PTCGO Best Theme Deck(s) to grind PTCGO with?
- Thread starter cool
- Start date
Well, I assume since this is tagged as "PTCGO", the "meta" is that of the Theme Format. 
I don't know how the two latest Theme Decks will shift things, but here are the ones I think are still worth playing. Exceptions arise from some older ones being the best options for a new player grinding out a particular challenge. I won't be listing those, at least not yet (maybe later).
Ignore anything from prior to Sun & Moon. There might be a few gems buried there, and some you may want to get for cards that help in Expanded, but the powers-that-be seem to be taking Theme Decks a little more seriously, to the point they might finally deserve the title "Starter" deck.
Destruction Fang
Clanging Thunder
Mach Strike
Imperial Command
Tropical Takedown
Twilight Rogue
Leaf Charge
Hydro Fury
Storm Caller
Blazing Volcano
Pre-Lost Thunder the Mach Strike deck was probably the best grinding choice. It tends to either win or lose quickly. It was the best deck when it released, but it has slowly lost ground as newer decks released (as one would expect). Nowadays, it is probably a little overhyped; still a very good deck, but given how often it misfires compared to more recent decks, I think some folks just rememer all the games where an opponent opens with Gible and quickly Evolves into Gabite and then Garchomp but forgets all the games the deck fails to field a Garchomp quickly, or gets Garchomp but opponent sets up so quickly as well that Garchomp doesn't last long.
Personally, I'm fond of Topical Takedown, but my "less than a dozen games combined" testing of St0rm Callerand Blazing Volcano have impressed. Storm Caller has 10 Supporters while Blaziking Volcano has 12! Hydro Fury and Leaf Charge also each have 10. I only count eight a piece in Tropical Takedown and Twilight Rogue. IMperial Command has nine while Mach Strike only has seven! One of the former best decks, Battle Ruler (XY -Fates Collide) only has six Supporters, while "Roaring Heat" (released alongside Sun & Moon) only has four! Four has long been the expected Starter deck amount...
I don't know how the two latest Theme Decks will shift things, but here are the ones I think are still worth playing. Exceptions arise from some older ones being the best options for a new player grinding out a particular challenge. I won't be listing those, at least not yet (maybe later).
Ignore anything from prior to Sun & Moon. There might be a few gems buried there, and some you may want to get for cards that help in Expanded, but the powers-that-be seem to be taking Theme Decks a little more seriously, to the point they might finally deserve the title "Starter" deck.
Destruction Fang
Clanging Thunder
Mach Strike
Imperial Command
Tropical Takedown
Twilight Rogue
Leaf Charge
Hydro Fury
Storm Caller
Blazing Volcano
Pre-Lost Thunder the Mach Strike deck was probably the best grinding choice. It tends to either win or lose quickly. It was the best deck when it released, but it has slowly lost ground as newer decks released (as one would expect). Nowadays, it is probably a little overhyped; still a very good deck, but given how often it misfires compared to more recent decks, I think some folks just rememer all the games where an opponent opens with Gible and quickly Evolves into Gabite and then Garchomp but forgets all the games the deck fails to field a Garchomp quickly, or gets Garchomp but opponent sets up so quickly as well that Garchomp doesn't last long.
Personally, I'm fond of Topical Takedown, but my "less than a dozen games combined" testing of St0rm Callerand Blazing Volcano have impressed. Storm Caller has 10 Supporters while Blaziking Volcano has 12! Hydro Fury and Leaf Charge also each have 10. I only count eight a piece in Tropical Takedown and Twilight Rogue. IMperial Command has nine while Mach Strike only has seven! One of the former best decks, Battle Ruler (XY -Fates Collide) only has six Supporters, while "Roaring Heat" (released alongside Sun & Moon) only has four! Four has long been the expected Starter deck amount...
I already test the new decks from Lost Thunder and in my opinion the top decks right now are Entei and Swampert, Entei had so many tools (Macargo, Mallow, Blaziken and Houndoom) to set up your game and basically all your pokemon can attack with 3 of them being able to reach over 100, the deck had the capabilitie to put tons of pressure on early game, there is no junk on this deck, had Guzma who is the best card to disrupt your opponet, most of my match ups against the rest of the deck where favourable except... Swampert was already one of the top deck and overcome a lot against Entei due weakness, it had a good amount of tools (Macargo, Abomasnow, Masked Royal and Swampert) to set up your game as well, it lack pokemons to attack but with a good set up you could be even able to fight with 4 Swampert on the same match and they are monsters that are able to take down any other boss pokemon with minimum effort and are pretty bulky
I test Entei against almost all the rest of the meta (Garchomp, Alolan Eggexutor, Sceptile and Empoleon, the last one not that much actually but Entei is so fast that I believe it had good posibilites to win over Empoleon ) and most of them were easy victorys except for Swampert, I believe I wasnt able to win an actual match against Swampert but at the end of the day clearly all depend of how much luck you could had to set up your field, If Entei build his field early enough could easily overcome Swampert
I test Entei against almost all the rest of the meta (Garchomp, Alolan Eggexutor, Sceptile and Empoleon, the last one not that much actually but Entei is so fast that I believe it had good posibilites to win over Empoleon ) and most of them were easy victorys except for Swampert, I believe I wasnt able to win an actual match against Swampert but at the end of the day clearly all depend of how much luck you could had to set up your field, If Entei build his field early enough could easily overcome Swampert