Staples of the Black & White Format
This resource explains cards that are used in most decks (staples) and why they are used so much. This serves two purposes:First of all, people who are writing deck articles (and articles in general) can link to this resource instead of spending time explaining what specific staple cards do. When 99% of people reading the article already know what they do, it gets old reading it over and over and makes the article appear as though it is written for a less advanced group of players than it actually is.
Secondly, new players can read through this to better understand the function of popular cards and better understand how to build good decks.
Supporters
In BLW-on, the main function of Supporter cards is to allow players to draw extra cards from their deck. This allows them to set their strategy up faster and makes it more likely that they will have the cards they need when they need them. The ability to do this is so important that basically every deck uses 12-16 Supporters.
The Supporter pool in BLW-on is more limited than it has been in the past. We actually only have four draw Supporters.
Bianca (EPO90): Bianca can draw up to six cards with no drawback, which is theoretically the best draw available. However, if you have a big hand, Bianca won't do much. Because of this, it works well with cards like Ultra Ball, which can make your hand smaller. All in all, the card is very situational and it isn't great, but there aren't better options and it's occasionally very good, so it still sees play.
Cheren (EPO91, DEX91): Cheren usually won't draw as many cards as the other Supporters in the format, but it's more reliable than any of them. No matter what, Cheren will always get you three cards with no drawback. This makes it very popular because it's good in every single deck.
N (NVI92, NVI101, DEX96): N is one of the best cards the game has ever seen. Early-game, it's a very strong draw card, even though it can benefit your opponent as well. Mid- to late-game, it can really disrupt your opponent if you have more Prize cards remaining than them. These factors combined make it an automatic 4-of in basically every deck.
Professor Juniper (BLW101, DEX98): Juniper is one of the best Supporters available. It offers very strong draw at all points in the game, but it's also risky. With Juniper, you can be put in positions where you have to discard good cards and/or waste resources just to get that all-important new hand. Even so, the lack of a stronger draw option makes Professor Juniper an automatic 4-of in most decks.
Abbreviations: Juniper
Search Cards
On top of drawing cards, it's helpful to be able to search specific cards. Most good search cards search for Pokémon, but some are able to get Trainers or Energy. Like with draw Supporters, the search card pool in BLW-on is very limited.
Emolga (DRX45): Emolga is the only Pokémon in this resource, which should be proof in itself that it's very good. Other Pokémon search cards in the format only get one Pokémon so it can be hard to build up a big and powerful Bench with only those cards. Emolga fixes this issue, getting multiple Basics and giving the player using Emolga a big head start on their setup.
Heavy Ball (NXD88): This card is very restricted in the cards it can search, but it's very useful in decks with a lot of cards that have a Retreat Cost of three or more. Unlike less conditional search cards, Heavy Ball doesn't have any cost, so it's a lot better than said cards in decks that can make good use of it.
Abbreviations: Heavy
Level Ball (NXD89): Much like Heavy Ball, Level Ball is a situational search card without a cost. However, it's capable of searching a lot more cards than Heavy Ball is. Because of this, it sees quite a bit more play even though both are good cards. For more information, see Heavy Ball (above).
Abbreviations: Level
Pokémon Communication (BLW99): Pokémon Communication is one of the few search cards able to get any Pokémon out of the deck, so it's pretty good. However, the requirement of exchanging the new Pokémon with an old one from your hand makes it hard to play in decks that use very few Pokémon. If you can't return a Pokémon from your hand to your deck, you can't play Pokémon Communication! Because most BLW-on decks run very few Pokémon, there are usually better options even though this card is very good. Most decks with less than 20 Pokémon will use other search cards.
Abbreviations: Communication
Ultra Ball (DEX102): Ultra Ball is arguably the best search in the game, but it comes with a big cost. Some decks that take advantage of cards being discarded can make great use of Ultra Ball, while others don't like the discarding drawback. Either way, most decks with less than 20 Pokémon will be using a lot of Ultra Ball simply because there isn't a better option.
Abbreviations: Ultra
Item Staples
Most cards in Pokémon have some sort of limit on when you can play them. You can only have up to six Pokémon in play at a time, and Evolutions need their previous form in play before they can come into play. You can only play one Supporter, Stadium, and Energy each turn unless other effects allow you to do otherwise. However, there is no limit on how many Items you can play each turn and they can have a lot of different effects. Because of this, we've ended up with a lot of Item cards that are so good they see play in almost every deck. These cards are called "Item Staples".
Max Potion (EPO94): With EX cards having around 180HP, Max Potion is capable of healing a lot of damage. If a high-HP card can attack for a small number of Energy (1-2) or is paired with a card that can accelerate Energy or move Energy around the field, you can expect it to be paired with Max Potion. Not every deck can take advantage of Max Potion, but the ones that can are very good.
PlusPower (BLW96): PlusPower allows cards to do more damage than they could otherwise. If a card is 10 damage away from Knocking Out another popular card in one hit, PlusPower can turn that into a one-hit-knock-out (OHKO). This is a big deal because it accelerates the rate in which cards can take Prizes, allowing the user to win faster. Not all decks need it, however, because many decks are able to OHKO almost any card.
Abbreviations: PP
Pokémon Catcher (EPO95, DEX111): Pokémon Catcher is one of the best Items in the game, if not the best. It can be used to KO weak cards on the opponent's Bench, bring up a card on their Bench with a high Retreat Cost to stall, KO supporting Pokémon on the opponent's Bench, and much more. Every single deck will be running Pokémon Catcher.
Abbreviations: Catcher
Random Receiver (DEX99): Random Receiver can effectively turn itself into a Supporter. This card is good in decks that don't like to use one of the available Supporters. Because there are so few available, if a deck doesn't like Bianca, for example, it's stuck using a maximum of 12 Supporters. However, with Random Receiver, it can get above that count and be more consistent.
Abbreviations: Receiver, RR
Rare Candy (DEX100): This card lets decks with Stage 2 cards skip over their Stage 1 evolution, which means Stage 2's can set up a turn faster than they could otherwise. Furthermore, if decks are running multiple Stage 2's, Rare Candy allows them to "overlap" their Stage 1 Evolution lines, saving space. Because of these benefits, you'll see 3-4 copies of Rare Candy in every single deck with Stage 2 evolutions.
Abbreviations: Candy, RC
Super Rod (NVI95): Super Rod actually fits into its own category: recovery. This is a category that is lacking in BLW-on; Super Rod is the only good recovery card available. Basically, it allows you to recycle your attackers and Energy later in the game after they've been Knocked Out. This lets you keep attacking the entire game and increases the odds you draw the cards you need later on.
Abbreviations: Rod
Switch (BLW104): Switch basically allows any card on the field to Retreat for free, and it can allow multiple "Retreats" in one turn. This saves on Energy attachments and gives players more control over their side of the field. Basically every deck uses this card.
Tool Scrapper (DRX116): There are a lot of popular Item-Tool (Tool) cards in the format, and a lot of them are very game-changing. A single Tool Scrapper removes two Tools from play, which is a favorable exchange for the player with Tool Scrapper, and it can really swing a lot of games in favor of the user. However, not all decks use Tools so it's very situational.
Abbreviations: Scrapper
Special Energy
Special Energy always have two uses - they provide Energy and they offer an additional effect. This effect can be providing multiple types of Energy at once, providing multiple Energy at once, or something completely different. Because they are so versatile and unique, a lot of decks use them.
It's also worthy of note that Basic Energy are also in virtually every deck. However, because the cards have no effect, they are not covered here. They all just charge up your attackers.
Blend Energy GRPD (DRX117) & Blend Energy WLFM ((DRX118): Both of these cards provide multiple types of Energy at the same time. If you happen to be using a deck that needs multiple types of Energy and one of the Blend Energies provides two or more of those types, there's no reason not to use it. Why? Because it makes it more likely that you'll have the type of Energy that you need when you need it. If, for example, you have Water-type attackers and a few Fighting-type attackers in your deck and you use 8 Water Energy and 4 Fighting Energy, you could use Blend Energy WLFM instead of the Fighting Energy. This would mean that every Energy in your deck allows your Water-type attackers to attack, but the same number of Energy still allow your Fighting-type attackers to attack. This makes your deck more consistent.
Abbreviations: Blend, GRPD, WLFM
Double Colorless Energy (NXD92): If your deck has any attackers that need at least two units of Colorless ({C}) Energy, you should give serious consideration to running Double Colorless Energy. It allows attacks with the aforementioned Energy requirement to be charged a turn faster at no cost. This lets your cards attack faster, which can lead to faster Prizes, which can lead to you winning the game faster.
Abbreviations: DCE, Double Colorless
Prism Energy (NXD93): Like the Blend Energies, Prism Energy provides multiple types of Energy at the same time. However, it provides all types of Energy for Basic Pokémon instead of some types of Energy for all Pokémon. For more information, see Blend Energy (above).
Abbreviations: Prism
