So tomorrow I am going to a plasma blast per release event. I'm super excited but I would like to know if anyone has any tips on how to build a 40 card deck in 30 min!
Tips for Plasma Blast Pre-Release?
- Thread starter blazeguy56
- Start date
RE: Plasma Blast Pre-Release
trainer cards, because the chance of someone having a useful EX or a complete line of any pokemon that are good are slim. You win with your unpredictability
trainer cards, because the chance of someone having a useful EX or a complete line of any pokemon that are good are slim. You win with your unpredictability
I've only ever been to one pre-release before, a Boundaries Crossed one, and my advice is to look up the set list and see what people are likely to use from it.
At my BCR one literally EVERYONE played Flygon because it was the promo we all got, so I'd say play some Fighting types to counter any Porygon Z's you may find!
At my BCR one literally EVERYONE played Flygon because it was the promo we all got, so I'd say play some Fighting types to counter any Porygon Z's you may find!
If you want some good info on this, there was a similar article a while back:
http://www.pokebeach.com/forums/thread-prerelease-pathfinder-everything-you-need-to-know-about-constructed--104535
http://www.pokebeach.com/forums/thread-prerelease-pathfinder-everything-you-need-to-know-about-constructed--104535
^ That's about all the info you'll need.
Just as a general note, make sure not to be too nervous (the tournament literally counts for nothing). For deckbulding, make sure you sort your pile of cards in to types. You generally want 2 types in a deck, and split the energy according to how many of each type you have (or how much energy some of your attackers require, etc.)
As a note about what Ryan said, at most PR's you aren't allowed to use your promo card, so that may not be a strategy in your area. Overall, just have fun. The draft is the only thing you should ever be concerned with winning at a prerelease. They're meant to be fun, not competitive.
Just as a general note, make sure not to be too nervous (the tournament literally counts for nothing). For deckbulding, make sure you sort your pile of cards in to types. You generally want 2 types in a deck, and split the energy according to how many of each type you have (or how much energy some of your attackers require, etc.)
As a note about what Ryan said, at most PR's you aren't allowed to use your promo card, so that may not be a strategy in your area. Overall, just have fun. The draft is the only thing you should ever be concerned with winning at a prerelease. They're meant to be fun, not competitive.
Bob The Magical Penguin said:
Wow thank you so much. That was an amazing article.
No Problem, I actually bookmarked that page so I could look over it before each PR I attend, or since Dragons Exalted. I'm a collector, so I don't really care, but it's still nice to know all of that.
Blah said:
Not true. Your Elo rating is slighty affected by Prereleases. (Not 100% sure on that.)
The first thing I do after opening my packs (or sometimes while I'm opening my backs) is sort the Pokemon out into types. Then put all the Trainers and Special Energy in my deck, except for stupid ones, like Devolution Spray with no Roserade, Rare Candy with no Stage 2's, G-Booster with no Genesect EX, Plasma Energy with nothing to use it with, etc.
Then, look for Basics that have good 1 Energy attacks, preferably with Colorless Energy, and Pokemon with good abilities.
Call for Family Genesect (with other Grass Pokemon), Sawk, Houndour, Kanguskhan and Shiny Virizion have very good 1 energy attacks for Colorless Energy, and Tropius has a good one for a Grass Energy. The only useful abilities in this set are Virizion EX and Masquerain.
Then look for some kind of theme you can use. For example, in my Plasma Storm Prerelease, I had a deck that used a bunch of Pokemon that could switch my opponents Active with their Bench Pokemon, and I went 3-0 (lolseniors)! You could also have a Special Conditions theme, an anti-Plasma theme, an anti-EX theme, an Energy acceleration and high Energy using Pokemon theme, etc. If that completes your deck, then you just go get your Energies, and you're done.
If it only makes up most of your deck, then look for generally good Pokemon to fill the rest of the spots with. Hopefully with the same Energy type as your other Pokemon, or ones that use Colorless Energy.
If you can't find Pokemon that make a good theme, look for good Pokemon that use Colorless Energy. Then look at type you got the most of, and chose good Pokemon from there. If there aren't enough good Pokemon in that type, you may want to just skip that type all together. If you get lucky, you'll end up with only 2 types of Energy, but most of the time, you'll end up with 3 or 4 types. You want less types so your Energy aren't as spread out. You don't want to be drawing all Grass Energy and all Fighting Pokemon.
Some other tips for the Pokemon: Try to avoid very thin lines of Pokemon. If you're trying to decide between a 1-1 Houndoom line/1-1 Drifblim line and a 2-2 Musharna line, you usually want to go with the Musharna. Even though Drifblim and Houndoom are better than Musharna, you'll be drawing into more dead evolution cards if you run the two 1-1 lines. Sometimes you're unfortunate enough to not pull any thick evolution lines, or pull very bad 2-2 lines, like Aron and Lairon, but no Aggron, and you have to play those smaller 1-1 and 2-1 lines.
The lower evolution, the better. As I said earlier, one of the biggest problems in Prereleases is drawing too many incorrect evolution lines. Stage 2's especially are near impossible to get out, and if they have a huge energy cost, it'll be even harder to use them. If you're deciding between 2 decent Basic Pokemon and a pretty good 1-1 Stage 1 line, go with the 2 basics 4 times out of 5.
If you pull an EX, try as hard as you can to center your deck around it, most of the time. If it's something horrible, or you don't have the right engine, like Rayquaza EX or Lugia EX with no Plasma Energy (that happened to me
), or you just didn't pull enough Pokemon that match it's type, you could cut it. But most of the time, you should include it in some way. It's very difficult for your opponent to take down your 170-180HP monster, which keeps your Energy in play for longer. And it can sometimes get your opponent in the 7th (er, 5th) prize situation.For the Energy, I'd say around 18 Energy and 22 Pokemon is standard, then for Trainers, alternate between taking out Pokemon and Energy. You may want to lower your Energy count if you're Pokemon don't use much Energy. As for balancing your Energy, look at which types you have more of. More Grass types, more Grass Energy. Simple. But you also want to take into account how much Grass Energy your Pokemon use. Let's say you're using a Grass/Fighting, and you have 65% Grass and 35% Fighting. You may just put in 65% Grass Energy and 35% Fighting Energy, but if all of your Grass Pokemon's Energy costs are [G][C]. and all your Fighting Pokemon's Energy costs are [F][F][F], you'll want to tip the scale towards Fighting Energy a bit more.
As for playing your rounds, you want to know the cards in the set.
Since Pokemon Catcher is in the set, you want to keep that in mind when playing your games. Don't think that your Genesect EX with 120 damage on the bench is safe forever. Iris is another card you want to watch out for. 20-30 extra damage is nothing to slouch at. And other cards like Reversal Trigger and Silver Mirror could catch you by surprise, if you're not prepared.
You also want to make sure your Energy is going in the right place. Most of your Pokemon are going to have very high Energy costs, so devoting all your Energy to something that's going to get knocked out soon, or spreading them out too much will lose you some games. Especially if your opponent has the Energy advantage. That's when things start to go bad.
One last thing: Expect the unexpected. It's a Prerelease. People are going to be using a whole ton of weird cards in their decks. Just keep your options open, and this shouldn't cause too much trouble.
And that's all I got. Sorry for the very long and very overdone post. But this is all stuff you should be worrying about, and a lot of it transfers into the Modified Format. There's a lot to learn from Prereleases. Good luck at your Prerelease, and let's hope we all pull FA Genesect's and FA Virizion's.
Your rating is not affected at all. Prereleases are a Premier Event, however, they have no affect on your Championship Points or elo.
King Arceus said:
Oops. My bad.
What pokemon would be good in the prerelease?
Salamencetrainer34 said:
Kangaskhan is good for searching and COMET PUNCHING! (just make sure your opponent doesn't get a Kangaskhan out too). Also, Ursaring is a pretty solid way to go, good health and good attacks. Silver mirror blocks off any Plasmas that they might have, or any of yours if they have one. Do not use a Jirachi EX - they suck.
Most decks at my PR were like "I have normals
", and in my last match it was Kangashan Wars for each suspenseful roll of the dice.
blargh257 said:
Just thought I'd mention: lol.
Bob The Magical Penguin said:
Silver Mirror blocks Plasma Pokemon, not EX's, lol. Also, I don't know about Jirachi. It turns Ultra Balls into supporters (which include Juniper and Iris), and with so many Pokemon, and not many rounds (especially in Juniors and Seniors), you're unlikely to start with it. There's also 2 total fire types in the set.
Machamp the Champion said:
Sorry, my only plasma pokemon was Dialga EX, so I messed that up there. As for the Jirachis, i was referring to its attack sucking rather than its ability, plus the low health, but the pros are that its only weaknesses are to 2 pokemon and it resists many of the cards.
Kangaskhan is great for Prerelease. Generally CFF Pokemon are great so that's not really a big surprise.
Anti-Team Plasma Pokemon are pretty nice. Haxorus is a great attacker vs Plasma and non with the first attack. Sawk is also nice. Chatot is a great tech card for getting rid of opposing tools and the Confusion can come in handy. Generally all the Trainers/Supporters are really nice too. If you happen to get the Basic and Stage 2 of a Pokemon, you can play Rare Candy and bypass the Stage 1 which is great if you happen to miss a piece of the line. Generally, I'd say Stage 2 Pokemon are rarer to get out, but with Candy, you can expect to see Stage 2s plop down more than usual.
dmaster out.
Anti-Team Plasma Pokemon are pretty nice. Haxorus is a great attacker vs Plasma and non with the first attack. Sawk is also nice. Chatot is a great tech card for getting rid of opposing tools and the Confusion can come in handy. Generally all the Trainers/Supporters are really nice too. If you happen to get the Basic and Stage 2 of a Pokemon, you can play Rare Candy and bypass the Stage 1 which is great if you happen to miss a piece of the line. Generally, I'd say Stage 2 Pokemon are rarer to get out, but with Candy, you can expect to see Stage 2s plop down more than usual.
dmaster out.