Good morning/evening,
Trying to help out the wife with a solid first deck for a lgs tournament. Just trying to find some practical websites, something like tapped out for magic the gathering but pokemon deck list.
Hello. I know of MtG and its basics, but I never got into it. I do not know if I can add much to what
@Frosstoise provided; mostly I will reaffirm what was said with just a few differences.
The
official Pokémon website is actually a good place to start; though you sometimes have to poke around, the last few years they have been posting the top eight finishers and their decks from major events.
This link takes you to the results for the Top 8 Masters Division finishers from the 2016 World Championships; the navigation shortcuts on the side will take you to the other age brackets, but just some popular decks in general. They not only display the lists, but display an image of each card as you mouse over the card names, and link to the card database for a closer look. If your wife plays the Pokémon TCG Online, there is even an option to copy the deck list to your browser's clipboard, which then allows you to import the deck to the PTCGO itself. There is also a button just to copy it in general.
If the tournament is
after September 1st, these decks won't still be legal, but many will serve as a good starting point. My apologies if the above links seem redundant, given that you stated you could find those lists, but they actually are a good starting point unless your wife wants to go rogue and try something off the beaten path. What you found is actually a pretty good starting point otherwise.
A reputable source to buy some singles to build said deck.
If you are already versed in eBay, then many do use it for obtaining cards. Just stick to reputable sellers and avoid easy mistakes, like someone auctioning off a PTCGO card (they aren't supposed to but they do it), someone selling cards from the commemorative World Championship Pre-Constructed decks (I believe MtG has a similar product) as they are
not legal for Organized Play, or the odd quality fake that can fool a vendor dealing with potentially thousands of cards. eBay tensd to have great customer service, so as long as you don't do something in violation of what I just said
or fail to carefully read an auction and get the wrong version of a card, yes eBay is a reputable option. If that sounds too risky, then sorry to waste your time.
And I just read somewhere around here their is expanded and standard? Is that like standard in magic as in the newest sets from the past year? Or longer/ shorter? And expanded as in every single card? If so which setting is more forgiving for new players?
Like Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon has both Constructed (where you build a deck from your own collection to bring and use at an event) and Limited (where you build a deck from cards supplied by the venue to compete in the event) play. Constructed consists of Unlimited, Standard, and Expanded. In the Pokémon TCG, cards become legal for official, organized play the third Friday after their official release date.
Unlimited consists of all cards released and intended for Organized play; so everything but the previously mentioned World Championship deck releases that tell you on the card they are not legal, over-sized promos that usually also state they are not legal, etc.
Standard is a rotating format where new sets are added as they become legal (that third Friday thing) and are cut once per year. This year it is September 1st and will shift to
XY: Primal Clash and later releases, but currently it is
XY: Kalos Starter Set and later releases.
Expanded is similar to Standard play, except it includes more older expansions. Currently it is
Black & White and later releases. Expanded is only a few years old and so far has never lost any sets to rotation, but the announcements are often worded so that it appears it may eventually.
Banned Cards are also a thing in Pokémon, though quite rare. I am uncertain if anything is banned in Unlimited play (it rarely is used). For the Standard Format,
Lysandre's Trump Card is currently banned. For Expanded play, both
Lysandre's Trump Card and
Shiftry (
BW: Next Destinies 72/99) are banned. After September 1st, nothing will be banned in Standard but both of those two cards will remain banned for Expanded play.
Older cards are legal if they have no significant differences between the past and current versions, or if there was an official errata for those cards. You can look up current cards with the
Pokémon TCG Card Database. Unfortunately I do know know where to link you for an official source of card errata; just looking at the latest versions is usually a huge clue.
I recommend avoiding Unlimited for all but casual play; even then it only tends to be "fun" if players intentionally avoid what works best or just enjoy having games decided first turn. Standard is more forgiving simply because of the smaller card pool.
