What Theme Deck(s) to Combine with Red Frenzy?

A

ardmhacha

Aspiring Trainer
Member
My son received a Red Frenzy Theme deck (B&W series) last year but is only now getting in to playing. We have split the deck in half to play a 3 prize card version of the game but I would like to get him one or two decks so we can play a full game or combine cards from different decks to see how different combinations work.

We will only be playing for fun (no competitions planed) but be might play against friends or in informal game sessions at local game stores.

Red Frenzy has a fire and fighting theme so I was thinking of getting him an Emerging Powers 2 pack which has Power Play (Fighting Water) and Toxic Tricks (Psychic Fire) so that there is some fire/fighting overlap with what he has.

Is there any other B&W series combo I should consider?

I said that we have no plans for competitive play but I suppose it is possible that he might want to play in a tournament and I know that B&W series are only valid in Expanded format tournaments not Standard. http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/pokemon-tcg-format-rotation-for-2016/

So instead should I get an XY double pack (eg Primal Clash which has Ocean's Core (Water Fire) and Earth's Pulse (Fighting Lightning) so he can still use his existing Fire/Fighting energy) ?

He really just wants to play lighthearted for fun games but it would be nice if he was at least able to enter a standard tournament if he was interested.

Also I am thinking of theme decks from a value for money perspective (lots of cards for a reasonable price)
 
Choosing theme decks can be very difficult with the wide selection of legal cards. Some of the theme decks containing some of the best cards (from a competitive standpoint) include Resilient Life, Destruction Rush and Dark Hammer, for XY. BW has Shadows, DragonSpeed, Explosive Edge, Furious Knights and Voltage Vortex that are also nice decks. I'd also say that the main Pokemon of Enchanted Echo (XY) is a lot of fun to play. I wouldn't recommend the Emerging Powers decks (they aren't really great :/), while the Primal Clash decks are fairly average.

Just so you know, you can have decks of completely different types (like Resilient Life), which don't use the same energy types although can be combined quite well with other decks. Each theme deck comes with a significant amount of energy, meaning you normally won't want to get decks purely to get more energy cards. You may be referring to the Pokemon types themselves, and in that case, Dark Hammer and Explosive Edge//Fast Daze have decent Fighting and Fire types respectively.

Now, from a competitive standpoint, most theme decks are really quite awful. However, there are some kits that may be worthwhile investing into due to their worth from both a competitive and casual standpoint. These are the Red Genesect Collection (BW), Yveltal vs Xerneas Battle Kit (XY) and the Mewtwo-EX vs Darkrai-EX Battle Kit (both XY and BW) (the best value for money imo). They all cost a bit more than your typical theme decks (partially because the Battle Kits feature two decks), but these decks would teach your son a bit more about competitive playing while consecutively teaching him the game.

Just a little note about formats; there are two main formats at the moment - Standard and Expanded. Tournaments could be using either. Standard uses XY-on cards, while Expanded uses BW-on cards. You can find the full list of legal sets here. Also, it would be worthwhile to note that cards in some decks (such as Heavy Ball and Level Ball from early BW decks) have been reprinted into the Standard format, meaning you can use those cards in Standard as well.
 
Thanks for the response, I wasn't aware of the 2 deck battle kits and they seem to be under $30 for 2 decks I will consider those as well.
 
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