Rookie to the whole Metagame

Aoki

Aoki

Chronically tired
Member
Hey guys!
I'm just new here and to all the competitive Pokemon TCG stuff. I had been a collector for the past years, played a bit of casual games every once in a while but this year, I decided to aim more and hope to improve my skills than ever before. I don't know where to start learning the basic stuff on how to build your own decks, gameplay strategies and that kind of stuff.What decks right now are quite dominant? What staple cards are used in most decks? Most of all, where do I start learning all these things? Thanks!!

-Typhlo
 
First of all...welcome to the Beach! There's a lot going on in the metagame, so I'll try to make this as easy as possible for you.

Eelzone, a combination of Eelektrik from Noble Victories and Magnezone Prime from HS-Triumphant is arguably the best deck in format.
The Truth, Reuniclus from Black and White and Vileplume from HS-Undaunted with varied bulky attackers is also pretty big.
Durant from Noble Victories is a cheap and fun competitive deck from Noble Victories.

...I could go on and on, there's definitely more.

Staples:
-Pokemon Collector
-Junk Arm
-Professor Oak's New Theory
-Pokemon Catcher
-Professor Juniper
-Sage's Training
-Eviolite
-Rocky Helmet
-N

Wanna start? Keep reading around the forums. We've got all the info you need. Glad you've joined the game!
 
Well... A great place to start with deck building (warning, shameless plug ahead) is on my site where I did a write up (almost 2000 word article) on deck building for beginners, and a follow up article on testing. Both are currently on the front page (no digging around involved at the moment) so go take a look there. I also have a few theory articles listed so there is material for you to start with. I won't post a link here out of respect to the site's mods and admin, so if your interested, please feel free to take a look at my youtube link (in my signature) for all the link info or PM me for direct contact.

Another great resource is checking around the forums here to see what some of the other players in the TCG community are doing and go from there.
 
There are only a few staples right now:

-Pokemon Communication
-Pokemon Collector
-Junk Arm
-Pokemon Catcher
-Switch
-Professor Juniper
-Rare Candy
-Sage's Training

The first two are the only ones where there's no real reason not to run them. The rest are great if you're not running Vileplume. Rare Candy is great for Stage 2's, and Juniper is great in any deck without Stage 2's. Sage's Training is great for setting up your Stage 2's.

Zekrom/Pachirisu/Shaymin/Tornadus is a great deck to learn with, and it's fairly competitive.
 
One word you'll hear a lot of when making competitive decks: consistency, consistency, consistency.

Not sure how much you've played and how much you know this fact, but consistency is the most important aspect of any deck, archetype or rogue. This will be heavily reflected in your TSS and pokemon counts. For example, you only need one pokemon collector and two/three energy to get ZPST going turn one, but to get this consistently, you're gonna run four collector, two/three pokegear, and 15+ energy to make sure you swing by turn one, or at least turn two.

I agree with Celebi regarding ZPST. It's a good deck, it's a fast deck, it has a simple goal, but requires some skill to get it down reliably, it's a pretty good deck to practice good Catcher plays, and it's one of the most cost effective decks in the format with over ten city championships.
 
The last world championships had these decks as champs:(the archetypes)
Masters: ReshiClamp, Reshiphlosion, The Truth, MagneBoar
Seniors: Reshiphlosion, MegaJudge, Megazone, Reshiphlosion
Juniors: MegaJudge, "Zoo", Reshiphlosion, Megazone.
my faves are The Truth, MagneBoar and Reshiphlosion
EDIT: As pokemonjoe said, ReshiClamp, was Reshiphlosion w/a samurott tech, don't use it. MegaJudge and Megazone are COMPLETLEY outta format. Zoo was weird, I don't reccomend it. Reshiphlosion has been replaced by Reshiboar. Hence my outraged signature. MagneBoar went out for EelZone, though my friend at league still plays it. The Truth id the only of these that is still played, though its going strong, probly until HGSS is replaced. The most popular decks currently are:
- EelZone
-Durant
-Chandelure
-6 Corners
-ZPST
-
 
^ you realize reshiclamp was just reshiphlosion with a sammurot tech? As for the other decks, no one really plays them anymore, save the truth. The popular decks atm are magneel, truth, durant, and 6 corners. There are so many others. The thing I loved about noble victories is that it made the deck pool so diverse.
 
True, but I was just writing the worlds stuff, though I haven't seen a megazone in months. Also, "Magneel" is mainly called EelZone, its a cool deck.
 
People call it either one, it doesn't matter. The OP asked for popular decks right now. The worlds decks aren't popular anymore. And I don't know what your meta is, but magneel (eelzone whatever) is the BDIF
 
For a starter deck, I got a Power Play theme deck. I've heard theme decks the Pokemon Company makes are rather quite fragile and inconsistent
 
Yes, they are, they, have completley random card pairings and they're horrible. I would reccomend using a deck that works, Zekrom, Pachirisu, Shaymin, Tornadus is a good deck for starters. I don't have the list, but look it up on the forums. You can play any deck, im just reccomending this.
 
I don't have the money right now to buy a full ZPST build.
What can I do to improve the deck I already have?
 
Could you show us your deck? If you don't want to I understand.

I recommend having 7-10 (depending on the deck) consistency cards so you can set up faster, and no more than 14 energy (sometimes less depending on the deck). This will make is easier for you to set up.
 
Glaceon said:
Could you show us your deck? If you don't want to I understand.

I recommend having 7-10 (depending on the deck) consistency cards so you can set up faster, and no more than 14 energy (sometimes less depending on the deck). This will make is easier for you to set up.
Click to expand...
My deck is a Power Play one.

I tested with the Power Play deck a bit. What improvements can be done to it?
 
Drop some of the random pokemon and drop the pyramid lines. TBH, I would just drop the deck. If you want a low budget deck that is good, go with durant.
 
Durant is good, like pokemonjoe said, id just drop the deck. Though, I would put in the Black and White Cincinno, the Sheer Cold Beartic and the BW Sawing. Take out the crappy versions of the above cards.
 
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