Help New Player - Looking to Create a Budget Standard Deck

[Weros]

I'm looking to get into playing Standard Pokemon, currently ive got the Lugia theme deck of recent sets, and Greninja Wave Slasher theme deck.

If anyone would have any resources of budget decklists and where to go about getting them the most effective way; or would be able to refer me to a link of someone upgrading said theme deck (i would prefer to stick with the Greninja deck), It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[bbninjas]

Moved from the Deck Garage to the TCG Help & Advice as the Deck Garage is for posting your 60-card decklists. ~bbninjas

 

[double o squirtle]

Greninja you say? Lucky for you, Greninja is one of the best decks in both Standard and Expanded!

Greninja BREAK is a strategy that involves sniping your opponents Pokemon for a good amount of damage (for snipping standards) while hitting for decent amounts of damage for a low cost. The way it's played means that it can get a good and devastating setup if allowed. It's most major and common threat in Standard is Garbador, but even then it's not a complete auto loss so Greninja still has a fighting chance. Cards that are most commonly paired up with it are:
Talonflame: Like many other non-basic/stage 1 decks, this one requires quite a few resources to keep a decent amount of Greninjas in play with decent health and able to attack. Due to this, Talonflame, if Gale Wings activates, is a great partner, being able to keep resources coming and for a low energy cost while even doing a bit of damage.
Octillery: Due to Talonflame, it's not so common any more, but the costant flow of resources is always welcome in most decks. Not to mention its water typing allows benefits from Rough Seas and Dive Ball.
Jirachi: This card discards a Special Energy attached to the opponent's Active and gets one-turn invincibility. This can help with slowing down your opponent/rendering them unable to attack while you prepare an onslaught of frogs.

However, Talonflame are expensive and Octillery's crept up in price since it's been released, so for budget options, your best bet would be to either buy a couple Battle Arena Decks (Keldeo Rayquaza) Since those come with great staples and Octillery, or sticking to the Jirachi build.

Some good trainers that are often paired up with it are Bursting Balloon, Rough Seas, Dive Ball, Faded Town and maybe the odd Splash Energy. Then there's the usual staple trainers like N, Sycamore, VS Seekers, Lysandre. They can be a little expensive but Battle Arena Decks come with most of them for a good price.

Since it's a popular deck, there's most likely a few examples of it in the Deck Garage. You can also post your own decks there to receive feedback from other members.

Hope this helps!

 

[Weros]

Greninja you say? Lucky for you, Greninja is one of the best decks in both Standard and Expanded!

Greninja BREAK is a strategy that involves sniping your opponents Pokemon for a good amount of damage (for snipping standards) while hitting for decent amounts of damage for a low cost. The way it's played means that it can get a good and devastating setup if allowed. It's most major and common threat in Standard is Garbador, but even then it's not a complete auto loss so Greninja still has a fighting chance. Cards that are most commonly paired up with it are:
Talonflame: Like many other non-basic/stage 1 decks, this one requires quite a few resources to keep a decent amount of Greninjas in play with decent health and able to attack. Due to this, Talonflame, if Gale Wings activates, is a great partner, being able to keep resources coming and for a low energy cost while even doing a bit of damage.
Octillery: Due to Talonflame, it's not so common any more, but the costant flow of resources is always welcome in most decks. Not to mention its water typing allows benefits from Rough Seas and Dive Ball.
Jirachi: This card discards a Special Energy attached to the opponent's Active and gets one-turn invincibility. This can help with slowing down your opponent/rendering them unable to attack while you prepare an onslaught of frogs.

However, Talonflame are expensive and Octillery's crept up in price since it's been released, so for budget options, your best bet would be to either buy a couple Battle Arena Decks (Keldeo Rayquaza) Since those come with great staples and Octillery, or sticking to the Jirachi build.

Some good trainers that are often paired up with it are Bursting Balloon, Rough Seas, Dive Ball, Faded Town and maybe the odd Splash Energy. Then there's the usual staple trainers like N, Sycamore, VS Seekers, Lysandre. They can be a little expensive but Battle Arena Decks come with most of them for a good price.

Since it's a popular deck, there's most likely a few examples of it in the Deck Garage. You can also post your own decks there to receive feedback from other members.

Hope this helps!

Thanks really appreciate the response, i looked into getting the kaldeo/rayq deck i just didnt know how long the cards would last in standard.

 

[double o squirtle]

Thanks really appreciate the response, I looked into getting the kaldeo/rayq deck i just didnt know how long the cards would last in standard.

The deck is an Expanded one meaning that there are Trainers that have, will be and won't be rotating out this year. The trainers in it are below, I've bolded the ones that are most likely rotating out this year and underlined the ones that are already rotated out.

Professor Sycamore
N
Tierno
Dive Ball
Battle Compressor
VS Seeker
Fisherman
Karen
Professor Birch's Observations
Professor's Letter
Pokemon Fan Club
Lysandre
Skyla
Switch
Skyarrow Bridge
Ultra Ball
Float Stone
AZ
Teammates
Superior Energy Retrieval
Rough Seas
Rare Candy
Shauna
Bianca
Escape Rope
Archie's Ace in the Hole

There may be a couple errors but that's pretty much it. While a lot of those are bolded, they're still gonna be around until August so there's time. Also, you never know if they'll end up not rotating 4 and instead rotate 3. But if you're not sure about buying them, get some proxies and try playing with them in a league. They don't usually mind. Just don't mix up league with league challenges/cups.

 

[TheGuardian118]

Spoiler

Are you looking to play online, casually with friends, in a league, at local tournaments, or compete at higher levels? Depending what your goals and expectations are may change what a good recommendation is. Also, what's the estimated budget you're looking to spend? Is $20, 50 or 100 low to you to spend on a card game? Typically low means no Shaymins, which can limit your deck options so I'll mention the one tournament placing deck I know of without the little guy.

You mention you have the battle arena deck, which gives good water support like Dive Ball and Rough Seas, in addition to a few key cards like VS Seeker. Look into building Greninja Break. That deck does not need Shaymin. The most expensive card is the Break, which goes for about $12 last I checked. I play mine with two Breaks, but many people want three. That's going to total $36 if you want three. There are two common versions, Talonflame and Octillery, which both go for $3. Just call it another $10 as you'll want at least three Talonflame if you go with that version, or two Octillery if you go with that version, but you'll also need two Remoraids (Common card, .25 each).

The other pieces of the Greninja line are not expensive, should be less than $1 each.

Can you list out what Trainer cards you already have, at least the ones that would fit into this deck if you're interested in it? You'll want a full four count of Dive Ball .50 and VS Seeker $4 for sure, past that you have some flexibility in your counts of Sycamore and N, many players use Bursting Ballons and Wally also. Other things can be subbed in like you can use Shauna for N or Birch for Sycamore, not considered perfect substitutes, but can work when you're first starting out. Look at a full deck list in the garage section and find one that interests you.

Overall I think you could get the entire deck from singles for $75 or less if you started from nothing, which you are not since you already have some of the supporter cards. I didn't take the time to add up the cost of any lists so that's just a rough estimate.

Greninja Break is the only tournament placing deck I can think of that does not run Shaymin, looking at London results there was one that placed in the top 8. Other non-Shaymin decks include Riachu-Bats, Magnazone variants, and a few others, but they are not considered as competitive as Greninja Break.

Also, if you're just playing with friends or at a league, (Not a mutually exclusive scenario!) ask if you can use proxies. Put on a slip of paper what the "Fake" card is, sleeve it with a backwards card so you can shuffle, and play as if you had that card. It's a good way to see if you would like the deck before dropping money on it, but it's never allowed in formal tournaments, and even some leagues discourage it so check first.

(All my prices estimates came from TCGplayer.com as of this morning, they can and do vary as stock changes)

I'll second the Greninja Break as a great budget standard deck, which can still fortunately do well in tournaments. I'll also second the Rayquaza/Keldio as a good investment if you're new since it comes with VS Seekers and a variety of good supports, especially for water. That said, do the math on the singles compared to what you already have and double check if it's worth it. I've put in the spoiler a post I wrote in another recent thread asking about a budget deck where I talked about Greninja Break, and the estimated costs. The same questions apply, what are your goals for the game? What do you already have?