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Sharkking (M Venusaur-EX)

Pokemom

Pokémon Professor
Member
This is our oldest son his deck.
He wants to add:
2x Venesaur-EX
2x M Venesaur-EX

And upgrade it some more to get a good deck.

This is his current deck:

Experience: Novice

Pokemon
  • 1 Tornadus
  • 1 Virizion EX
  • 2 Venesaur-EX
  • 2 M Venesaur-EX
  • 2 Serperior
  • 1 Snorlax
  • 1 Miltank
  • 2 Tropius
  • 1 Celebi EX
  • 3 Quilladin
  • 4 Chespin
  • 2 Chesnaught

Trainers
  • 1 Professor Juniper
  • 3 N
  • 2 Potion
  • 1 Evosoda
  • 2 Bianca
  • 2 Max Revive
  • 1 Hard Charm
  • 2 Switch
  • 1 Max Potion
  • 3 Ultra ball
  • 2 Heavy Ball
  • 4 Virbank city gym
  • 1 Hypnotoxic Laser

Energy
  • 13 Grass

Strategy:

What do you think?? *Proud mom*

They're going to try to swap for Colress, Professor Juniper/Sycamore, N and Skyla today! ;)

I edited in your updated decklist and removed your post prior! :) Remember, when you update your decklist, please edit the changes into the original post instead of posting one anew. Thanks! ~Kecleon
 
For Mega Evolutions, I've been going with a 2-1 line: Two Venusaur (or Blastoise in your other son's deck.) The reason for this is two-fold.

One, and most importantly, Mega Evolutions end your turn when you evolve them. Since you can't evolve on your first turn, this means there are at least two turns that you are unable to attack. This requires a little finesse in knowing when to Mega Evolve, and how to play around that turn so you get the maximum effect for your deck.

Second is Mega Venusaur's Energy cost for Crisis Vine. At this moment, the only Energy Manipulation that Grass decks have is the Serperior with Royal Heal:

8-serperior.jpg


Please remember that we have all scans from the sets that have existed prior, so please remember to use that as a resource! :D ~Kecleon

Three Grass Energy is a big investment for the deck (Mega Blastoise gets around its high cost by having a non-EX Blastoise that puts tons of energy on the field,) and not something that a lot of players are willing to commit to.

It all really comes down to efficiency. There are arguments to be made for running a 2-2 line: extra consistency, one Mega could be prized, etc. But I've found that running just one is all you really need, because it more or less wins you the game if you've prepared well enough.

As for the deck, the largest issue I see is consistency. If you can find them, the Red Genesect box is a great investment for new players. It gives you Ultra Ball, Professor Juniper, N, and other good Trainer cards, Grass and Psychic energy, and some good supporting Pokemon. Plus, everything is foil (shiny cards!), and you get a neat pin to go with it. I would also suggest Heavy Ball, as it searches for any Pokemon with a Retreat Cost of 3 or more- useful for digging up that Mega Evolution, or Chesnaught. You'll want more Evosoda, and probably a Rare Candy or two. Muscle Band is the go-to Pokemon Tool at the moment, but this deck can also benefit from Giant Cape, Exp. Share, Hard Charm, and Rocky Helmet. I wouldn't suggest any Ace Spec cards at this point (Master Ball, Gold Potion, or Rock Guard are the best for beginning players, however, both in use and in price.) Celebi EX isn't going to do you much good here; she's not as playable as she seems, and she's also very small HP-wise for an EX Pokemon.

If he wants to keep the Fairy-type cards in the deck, you'll definitely want to get hold of the new Resilient Life theme deck. It comes with two of the best technical Fairy-types in the game: Slurpuff prevents Special Conditions (Poison, Sleep, Confused, etc.) on Pokemon with Fairy Energy attached to it, and Aromatisse allows you to move Fairy Energy around on your Pokemon as often as you like during your turn. Fairy Garden gives Pokemon with Fairy Energy attached to them free Retreat, very good in this deck, which has lots of 3 and 4 Energy Retreat Costs. Also, coming out in the new Wild Blaze set is a Fairy-type called Floette that gives Grass-type Pokemon +20 HP. The Ability will stack, meaning four Floette = +80 HP for all your Grass-type Pokemon.
 
For Mega Evolutions, I've been going with a 2-1
(This means 2 ex and 1 Mega right??)

The kids found 3 Serperior, so they can put those in this deck with the evolutions?

I found the Red Genesect box, is there a box like this with Professor Sycamore and Colress e.g for our other son??
That sounds like a good investment for now and I can get it for a fair price: $32,- ??


Edit: While going trough the piles of cards I found two Growlithe and now I'm in love and want to make a Deck with them for myself. :rolleyes:

rc4-growlithe.jpg


Please use Pokebeach images next time. Remember, we have an awesome resource for that with nigh all scans from new sets! :D ~Kecleon
 
There are a couple things I would like to suggest. The first is definitely more difficult. I would definitely try to get a Virizion EX card. If you manage to get one, which will not be easy, it will probably become a really key card to this deck. What this Virizion does is called energy acceleration, it moves energy from your hand or deck to the playing area much quicker than the one-per-turn you can normally do. Virizion EX allows you to go through your deck and attach two energy to a pokemon on your bench. Unfortunately, this Virizion is an expensive card. It is definitely a card the kids should be targeting in a trade. If you manage to get one, it will probably be the biggest improvement you can make.

The main strategy I would go for with this deck is to use the Mega Venusaur to try to lock the opponent in so they can't do anything. The Mega V does 120 Damage as well as poisoning and paralyzing the opponent. By paralyzing them, they can't attack or retreat and this is how the lock starts. The EX cards all have between 170 and 180 HP. This means that Mega V's attack will do 120 damage, leaving the opponent with 50 or 60 HP left. Then poison does 10 more damage between every turn. With this card called Virbank City Gym, the poison damage is tripled to 30 damage between turns. The way it would then go is like this: hit them for 120 and poison them, after your turn they have 150 damage on them and they are paralyzed and poisoned. They can't do anything that turn because they are paralyzed and when they end their turn, they take another 30 damage from poison to bring the total to 180 damage, knocking out the opposing EX cards. Then the best part is that it becomes your turn again so you can do the exact same thing again. If an opponent doesn't have cards to counteract this, you can't be beaten.

There are some counters to this lock, so it isn't perfect by any means. The only ways to get rid of the paralysis is to use the card Keldeo (weak to grass) or an item card called switch or the similar Escape Rope. I feel that most decks probably use mainly the EX cards, but there are decks that don't. You would then knock out those easier opponents with your attack, then your opponent would get a turn to attack. The opponent can also remove your Virbank City Gym by playing a Stadium of their own which messes with the math of the lock. It is a good thing Mega V has a bunch of HP and it is really hard to OHKO it, though it is possible.

With this you need some support to keep it going. You will probably want 4 copies of Virbank City Gym for two reasons, 1. to win the stadium war (which player's stadium is in play) and 2. so you can get and play the stadium easily.

Other trainer cards I would suggest getting are also rather easy to get. Switch/escape rope, maybe float stone, A Hypnotoxic laser or two, and definitely some Ultra Balls and Heavy Balls. I got myself a couple copies of N and Skyla (very useful cards that could be otherwise hard to get) from the league I went to. Ask the leader if they have any other copies of these cards that you could use.

Contrary to what was posted above me, I would suggest two Mega Venusaur in the deck. I would want to avoid the key card being stuck in the prizes at all costs. Also, if you manage to get two Mega V set up, that would be much better than just one. You could use the opportunity to mega evolve the second when maybe the opponent uses a weak basic as a sacrifice to break your lock that you get set up.

This looks like a fun deck for sure. I would actually like to give it a try myself. Good luck!
 
Looks pretty solid for a beginner deck. However, I would suggest that if you're playing a whopping 4 Virbank City Gym that you also include just as many copies of Hypnotoxic Laser this is a monumental card especially when used in conjunction with Virbank City Gym. Lets take out some less than useful cards here,

-1 Snorlax
-1 Miltank
-1 Tropius
+3 Hypnotoxic Laser

I suggest this since if you only play 1 Laser with 4 Gym, you'll win the stadium war but you'll be lackin in power in between turns if you can't draw into the Laser, Skyla into the Laser, or if it's prized.

Hope this helps,
LoneWolf2113
 
Thanks!

My son pointed out he couldn't use his 2 Serperior, because there weren't any Snivy and Servine in his Deck, so this is how he wanted to change it now:

- 1 Snorlax
- 1 Miltank
- 2 Tropius
- 1 Virbank city gym

+ 2 Snivy
+ 2 Servine
+ 1 Hypnotixic Laser (Mommy's Pokemon budget ran out. ;-) )

Edit: Still puzzeling a little with this deck, don't know why but the other deck feels stronger...:

- 1 Quilladin
- 2 Chespin
- 1 N

+ 2 Professor Juniper
+ 2 Skyla

We'll see the results on Sunday! :D
Good idea??
 
Tell your boy to remember to try and get Virizion EX out first turn for energy acceleration, Mega evolving ends your turn, Mega Venusaur EX works with Virbank, and remind him to use Serperior's Royal Heal Ability as often as possible.

Good luck and Hope this helps,
LoneWolf2113
 
Our oldest became 9 th out of 9, he had tears in his eyes in the car home.... :-(
Can't figure out why, the other kids had to many EX cards to win he said.
He had a bye also, but that even didn't help him.
 
Pokemom said:
Our oldest became 9 th out of 9, he had tears in his eyes in the car home.... :-(
Can't figure out why, the other kids had to many EX cards to win he said.
He had a bye also, but that even didn't help him.

Was it his first tournament?

The first tournament is always the roughest, especially for Juniors. Reassure him that this doesn't mean he's a bad player. It could be that there were more top-level decks than expected. This is a common problem for Juniors who want to exercise ingenuity and build their own deck, as opposed to having their parents build or buy one for them (not necessarily a bad thing for younger children.) Home-built decks are always more difficult to win with than proven tournament decks, but I find them to be more interesting and enjoyable to play than whatever is winning that week.

I suggest getting on Google and looking up winning tournament reports from around the country. Pay attention to the top 8 decks from the tournament- those are the decks you will be looking to defeat. That should give you a good idea of the kinds of decks your son is playing against, and then you and he can work together to make his deck stronger.

If you like, I could private-message you my Grass deck, which is very similar to what your son wants to play, and perhaps you could take some ideas from that.
 
Tell him not to worry about it. It's his first tournament and he shouldn't let himself get down over getting last. I remember at my first tournament I came home with 2 wins and 3 losses and was down for nearly a week after and I didn't even come in last! Tell him to remember that this game is all about having fun and making new friends and discoveries. Not every deck you make is gonna win. I've gone to tournaments with decks I knew would do well, as well as decks that I was just playing to have fun with and because I liked the idea. I feel like his deck was more of just a fun deck and if he wants to win, maybe he should start building around some archetypes. Some are more expensive, like Blastoise/Keldeo, but some are both cheap to build and successful such as Tool Drop or Dragonite. Also, don't let him psyche himself out over these things. My first few times, I didn't think my decks would win and built about 3 decks before every tournament. I kept going back to my original ideas so tell him not to worry about it. I'm sure that with practice, he'll get more confident and understand how to build really powerful and clever decks as time goes on. I'm sure that later on, he'll do fine.
 
Thanks for the kind words!
We pointed him out all the things he learned by losing.
And the kids he talked and played with.
Today he has the drive to learn how to build a new deck.
Are kids allowed on this forum?
He wants to post himself, so he can learn.

(He would love to see your deck shinigami)
 
^ Yes, they are! We welcome all new members of all shapes, sizes and ages! Just keep in mind that they have to have proper spelling and grammar in order to post, otherwise I will have to unapprove the post in question.
 
I definitely agree. My first tournament, I lost every match, I really wasn't even sure what was going on. It definitely gets better; I've been playing for a year and a half solid (I played on and off before then for about 4 years), and this season was my first time I showed any real progress. For a fairly simple deck for your your son could be Darkrai EX with Yveltal EX. That deck is fairly easy to construct (all things considered), and it's very competetive.

The biggest grass deck out right now is Virizion EX with Genesect EX. It is a very powerful deck, but it's also really expensive to make, which is why I would suggest the dark deck.
 
Also, If you're looking for cheap, easy to make and play decks. I would suggest Weavile/Exeggcute. It's cheap to buy all 60 cards for (it's around $70-$80), competitive, and has an easy strategy for new players to use. If you're looking for specific cards, I would suggest a local card store and some comic book stores have Pokemon stuff, but the easiest thing is to order cards online. I would recommend sites such as: Stop2shop.com, trollandtoad.com, and pokeorder.com. They're really helpful and usually have the cards you're looking to buy for cheap.
 
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