‘V Battle Decks’ Featuring Rayquaza V and Noviern V in October!

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The next set of V Battle Decks will feature alternate art promos of Rayquaza V and Noivern V! Both are originally from Evolving Skies.


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Rayquaza V Battle Deck


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Noivern V Battle Deck


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Bundle Package with Both



Each 60-card deck will release on October 8th for $14.99. They will come with a playmat, damage counters, a large metallic coin, a deck box, guides, and PTCGO code cards.
A bundle package will also be available for $29.99. It will come with eight additional Trainer cards, two of which will be holo.
Noivern V’s artwork is brand new and hasn’t been seen in Japan yet. Rayquaza V’s artwork is from a...

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These V Battle Leagues are much better at teaching the game to new players than the Theme Decks IMO though I wish they did have some type of a PTCGO format.
 
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These V Batlle Leagues are much better at teaching the game to new players than the Theme Decks IMO though I wish they did have some type of a PTCGO format.
Are they though? So far they've just been theme decks with a single V and much worse trainer lineup for $3 more. I'm not even sure why they aren't allowed in the theme deck format. They aren't OP there, and in fact all of the ones so far lose to the TEU Charizard deck most of the time I'd argue.
 
Are they though? So far they've just been theme decks with a single V and much worse trainer lineup for $3 more. I'm not even sure why they aren't allowed in the theme deck format. They aren't OP there, and in fact all of the ones so far lose to the TEU Charizard deck most of the time I'd argue.
It's a step in the right direction though it would be better if they just created more battle arena decks and most of the theme decks are terrible. It's not like the trainer lineups in the theme decks are that much better.
 
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These are so much less exciting than theme decks since they don't have a PTCGO format and don't release in-sync with sets.
First of all, there aren’t enough of these decks to build a format and they don’t go very well with the theme deck format. For instance, the V itself gives the deck an extraordinary powerful attacker. They had to remove cards like Professor so that these decks don’t dominate theme decks in casual play (although most kids are going to change the lists of any theme deck fairly quickly, not because they think that they can “improve” the list but because they want to use other cards that they have in their collection), as well as making sure to exclude any cards that would allow you to withdraw the V from the discard pile, but it still doesn’t make for the healthiest format. For another thing, I agree that not releasing these decks alongside the set is a bit of a letdown, but I think that TPCI made a smart move in largely disassociating quarterly V Battle Decks with quarterly expansions because it allows for the use of cards from earlier sets, including PROMOs of older Vs. This allows for more flexibility in Pokémon choice, which often leads to more interesting selections of Pokémon that have interesting effects.
I am a little confused about why the second deck contains Noivern V and not Duraludon V, but to be honest there are probably more kids interested in Noivern than Duraludon. Funnily enough, Noivern V will be the first Pokémon V in a V Battle Deck that doesn’t have a VMAX.
In any case, the purpose of Theme Decks and V Battle Decks is to make kids happy. The one thing that theme decks were lacking were the “big shiny cards” that you can find in most products. In a Theme Deck you get no Ultra Rares, while in an EX/GX/V Box you get a guaranteed Ultra Rare promo and a high chance of getting another Ultra Rare. Adding Vs to theme decks was not merely a cash grab… it actually improved the product, because now the kids can get a fun, “rare” card, the type of card that any kid who collects Pokémon cards is overjoyed at collecting. (Is that proper grammar?)
As for the lack of consistency, since when have theme decks been consistent? I don’t mean more consistent than these decks, I just mean in general. At least we haven’t seen any random evolving basics thrown into theme decks this generation. I’ve always been confused by the inclusion of random evolving basics in theme decks.
As for creating more “difficulty level 2” decks, pre-constructed top tier decks, even ones with sub-optimal lists, should NEVER replace theme decks or the equivalent. For one thing, most of these kids won’t even care about what is top tier and what isn’t, but for another thing, part of the fun of theme decks is that they feature cards that would never survive in the Play! Pokémon format, and kids can easily substitute those cards for any random Pokémon that they have in their collection and want to include. Using low-tier cards allows for kids to play the game the way THEY want with the cards THEY want; handing out tier-one decks in place of theme decks stifles the urge to experiment and restricts the freedom to use the cards you enjoy most. Don’t force them to play with the top-tier decks if they don’t want to play with the top-tier decks.
 
Are they though? So far they've just been theme decks with a single V and much worse trainer lineup for $3 more. I'm not even sure why they aren't allowed in the theme deck format. They aren't OP there, and in fact all of the ones so far lose to the TEU Charizard deck most of the time I'd argue.
They'd probably also lose to Dragonite and Storm Caller as well
 
Man, these suck. Not only do the actual decklists suck as much as HGSS-XY theme decks, they're replacing theme decks with worse products. I would much rather play a Rayqyaza theme deck on PTCGO than waste money on a mediocre Rayquaza Battle Deck. Lemme guess, it's gonna not have any good or reliable attackers besides the V (like they always do), the only draw engines are gonna be Supporters, and 30% of the decks are gonna consist of energy, right??
Yeah, these are SOOOOO much cooler than them decks like Soaring Storm, Unseen Depths, etc...
 
Hopefully these are better than the other ones. And I would actually like these products if they were in the theme deck format. These decks aren't that good compared too other decks. Plus if they add these to the format it will help more theme decks be playable.
 
Hopefully these are better than the other ones. And I would actually like these products if they were in the theme deck format. These decks aren't that good compared too other decks. Plus if they add these to the format it will help more theme decks be playable.
No offense but how are people still saying this? These aren't consistent or even mediocre enough to be in theme, nor should they be in theme. Although I don't exactly understand why PTCGO doesn't let you buy these in-game, ESPECIALLY considering nobody buys these IRL besides 10 year olds..
 
Kind of wish that we got v battle decks in august as well, so that number of theme decks per year = number of v battle decks per year.

I buy these because I collect theme decks. I view these as the successor to theme decks.

Based on release dates:

Venusaur Blastoise = Battle Styles

Gardevoir Victini = Chilling Reign

??? = Evolving Skies

Rayquaza Noivern = November SS08 set


Because of the ??? and how we never got any v battle decks this summer, there are no equivalent decks that would have replaced the Evolving skies theme decks, and this turns me off.
 
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Every time I see one of these decks in a store, I feel a small pit in my stomach knowing that after 20+ years, TPCI is still teaching beginners to have half a dozen different evolution lines in their deck for attacking, as well as a third of the deck as Energy cards
 
Every time I see one of these decks in a store, I feel a small pit in my stomach knowing that after 20+ years, TPCI is still teaching beginners to have half a dozen different evolution lines in their deck for attacking, as well as a third of the deck as Energy cards
What if kids LIKE playing half a dozen different evolution lines? As I said, not every kid likes to play things the competitive way. In fact, most kids prefer being able to play more Pokémon.
The Energy requirements are a bit extreme, but hey, as you pointed out, it's a system that's been used for 20+ years, and, as much as it makes competitive players cringe, the system appears to have worked.
Want to hear a story from my childhood? Whenever I used a theme deck, I would TAKE OUT ALL THE DUPLICATES and replace them with different Pokémon of the featured types. Lets say you went back in time and gave childhood me a Venusaur V Battle Deck and a binder of SWSH bulk cards. The resulting deck list may have looked a lot like this:
- 1 Venusaur V
- 1 Yanmega
- 1 Yanma
- 1 Gogoat
- 1 Skidoo
- 1 Eldegoss
- 1 Gossifleur
- 1 Durant
- 1 Heracross
- 1 Indeedee
- 1 Cherrim
- 1 Cherubi
- 1 Decidueye
- 1 Datrix
- 1 Rowlet
- 1 Cinccino
- 1 Minccino
- 1 Corviknight
- 1 Corvisquire
- 1 Rookidee
- 1 Shuckle
Not sure how many kids actually go out of their way to make their lists even less consistent without even realizing, but the point is that kids can enjoy an inconsistent list, and if you don't include multiple evolution lines, they will probably add them if and when they can get more cards, so you might as well offer some of those lines in the product.
And, lets face it, if a kid wants to make a V Battle Deck more consistent enough, then that kid 1) can ask for a Trainers Toolkit or comparable product or B) already knows someone who plays competitive Pokémon and is either not content with a V Battle Deck or can simply ask for some extra consistency cards to improve the deck with.
 
What many need to remember with these V Battle decks is that they are intentionally designed to be entry level decks for Beginners, and this has been a constant with such decks going as far back as the old Base Set Machamp deck which was also made for beginner level.

The League Battle Decks and to an extent Trainer Toolkits do the job of Intermediate-Expert level things.
 
No offense but how are people still saying this? These aren't consistent or even mediocre enough to be in theme, nor should they be in theme. Although I don't exactly understand why PTCGO doesn't let you buy these in-game, ESPECIALLY considering nobody buys these IRL besides 10 year olds..
Why shouldn't a theme deck with the only difference is that it has V pokemon not be in the theme format?
 
I wonder what the holo trainer from the bundle will be. We've run out of rares for it to be, if they're giving us something unique that is. Or they could give us a different foil maybe, like cosmo foil Marnie for example.
 
Kind of wish that we got v battle decks in august as well, so that number of theme decks per year = number of v battle decks per year.

I buy these because I collect theme decks. I view these as the successor to theme decks.

Based on release dates:

Venusaur Blastoise = Battle Styles

Gardevoir Victini = Chilling Reign

??? = Evolving Skies

Rayquaza Noivern = November SS08 set


Because of the ??? and how we never got any v battle decks this summer, there are no equivalent decks that would have replaced the Evolving skies theme decks, and this turns me off.
what happened to the Gengar/Inteleon decks?
 
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