Returning Player - In Need of Advice!

Chief Wiggum

Chief Wiggum

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Greetings everyone!

As I'm sure it is also the case with a number of people here, I used to play Pokemon TCG way back in the days when the very first set released. I progressed all the way to the first Neo set, where I quit playing. It has been this long - over ten years since I played last. Long story short, I'm looking to get back to the game, but looking at the amount of content released during all this time has been very daunting.

I hope to be able to join the competitive scene, but have absolutely no idea where I should start looking. I'm interested to hear what people might be able to suggest in this regard, so if you think you have any tips or advices for a returning player like me, I would most certainly welcome them with open arms.

Thank you very much for your time :) All the best!
 
Hey, welcome to PokéBeach! :D
Here's a list of pretty much all (meta)decks that you missed, in the parenthesis are the names people commonly call them/variants used.
  • Virizion EX/Genesect EX (Virigen): Emerald Slash onto Genesect and then proceed to OHKO with G-Booster. Has trouble with Donphan and Megas.
  • Yveltal EX variants: Attach Energy onto Yveltal EX and attack. Ok match-up against most things, bad match-up against M Manetric EX decks.
  • M Gardevoir EX/Aromatisse (Fairies): Get Energy into play with Xerneas' Geomancy, powering up Gardevoir to Mega Evolve and OHKO with Brilliant Arrow. Good match-up against slow decks, ok match-up with almost everything else, fast decks can sometimes be a problem if they take free Prizes early-game. Bad match-up against Metal.
  • Seismitoad EX decks (CancerToad, ToadBats, Seismitoad-EX/Crawdaunt): Use Quaking Punch to limit the opponent's options and get your resources very quickly with the Cancer Engine (4 Professore Juniper+Random Receiver+Lysadnre's Trump Card), sadly that's all I can tell you about this one as I have never used (or plan to use) this guy. CancerToad isn't a thing anymore, thanks to the banning of LTC (CrawToad met the same fate, as it can't just spam Energy denial anymore.)
  • Donphan: Use Spinning Turn to damage EXs and promote an appropriate wall for the situation. Good match-up against most EX decks, ok match-up with almost everything else, bad match-up against Seismitoad and megas.
  • M Manetric EX (MegaMan): This one is never played alone, but I mention it since it's a thing. Good match-up against Yveltal, bad match-up against Donphan and Fighting decks in general. Of course, it all depends on what you pair it with.
  • M Aggron EX/Bronzong-Dialga EX/Bronzong (Metal): Another one I have little experience with. All I can say it's it has a good match-up against Fairies and a not-so-good match-up against faster decks.
  • P Groudon EX Decks (P Groudon-EX/Landorus, P Groudon-EX/Wobbufet): Use Battle Compressor and Landorus' Shout of Power to power up your Groudons, helped by Mega Turbo. Good match-up against anything that it can outspeed (not much, really), ok match-ups for anything that doesn't outspeed or is a OHKO deck, bad match-up for everything that outspeeds or is a OHKO deck (a lot of things, really.) The Wobbufet variant is very different, in the way that you don't play any Basic Groudon-EX at all. You rely on Maxie's Ball Trick to get your P Groudon-EXs into play, and use Wobbufet as your only Basic to block Abilities sonce T1 for sure.
  • P Kyogre EX/Manaphy: I have limited knowledge on this one. Main idea is set up quickly with Manaphy and Alpha Growth, then Primal Devolve and start destroying things. Match-ups are off-limits for me, but I guess it's a lot like P Groudon/Landorus.
  • Joltik/Lampent/Pumpkaboo/Mew EX (Night March): Use Battle Compressor to get as many Night Marchers in the Discard as possible, then OHKO EXs with your Joltiks/Mew EXs. Favorable (not necessarily good) match-ups against EX-heavy decks, ok against other things, bad against things that run bats/snipe your bench.
  • Zubat/Golbat/Crobat (Bats): These aren't played by themselves and provide extra damage that helps get KOs and sometimes to take free Prizes.
  • M Rayquaza-EX/Shaymin-EX: Main idea is to fill your bench ASAP so you can Emerald Break with M Rayquaza-EX for huge damage. Thanks to M Rayquaza's Delta Evolution Ancient Trait (Ancient Traits are like extra Abilities) it can evolve during the turn it's played. This, along with the existence of Shaymin-EX ROS and Spirit Links, means that it can M Evolve and attack in T1 for pretty big damage, potentially OHKOing anything. Good match-ups against pretty much everything, ok match-up against M Manetric-EX decks, bad against Item Lock.
  • M Rayquaza-EX (Dragon)/Hydreigon-EX/Reshiram: You use Double Dragon Energy along with Mega Turbo and Reshiram to power up your M Rayquaza-EX as fast as you can, so you can start using Dragon Ascent to hit for 300 damage. In theory this should have good match-ups against a lot of EX decks since it can OHKO anything, but I haven't tested this deck so I can't really tell.

Hope this helps! :D
 
Thread moved to Help & Advice! :') I'd say some suggestions but Vom did an excellent job.
 
Thank you SO MUCH Vom! I have to admit I wasn't expecting to get such a detailed reply from anyone! It's extremely helpful.

While theoretically I now have a sound basis to start off (by looking up the decks you mentioned, etc), it'll take me a good while to adjust to the game now. I haven't played in so long, and everything looks so... different. So many items, trainers and Pokemons I haven't even heard of. It's really a lot to take in. I doubt I will be able to cut any corners, so I'll bide my time and take it easy.

I own zero cards at the moment. All I ever had were cards from Gen 1 and 2, which were either sold or donated to other kids/friends during the years. Would you or anyone else have any suggestions as in what I should I get to start off?

As I love dark Pokemons, I wanted to make a dark deck. Are there any of them viable at the moment in the competitive scene? Pardon if there are any under your listing, as I really am still unfamiliar with a lot of the new Pokemon. I have played Pokemon White in the DS and had some fun at Pokemon Showdown for a wee while, but otherwise I'm pretty rusty.

Again, I thank you all for your time, and hope to get a reply, if possible :) Cheers!
 
Chief Wiggum said:
Thank you SO MUCH Vom! I have to admit I wasn't expecting to get such a detailed reply from anyone! It's extremely helpful.

While theoretically I now have a sound basis to start off (by looking up the decks you mentioned, etc), it'll take me a good while to adjust to the game now. I haven't played in so long, and everything looks so... different. So many items, trainers and Pokemons I haven't even heard of. It's really a lot to take in. I doubt I will be able to cut any corners, so I'll bide my time and take it easy.

I own zero cards at the moment. All I ever had were cards from Gen 1 and 2, which were either sold or donated to other kids/friends during the years. Would you or anyone else have any suggestions as in what I should I get to start off?

As I love dark Pokemons, I wanted to make a dark deck. Are there any of them viable at the moment in the competitive scene? Pardon if there are any under your listing, as I really am still unfamiliar with a lot of the new Pokemon. I have played Pokemon White in the DS and had some fun at Pokemon Showdown for a wee while, but otherwise I'm pretty rusty.

Again, I thank you all for your time, and hope to get a reply, if possible :) Cheers!
Click to expand...
You're welcome! :D
A good start would be the Xerneas vs Yveltal Battle Arena Deck, as is contains some Energy and staples. From there, an Elite Trainer Box of any set will do to get Energy, and then since you'll have staples and Energy you simply trade/buy the rest of what you need in singles at online sites or at your local store.
Of course, you could get all of this by trading, as some people look for old cards.
 
Im prettymuch in the same boat as you. I just bought a roaring skies elite trainer box for kicks and i got the urge to build a deck. Now ive got 2 theme decks a second elite trainer box and i just purchased the battle arena set thanks to the help on this site. Hopefully i can build a couple decent decks. Nothing really competetive just for fun with wife and family.
 
Thank you again, Vom - and thank you PowerSerg, also, for chipping in :)

After I get my initial cards, I think I might build an Yveltal EX & Darkrai deck of sorts. Not sure how good it will do, but I'm sure I'll find once I get back into the game properly. I'll see you around the forums, certainly :)
 
Will do, thanks for the tip. I'll get hold of the basic sets first before I commit to purchasing singles.
 
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