklists for the three decks I now really know well. I do know all my friends hated Mr. Mime when I used it. In fact, that was the first deck I built when I was starting to get back into Pokemon TCG in 2010. It went undefeated against friends with newer cards, until they forced me to stop using it. Maybe that's why I like it so much...

 

[Otaku]

Huh, okay. I knew Wigglytuff was good, but I didn't actually hear of people using Muk.

Muk (Fossil) shut down Pokémon Powers with its own Pokémon Power (Toxic Gas) - like Garbodor w/Garbotoxin except it didn't need a Pokémon Tool attached to it (good thing as the card predates Pokémon Tools!). It was pretty pointless against Haymaker unless they ran Ditto (Fossil), but it could potentially cripple Rain Dance decks. Again, there were also a lot of people either just using the cards they wanted or that they mistakenly thought were good (I was one of them). Card supply was so hit-or-miss and when you were a little kid or even an older player back then, you might have the best deck simply because you've got more than a 1-1-1 line of your chosen Stage 2.

Of course, I was like 7 at the time, so most of my "experience" with early competitive Pokemon TCG is going to a Toys R Us once where people were playing, and reading a guide or something that had decklists for the three decks I now really know well.

Yeah, even those of us starting as teenagers have a lot of "Well when I was younger..." kind of mistakes. The information infrastructure just wasn't there. Organized Play was spotty at best and all but non-existent in a lot of places. I was going to two different Pokémon Leagues a week for a while, both in a nearby Midwestern college town (so a town that sometimes faked being a really small city) but actual tournaments were scarce, maybe just once or twice per year and you were lucky if they were sanctioned, let alone part of an official tournament series. It wasn't until WotC lost the license and Nintendo stepped in that (at least in the U.S.A.) things really took hold, with tournament series and a conscious effort to have things like City Championships, State Championships, etc. that all culminated in the World Championship.

So the short version was if you either could write and were willing to learn a TCG or knew a TCG and were the only writer a publication could find with any credibility, you probably were writing an article at that time because Pokémon = sales. I hate to say it but I actually had an article or two appear in such publications and sadly, my work wasn't all that good. I did the best I could but I wasn't from a TCG hot spot so "fun" decks could pass for serious "rogue" decks. >_<

I do know all my friends hated Mr. Mime when I used it. In fact, that was the first deck I built when I was starting to get back into Pokemon TCG in 2010. It went undefeated against friends with newer cards, until they forced me to stop using it. Maybe that's why I like it so much...

Yeah, I have a few cards like that as well. Mr. Mime (Jungle) with Base Set Alakazam behind it is a nasty little wall, but Alakazam itself is Psychic Weak and only has 80 HP: Mewtwo (WotC Black Star Promo 3 and 14) could one shot it (and Gust of Wind of course would force it Active). Muk could shut both Alakazam and Mr. Mime down; aren't you glad it wasn't popular in your area? After Team Rocket released, I also tried to include a TecH Goop Gas Attack as well (that Item Finder could allow me to multiple if needed).