Pokémon TCG player-based terminology?

dbgoldberg323

TCG Professor, League Owner
Member
So, we all know people like to use colloquialisms for certain cards, techniques, or actions in games, and the ones that sound cool or reasonable usually stick. Some examples:

To scoop - usually means you're giving up in a game, an obvious reference to "scoop up" from the Pokémon TCG

Tech - A set of cards or mechanics (or "tech"niques) that use one or both to give you an advantage (sometimes to cover for a weakness or to enable you to win games much faster)

Tutor - The ability to search through your deck for a card or cards, referring to the Magic: The Gathering card "Demonic Tutor"

I'm relatively new to Pokébeach but I've noticed a term going around that really has me confused.

"Donk".

I've seen it spelled differently or people have used similar words, but I have only a slight idea as to what it means. Is it an acronym? If it means "to be able to knock out Pokémon quickly", I thought the term "sweeper" or "sweeps" applied, like from the VG team terminology. The word "beats" used to apply to decks in card games that specifically went for simplistic high-speed high-damage creature cards over others, like "Water beats" for Naruto or "Green beats" for Magic. What does it officially mean, and who decided to settle on this really dumb word?

Also, what does "toolbox" mean? Is it just a reference to decks with a very small amount of Pokémon but a lot of trainers in them? If so, that's...kind of how ALL decks are nowadays. Or, is it a reference to decks that have lots of "Tool" item cards in them?

Pardon my n00bness in reagards to your guys' terminology lol.
 
dbgoldberg323 said:
I'm relatively new to Pokébeach but I've noticed a term going around that really has me confused.

"Donk".

I've seen it spelled differently or people have used similar words, but I have only a slight idea as to what it means. Is it an acronym? If it means "to be able to knock out Pokémon quickly", I thought the term "sweeper" or "sweeps" applied, like from the VG team terminology. The word "beats" used to apply to decks in card games that specifically went for simplistic high-speed high-damage creature cards over others, like "Water beats" for Naruto or "Green beats" for Magic. What does it officially mean, and who decided to settle on this really dumb word?

Also, what does "toolbox" mean? Is it just a reference to decks with a very small amount of Pokémon but a lot of trainers in them? If so, that's...kind of how ALL decks are nowadays. Or, is it a reference to decks that have lots of "Tool" item cards in them?

Pardon my n00bness in reagards to your guys' terminology lol.

To answer these two questions: A donk is a 1st turn win, or to put it more clearly, when your opponent's lone Pokemon is knocked out on the first turn. (for example, going first, starting with Mewtwo EX, attaching a DCE and using X-Ball on their lone Tynamo)

A Toolbox deck is a deck that uses a lot of different attackers or has many different options through out the game. Two examples are EelBox, which isn't like ZekEels, due to having many attackers such as Registeel EX, Terrakion NV, Regigigas EX, Tornadus EX, ect. And a slightly outdated deck known as Six Corners, which used any mixture of these 6 cards, or all of the listed cards: Cobalion NV, Verizion NV, Terrakion NV, Reshiram BW (sometimes replaced with Victini NV) (the non-Ability one), Zekrom BW, and Kyurem NV.
 
Ah. Well that certainly clears a lot up. I'm still not a fan of the word "donk" though lol.

Thanks for the info! :D
 
Some players also reference donk when they get a Pokémon knocked out on the first turn even if they have another to promote or if they don't draw a basic for a few turns then get their lone active knocked out, even if it's after the first turn. It's a dumb word for a dumb mechanic.
 
Yeah, basically what they said: A donk is a first-turn win in one way or another.I t doesn't HAVE to be a knock out, you COULD use a card's effect to remove your opponent's last Pokemon from play, or to mill their deck.

And a Toolbox deck involves using many powerful attackers of MANY different types, usually with the aid of a Rainbow Energy, or other such "Multi-Energy" cards.

 
PumpedAaron said:
Yeah, basically what they said: A donk is a first-turn win in one way or another.I t doesn't HAVE to be a knock out, you COULD use a card's effect to remove your opponent's last Pokemon from play, or to mill their deck.

And a Toolbox deck involves using many powerful attackers of MANY different types, usually with the aid of a Rainbow Energy, or other such "Multi-Energy" cards.

In this format, where donks are mainly talked about, it is a knockout. There is only one competitive donk deck that removes your opponent's last pokemon in play without knocking it out, porydonk. Also, there has never been, nor where there will be, a deck that can mill your opponent T1, lol.
 
I think you can technically "donk" in the first three turns (cause thats the standard setup time)
I THINK not 100% sure

cause I've often heard people say T2 Donk or T3 Donk.
SO I've always thought of donking as KOing your opponent in the beginning stages of the game.
 
MamsPokemon said:
I think you can technically "donk" in the first three turns (cause thats the standard setup time)
I THINK not 100% sure

cause I've often heard people say T2 Donk or T3 Donk.
SO I've always thought of donking as KOing your opponent in the beginning stages of the game.
"Donk" isn't an official term, so it can technically be whatever you want it to be. I could beat you on the 7th turn, call it a donk, and still technically be correct if that's the meaning I have for it personally. Most of the community would disagree with me, but since it's not an official word, there's no official meaning.
 
Hi, sorry if I'm breaking a rule by reviving this thread. I didn't want to make a new thread because I found this.
What does BCIF or BDIF mean?
 
Lemonnade said:
Hi, sorry if I'm breaking a rule by reviving this thread. I didn't want to make a new thread because I found this.
What does BCIF or BDIF mean?

BCIF means Best Card In the Format and BDIF means Best Deck In the Format.
 
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