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Standard First League - What to take or build?

Dreoilin1988

Dreoilin1988

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hey all

Firstly - I apologize if I posted this in the wrong place! I wasn't sure if it should go here, in the general discussion, or where.

So I’m going to my first Pokemon league meet up next weekend. It’s not a tournament or anything, just casual play. I’ve been playing the game online for a few months now, but mostly using the theme decks. I have a very small and modest handful of actual (mostly unimpressive) cards I’ve collected and two theme decks. My question is - what should I do to prepare? Should I try and gather some cards to build a custom deck to start with or just go in with my theme decks and random collection, see if I can trade or get help? I assume most people are playing custom decks. Unfortunately I don’t have a whole lot of spare change to dole out to build a really killer one, but I’d be willing to buy a few to start with. I don’t really have any cards that are highly desirable so I don’t expect anyone to really want to trade anything with me. Basically, I don’t know how to start - and also I’m totally nervous because I won’t know anyyyyone!


Anyway, the two decks that I have are Hidden Moon and Forest Shadow. The only EX card I have is Latios, and then a few others that I can’t use because i don’t have the evolution lines (MAudino EX, Solgaleo GX, and MPidgeot EX). I have a good few trainer cards, and enough psychic, forest, and fire energy because of the decks.

If it makes suggestions easier, my favorite cards to play online are the Guardians Rising Umbreon EX and Espeon EX, mainly because I’ve always loved Eevee and its evolutions. Suggestions for a relatively affordable or easy to build deck using either or both of those might be fun.

Thanks for any input or suggestions! Again - I'm so sorry if I posted this in the wrong section!
 
Welcome new player, good to see more people playing!

Based on your haves, I could recommend a Espeon GX deck (which you said you have Guardians Rising Espeon EX, but it is likely the GX :p). It is pretty good right now, and if you have some cards, you can play it. As a start, aim to get 4 Eevee from Guardians Rising, 3 Espeon GX, 2 Tapu Lele GX, 4 Trubbish from Breakpoint, 1 Garbodor from Breakpoint and 3 Garbodor from Guardians Rising.

Note Tapu Lele is around $34 each, but is pretty important for all decks in format!

If you plan to be casual, a modified theme deck could do well. I recommend reading articles and other threads here for more info on decks.
 
Hi! Welcome to the TCG! :)

Anyways, there are a few things you can do. You can go ahead and build Passimian/Mew or Golduck/Starmie, or you can build a budget version of something like Espeon/Garbodor or Vespiquen. I don't particularly recommend building Vespiquen as it will rotate very soon, however, Espeon/Garb is a great deck, but to play it I definitely recommend picking up at least one copy of Tapu Lele-GX. I understand that dropping 30$ on one card really isn't the best thing ever, but it's price will only go up with rotation coming and the card will be usefull basically everywhere. The best option you have if you don't plan on going to tournaments for a while is to build either Golduck/Starmie or Passimian/Mew and save up money to buy Leles. If you haven't heard of either of these decks, DarkIntegralGaming and YellowSwellow on YouTube have a couple of lists for them. They're extremely cheap to make and can actually do fairly well. I think the better option of the two is Passimian/Mew though. Good luck! :)
 
Good luck and have fun at your first league experience. As for what to play I 100% agree with @GekkisaiDaiNi on building and playing Golduck/Starmie. It is a fantastically fun deck for new players, and old, its one of the decks i play almost every week despite having the resources to basically play any deck I want in the format. The deck itself is pretty easy to learn and also cheap to build, about $15. I put together a list for you that only includes cards that should make it through the rotation so you wouldn't be wasting any money if you are interested in playing the deck.

Pokemon-16
4-Psyduck 28/149 Sun and Moon
4-Golduck 29/149
2-Staryu 30/108 Evolutions
2-Starmie 31/108
2-Alolan Sandshrew 19/145 Guardian's Rising
2-Alolan Sandslash 20/145

Trainers-33

Supporters-11
3-Professor Sycamore 107/122 Breakpoint
3-N 92/101 Noble Victories
3-Mallow 127/145
2-Lillie 122/149

Items-22
4-Nest Ball
4-Timer Ball
2-Rescue Stretcher
1-Super Rod
1-Energy Retrieval
2-Pokemon Catcher (replace with Guzma when the next set launches)
4-Bursting Balloon
1-Professor's Letter
1-Switch
2-Field Blower

Energy-11
11-Water Energy
 
Oh! Another great option is Gallade BKT/Octillery BKT. The deck is also extremely cheap and can do very well! I personally just made the deck and its gone fairly well for me. It's very fun to play and the combo of Gallade (Ability: Premonition. Once during your turn (before your attack), you may look at the top 5 cards of your deck and put them back in any order you like) and Octillery (Ability: Abyssal Hand. Once during your turn (before your attack), you may draw cards until you have five cards in your hand) is extremely powerful. Gallade is also an efficient attacker, for one Double Colorless Energy it can do 130 damage! Add in Choice Band and Professor Kukui, and you can hit 180 which one-shots alot of the current meta. Here's my list:

Pokemon (18):

4x Gallade
3x Kirlia (I know this seems strange, but the card Rare Candy is used alot to evolve to Gallade. I'll explain the card when it comes up.)
4x Ralts
3x Alolan Vulpix (Allows you to set up very well.)
2x Octillery
2x Remoraid
(Once you get a Lele, you will definitely want to throw it in here. The combination of Lele and Brigette allows you to start evolving very quickly, but it's not nessescary.)

Trainers (38):

4x Professor Sycamore
4x N
2x Lysandre
2x Brigette (Even without Lele to search for it, it's still worthy of the space here.)
1x Skyla (Allows you to search for Rare Candy if needed.)
1x Professor Kukui (Allows you to hit 180 with choice band.)
4x Ultra Ball
2x Level Ball
1x Timer Ball
4x VS Seeker
3x Rare Candy (Trainer: Item. Choose one of your Basic Pokemon in play. Put a Stage 2 Pokemon from your hand that evolves from that Pokemon onto that Pokemon. This card is great as it allows you to skip over the extra turn you would've had to wait to get a Gallade up.)
1x Rescue Stretcher
2x Special Charge
2x Field Blower
3x Choice Band
2x Float Stone

Energy (4):

4x Double Colorless Energy. (I know only running four energy cards seems very weird, but it actually works fine. There are tons of decks that have succeeded only running 4 Double Colorless. It can be stressful at times, but the space for more energy is better spent on other things.)

Also, here's Gallade's attack, I just realized that I forgot to show it:

[C][C] Sensitive Blade 60+
This attack does 70 more damage if you played a Supporter card during this turn.

Good luck! :)
 
Don't you worry, you came to the right place, we love to help with, write, and explore new decks. Welcome to

The above suggestions are very good for those just starting out that haven't read enough cards, or analyzed recent sets enough, and they are basically one step above Theme Decks, but they are competitively weak, imho. I'd like to suggest something that will last and cement you as a "threat" at your league. That being said, the most budget and player friendly, yet competitively viable deck right now is Zoroark/ Umbreon GX, and it'll be something you like is you are into eeveelutions. The only problem is there is the faintest chance that Zoroark rotates and is no longer standard legal in August, and while it's less than probable that it rotates you would still only be out about $12 on the Zoroark's themselves.

My Suggested Deck List:
Pokemon: 16
3 Zoroa
3 Zoroark
1 Zoroark Break (These cards are in the Breakpoint set; Bulbapedia is probably the best way to look at entire sets at a time)
4 Eevee (Sun and Moon Base set has the Eevee you want)
3 Umbreon GX (Also Sun and Moon)
1 Flareon (Ancient Origins, this is rotating but it's like $1)
1 Oricorio (Guardians Rising, the 1 with 2 attacks and no ability)

Look at buying the Tapu Koko Promo boxes when you can as it will work very well in this deck and many more to come. It's $15 but gets you 3 packs, a pin and a promo currently worth $6-7 so it's a great deal if you can find it.
People will suggest Tapu Lele GX, for now don't worry so much about it, just play Random Receiver in it's place.

Supporters: 11(Get as many of these as you can, except Lysandre, because they will continue to be staples of gameplay next year.)
Professor Sycamore - 4
N -3
Lysandre - 2
Bridgette- 1
Hex Maniac- 1

Items: 19
Ultra Ball - 4
Vs Seeker - 4 (These may not be the best investment, but if you ever want to play expanded a playset will be necessary)
Choice Band- 4
Float Stone - 2
Field Blower- 2
Super Rod- 1
Special Charge- 1
Rescue Stretcher- 1

Stadiums: 3
Altar of the Moone- 1
Reverse Valley- 2

Energy: 11
4 Double Colorless
7 Darkness Energy

Look up these cards, familiarize yourself with them and if you see it's power then I would suggest building it and playing it this summer as you learn what you like. Otherwise, try one of the above decks as they are a great way to learn strategy. Always keep in mind that these are suggestions off of the nature of the game and our experiences. If you have found success with Ace Trainer and Ilima and Great ball and that is your style of play over N, Prof Sycamore and Ultra ball then that's your playstyle and don't let anyone tell you it's not good, just know that certain suggestions are made because they are more consistent and versatile. Again best of luck!!
 
Well, I didn't make it to the league last week because I nearly forgot my cousin's high school graduation was that day! I won't be going this week because some sort of tournament is taking place, so next week I plan on going - and that gives me a bit more time to put some stuff together!

Here's the really exciting news; just tonight, I treated myself (after accomplishing some personal work goals) to a Guardians Rising Trainer Box, mainly to have something to put the cards in, plus some energy and the acrylic counters - and I pulled a Tapu Lele! Must be beginner's luck!

@GekkisaiDaiNi and @swaginator5000 thank you for the suggestions on Passimian/Mew and Golduck/Starmie - I'm going to build these online tonight and get a feel for them, and I think I have a good portion of the cards already. That'll at least give me something beyond the theme decks to play with!

@acerizzo13 I came across that decklist, or something similar, earlier this week and put a sort of budget-version of it together online and played it and (even though, because mine is a sort of jerry-rigged version with many subbed cards, I keep getting clobbered - I must've fought six people with crazy Typhlosion decks today) I love it! I love bouncing around with Zoroark's Stand In and I just love Umbreon in general. I have to ask though - what is the main purpose of Flareon in it? For extra damage against fire-weak opponents is my assumption but I wasn't sure.


In general, what can I expect from my first visit to the league? What was your first league experience, if you have one? I'm just curious!

Thanks so much for all this help - I can't wait to get playing with other people!
 
If i remeber correctly my first league experience was meeting 6-10 people in a corner of the dining area of a Rocky Rococos. Our league has significantly changed in the past 8 years, now when we get new players we spend leauge teaching and involving new players as much as we can.
 
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