Building a deck is one of the hardest things to do in any kind of card game. Luckily, there are steps that you can take to make your life easier. Starting off, you first have to begin with an idea of what you want your deck to do and what cards will sustain that idea over the course of a game. Sometimes, it may not even be possible for your idea to work like you intended it, so you might end up having to scrap the initial idea and start over from scratch. The process is usually long and arduous, but you might just stumble upon a great new idea after enough play time with it. In this guide, I'll outline the process for building a common deck being played right now to some great success: Darkrai.
Pokemon
The Darkrai deck has been around in some form or another ever since the Darkrai EX card has been released. This deck showcases exactly how decks are designed to function in the current metagame as it focuses solely on one goal in every single game and every piece of the deck is designed to achieve that goal.
(Even though this deck doesn't use Stage 1 or Stage 2 evolution cards, when Pokemon evolution lines are written out, they are usually written out in a horizontal format. So if I would write 4-2-4, I really am just writing a simplified version of 4 Squirtle, 2 Wartortle, 4 Blastoise, for example. The lowest form of the evolution chain, the Basic, always comes first, followed by the Stage 1, and then the Stage 2.)
The main attackers in the deck are Darkrai and Absol, with Sableye and Keldeo being support Pokemon, rounding out the deck. Initially it may seem correct to maximize all the copies of these cards to four since it does increase your chance of getting and using it, but it isn't always necessarily a good thing. You have to take in a variety of factors when considering how many Pokemon you should run. For example, Keldeo EX's purpose in the deck is to use the Ability Rush In and switch out your Active Pokemon with ease as well as getting out of Status Conditions should one of your two Keldeos get stranded Active, but besides that, it's not really useful for attacking all too often. You also don't want a lot of dead weight when it comes to your attackers. It's always nice to narrow your focus down. Let's see what it looks like now:
3 Darkrai EX
3 Sableye
2 Absol
2 Keldeo EX
Darkrai is the main core attacker here, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you should always "max" it out (the maximum amount of a card in a deck is four). With two copies of Absol in the deck, it can support Darkrai as a side attacker that only gives up one Prize for being a non-EX. Sableye, while useful for starting and setting up is not necessary as a maximum and Keldeo is only useful for its aforementioned Ability.
Some decks usually opt to run "starter" Pokemon. This is one such deck that uses one.
Starter Pokemon
In the Pokemon TCG, there is often times a class of Pokemon that are known as starter Pokemon. These Pokemon are unique, in that they are poor attackers, but they provide some sort of unique, ability, attack, or any combination of these that allow them to help set up more powerful evolutions. They are extremely useful in the early game (the first few turns), but lose usefulness as the game goes on. That's not to say they aren't useful at all, but they are clearly included in decks for their ability to improve your consistency and early game.
To determine the best starter for a deck, you have to look at the role the starter will play and how it can benefit the deck. For example, Sableye's Junk Hunt attack lets you get back two Items from the discard pile. Depending on the Items that you run, this can help the overall speed and consistency of your deck. Speaking of which...
Items, Supporters, and Stadiums
Items, Supporters and Stadiums are a series of cards that exist exclusively to set-up your deck. These cards “create” the consistency of your deck. Without these cards, Pokemon would literally devolve into a game of drawing, possibly evolving, and attaching energy. It would become one of the worst, slowest, and stalest games ever created. Thanks to these cards, however, Pokemon turns into a game of skill, longevity, and, occasionally, speed. In order for your deck to run smoothly, you need to have a fair number of these cards.
When building a list, make sure to devote as much space as necessary for them. Depending on how you build a deck, it might be useful to write a list starting with the Trainers rather than the Pokemon, and write down a massive number of them, including random cards that assist in weird areas or are oddball trainers that occasionally work with the deck. Then, as you finish off the rest of the list (the Pokemon and energy), you'll be able to trim the Trainers down to only what's essential, streamlining them and getting rid of all the gunk.
Supporters are the the most important of the bunch. Supporters have a wide range of effects, but they almost always assist your set-up in one way or another. Some force a shuffle/draw (sometimes for both players), some search out key components of a deck, and the occasional few even disrupt. Despite the wide range of affects they bring to the table, Supporters all share one thing in common: you can only play one of them a turn. This keeps them balanced, as being able to play as many as you wanted would mean you could, in theory, draw through your entire deck. In my opinion, there are two kinds of Supporters: Draw and Search.
1) Draw: These are the most common types of Supporters. These Supporters are much simpler than either their environmentally disastrous or friendly cousins. They simply draw. They aren't normally used much at all because you only get one Supporter a turn and these generally present a low return. Bianca, Cheren, and Team Plasma Grunt are examples of plain Draw Supporters. With Draw Supporters, there are four sub-categories: Burn, Shuffle-Draw, Recovery and Disrupt.
a) Burn: These are Supporters that “burn” through your cards or deck. They often provide the highest access to cards, but at the cost of discarding cards that could possibly help you later in the game. These are the high-risk high-reward Supporters. They allow you to draw through your deck in large numbers, but discard resources in the process. These Supporters fit the aggressive mindset of decks. They are geared more towards making the deck fast and overpowering your opponent early, so that those resources you lost early won't matter. These work faster than you may like, so when using these in excess, always be watchful that you don't draw too much, or you could possibly deck yourself and lose. An example of a Burn Supporter is Professor Juniper.
b) Shuffle-Draw: They are used to cycle through your deck, hopefully pulling out the cards you need. They are often run in excess in comparison to the other kinds of Supporters, as they provide the largest opportunity for obtaining the cards you want, though they aren't specific in what they find. While used to escape a bad hand, they can provide you an even worse hand. Examples of these kinds of Supporters are N and Colress.
c) Recovery: While Burn Supporters are geared more towards being aggressive and overwhelming your opponents, Recovery Supporters are generally more conservative, meant to make a deck or possibly a game last longer. While being conservative may be detrimental to a deck early game (it by no means is at all, but given a particular matchup it might be), it is definitely more beneficial in the later stages of the game. An example of a Recovery Supporter is Shadow Triad.
d) Disrupt: These may work to assist you in drawing cards like the others, but they do it in a much more limited manner, as they work to harm your opponent as well. N is possibly the most popular disruption Supporter. Other examples include Hugh, Hooligans Jim & Cas, and Ghetsis.
2) Search:
Search Supporters are aimed at finding specific cards within a deck. Usually this aids in setting up your deck throughout a game whether that is searching out Pokemon, Trainers, or Energy. Examples of Search Supporters are Cilan and Skyla.
Next up are Items. Items falls into one of three categories: Disruption, Recovery, and Search.
1) Disruption: These are the Items that you employ to disrupt your opponent's set up in some way. Cards like Crushing Hammer, Hypnotoxic Laser and even the infamous Pokemon Catcher all fall into this category. These don't do anything to really assist you directly (though Pokemon Catcher can help you knock out a crucial Pokemon of your opponent's). Instead, they work to slow down your opponent, giving you a fighting chance to take the lead, or, if you already have it, secure it.
2) Recovery: Like Supporters, Items also have a Recovery class. These Items pale in comparison in the amount or thing that they can recover, but since they are Items, you can play as many of them as you'd like, and, therefore, possibly recover more than you would with a single Supporter. Common examples of this are Energy Retrieval, Superior Energy Retreival, Revive, and Super Rod.
3) Search is the next caste of Items, and it's definitely the most popular of all of the castes. There are so many different kinds of search cards in this format that I won't even come close to covering them all. Some exclusively search for Energy. Some search for, if you're lucky, Supporters. The bulk of them search for Pokemon. The ones that search for Pokemon break down even further than that. Some exclusively search for basics or Team Plasma Pokemon. Some search for Pokemon with low HP. Some search for big retreat. Others search for anything, given you put something back.
Stadiums can make a big impact during a game. They are cards that stay in the middle of the field for the duration of the match (until another Stadium card comes into play) and are usually able to be used by both opponents. The variety of effects that Stadiums can provide can vary from drawing a certain amount of cards, benefiting various stats (like HP, Weakness, Resistance, Retreat Cost, etc) on cards, or increasing the amount of Poison damage between turns.
In order to figure out which Trainers to put into a deck (and in how many copies), you've got to figure out what's essential, and what's not. You have to keep in mind, however, space in a decklist is very cramped, so occasionally you have to less than an ideal amount of a card at first.
With all that being said, this is the lineup for the Trainers for this particular deck so far:
4 N
4 Professor Juniper
1 Bianca
1 Colress
2 Random Receiver
Professor Juniper allows you to draw the maximum amount of cards which is essential to the setting up of most decks. With Sableye's Junk Hunt, getting rid of Items is mitigated by the fact that you can recover them. Random Receiver combos very well with Sableye as well. N and Bianca are more all around Supporters but Skyla and/or more Bianca, Colress, or Random Receiver are certainly more options that you can try out.
4 Ultra Ball
This card is the main search card for the deck. Level Ball only searches out for Sableye, and Ultra Ball combos well with Bianca and another card covered down in the Energy section.
4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Hypnotoxic Laser
3 Virbank City Gym
These cards are mainly disruption cards but are also the cornerstone behind your main offense with the deck. Pokemon Catcher allows you to take Prizes off of whatever you want on your opponent's side of the field while Laser+Virbank combo well to give you even more damage.
3 Energy Switch
2 Dark Claw
These two cards don't have a main category for the Items that they are, but Dark Claw functions similarly to Hypnotoxic Laser in that it boosts your overall damage output. Energy Switch allows you to move Energies off of Sableye once you're done using Junk Hunt and give you some overall flexibility with the Energy that you have on the field.
1 Max Potion
1 Energy Search
1 Computer Search
These Item cards could be considered "tech Trainers." Techs are usually one-of copy cards that are designed to favor options and flexibility in your deck. With Sableye's Junk Hunt, they are re-usable, but they also aid in giving you a boost to your field when you play them whether that be taking off damage, searching out specific cards, or just thinning the deck out.
Energy
To win the game (in the typical fashion), you've got to knock out your opponent's Pokemon faster than he can knock out yours. That means your Pokemon have to attack theirs. In order to do that, you need Energy to power up your Pokemon's attacks. Energy is one of the most basic principles of the game, and is necessary in every deck. Energy is also unique, in that you can only play one a turn, which is called an attachment. You only get one, so you've really got to make it count. Entire games can be lost based on Energy “drops” (where you attach your Energy). There are two different types of Energy, Special Energy, and Basic Energy.
1) Special Energy: There are a wide range of effects that Special Energy have. Some of them act as every kind of energy (still only unit, but extremely versatile), while others are able to be attached from the deck via an Item Card. Special Energy suffer another drawback, however. Unlike Basic Energy, you are once again restricted to only being able to run four copies of the card, so as to balance them out. Doing so means that you've got to be smart about where you use them and how you place them, or fear losing them.
2) Basic Energy: There is a different kind of Basic Energy for each type (except for Dragon and Colorless, which can use any kind of Energy it wants), and there is no limit to the amount of Basic Energy you can run in each deck. Figuring out just the right amount of Energy, like any other cards, to run in a deck involves figuring out certain match-ups, some estimation, and some testing. Decks that use big attackers or lots of energy obviously require higher amounts of energy. Energy counts should be towards the low to mid-range teens. 14 is, generally, the peak for the total amount of Energy you should run, while I’ve seen as low as none to eight in other decks. It ranges with each deck.
One last note about Energy concerns a big part about decks. Energy acceleration is normally something that you will want to include in a deck if at all possible, especially with Pokemon that have high Attack costs. Energy acceleration can let you get multiple Energy on the field during your turn without bypassing the rule of only attaching one and could be in the form of Pokemon or Items. Examples of this include Blastoise's Deluge Ability, Eelektrik's Dynamotor Ability, Dark Patch, and Colress Machine.
Dark Patch is a perfect fit for this deck and the overall synergy with the cards that have been included like Professor Juniper and Ultra Ball. Now you are in fact encouraged to discard your Energy early so that you can additional "drops" during the game with Dark Patch. Considering Darkrai EX's only attack takes three Energy to charge up, it would normally take you three turns but with Dark Patch, setting up Night Spear turn two is very possible.
This deck is entirely Darkness, which means that you only need Darkness Energy. For this specific deck, the number is fairly standard, and ranges anywhere from 10-12. For this deck, the number we’ll choose will be a fairly standard 11 Energy.
And with that, the deck is finished and this is the draft of the deck made using all of the things that have been mentioned here:
3 Darkrai EX
3 Sableye
2 Absol
2 Keldeo EX
4 N
4 Professor Juniper
1 Bianca
1 Colress
2 Random Receiver
4 Ultra Ball
4 Dark Patch
4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Hypnotoxic Laser
3 Virbank City Gym
3 Energy Switch
2 Dark Claw
1 Max Potion
1 Energy Search
1 Computer Search
11 Darkness Energy
This is a very specific way of going about doing this, but, often times, you will find yourself going through the same steps in a much more general pattern. To build the right deck, you really need to analyze what you want the deck to do, and focus on that goal. Make it as consistent as possible.
Mechanics
Throughout the history of the Pokemon Trading Card Game, there have been a variety of mechanics that have been put in place. Some of the notable examples include ex, star, Lv.X, Team Rocket/Team Magma/Team Aqua, delta, and SP cards. Two of the major mechanics currently will be explained.
ACE SPEC - The ACE SPEC mechanic was introduced in the Boundaries Crossed expansion. These types of Item cards have a special rule in that you cannot play more than one ACE SPEC card in a deck. Usually these are extremely powerful Item cards that allow you to take advantage of their effects like searching out any card, not letting your opponent take a Prize card on one of your Pokemon, getting a Trainer back from your discard, and more. In the decklist example above, Computer Search is used as the deck's one ACE SPEC.
EX - The EX mechanic was re-introduced in the Next Destinies expansion. EX cards generally feature an increase in HP compared to normal Pokemon. Because of this, they have the Pokemon-EX rule which is that when a Pokemon-EX has been Knocked Out, the opponent takes two Prize cards compared to the normal one Prize card being taken when a normal Pokemon is Knocked Out. Other than that, they feature the same qualities that normal Pokemon posses like Weakness, Resistance and/or a Retreat Cost and you can play up to four of an EX with the same name. In the decklist example above, Darkrai EX and Keldeo EX are the EX cards in the deck.
Tips and Tricks
When building a deck, you always have to consider a variety of factors that are extremely important when it comes to trying out and playing the deck as well as making it the very best it can be. The main component that many people struggle with is the debate of Consistency vs Tech. The consistency of a deck is generally just how easily your deck is able to reproduce its set up and what it wants to do in a match. If you add too many "techs" which usually try to deal with opposing decks or use some Pokemon or Trainers that are not commonly played, you might subsequently see the consistency of your deck drop. Finding a good balance is paramount to your deck's success whenever you play it. For example, a combination of Skyla, Bicycle, and Enhanced Hammer in the above Darkrai list may boost its matchup against a Plasma deck immensely, but might slow your match against Blastoise, depending on what you take out and a variety of factors. A decklist is yours to play around with and determine these kinds of effects yourself. Which leads into...
Testing, Testing, and Testing
This is the number one most important factor when determining a deck's success. The amount of time you put into actually playing the deck against a variety of other decks and players will help you notice the changes that you need to make to your list overall. It may help you in deciding which techs to put in or which to take out as well as the core fundamentals that were described above in the building of the example list. You really can't test your deck enough when wanting to perfect your own list and playing it gives you the best feel for what needs to change in order for you to get the perfection that you should desire.
I hope that this guide assisted you in trying to get started building your own deck whether it be a popular one that has been played to success, or your own original deck that nobody knows about yet. Practice makes perfect and always remember to have fun!