Questions Before Transitioning from Theme Decks to Competitive

[Shadow31]

Hello! I'm both new to Pokebeach, and to the TCG, which I only recently began messing around with on PTCGO. I've been mostly playing with the theme decks, so I have a basic handle of the concepts of the game, and am thinking of making a deck myself that I might try to make with real cards at some point. That said, I have some questions I'd like answered before I'd be willing to drop money on cards, especially since I'm on an extremely limited budget for the foreseeable future.

For some context, I have IRL an Electric Eye theme deck, as well as the Breakpoint Elite box which came with a little bit of everything in the packs. By extension, I have those available on PTCGO as well.

1. Is there a resource here with the different types of decks listed and explained? I know there's mill decks and the concept there, but I'm not really sure what other archetypes there are, or if those even really exist in the TCG.
2. What sets should I consider buying, when I get to that point? If I was to make a deck, I'd probably want to go Standard and relatively recent sets; I would consider Phantom Forces since Zoroark is one of my many favorite Pokemon, but I saw another topic on here debating whether that set could get rotated out and I'd like my cards to last as long as possible ideally. I like weird concepts and focus on fun over victory, so don't worry if it isn't tier-1 level decks that come out of this.
3. How different is playing built decks compared to theme decks? I know the built decks will be much more optimized, but does it require a different thought process or are the ideas learned from theme easily transferred?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Electricbluewolf]

Hi there, welcome to the TCG!
It's great to get new players here, the more the better.

To answer your questions:

1. Yes, usually people put concept decks or full decks they've used, with the tactics to use behind them. When people post decks they usually post how many cards, what cards there are and what the structure of the decks is. Using the search facility if your after a particular deck means you can find decks lists, and reading the articles helps understand the process behind them

2. Even if it does rotate out at Phantom Force there will be a lot of cards you can still use. I think it's likely they will re-release the important deck Pokemon in the future (such as Manectric EX and the Mega, the Zubat/Crobat/Golbat line, Battle Compressor, Night March) Personally I would go for Phantom Force, Roaring Skies or Break Through. They have lots of different styles of cards and also cover many basics. Keep in mind if you're making a specific deck it is just cheaper to buy the cards than buy a booster box with the majority of cards.

3. The theme decks are very Pokemon and Energy heavy. They are good starting points to understand the mechanics in the game-such as Resilient Life, the Xerneas deck, uses Aromatisse' ability to move around Fairy Energy, which is what most competitive Fairy Decks do. People are very surprised on how little Pokemon and Energy are played in competitive decks, as it is mostly the items/supporters/stadiums that win the game.
A good step up from theme decks is the Battle Arena decks. It has more of a competitive feel, and has many deck staple (cards that are used in almost every deck) cards in so you can transfer them to different decks

 

[bbninjas]

Hi Shadow, and welcome to PB!

Anyways, looks like EBW has given a pretty nifty answer up there, but I'll go ahead and add to it.

1. On PB itself, there are a few nifty resources you may like to look through. Your best bet would be the Metagame Deck Discussion, which has competitive deck skeletons for a variety of different archetypes for your use. You may also like to look through the array of premium and free competitive articles posted at the front page, which should provide you with some more insight of the competitive TCG. If you're interested at looking at decks that the PB community have posted, you may like to check out the Deck Garage.

2. Whenever someone is looking for a specific expansion to obtain, I will generally direct them to Phantom Forces. It has many commons and uncommon staples including Professor Sycamore, VS Seeker, Xerosic, Double Colourless Energy and Battle Compressor, as well as competitive Pokemon from the popular archetypes of Night March, Wobbuffet, M-Manectric (this one is rare) and the nifty Bats line. As EBW said, many of these cards could be reprinted at a future date in a nearly-completely reprint-style set, otherwise they will stick around for the Expanded format (BW-on at present), which is the second of the two competitive formats (the other is Standard, or XY-on at present). Otherwise, Roaring Skies has the most expensive staple, Shaymin-EX, that fetches insane dollars in the 30s and above. Ancient Origins could also be a nice set, containing the uncommon but competitive Vespiquen and Level Ball.

3. Theme Decks are definitely different to your typical competitive deck, as they feature incomplete lines, high energy and high Pokemon but low trainers. You may notice that once you get into competitive, cards that can draw/search through your deck such as Professor Sycamore, N or Shauna, Trainer's Mail, Ultra Ball and the like are very important. This means competitive decks should also move much faster than your typical theme deck. As EBW suggested, you may like to look into Battle Arena decks - I recommend the Mewtwo-EX vs Darkrai-EX one if you don't mind Expanded cards; as the Battle Arena decks contain much more competitive/staple cards and are a more balanced Trainer-Pokemon-Energy ratio.

Furthermore, Theme Decks are generally based around Pokemon types rather than synergy between cards. You'll notice that competitive decks often use different types of Pokemon either for a variety or simply because they compliment each other. Competitive decks also should consider matchups and often will have techs, to make other common archtype matchups easier. However, once you practice enough, deck building should come more naturally. For your first decklist, you may like to post draft version in the Deck Garage to get some help from the PB community. If you do and would like me to look over it, just post a link in this thread or send me a PM and let me know.

Also, if you haven't already, you may like to look at a simulator (the official one is PTCG Online) as that should give you an idea of more competitive decks without necessarily needing to buy anything.

 

[Shadow31]

Thanks for the help!

I am on PTCGO, but since I have basically no cards on there aside from the theme packs I've been only playing theme on there. I might take a look at the Battle Arena decks, though.

 

[SilverSilent]

Hi Shadow31!

Honestly before buying anymore more theme decks, I would recommend looking up what the current meta decks are as of right now and research them all to see which one you like. If you see a specific ability/card that you like then start trying to build around it and see what you can come up with. After that, then I would start trying to buy single cards to build the deck and start practicing with it either on PTCGO or physically. This is a great way to be able to not only learn what cards are staples in rotation, but also to learn other decks that are in the meta and how certain mechanics can work for other decks compared to others.

PTCGO is a bit more difficult to obtain cards on than in real life. If you are able to get code cards then you have a bit more leeway to being able to buy cards as it's easier to trade packs than singles usually.

I hope this helps!