New Player - Help with Some Deck Building

[Lightwood87]

Hello everyone,

I'm pretty new to the Pokémon TCG's world and i've read few articles, blogs and such about the game and rules, but i'm kinda bad in deck buildings. I used to play MTG and i never could figure out myself how to build a good deck.

The thing is, i don't want nor won't be playing competitively (at least for now) and where i live is hard to find stores with good prices, so i end up buying cards online and it's no cheap to ship here, also most of the overused cards are sky-high priced.

Alright, enough with the chit-chat, since i'm new to the game and i don't know how to build a proper deck, i need your help. I bought 4 theme decks and the i realized that the main problem with them (for me) is that they are too slow, you know, the match can last for too long, which is boring as heck.

To make the decks more offensive and "fast", i ordered some cards but i still think that i need some help in what to buy and to know good cards.

Just to remind: I want help to improve these decks, but i don't want to attend to tournaments nor events. Also, i'm broke (don't want to waste money in EX's or overpriced cards).

Decks i bought:
Brilliant Thunder
Mystic Typhoon
Enchanted Echo
Dark Hammer

I know you guys don't like the theme decks, but i'm buying the decks all by myself right now (to play with gf, friends and family). So, don't hate. So far i've bought these cards:

To enhance Brilliant Thunder:
3x Heatmor
2x Luxray
2x Stunfisk
2x Fletchinder (I think it's a better version than the deck offers)
2x Talonflame
1x Thundurus
1x Pidgeot

To enhance Dark Hammer:
2x Kangaskhan
2x Scrafty (Better version than the deck, definitely)
2x Murkrow
2x Honchkrow
1x Bouffalant
1x Hariyama
1x Furfrou (This one i don't really know if it will stick to this deck. But i like how it reduces the damage by 40 with the Hard Charm + Ability)

Few copies of trainers cards (to fit any of the decks):

4x Professors Letter
4x Tierno
3x Professor Sycamore
3x Great Ball
3x Pal Pad
2x Evosoda
2x Roller Skates
1x Hard Charm
1x Energy Pouch

3x Switch
2x Pokémon Center Lady

These ones are just to a future Night March (who knows...):

4x Pumpkaboo
4x Lampent
4x Litwick (I know i don't need them, but i bought just in case i need to fit Lampent in any deck)
4x Joltik
4x Mistys Determination (It's just a very cheap discard option for now)

And here's a list with a few cards that you guys probably will talk about but it's overpriced for me:
- VS Seeker
- Battle Compressor
- Lysandre (i could afford few copies, like 2-3)
- Muscle Band
- Fighting Fury Belt
- N
- Especial Energies: Strong, Double Colorless

Next week i'll be buying cards to enhance the other two decks. I really would appreciate if you guys could give me a feedback about the cards i bought, the cards i could buy in the future and so on.

 

[Otaku]

Um...

@Lightwood87 if you just wanted some decks to use against each other for casual play, there are much better options than Theme Decks. No, you couldn't know that without asking or at least looking around, but I'm telling you now before you invest too heavily in these. The same amount of money (and for sure a little saved up) can get you better starting points... or just what you can use as is, if you mostly want an enjoyable enough deck for casual play

Battle Arena Decks are a product that is somewhere between "Theme Deck" and "competitive deck". Two have been released so far with a third coming out in a few weeks, and all contain staples, including some on your list. They don't contain all the staples you need, and even what is there is often less than a competitive deck would run, but these decks are at least balanced against their mate and possibly against each other.

1. Xerneas Vs Yveltal is the oldest of the three, barring some much older ones that would only be legal for Unlimited Format play. It also is the least of the decks, because its exclusive cards (ones not found in other releases) aren't very good. Fortunately it does contain some excellent cards from other sets, including some deck staples. This also means its price isn't too bad; the original MSRP was I think $29.99 USD and you can still find it for about than online, though some are hoping that they can get more for it as it is out of print.
2. Mewtwo Vs Darkrai is the second of the three and if you find this for close to the MSRP, please just get it. I just did a quick Google (Shopping) search and noticed it looks like a Wal-Mart has some of its available online for about that. The title Pokémon are the original versions (well, different holo pattern for collecting purposes) of Mewtwo-EX and Darkrai-EX, which were two of the earliest Pokémon-EX. They shaped the format for quite some time and even today are still very good cards. I seriously am trying to figure out if I can get one of these myself now that I see it for that price. ^^' Most sellers I see listing it for $50 USD. Edit: Okay double checked and they are out of stock. Probably an automatic thing that it still lists them, but just in case someone stumbles upon a case, I did the e-mail notice option. >.>
   
3. Keldeo Vs Rayquaza is the one that releases in a few weeks. Once again it will contain two of the older Pokémon-EX cards that were incredible back in their day and are still pretty good now. This one contains what may be an important exclusive, a Supporter named Karen. Otherwise, all the usual benefits apply; two solid decks that are better than a Theme Deck but less than a "real" deck, balanced against each other, and some key staples for deck building.

There are also World Championship Collector Decks. The big drawback is that these are NOT legal for tournament play; it used to be up to the person running the League if they were okay for casual League play, but if you're just using them at home it won't matter either way. Each year since I think 2004, four of the decks that performed well (not always the top four though) from the Pokémon TCG World Championships are released, stamped with the signature of the winner and clearly marked as not legal for tournament play.

 

[Lightwood87]

Thank you for the tips, i'll be looking on these Battle Arena. I couldn't find the Mewtwo one too, but the store i buy my decks and sleeves (i buy singles cards in another one) have the Xerneas vs Yveltal one. The thing is the price, doing a hard conversion (as i'm from Brazil) is something like:

Mystic Typhoon + Enchanted Echo ~$17*
Xerneas vs Yveltal ~$40*

*This price i'm assuming R$2 = $1.

Do you think the Battle Arena still a better option than the other 2 decks + more cards?

PS: I'll still keep an eye on the Keldeo though, i really want this one.

 

[Otaku]

PS: I'll still keep an eye on the Keldeo though, i really want this one.

The North American release for Keldeo vs Rayquaza is slated for September 21st. Not sure when it reaches your area. Is the mark up for that Xerneas vs Yveltal one typical of your area?

 

[bbninjas]

Do you think the Battle Arena still a better option than the other 2 decks + more cards?

The advantage is that in Battle Arena Decks (especially those containing EXs), you get highly competitive cards. Theme decks... barely contain any.

 

[Otaku]

...i'm kinda bad in deck buildings...

I know you guys don't like the theme decks, but i'm buying the decks all by myself right now (to play with gf, friends and family).

The advantage is that in Battle Arena Decks (especially those containing EXs), you get highly competitive cards. Theme decks... barely contain any.

So just putting it all together:

If you can afford any of the Battle Arena Decks, they look like a good answer to your situation. If you can't... well we can try to work on "fixing" Theme decks. It just is going to be a high effort/low reward kind of scenario, with or without your budget constraints.

 

[bbninjas]

Lightwood, I suggest you take a look at some of the highly competitive decks of this past format - you can find some in the Metagame Deck Discussion forum, PB's articles and the top Worlds decks. Note cards that are commonly used in these highly competitive decks, and observe the card counts and deck structures. The articles are particularly useful, as many will give some in-depth analysis on the choices the writer made in constructing decks. Unfortunately, Theme Decks are not the best examples of the 'best' way to construct a deck, hence why looking at these winning decks would be a good idea.

 

[Lightwood87]

Thank you for all the tips guys, i really appreciate that. I'll be looking for Battle Arena decks, try to find a store that sell them within a price that fits my budget right now. Will look at those competitive decks too.