Who-Do-I-Choose You!

Hey guys, it's Troy here again to bring you another Pokemon filled post! This time, I'm gonna be talking about how one goes about building a deck for Pokemon Trading Card Game. I want to post this one as I've had a couple of people ask me for some deck building advice, so I figure a blog post will at least have me putting it in writing so all can read at leisure.

My first, and I would say best, piece of advice for building a deck is to choose the pokemon you like the most. If you've got a decent idea of what pokemon are around or already know your favourites, that's half the battle done. For those of you who don't know all that much about pokemon, here's a handy list of all 649 current pokemon complete with some sprites for a quick picture reference (http://pokemondb.net/pokedex/national).

As Magic: The Gathering players will know, mixing too many different types can have a tendency to result in drawing the wrong resources for the wrong creatures. Once you've figured out what your number 1 favourite pokemon is, check it's type. That will narrow down the number of other pokemon you have to choose from to a more manageable amount. Just like in M:tG you can mix two types, but taking into account that each type has a weakness to another type, you may want to consider picking a secondary type to compliment the first one. Types are categorised as follows:

Grass (includes some bug and poison) - weak to Fire
Fire - weak to Water
Water (includes ice) - weak to Electric, some Grass and some Steel
Electric - weak to Fighting
Fighting (includes rock and ground) - weak to Psychic and Grass
Psychic (includes some bug, poison and ghost) - weak to Psychic and some Dark
Dark - weak to Fighting
Steel - weak to Fire
Dragon - weak to Dragon
Colourless (includes flying) - weak to Fighting and some Electric

Now that you've figured out which pokemon you want to use, the next thing to do is figure out which version of that pokemon you want to use. Pokemon Trading Card Game has been around since 1996, so many versions of even the most recent pokemon to be released have been printed over a great deal of booster sets. Picking which one you want to use is entirely up to you, but it's worth checking each one to see which you consider to be the best version. Remember that there is no right or wrong version to pick, it could even come down to which one has the best artwork. A very helpful tool for this is the TCG Card Database on the official Pokemon website (http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-trading-card-game/database/).

Keep in mind however that while Kev has a great deal of pokemon cards dating back to the very first base set, cards that aren't from a set with Black & White in the title will be harder to find. Trust me on this, I can honestly say that getting my hands on copies of Feebas (EX Hidden Legends 61/101) was as difficult as trying to catch one in Pokemon Emerald Version or Platinum Version. Another thing to keep in mind is while you're welcome to use any card at the Card House with the exception of Birthday Pikachu (and I will ask for photo ID to make sure you're not lying about it being your birthday to gain unfair advantage in a children's card game), if you want to attend an official event chances are rotation will come into effect. Much like Magic: The Gathering Standard format this means that only cards from Black & White Base Set are permitted.

That's the most complicated part out of the way. Onto actually building a deck now.

A Pokemon TCG deck must contain exactly 60 cards, and no more than four duplicates of any name card can be used with the exception of basic energy cards and Arceus. Pokemon-EX are considered to have a different names to the standard version and can be included as well (eg, I could put 4 x Cobalion and 4 x Cobalion-EX in a single deck). The only other limit is that you must have at least a single basic pokemon in your deck (and unless you're a masochist you'll want more than one).

These cards are split into three different kinds - Pokemon, Trainers and Energy. Pokemon are your hitters, there to take hits and dish them out in pursuit of victory. Energy is vital, as without it your pokemon can't do any hitting. Finally, Trainers are your support cards and are further split into Supporters, Items, Tools and Stadiums. For now though I'll just cover the basics of building a deck, and maybe talk about them more in depth at a later time.

When choosing pokemon, it's crucial that you use multiple copies of each one. I've found a good ratio for starting out is to have 3 basic and two of any stage 1 or 2 evolved pokemon (eg, 3 Charmanders, 2 Charmeleons and 2 Charizards). If the pokemon doesn't evolve, two can suffice. My recommendation of how many pokemon should take up your 60 card limit is between 15 and 25. Too few and you run the risk of your opponent getting more cards in their opening hand (you must have a basic in your starting hand, and any time you have to reshuffle lets them draw another card), too many and you might not be drawing the trainers or energy you need to attack.

As far as energy goes, you need to be able to use your most powerful attacks. Counting up the energy you need for the pokemon you expect to be using the most to attack is a good start, plus adding in a few extras for good measure. Some tournament decks can use as few as 8 energy cards, but in the beginning I recommend using about 20 energy cards until you start fine tuning your deck.

This just leaves trainers, and you can fill out the remainder of your deck with these. A good place to get the most basic trainer cards is in starter decks, but if I've got a couple spare of the one you want feel free to ask. Trainers are there to add in what you need to keep the deck going during a game. For example, Fire and Electric pokemon tend to discard energy to use their most powerful attacks, so having copies of Energy Retrieval or Super Rod will be higher on your needed list. Draw power can be found in many ways, from drawing three cards with Cheren or discarding your whole hand to draw seven with Professor Juniper. There's usually a trainer for all occasions, but one thing to keep in mind is that you can only use a single Supporter in each turn. Make sure that when you're choosing your trainer cards, you don't just load up on Supporters or you run the risk of your deck being slow. Also, only a single Ace Spec trainer can be used in any deck so if you plan on including one choose wisely!

Well, that should be clear as mud. The starter decks are usually the best place to start anyway, as they include a fold out mat which has all the rules and a diagram of what the play area should look like. I'm normally better at explaining stuff with examples to hand, so if you see me in store and want to learn how to play I have two example decks you're welcome to have a go with and should showcase most of the cards you can expect to see.

Assuming you've managed to slog you way through all of that, thanks for reading!
Troy, Lucario/Photon Fanatic (Mind you, I'm also eagerly awaiting the new Harpie cards in the next Yu-Gi-Oh! booster set)