Woah... What!? What's changed in 6 years?

[pvtGramps]

Hey guys,

I'm just getting back into the PTCG after about a six year absence. I've been looking through these forums and seeing a lot of things that I'm flatly not familiar with. Honestly, back in my day (I'm in the Masters division) a deck that ran less than 15 energy was dead in the water.

Anyway, could someone describe what particularly has changed since then for anyone that remembers back then? I mean, it's kind of a crazy world out there now.

Thanks,
Gramps

 

[Gale]

Ohhh boy. 6 years! That's a while. Well make sure to reread the rules above ALL. A few things have changed, such as Level X's, Trainers, and a few other things. There are many more. Just take a glance at them.

Up next, look at PokéBeach's card scans. Familiarize yourself with the cards as well as you can. It may take a while, and even if you don't completely understand the game, it's still nice to understand the environment around you. If you have any questions on rulings, make sure to check out The Compendium. You can also ask here.

As for deck building...you'll definitely want to check out this thread, this thread, and a few others. Just look around the forums. If there any questions you have, don't hesitate to ask the community here at PokéBeach!

 

[Purpose]

6 Years.... Wow. The meta has changed a lot from back then. One thing to tell you. Nowadays most decks are fast flowing, and try to get out in one or two turns. Like for instance Machamp StormFront.
http://pokebeach.com/scans/stormfront/20-machamp.jpg

One energy, and you get to knock out a basic!?!??!?!? That's broken. Of course they're gonna make a deck for it! So look for those cards that have the potential of knocking out cards fast.

IMPORTANT STAPLES IN A DECK: Most decks need some of these to survive.

Roseannes Research: Many sets.
Bebe's Search: Many Sets.
Claydol GE: A card you keep on the bench to draw cards easily.
Uxie LA: A card you play to draw cards, and when you don't want it on the bench, just use it's attack.
Uxie LV.X: You level it up from Uxie LA and use it's power for even more drawpower.

 

[pvtGramps]

hipoke: What's funny in doing some singles shopping last night, I actually wound up with a playset of Bebe's Search (I adore it!) and couldn't afford any copies of Roseanne's Research at the store. Haven't seen the other two yet.

I'm kind of used to the fast flowing bit. I think when I played again breifly in 2003 that I was in at the turn where that all started working. I played a Blaziken deck based off of third turn 2nd stage evolutions, and I worked that in with the deck I've got built up. I think I'll post it on here.

I hit through the rulebook last night too, and played a few games at the league too. Surprisingly, I haven't lost much in the years.

So, any summary of what the big decks are right now?

Also, how is it that some of these decks work on 6 energy or something like that? That's flatly amazing.

 

[Gale]

The 'big decks', well, there are many of them. I guess you could consider Shuppet, Flygon, and Gyarados are some of the bigger names right now. There are many others out there, which I'm sure you'll find just from lurking the forums. Gyarados is relatively inexpensive to make if you can get a hold of the Roseanne's/Bebe's/Uxies. There are other pretty big decks out there, I suppose. Try checking out this thread for a list of the big decks.

 

[Lou Cypher]

With those low cost energy decks, here are a few examples of them.

Gyarados (Stormfront). For 0 energy, Gyarados will do 30 damage for each Magikarp in the discard pile. Since there are several Poké-Powers as well as Supporters that can easily get the required 3 Magikarp discarded, as well as trainers to immediately salvage Gyarados when it goes down, Gyarados can win without using any energy to begin with.

Beedrill (Great Encounters/Rising Rivals). For 1 energy, Beedrill does 30 damage times the number of Beedrill in play. Thanks to the power of the Rising Rivals Beedrill, it can keep up a flow of Bees easily and as such dish out great damage for only 1 energy, making the deck need only like 6 energy.

Shuppet (Platinum) or Uxie (Legends Awakened). For 1 energy, these cards deal 30 or 20 damage and return to your hand/bottom of your deck respectively, taking all cards attached to them with them. Since this includes most damage boosting cards (Pluspower/Expert Belt), they can hit for figures up to 90 for only 1 energy, and then send out something that's hard to hit properly (Mr. Mime Mysterious Treasures/Surpreme Victors). Since they only need 1 energy, theres VERY little required for them to keep going, and the trainers used let them draw almost their entire deck turn 1.

Kingdra (Legends Awakaned) is in a bit of a different vein, it can deal 40 damage for 1 energy, or 60 and 20 to a benched Pokemon if you discard 2 cards from your hand. Since his other attack works on energy in the discard, there are Kingdra builds with more energy, but most commonly they only use the energy needed for the attack and discard other cards, not bothering for the energy-fueled attakc.

Those are just some examples. If you'd like to know more about the TCG and how the big decks work, you could throw me a line on AIM or MSN if you feel like it, I don't mind. You'll find my contact info in my profile.

 

[1qaqa1]

Also there's Sf machamp who can one hit your your basics with a move that does infinite damage to anything non eveolved. Which essentially Pwns most if not all Sp decks when comboed with meewtwo lv.X HAve a mewtwo stall while you build up a ragechamp take an sp hiit then start Ohkoing the sps while still one shotting their techs.