Standard New player, first deck

[mr-mooster]

Decided to change up my deck after getting a few singles. Took out all the Electric types and decided to run mainly Grass Pokemon with Garb as my main. I have much less Pokemon and have a lot more supporters in my new deck. Unfortunately, I still don't have a whole lot of Basic Pokemon so I'm banking on the supporters/Rescue Stretchers to help me in a game. I'm still gonna go with the Watchog/Garb strategy cause Watchog is pretty much the only Garb supporters I have.

Pokemon: 18

• 1x Castform GR
• 2x Chansey GR
• 4x Patrat GR
• 2x Watchog GR
• 1x Wimpod GR (I thought I had another, but I mixed up my RL and PTCGO collection)
• 1x Golisopod GR
• 2x Petilil GR
• EDIT: 1x Lilligant
• 1x Hoopa SS
• 2x Trubbish 1 GR 1 BP
• 1x Garbodor GR

Trainers: 25

• 1x Pokedex
• 1x Trainer's Mail
• 1x Choice Band
• 2x Enhanced Hammer
• 2x Rescue Stretcher
• 2x Energy Recycler
• 2x Captivating Pokepuff
• 2x Ultra Ball
• 3x Field Blower
• 1x Ninja Boy
• 1x Ilima
• 1x Lillie
• 2x Hala
• 2x Mallow
• 1x Aether Paradise Conservation Area
• 1x Alter of the Moone

Energy: 17

• 8x Psychic Energy
• 8x Grass Energy
• 1x DCE

Strategy:
Unfortunately I don't have a ton of basics besides Patrat. I have 2 Rescue Stretchers in case a few of my vital basics or 1-Stage Pokemon get knocked out. I can use either option twice or one of each option. I have the Choice Band for Golisopod and the Pokepuffs for Hoopa so it can use it's 3-energy attack. Castform is for pulling either Stadium cards. Both work well in my favor protecting my Wimpod or allowing me to retreat Hoopa for free when it's locked out of attacking. I have all the Patrats to get my 2 watchog in and they can be used to help discard Trainer cards for a powerful Trashalanche. They are also the only basic Pokemon I have that won't need to be Rescue Stretcher'd in case I need to use it. Chansey is a high-HP support pokemon to heal Hoopa/Garb/Golisopod when they need it. Liligant can damage the bench, which Hoopa can also do, but it can do Hoopa's job while it's being set up.

I think this deck is a little more playable than the other one with more doubles of Basics and more Supporter cards and Trainers in general. The card shop near me has a Pokemon League tomorrow at 2 and Sunday at 12. The Sunday event is a "For Fun" event so I think I'll try using my deck then instead of Sunday when I know I'll get completely destroyed by veteran players.

 

[Omarphylax]

I think it's good for a starting deck. But you can improve it by removing 1 or 2 patrat. When you only have 2 Watchog you only play 2 or maybe 3 Patrat if you want to be sure you'll get it. Then remove the Petilil, it doesn't do a thing by itself. You can get 2 or 3 slots or maybe more to play more trainers or later to play more pokemon like Garbodor or Golisopod. Maybe you can get eevee to play the the Espeon GX you mentioned.
When you get more Golisopod or Garbodor, focus on them and you'll be able to remove the other pokemons, because you won't need Watchog, Castform or Chansey by then.
Keep playing and learning the metagame and you'll see by yourself how to improve decks, but mostly have fun playing.

You can also try to play the Online version to learn more about the game. You could get some cards by free and try them so you check what works for you or what doesn't. ((=

 

[mr-mooster]

I do have a Lilligant in there, the Petilil aren't by themselves. I forgot to write in the Lilligant. I'll remove a Patrat and I'll put in another Supporter.

I have been trying the online game but I don't have enough cards to really make a deck. I've mostly just been going against NPCs to get free booster packs. I can try to center around Golisopod on there since I have a few Wimpod. I also might be buying some codes to get more stuff.

 

[mr-mooster]

Hi everyone. I was able to get some more cards since the first edit to my deck. I swapped out the 2x Petilil and 1x Lilligant for 1x Wimpod, 1x Golisopod, and 1x Tapu Bulu GX. What I want my deck to have eventually is solely grass Pokemon with 2x Tapu Bulu and 3x Golisopod as my main attackers and the Promo Lurantis as a supporter. I also think Aether Paradise Conservation Center will work well in my favor to help give Tapu Bulu a bit more bulk since he has pretty low HP for a GX card. One thing I was wondering: If I have more than one Promo Lurantis on my bench, do their abilities stack? I was also consdering Lurantis GX in addition to the promo Lurantis. I am just having difficulty finding the blister pack in stores.

 

[crystal_pidgeot]

Welcome to the Pokemon TCG! Always nice to see new players. What you want to do is ask yourself what kind of deck you want to play or what is your favorite Pokemon. For a new player, making a deck around your favorite Pokemon is a great way to learn the game since as you get better with using the deck, you better learn mechanics and what works and what doesn't, so, what is your favorite Pokemon?

 

[Omarphylax]

Hi everyone. I was able to get some more cards since the first edit to my deck. I swapped out the 2x Petilil and 1x Lilligant for 1x Wimpod, 1x Golisopod, and 1x Tapu Bulu GX. What I want my deck to have eventually is solely grass Pokemon with 2x Tapu Bulu and 3x Golisopod as my main attackers and the Promo Lurantis as a supporter. I also think Aether Paradise Conservation Center will work well in my favor to help give Tapu Bulu a bit more bulk since he has pretty low HP for a GX card. One thing I was wondering: If I have more than one Promo Lurantis on my bench, do their abilities stack? I was also consdering Lurantis GX in addition to the promo Lurantis. I am just having difficulty finding the blister pack in stores.

Yes, Lurantis Sunny Day ability stack. You can have 4 of them making you to deal 80 more damage.
The Stadium card you mention is good since Golisopod blocks 30 damage so it'll be blocking 60 now. Another good option is to get (or mix) forest of giant plants which lets you evolve any grass pokemon without restriction letting you get golisopod and lurants in the first turn.
The TapuB is good, it's nice to have a GX backing up your team to nuke any pokemon that threats your lineup.
All you have to do is play and learn more about other decks and how the metagame works today so you adapt to it and make the changes you think you need to your deck. Try to get more supporters and items to speed up your deck and get everything fast. I'd recommend you to get Double Colorless so you can attack with Golisopod in your second turn. (=

 

[mr-mooster]

Yes, Lurantis Sunny Day ability stack. You can have 4 of them making you to deal 80 more damage.
The Stadium card you mention is good since Golisopod blocks 30 damage so it'll be blocking 60 now. Another good option is to get (or mix) forest of giant plants which lets you evolve any grass pokemon without restriction letting you get golisopod and lurants in the first turn.
The TapuB is good, it's nice to have a GX backing up your team to nuke any pokemon that threats your lineup.
All you have to do is play and learn more about other decks and how the metagame works today so you adapt to it and make the changes you think you need to your deck. Try to get more supporters and items to speed up your deck and get everything fast. I'd recommend you to get Double Colorless so you can attack with Golisopod in your second turn. (=

Oh, that's awesome! I think I'll go with 2 Lurantis Promos and 2 Lurantis GX cards to build energy on Tapu Bulu. +60 damage for Tapu Bulu would be a great help for that card. Unfortunately, Aether Paradise only gives that -30 from attacks to Basic Pokemon, so the only pokemon it'd be aiding is Tapu Bulu and not anyone else. It could give my Wimpod and Fomantis some extra bulk to help them survive a little longer. What would a good amount of Stadiums be? Should I do 2 and 2?

I am ordering 2 more Ultra Balls, 1 more Choice Band, and 2 Forest of Giant Plants and 3 more DCE. The supporters I'm ordering are 3 N, 2 Lysandre, and 3 Sycamore. And just for clarification, if there's reprints of cards, like N, I can use older prints of it in standard, right? The Ns I'm ordering are from Fates Collide.

 

[Omarphylax]

Yes, you can use reprints. I guess you should go for either only Forest of Giant Plants since (you right) they only work with basic pokemon or maybe play a 3 Forest and 1 Paradise for the Tapu. I can't tell what's better, you should try and watch what works better.

If you can post all your cardlist I can try to help what changes you could try.

 

[mr-mooster]

Yes, you can use reprints. I guess you should go for either only Forest of Giant Plants since (you right) they only work with basic pokemon or maybe play a 3 Forest and 1 Paradise for the Tapu. I can't tell what's better, you should try and watch what works better.

If you can post all your cardlist I can try to help what changes you could try.

As in all the cards I have?

 

[Omarphylax]

As in all the cards I have?

Just your decklist., my bad haha.

 

[mr-mooster]

This is the current deck list. It's not meant to be competitive ATM. I am doing small tweaks here and there. Eventually I want to completely phase out the Colorless/Psychic Pokemon. Tomorrow I'm going to play with it at a casual event at the card store.

Pokemon: 15

• 1x Tapu Bulu SM32
• 2x Wimpod GUR
• 2x Golisopod GUR
• 2x Trubbish 1GUR 1BP
• 1x Garbodor GUR
• 1x Hoopa SS
• 1x Castform GUR
• 3x Patrat GUR
• 2x Watchog GUR

Trainers: 28

• 3x Field Blower
• 2x Choice Band
• 2x Rescue Stretcher
• 2x Enhanced Hammer
• 2x Mallow
• 2x Hala
• 2x Energy Recycler
• 2x Ultra Ball
• 1x Special Charge
• 1x Aether Paradise Conservation Area
• 1x Ilima
• 1x Pokemon Catcher
• 1x Ninja Boy
• 1x Alter of the Moone
• 1x Pokedex
• 1x Captivating Pokepuff
• 1x Pokemon Fan Club
• 1x Lillie
• 1x Trainer's Mail

Energy: 17

• 8x Grass Energy
• 8x Psychic Energy
• 1x DCE

I'll post my future/planned decklist as well. I wrote this while I was looking for singles to buy.

Planned:

Pokemon: 16

• 3x Wimpod GUR
• 3x Golisopod GUR
• 4x Fomantis SM
• 2x Lurantis GX
• 2x Lurantis SM 25 Promo
• 2x Tapu Bulu GX

Trainers: 31

• x1 Aether Paradise Conservation Center
• x2 Forest of Giant Plants
• x2 Lysandre
• x3 Choice Band
• x1 Trainer's Mail
• x2 Mallow
• x2 Hala
• x3 Field Blower
• x4 Ultra Ball
• x3 Sycamore
• x3 N

Energy: 16

• x12 Grass Energy
• x4 DCE

 

[Omarphylax]

The number in trainers you got is good, some decks have from 20 to 30 trainer cards.
Don't overload your deck with items you don't really need to have or with items you don't really use a lot. Like blowers. Having 1 or 2 is enough, you only play 3 or 4 when the purpose is to stuck your opponent or to discard as many items as you can to deal damage in case you play Garbodor from GR (I know you play Garbodor there but is only one and you shouldn't try to work with such strategy with just one lineup). You should replace some items with another ones who helps your deck to be faster or to get what you need like trainer mails or ultra balls and stuff. Items that deals with your opponent as blowers or hammers are just to protect yourself, so moderate the number you play of these and it'll be fine.
I see you have lots of items but you need versus seeker instead of many supporters. You should have like 3 or 4 of your main supporters (the ones who speed up the deck and you need to always have them in hand.) like N or Sycamore and maybe Hala if you use your GX attack fast. and maybe 1 or 2 of the ones who help you in specific situations like Lysandre or Ninja Boy. You shouldn't have many different supportes because that forces your deck to rely on luck even more. And the VS seeker helps you to reuse any of the supporter you already used in case you don't have another in your hand or even your deck.
Also if you get Forest of the Giant Plants you'll be able to accelerate your deck to deal over 100 damage in the second turn. If you do, I suggest you to remove the Paradise ones since Golisopod already blocks damage or if you want to play it bulkier you can play 3 Forest and 2 Paradise or 2-2 maybe. That's something you should test.

You also can save lot of slots removing energies. You don't need as many energies as you got. You can play a deck with 8 to 14 energies with no problem. Usually you have to play some games to know the balance you need of them. Some games only last or 5 or 6 turns and in such time you only get to play 6 energies, so you don't really need 17. Even if you play dual types (Psychic/Grass) you don't really need that many. Try to get more DCE so you play 4 of them. It should be something like this
4DCE
3psychic
5Grass
You said you wanted to play only with grass, so when you do just remove the psychic energies and play 4DCE and maybe 5 or 6 grass and that's all. (Some decks use even less energies)

Now the pokemon. Since your damage dealers are Golisopod and TapuB, you could try to use either 4 SunnyDay Lurantis or 3 and 1 GX to attach energies faster, but since you will be playing DCE and Golisopod only needs 1 grass and 1 DCE you could totally remove the GX and that shouldn't be a problem.
You should also play a line fo 4-4 Golisopod since your deck relies in them.

Note: Since Lurantis (sunnyday) are only to support you should get float stones to keep em safe from lysandre, so you don't waste energies retreating them.

I guess that's all, you got nice potential with your cards, just some fixes and you'll be playing a competitive deck in no time. I been playing with some decks like yours and I know they are hard to deal with since they are fast, strong and hard to beat.
I wish you good luck with your buildup and put effort in your matches. Sometimes the best deck is not who wins the game, but the one who plays it better. I hope I was of help for you , but mostly I hope you have fun playing the game. ((((=