Question on Competitive Staples

[asbxzeeko]

Hello all! In most decklists and guides to building decks I see today, they include two specific trainer cards they label as staples, and I was wondering why, the two being Professor Juniper and Ultra Ball.

I don't see them as useful, considering they have you discard cards, which seems hard to work with in decks where every card is included for a purpose. I was just wondering if I could get some clarification? Maybe they're only in decks that can retrieve cards from discard?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[9Tailz]

Ultra Ball gets you any Pokemon in your deck, and Juniper / Sycamore is the most consistently powerful draw supporter in the game. For most decks the discard from them isn't really a problem, since you want to be thinning out your deck and trimming any excess cards that might clog up your hand later on in the after, say, an N to two. The are also arguably the strongest and most practical cards for their purpose. The discard is problematic sometimes, if you have stuff in your hand you need to save, but usually the pros outweigh the cons. Some decks (usually ones that play Stage 2s and / or require a lot of cards to set up) choose to run 2 or 3 Juniper (in some cases, even fewer) since they don't want to end up discarding Rare Candies or parts of Pokemon lines, and play other supporters in those places instead. However, virtually every deck plays 4 Ultra Ball (3 is acceptable in decks that require little search) because it's just that good.

 

[Spiffo]

Ultra Balls are good because they consistently get you the pokemon you want. Discard some stuff you don't need right now, get the thing you do. Pokeballs require a flip. Great balls only scan the next seven cards for a mon. Ultra Balls scan your whole deck, and after the discard they just -work-.

Juniper cycles your hand and grabs seven fresh card. Play any cards you can, then toss the ones you can't, they're dead weight. Any cards that are essential you should be running multiple copies. You'll find another. Juniper keeps the momentum going.

I'm still a pretty new player, I don't play competitively but just with friends. That means I've occasionally run into "Draw Go syndrome", where all I can do is draw and then end my turn. Juniper is the single best way to keep from stalling out. (I'm becoming a big fan of Shauna though. Five cards is quite a few, and it shuffles them back into the deck instead of discarding. Colress can be even better, although Plasma Storm boosters are less available from the shops)