Ruling What to buy?

V

vanderbilt_grad

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I'm a noob in a big way. Long story short I know very little about the game and am going to be buying some card packs tonight for my family and would like a little advice on what to get.

We *just* started looking into the game about two weeks ago. My younger son has a small Fire & Psychic deck and we need to add some more punch to it. It really needs trainer help badly. My deck is currently a very poor lightning and fighting based deck and could use help in just about every facet. I'll also probably be creating a second deck for myself. My older son is going to need to start from scratch and he is hoping to have something based on dark or metal energy. My wife wants a grass or water focused deck, she has no cards.

I'm not looking to buy individual cards yet. That time will come but we simply aren't there yet. Mostly I'm looking for advice on what sets or boosters would be best to pick up at this point. I'm aware of the new release coming in Febuary ... obviously it would probably be better to start then, but such is life.

Mostly we are looking for casual family play at this point. The local league is temporarly shut down as the gaming store where they meet is moving. I will probably try to hook up with them in a few months but for now we are solo.

Any thoughts?

By the way, this is a great site! I've been looking at several trying to get myself up to speed.
 
For your elder son, I would recommend Dark Steelix (it is both metal and darkness)
For your wife, Poliwrath or Venasaur or Vileplume EX
For you, add Manetric and Groudon EX
Youngest son, Gardevoir or Blaziken EX

Buy the latest, Dragon Frontiers, it has really cool cards in it
 
Well, do take in mind that most of those cards are not allowed on tournament play anymore. So first take a look at what is legal (The Modified Carddex on the main site is a GREAT help), and then check to see what you think is strong.

Next, buy Ex Dragon Frontier. Since it's the latest set AND it features a lot of strong cards, you can either use them or trade the rare cards for stuff you'll need.
 
Hmmm, ususally, you want to focus on sycnrony (sp?) rather then just types. For instance, eeveelutions ran 6 different types, but came in second at worlds. This deck worked not just because it was a bunch of random types (although, that was a main function, to take advantage of the opponets weakness) but because the cards complimented eachother soo well with thier powers. If you insist on going by types, for your younger son, a good idea would be typhlosion ex and mew ex. Now, this deck would not be cheap at all to build, since it would have several exs (including things like lugia ex and ray*), but it could work very well and meets the type criteria. The strategy would be to get mew active, use typhlosion's power to get a bunch of fire energies from the deck, use mewtwo d's power (you'll have to time these things perfectly) to move the energies to mew ex, and then use any attack on the board by attaching a holon castiform or holon magneton. Again, it would not be a cheap deck, but it would not be hugely complex either, so you son would get his "feet wet" so to speak. As for yourself...a fighting/lighting deck eh? I would recommend gatr d/eggs d. Feraligatr d has a body that boosts the attacks of a d pokes on your side by 10, and eggucutor has an attack that does 10+10 for every d on your side. So, you could do a max of 110 damage for 2 energy! Theres alot more combos that can be used (massive sniping ablity with both drag-off and split bomb) and techs can be added (such as ray ex d). For your older son, he can go anywhere. The next set has a very potentail card in metagross ex (you'll have to go look for scans, they should be on the front page) and tyranitar ex (which, as its name suggests, is a tyrant when set-up...I would suggest using macargo and tyranitar d so you'll get its attacks going faster). As for the Mrs., I can't think of a grass/water deck, but it should consist of sniping on the water part and special conditions with the grass, so you'll be hitting on all sides. Hope this helps.
 
I suggest you buy in February. I think power keepers will be a great set or at least it looks like it will.
Maybe a box of dragon frontiers just to get you going but I wouldn't spend all my dough yet. Find some local shops in smaller towns as they seem to have a frindlier mentality and you never know when they have a deal you can't pass up. I find the bigger stores bite.
I also buy for the famn damily so i know what you are going through.
 
Well I ended up spending a lot more than I thought I would this weekend. Heh, but I had a lot of fun doing it. My younger son and I already had deck sets and all of us had several boosters. My initial buy was decks for my older son and wife along with several booster packs, both individual and pre-packaged sets.

I bought my wife a Crystal Guardian Green Cyclone deck. Between that and the boosters she has the most successful deck so far IMHO. Her deck is build around Venusar as her primary attacker ... and she had two versions of the card. One is older I think and it kicks the rest of our tails if she gets it. Doing extra damage per grass energy card in play for a deck build around that is incredibly strong by the mid game. I’ve seen her doing upwards of 160 or more on attacks. However her deck also has a nice darkness thing going still lacks a bit of focus when it comes to secondary attackers and trainers. Still wouldn’t you know that the family member least into the game would have the best deck luck.

My younger son had the second best deck luck. He is building around a Shadow Blaze Dragon Frontiers deck. He ended up with two Typhlosions on the first night and has been going strong since. Before we got my wife her cards his deck was probably the best, since it was the first to have any sort of focus. He deck improved over the weekend but mostly via booster cards and a Rayquaza Ex from one of the tins out now.

My older son on the other hand had TERRIBLE deck luck. He started with an EX Delta Series Breakthrough deck. He also had a fair number of powerful stage two cards from various boosters but they either didn’t fit his deck or he didn’t have the cards for the forms that they evolve from. After a few games he was terribly unhappy both with his deck and the game as a whole since he was loosing so much. His one bit of luckwas scoreing both a Pikachu and a Raichu which helped his outlook a bit.

I started with a Dragon Frontiers Power Wave set that I had from before the first post and was having reasonable success with it and a few booster cards. I bought a Crystal Guardians Storm Surge, not realizing at the time how much better it probably would have been to get a second DF set. I also ended up with a few more booster, both those I got for myself and from my wife who got them as a birthday present. I had gotten a bit of luck with the booster sets, netting several powerful cards (and likely some uncommons as well, but I haven’t checked yet), but no real focus. After tweaking I had a Water / Lightning deck that I didn’t think was too bad and a Fighting / Lightning deck that was largely luck dependant with lots of single track evolution sets and single individual cards. I was modestly successful, but with only one of my primary pokemon in each deck they were nothing to write home about.

However my older son was getting more and more gloomy as the rest of us improved our decks while his stayed largely the same. Even after the boosters my wife had bought that we shared his deck was by far the worst. I figured that it was time for drastic action.

After some thought and reading the deck building guide here I traded my son all of my DF electrical cards for all of his Delta grass cards. Then I went out and bought a second Crystal Guardians Storm Surge for me, a second Dragon Frontiers for us to split with him getting the lighting portion, and an Ex Delta Series Steeplechase for him, along with a few more boosters so that my son and wife wouldn’t be left out.

My older son ended up with a lighting and fire focused deck that has a touch of metal. Feraligatr d is his main pokemon and he has a number of nice secondaries that I’ll work with him to improve. The change to lightning with metal allows him to take greater advantage of Pikachu / Raiachu which makes him happy too. In fact when he won a game, knocking out his younger brother’s last pokemon with Raiachu he was thrilled.

Currently my main deck is mostly water focused with Blastoise as its main attacker, leaf based Sceptile as a secondary. I’ve managed to add a number of individually powerful or durable basic cards like Kyogre ex, Latios, Regice, and Relicanth that I hope can be used to either buy time to build up my other attackers, or used to launch quick attacks themselves. The trainers are not as up to snuff as I would like. Not a single family member has gotten Rare Candy for instance. However given that we haven’t traded for individual cards yet it’s OK.

My secondary deck started out as a mostly fighting energy based deck, but has morphed back into a super luck deck. I suspect that I’ll end up trading some of these cards or trying to find other copies, but for now the deck is a plaything that I thing will do really well if I’m lucky or get clobbered if my draw is bad. I’ve done my best to tweak it with pokemon and trainers that will help with the luck angle. I would never expect this to fly in organized play but it will probably be fun here at home.
 
I would suggest that you post all of your good cards and good trainers here, or if you find the time you could PM me and I could give you a good list for either you to work towards, or what might work best with what you have right now. It sound slike you guys are having alot of fun. What might be good and cheaper for you is to buy a box off of ebay, or a box set so that you ca each have a box. That will allow for alot of trading, and alot of cards for you guys to base ideas around. Also be sure to not get stuck in anything pre- Delta Species, as it will all be rotated out in no time.
 
My current deck is

2x Blastoise (14/100)
2x Wartortle (43/100)
1x Wartortle (42/100)
2x Squirtle (63/100)
1x Squirtle (62/100)

2x Sceptile (4/17)
2x Grovyle (32/100)
1x Grovyle (28/106)
2x Treecko (67/100)
1x Treecko (70/106)

1x Kyogre ex
1x Regice (27/110)
1x Relicanth (30/110)
1x Latios (12/110)
1x Pinsir (24/92)

23 Pokemon


8x Water Energy
4x Grass Energy
4x Holon Energy WP
1x Double Rainbow Energy

17 Energy


1x Celio’s Network
1x Master Ball
2x Professor Elm’s Training
2x Mr. Stone’s Project
1x PokeNav
2x TV Reporter
1x Professor Oak’s Research
1x Copycat
2x Warp Point
1x Switch
2x Buffer Piece
4x Potion
1x Double Full Heal
1x Sitrus Berry

20 Trainers

Strategy is pretty simple at this point.  Aim for building Blastoise with two extra water energy.  Sceptile is my alternate when facing something with resistance or if I just have draw troubles.  The other five basics are there to buy time while building or to just flat out attack early if I have enough energy in that part of the game.  Instant offence is what I need to beat my wife’s deck for instance.  A bit more patience serves me better when facing my sons’ decks.  I don’t have a 3rd Blastoise or Sceptile yet or else they would be in my deck.

Trainer wise I’m in a bit better shape than I was a last time I posted.  Still no Rare Candy & lacking in stadium cards though.  I’m guessing that you would get rid of the healing for some other trainer types if I remember some of your other posts.

I also have a number of other interesting cards that I haven’t managed to really build up to deck usage yet.

2x Nidoqueen (7/101) ... I’m likely going to give this one to my older son.  He has more of the basic & stage 1 cards than I do and he likes the metal theme.

Salamence ex (103/107) ... no idea what to do with him yet.  No one really has a water / fire thing going on and one of the two rainbow energy cards I have is delta only & the other is double rainbow which would hurt his attack a bit.  I’m also leery of depending on that one specific energy card to make the whole thing work.

Flygon ex (87/92) ... I don’t have the cards for a suitable evolution path yet.

Omastar (23/92) ... Only have one psychic Omanyte to build him from and he just doesn’t seem worth the trouble of trying to get specifically.

Crobat (2/113) ... as part of the effort to make him happy I traded my older son for this.  The card seems pretty useless to me and my son doesn’t like them so not really sure what its fate will be.

3x Meganium (4/101) ... I like this card but only have two Bayleef and one Chikorita so I haven’t used him yet.

Kabutops (7/92) ... Only have one Kabuto so this one falls into much the same category as the Omastar.

Flygon ex d (92/101) ... Crazy strong card.  This one is likely a Christmas gift to my younger son.

Overall I have a *ton* of Water and Fighting type cards.  I have more different kinds of water cards and a bit more duplication in fighting.  I have a bit of Grass and Lighting.  Very little Fire, Psychic, Metal, Dark, or whatnot.  I have 36 trainers that I’m not using but the only stadium card is Holon Legacy.

Oh, and I'll be getting at least two or three Tyranitar ex d cards for Christmas and probably some Kingdra exes as well.
 
have you guys considered going to a trading card league??
im shore that some1 here can tell you what the closest league is to you.
only problem is youd have to say wht city you live in though
 
He already said that they have a league but it's moving, so he has to wait. As far as your deck, you need candies, and there are better pokemon than blastoise. I used to use himw ith Tentacruel (LM) and it did alright, but it really falls behind, because it's so slow.
 
Unseen Forces is is probably the best set to find what you are looking for for every member of your family. It has really good cards too.
 
Just thought that I would post an update.

I’ve continued buying expansion packs here and there, and made some eBay Christmas purchases that will change things somewhat.

My older son’s deck is using three Feraligatr ds as a main attacker but lacks a consistent secondary.  He has a Salamence d, a Holon’s Electrode, and Raichu currently.  I’m giving him the Nidoqueens I mentioned before getting him another Salamence d along with a single Tyranitar ex.  Long term I’ll probably get him a third Salamence d and two more Tyranitar exs.  Collector wise he’s a huge Deoxis fan so I’ve gotten him a few singles of different types as well.

My younger son is still using three Typhlosion ds and has the same lack of a strong secondary.  He is getting an Unseen Forces deck and already has a Gengar that he would love to use.  I’m struggling with whether to give him the Flygon ex d I have or to aim for Gardevoir ex.  Collector wise he is going to be getting a lot of old and new Pikachu cards which will make him happy.

I traded the Crobat line to my wife who is still using a largely green deck with two Venusaurs as main attackers.  I’ve gotten another Venusaur for her and she requested a Sliver Oceans (UF) deck so she could branch out a bit, as a result that’s on the way too along with Nidoking.  I’m not really sure where to go with her deck.  Dragonite ex, is possible as is the Flygon ex route.  Her deck is probably the one that I’m still the least sure on how to improve.  Grass, Dark, or maybe Psychic or Water would be the way to go for her deck.

My deck has been tweaked but is still based around Blastoise and Sceptile (4/17) as primary and secondary attackers.  I actually scored a Rare Candy and will eventually get a few more.  I am getting three Kingdra exs for Christmas and already have three Meganium d.  I’m not really sure where to go with my deck.  Originally I was thinking of trying something like Kingdra ex + Blastoise for a defensive deck but with both lines vulnerable to lightning my older son would eat that for lunch.  I’m a bit stuck because I like several of the lines that other family members will probably be getting and don’t want to steal their thunder or tread on ideas that they’ve staked out.  For instance I really like Dragonite ex, Tyranitar ex, and Nidoqueen.

I’m strongly considering getting an Earth Shower (CG) or Groundbreaker (LM) deck and trying to build a bit off them.  Groundbreaker would lead into something like Cradily while the Earth Shower approach would probably see me trying to use Swampert or even Swampert ex in some way.

Thoughts?
 
For your older son, getting Tyranitar ex ds are not a bad idea for his deck. Salamence is good also because he can do more than a 100 damge with Feraligatr d in play. Good deck. 7.5/10 But get some candies if possible.

For your younger son, I suggest go with Arbok d as secondary attacker. Also add some full flames if you haven't already.

For your wife, I suggest Dragonite ex if you could get a few Meganium ex for her. Other wise, FLygon ex d is good. But playtest them with proxies to see what is best before you go and get them.

For you, really don't know what to say...

Good decks, you just need to play test them on apprentice, and check what is good and what's not, then get the cards you think is good for your deck.

Hope I helped!
 
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