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Expanded Uuuuuuggghhhhh (budget deck)

TheSilentEeveening

Aspiring Trainer
Member
So, being as unlucky as I am, I have to make decks from cards I have. I want to make Espeon-GX with Umbreon-EX from Fates Collide or Yveltal EX or BREAK but I have this disgraceful thing.

1 Espeon-GX
1 Eevee (SM)
4 Yveltal (GEN, XY & SS)
1 Zorua
1 Zoroark
4 Gastly
3 Haunter
1 Gengar (GEN)
4 Nidoran-M
2 Nidorino
1 Nidoking
10 Psychic Energy
10 Dark Energy
4 Double Colorless
2 Ultra Ball
2 Poke Ball
2 Professor Kukui
4 Brock's Grit
3 Professors Letter

I know right? *sigh* Any help would be appreciated :)
(EDIT- Forgot to mention I'm new to the TCG)
 
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I noticed you labeled this expanded, but it looks like all of your cards are standard. Which format are you looking to play?

This deck is going to be very clunky with so many evolution lines. I would drop the Nidoking line completely. If you have another Gengar, put it in, if not drop it to.

20 energy is too many. Most decks run 8-13 roughly. I'd drop to 6 and 6, or 7 and 7. Add in more draw trainers as you don't have many. 4 Brocks grit is way too many, that's a 1-of at most. Get some Sycamore, Birch, Shauna, or N. Sycamore and N are usually considered the best of the four with most decks running at least six or seven total, split as player preference, but when you're just starting out sometimes you don't have the luxury of choosing. Also, if you don't have VS seeker you'll want more card draw supporters than just the seven.

Just a few recommendations, hope they help. What are you looking for out of your deck? Taking it to casual play with friends or at league? Or trying to get competitive at tournaments?
 
I noticed you labeled this expanded, but it looks like all of your cards are standard. Which format are you looking to play?

This deck is going to be very clunky with so many evolution lines. I would drop the Nidoking line completely. If you have another Gengar, put it in, if not drop it to.

20 energy is too many. Most decks run 8-13 roughly. I'd drop to 6 and 6, or 7 and 7. Add in more draw trainers as you don't have many. 4 Brocks grit is way too many, that's a 1-of at most. Get some Sycamore, Birch, Shauna, or N. Sycamore and N are usually considered the best of the four with most decks running at least six or seven total, split as player preference, but when you're just starting out sometimes you don't have the luxury of choosing. Also, if you don't have VS seeker you'll want more card draw supporters than just the seven.

Just a few recommendations, hope they help. What are you looking for out of your deck? Taking it to casual play with friends or at league? Or trying to get competitive at tournaments?

I look to play competitively and as I said I'm quite new to TCG so I don't really know the difference between standard and expanded. I think I have 3-4 N but no Sycamore and I also think i have professor juniper. I'll cut the Brooks grit. What cards let you draw??

I don't think I have another Gengar at the moment. What about adding Yveltal EX/BREAK or Umbrella EX??

Many thanks
 
Umbreon EX probably won't be as good in the current meta as it used to, since the main attack is specifically designed to be amazing versus Mega EX Pokémon, but the new sets are going to be printing GX Pokémon rendering that attack useless. Umbreon GX is good though.

There's a few prints of normal Yveltal, most of which are very playable. The break is good in certain decks also. Yveltal EX is good to if you have it, again in certain decks.

If you're looking to play competitive I would recommend looking into what tournaments around you play as far as standard or expanded. In my area just about everything is standard, and I prefer that anyway so that's pretty much all I play. Standard rotates every year in September (Or close to it, depending how the calendar falls). Expanded has never rotated since it's creation, but people are speculating with Sun and Moon it will have it's first rotation. Again, that's just speculation, nothing official will be announced till closer to the world Championships.

Current standard rotation is XY Primal Clash to the current set. (Sun and moon base set) Current expanded rotation is Black and White base set to current. The promo's also rotate, but I can never remember which number starts the current standard rotation so if you have promo's that are kinda old mention them and someone will know where they fall. Also, there are a couple of banned cards, but I think they only fall in the expanded area so if you play standard you don't need to worry about them.

Juniper/Sycamore are functionally identical, which is why there's actually a special rule that you can't have both in your decks ever. For causal play most people won't care if you mix the two as long as you don't put more than four in, but for tournament play you'll need to have one or the other.

Supporters that draw (In standard, there are more in expanded):
Professor Sycamore: Discard hand, draw 7
N: Both players shuffle hand to deck, draw based on number of prizes remaining
Professor Birch: Shuffle hand to deck, flip coin. Heads draw 7, tails draw 4
Shauna: Shuffle hand to deck, draw 5

Those are the ones typically played competitively, with the first two being FAR more popular than the last two.
----
Below are others I thought of, but are typically considered less competitive or are niche and therefore at least are not going to be your main draw engines. Some might be a 1-of in a deck, others you'll never play once you have the "Good" ones listed above.

Tierno/Hau: Draw 3
Lass's Special: Draw a card for each opponent's benched Pokémon
Giovanni's Scheme: Choose 1: Attacks this turn do 20 extra damage, or draw until you have 5 cards in hand
Lillie: Draw until you have 6 in hand. If it's your first turn, until you have 8
Teammates: Only playable if your Pokémon was knocked out on the prior turn, search for two cards from your deck.
Ace Trainer: Only playable if you have more prizes than your opponent. Both players shuffle hand to deck. You draw 6, opponent draws 3
Professor Kukui: Draw 2, and attacks do 20 more damage this turn

I'm sure I forgot some. The last four do see play in specific decks, but the first three never do as far as I know. (Giovanni being outclassed by Kukui; it saw play a little before Kukui came out)

Hope this helps! If you have any more questions just ask. Also, these were just supporters I thought of. There are many item cards that let you search for specific cards, and some that let you draw.
 
Umbreon EX probably won't be as good in the current meta as it used to, since the main attack is specifically designed to be amazing versus Mega EX Pokémon, but the new sets are going to be printing GX Pokémon rendering that attack useless. Umbreon GX is good though.

There's a few prints of normal Yveltal, most of which are very playable. The break is good in certain decks also. Yveltal EX is good to if you have it, again in certain decks.

If you're looking to play competitive I would recommend looking into what tournaments around you play as far as standard or expanded. In my area just about everything is standard, and I prefer that anyway so that's pretty much all I play. Standard rotates every year in September (Or close to it, depending how the calendar falls). Expanded has never rotated since it's creation, but people are speculating with Sun and Moon it will have it's first rotation. Again, that's just speculation, nothing official will be announced till closer to the world Championships.

Current standard rotation is XY Primal Clash to the current set. (Sun and moon base set) Current expanded rotation is Black and White base set to current. The promo's also rotate, but I can never remember which number starts the current standard rotation so if you have promo's that are kinda old mention them and someone will know where they fall. Also, there are a couple of banned cards, but I think they only fall in the expanded area so if you play standard you don't need to worry about them.

Juniper/Sycamore are functionally identical, which is why there's actually a special rule that you can't have both in your decks ever. For causal play most people won't care if you mix the two as long as you don't put more than four in, but for tournament play you'll need to have one or the other.

Supporters that draw (In standard, there are more in expanded):
Professor Sycamore: Discard hand, draw 7
N: Both players shuffle hand to deck, draw based on number of prizes remaining
Professor Birch: Shuffle hand to deck, flip coin. Heads draw 7, tails draw 4
Shauna: Shuffle hand to deck, draw 5

Those are the ones typically played competitively, with the first two being FAR more popular than the last two.
----
Below are others I thought of, but are typically considered less competitive or are niche and therefore at least are not going to be your main draw engines. Some might be a 1-of in a deck, others you'll never play once you have the "Good" ones listed above.

Tierno/Hau: Draw 3
Lass's Special: Draw a card for each opponent's benched Pokémon
Giovanni's Scheme: Choose 1: Attacks this turn do 20 extra damage, or draw until you have 5 cards in hand
Lillie: Draw until you have 6 in hand. If it's your first turn, until you have 8
Teammates: Only playable if your Pokémon was knocked out on the prior turn, search for two cards from your deck.
Ace Trainer: Only playable if you have more prizes than your opponent. Both players shuffle hand to deck. You draw 6, opponent draws 3
Professor Kukui: Draw 2, and attacks do 20 more damage this turn

I'm sure I forgot some. The last four do see play in specific decks, but the first three never do as far as I know. (Giovanni being outclassed by Kukui; it saw play a little before Kukui came out)

Hope this helps! If you have any more questions just ask. Also, these were just supporters I thought of. There are many item cards that let you search for specific cards, and some that let you draw.

I might try pack Yveltal EX and Umbreon GX then.

Another question, can you evolve a BREAK from an EX?

Many thanks
 
No, currently there are no Breaks that evolve from EX cards, and most likely there never will be. If you read the break it says "Evolves from Yveltal", not "Evolves from Yveltal EX." The EX is technically part of the name and must be printed on the evolution name. (Which is why you have 4 Yveltal and 4 Yveltal EX in the same deck, they have different names.)
 
So, being as unlucky as I am, I have to make decks from cards I have. I want to make Espeon-GX with Umbreon-EX from Fates Collide or Yveltal EX or BREAK but I have this disgraceful thing.

1 Espeon-GX
1 Eevee (SM)
4 Yveltal (GEN, XY & SS)
1 Zorua
1 Zoroark
4 Gastly
3 Haunter
1 Gengar (GEN)
4 Nidoran-M
2 Nidorino
1 Nidoking
10 Psychic Energy
10 Dark Energy
4 Double Colorless
2 Ultra Ball
2 Poke Ball
2 Professor Kukui
4 Brock's Grit
3 Professors Letter

I know right? *sigh* Any help would be appreciated :)
(EDIT- Forgot to mention I'm new to the TCG)


I know it's the same thing with me: my parents won't let me invest a lot of money (Barely 10-20$) so I have to make do.

:(
 
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Hello there,

Welcome to the TCG! On your budget, it is going to be difficult to get many of the cards that are considered good enough to allow to you play competitively, as you say is your goal; however, I notice that you have 4 Yveltal.

This gives me an idea that I believe has some competitive potential, and the cards should be mostly affordable to get ahold of.

Before I go into it, though, I want to make a point : As you start playing, you're going to see that most top-end decks play 2+ Shaymin-EX. This is one of the most expensive cards in the game, and will be tempting for you to save up for; however, the card will likely be rotating out of the standard format after this season, so I would recommend committing your funds, as they come, elsewhere. A strong alternative is Octillery. He is a Stage 1 that allows you to draw until your hand reaches 5 EVERY turn. In some decks, he can even be stronger than Shaymin - the best part, he costs next to nothing to acquire! I cannot overstate this enough -- 80-90% of decks you want to play will need EITHER Shaymin OR Octillery to be able to keep pace with your opponent's during games.

So here's my idea:

4 Spinda (Primal Clash)
3 Yveltal (Generations/etc)
1 Yveltal (Breakthrough)
3 Yveltal BREAK (Breakthrough)
2 Remoraid (Breakthrough)
2 Octillery (Breakthrough)
1 Absol (Roaring Skies)
=16 Pokemon

4 Professor Sycamore (Main Draw Support)
4 N (Main Draw Support - combos well with Octillery in late-game)
4 VS Seeker (Versatile Draw Support, can also re-use Lysandre & Brock's Grit if in your discard)
4 Max Elixir (Primary form of Energy Acceleration - meaning gets your more than 1 energy in play per turn)
4 Trainer's Mail (Consistency, helps you find what you need!)
4 Ultra Ball (Consistency & helps get dark energy in your discard pile to get back with Oblivion Wing - Yveltal's attack - to again help get more than 1 energy in play per turn)
2 Lysandre (This prevents your opponent from hiding behind worthless targets)
2 Float Stone (To allow your Pokemon - such as Octillery & Spinda - to retreat easily!)
2 Faded Town (Helps get more damage on the board against pesky Megas)
1 Silent Lab (Even the playing field against nasty Shaymins, and can turn off your Yveltal from Breakthrough in a pinch!)
1 Brock's Grit (To get back your poor Pokemon!)
=32 Trainers

12 Dark Energy (You need these to attack!)
=12 Energy

The main idea here is to attack with Spinda early to spread some damage across their board. His other attack can also be useful in the right moment, as a desperation move.

Once you've got some decent damage on the board, switch to Yveltal BREAK as your main attacker to clean up some Knockouts! His attack does 120 damage, and also 30 to all of their benched Pokemon with any damage counters on them - which you've achieved to ALL their Pokemon with Spinda!

Yveltal BREAK's attack cost THREE dark energy to use, so you have both Max Elixir, and Oblivion Wing Yveltal here to help get you there, and Brock's Grit to recover energy & Pokemon late in the game.

Absol can help you score a key Knockout, but you've got to think about it and set it up right.

Even if you don't like this idea, pay attention to HOW I constructed the list. You find a core idea you're fond of, put a decent amount of energy in the deck to make it work, and then load it up with trainer cards to help get you there game after game. Pokemon is all about consistency!

If you do like this idea, I made sure to include cards that can all be obtained pretty cheaply, if not all at once.

I hope you find this helpful, and again - welcome to the TCG!
 
You actually don't need Absol, you can remove 1 Yveltal BREAK and instead, you can play hammers, only 2-3 N because if you have 2-3 prize cards and he has 6, it will give him an advantage, no spindas since it will block your hand, and no faded town because megas are not meta anymore (mostly), put a karen for counters on Vespiquen, etc, 2 super rods instead of brock since you are pretty suppoter heavy and if you play a red card/delinquent with the parralel city or the other dark stadium, it will have a more competitive aspect.


Hope I helped :)
btw if you live in ottawa, plz come to toys on fire I go there every saturday :)
 
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