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Standard Improved Torrential Cannon Theme Deck

QuickArceops

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hi,

This is my first post and my first real introduction to the pokemon tcg community. Recently I decided to get into the tcg after having played the game online for a bit. I havn't played tcg's before but I know my way around google for deck building tips.

I went ahead and bought two of the new theme decks (the charizard and blastoise one) and the team up ETB. Together I combined these cards to try and improve the Torrential Cannon theme deck, taking away the pyramids ,increasing the number of trainer cards and adding some staples. Here is the deck list:

Pokemon (16) all SM Team Up
3x Squirtle 23/181
3x Wartortle 24/181
3x Blastoise 25/181
2x Psyduck 26/181
2x Golduck 27/181
1x Kangaskhan 128/181
1x Alolan Grimer 83/181
1x Alolan Muk 84/181

Trainers (29)
4x Professor Kukui 128/149
4x Cynthia 119/156
4x Brock's Grit 135/181
3x Pokémon Fan Club 133/156
3x Hau 132/168
1x Erika's Hospitality 140/181
2x Evelyn 141/181
4x Timer Ball 134/149
4x Switch 147/168

Energy (15)
12x Water - Basic
3x Dark - Basic

Any tips on how I can improve this deck? My main concern at the moment is that I have too many water type pokemon, possibly giving me a type disadvantage.

I am willing to buy single cards (maybe the magicarp wailord GX is good here), however booster packs have my preference, since I just started out with trading cards and would rather build a more general card collection :)

All tips are welcome
 
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A 60 HP Squirtle might be better (and Elm's Lecture); definitely nest balls, four of them.

Dump Hau and Evelyn, and some of the Brock's Grit; Lillie would be good, Guzma if you can get them. Way too many supporters overall; you should have 12-14 supporters, max. I wouldn't play dark energy, I'd either leave out the muk/grimer or play a rainbow energy. Mostly just water energy, though.

One thing I like in my version of this deck is Gyarados (TEU). It has a nice synergy with Blastoise - both work well when you have lots of water energy in the deck. My version is something like:

19 Pokémon:
3/2/2 Blastoise TEU line
2/2 Gyarados line (Enter the Dragon/TEU Gyarados)
2/2 Golduck TEU line (in a legit deck I'd leave this out, but in a theme-deck-level battle this is great)
2/2 Pidgeotto line (for the ability)

25 Trainers:
4 Lillie
3 Tate & Liza (or Cynthia would be better if you have it)
2 Professor Kukui
2 Brock's Grit
2 Crasher Wake
4 Nest Ball
4 Timer Ball
2 Switch
2 Aqua Patch

16 Energy:
16 Water Energy
 
In my opinion the golduck is bad, I'd get rid of it (although in theme deck tournaments, the mirror does devolve into a race to golduck to snipe the opposing golducks, lol).
On the other hand the blastoise is vulnerable in the active, only hits 150 and damages itself... it's probably better as a bench sitter or backup attacker to something. Wailord is great but if you don't want to spend, palkia GX can be very disruptive. Another option might be water ninetales gx, since beacon vulpix would be a nice addition and you can replenish the spent water energy with blastoise.

The non draw supporters should probably go, brock for energy recycler and stretcher, fan club for nest ball, poke com, ultra ball, etc. even great ball with so many pokes.
 
In theme deck play, Golduck is critical to shut down Charizards if you need a few turns to get a Blastoise up and running.
 
A 60 HP Squirtle might be better (and Elm's Lecture); definitely nest balls, four of them.

Dump Hau and Evelyn, and some of the Brock's Grit; Lillie would be good, Guzma if you can get them. Way too many supporters overall; you should have 12-14 supporters, max. I wouldn't play dark energy, I'd either leave out the muk/grimer or play a rainbow energy. Mostly just water energy, though.

One thing I like in my version of this deck is Gyarados (TEU). It has a nice synergy with Blastoise - both work well when you have lots of water energy in the deck. My version is something like:

19 Pokémon:
3/2/2 Blastoise TEU line
2/2 Gyarados line (Enter the Dragon/TEU Gyarados)
2/2 Golduck TEU line (in a legit deck I'd leave this out, but in a theme-deck-level battle this is great)
2/2 Pidgeotto line (for the ability)

25 Trainers:
4 Lillie
3 Tate & Liza (or Cynthia would be better if you have it)
2 Professor Kukui
2 Brock's Grit
2 Crasher Wake
4 Nest Ball
4 Timer Ball
2 Switch
2 Aqua Patch

16 Energy:
16 Water Energy

Thanks for the detailed reply. When I look only it said to remove the pyramids, is there a reason you put a third squirtle in your deck? I tried building this deck yesterday but kept losing to my friend who played tropical takedown. Is this entirely up to the type advantage or should I try to account for this as well when playing a tournament for instance?
 
In my opinion the golduck is bad, I'd get rid of it (although in theme deck tournaments, the mirror does devolve into a race to golduck to snipe the opposing golducks, lol).
On the other hand the blastoise is vulnerable in the active, only hits 150 and damages itself... it's probably better as a bench sitter or backup attacker to something. Wailord is great but if you don't want to spend, palkia GX can be very disruptive. Another option might be water ninetales gx, since beacon vulpix would be a nice addition and you can replenish the spent water energy with blastoise.

The non draw supporters should probably go, brock for energy recycler and stretcher, fan club for nest ball, poke com, ultra ball, etc. even great ball with so many pokes.

I pulled a Evee & Snorlax GX team up yesterday, would that be a viable pick?
 
I pulled a Evee & Snorlax GX team up yesterday, would that be a viable pick?
Don't see why not... it wrecks stage 1 GXs, which lots of people play. It does have a weak spot against basics, but then blastoise can hit 180 with choice.
 
There's a lapras in team up or lost thunder which does more damage according to the number of water energy attached, it would be a nice inclusio if you play snorlax. Otherwise I'd go with A9T
 
That lapras could hit big, but chances are a 130 hp pokemon goes down with a bunch of energy before it can really do much more than 1 ko. This may seem like an odd choice, but what about white kyurem? It only needs 3 energy to do 160, and it's a single prizer. Granted it needs fire attached, but viridian forest and replacing the dark in the above list with fire would work. Speaking of viridian forest, it's a cheap stadium and you need at least one stadium in this day and age (ideally 3 or 4).
 
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