Discussion Making decks look cool

ace-astra

Wayfarer
Member
Is it worth it to spend lots of money customising a deck? Like buying full art or secret rare trainers in place of normal trainers, and getting really awesome looking sleeves and deck boxes? Or should I just leave it and buy cards to make more decks? I think it’s a good idea so far, but then again I just use one really strong deck with a good strategy, so I spend my money on making it look better. What do u guys think?
 

CrownAxe

Aspiring Trainer
Member
The only person who can answer that is you. Your deck is going to function the same either way. It's personal preference if you want to bling your deck up
 

Mario W

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I'd say get your deck together first. Sleeves are a must, pick ones you think look cool.

As for upgraded cards, once you have the deck built, then you can hunt for the FA/SR versions and swap them.

Basically.....make sure you buy the car before you buy the Rims...
 

Calcab

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I'd rather gather more decks and have more versatility when I play than have one or a few pretty decks.
RN I can play almost any tier 1 deck (and some tier 2) just because since the beginning I didn't mind getting any good-looking card and traded right away the ones I got from boosters.
 

Attix

Electric Delivery Driver from Washington
Member
I hesitate to use pretty cards in decks because I think playing them would be a waste of their collector's value. Let's say I pulled a Rainbow Rare Lele GX and I didn't have a Lele before. I still would not consider myself to have a playable Lele because I would want to hold onto it for collector value. That's why I search out the cheapest version of a card that I can for playing.

As for sleeves and boxes, I keep my three decks in a different Mario-themed box with different sleeves on each, so one deck has Lucario sleeves and a Luigi box, another Eevee and Toad box, and the last Necrozma sleeves and a Mario box. This is also useful shorthand for me.
 

Alex Sableye

Official Pokemon Connoisseur of the Unova Region
Member
Is it worth it to spend lots of money customising a deck? Like buying full art or secret rare trainers in place of normal trainers, and getting really awesome looking sleeves and deck boxes? Or should I just leave it and buy cards to make more decks? I think it’s a good idea so far, but then again I just use one really strong deck with a good strategy, so I spend my money on making it look better. What do u guys think?
Well, if you want to be more competitive, (Please excuse my grammar) then buying cards is better than bling. Of course there are always exceptions, where the cooler looking card is cheaper, Zoaroark GX for instance. But if you're going to focus on deck-building, flashy cards just distract from the battle, or influence it. Case in point, In Night March, I'm always more reluctant to discard the full art Shaymin EX, and more willing to discard the regular looking one. In my opinion, it's better to bling your main attacker and go cheap with the support and tech, because in my experience, the flashier a card, the better care I take of it, in battle and in collecting. But it's ultimately up to you.
 

gumball51321

*thumbs up*
Member
Take it from someone who plays max rarity. Do. Not. Invest. In. Bling. It's an addiction that almost causes me to play a bad list because I want to match my bling with the rest of the deck, giving me an impulse to do something stupid. They get damaged anyway, so you don't really make your money back on the investment unless you get them already damaged for cheap, and plan to keep them forever
 

FrostBiter12

Upcoming Worlds Competitor!
Member
Personally, I like to build as many decks as I can first and then go for the shiny stuff. I think that if you were to upgrade your deck, go for reverse holos (if it isn't a GX/EX). They aren't as expensive as FA/SR, other people will be willing to trade for them if you want to get rid of them, and they look fine as well. The only FA/SR I'd like to invest in are ones that I think will rise in price or are already cheap (like FA Mallow or FA Wally). The main danger with these cards is how they rise and drop in price. One thing that I've noticed is that shiny energy (like HGSS energy or SHL energy) almost never change in price, so those (I believe) are worthy things to invest in. That is just my thought, but you are the one to decide what you like best. Good luck!
 

Serperior

~
Advanced Member
Member
I play with all RH T/S/S, RH Pokémon, and lowest rarity -GX and -EX Pokémon. If I somehow stumble upon an FA that I don't mind gets handled by my opponent, then I'll use that too. I also use foil Energy. Because those look pretty swag.

That being said, never play with cards that you care about in terms of long-term value. Shuffling bends and scratches are inevitable after hours of play and use, and even taking the card out of the sleeve can cause surface scratches and the like. Regardless, I double sleeve all of my cards in my deck, just so that I have a little more protection for my stuff. Keeping your cards in good condition also makes them less questionable from your opponent's perspective. (Like "ohhh that crease looks like it was done on purpose" or "that warp doe")
 

Number51x

Blasting off at the speed of light!
Member
I only play my pretty cards at home and even then I use World Championship Lele proxies! Decks I take out to league or whatever are the cheapest of the cheap. I also make sure to have lots of the staples for when they eventually wear out or when I have multiple decks built at once.
 

FlashRayquaza

Rayquaza Fan
Member
I always build a deck with the cards I have or with the cheapest version of cards (e.g. I have RR Golisopod and buy 2 regular Golisopod to complete the deck). After I finished deck building, I search for cards in higher rarity (e.g. I trade for a FA Golisopod). Or if I had birthday or Christmas I spend a bit money on higher rarity cards (I only buy high rarity cards which are SMon so that I can use them atleast another year)

Sometimes the rarer cards are also cheaper! You won't belive me but when I bought FA Lele it was cheaper than a regular one!
 

lukas2aces

Aspiring Trainer
Advanced Member
Member
I do the same as many people above here... I started making all decks I wanted to make.

Then I started to buy some cheaper FA cards like Mallow to pimp the deck a little. Maybe they will be a little damaged, so be it. I like playing with these cards!

And now, I slowly am starting to invest in some cards which will be played in many decks (like SR Field Blower) or which likely will be legal for a long time (for example: SR basic energy cards, SR Rare Candy).
 

gumball51321

*thumbs up*
Member
Here's a question that will answer the original post: Who tops tournaments with real bling in their decks? Name 3 famous players who consistently place well in regionals, and play bling.
 

lukas2aces

Aspiring Trainer
Advanced Member
Member
What do you mean exactly with that?

I understand that the best players in the world might not play ‘bling’, but I don’t think playing bling or not will influence your results.

I just think the best players in the world might play single sleeved, play a lot, will riffle shuffle and therefore don’t want to use bling cards.
 

gumball51321

*thumbs up*
Member
What do you mean exactly with that?

I understand that the best players in the world might not play ‘bling’, but I don’t think playing bling or not will influence your results.

I just think the best players in the world might play single sleeved, play a lot, will riffle shuffle and therefore don’t want to use bling cards.
What I meant is that there's no upside to playing with bling. It doesn't influence your results either way, but it costs more, when you could be playing more decks simultaneously, save up for more important things, so it's just a monetary hindrance for something that decreases in value the second you riffle shuffle. All of the top players know this, so most of them don't use bling at all if it's not cheaper or easier to get(a huge example of this is Zoroark GX), and they have to worry about travel expenses. If I weren't such an addict to foiling out my decks, I'd have every deck in my backpack whenever. I've seen and know people who bought shiny crap instead of getting experience from going to tournaments. They decided to to play decks that only play 2 Ultra Ball because they only had 2 gold ones.
 

Ecourts

Wanderer | Lvl.2
Member
I'd say get your deck together first. Sleeves are a must, pick ones you think look cool.

As for upgraded cards, once you have the deck built, then you can hunt for the FA/SR versions and swap them.

Basically.....make sure you buy the car before you buy the Rims...


Oh, I would like to mention, make sure your sleeves are tournament legal!
To be safe, pick ones that are fully opaque with flat colors, or official Pokémon sleeves~
 

lukas2aces

Aspiring Trainer
Advanced Member
Member
What I meant is that there's no upside to playing with bling. It doesn't influence your results either way, but it costs more, when you could be playing more decks simultaneously, save up for more important things, so it's just a monetary hindrance for something that decreases in value the second you riffle shuffle. All of the top players know this, so most of them don't use bling at all if it's not cheaper or easier to get(a huge example of this is Zoroark GX), and they have to worry about travel expenses. If I weren't such an addict to foiling out my decks, I'd have every deck in my backpack whenever. I've seen and know people who bought shiny crap instead of getting experience from going to tournaments. They decided to to play decks that only play 2 Ultra Ball because they only had 2 gold ones.

Wow lol... You should never change your deck lists just because you have or don't have some shiny card indeed. I'm just trying to get the cards that in play in my deck, not the other way around (playing cards in my deck because I have them).

If you are that addicted to play 'bling' cards, then it does become a problem indeed, simply because you aren't playing the optimal 60 cards in your deck anymore.

Maybe there is a small psychological advantage, because it may give the opponent the feeling that you are playing the game quite a lot / quite a long time, because you apparently invested in TCG a lot. But if I notice this feeling by myself, and then have the feeling I can win, I'm even more excited to win.
 

gumball51321

*thumbs up*
Member
Wow lol... You should never change your deck lists just because you have or don't have some shiny card indeed. I'm just trying to get the cards that in play in my deck, not the other way around (playing cards in my deck because I have them).

If you are that addicted to play 'bling' cards, then it does become a problem indeed, simply because you aren't playing the optimal 60 cards in your deck anymore.

Maybe there is a small psychological advantage, because it may give the opponent the feeling that you are playing the game quite a lot / quite a long time, because you apparently invested in TCG a lot. But if I notice this feeling by myself, and then have the feeling I can win, I'm even more excited to win.
I was actually going to say that myself, but thought I'd be seen as exaggerating the whole argument. Sometimes I do have to catch myself with putting in unnecessary cards just because I have them and want to use them, but then I have to tell myself, "Don't lose because you want to look cool doing it, you'll look cooler for winning.
 

vyolet127

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Is it worth it to spend lots of money customising a deck? Like buying full art or secret rare trainers in place of normal trainers, and getting really awesome looking sleeves and deck boxes? Or should I just leave it and buy cards to make more decks? I think it’s a good idea so far, but then again I just use one really strong deck with a good strategy, so I spend my money on making it look better. What do u guys think?
Short answer: Yes.
@ my secret Leles and N NVi 101
 
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