Chesnaught deck

[IPokeYou]

I got my daughter a Chesnaught Kalos Starter Deck to start her out in Pokemon. That was about 4 weeks ago. She wants to build a deck around Chesnaught. Here is our current deck list, which is also our first deck we have built. Please give any and all recommendations and explanations so we can learn more about this game and compete in tournaments shortly. Thank you!

Chespin 3/39 x4
Quilladin 4/39 x3
Chesnaught 11/162 x3
Chesnaught Break x1
Spinarak 83/123 x2
Ariados 6/98 x2
Sceptile EX 7/98 x2
Lugia EX 68/98 x1

Professor Sycamore x2
Tierno x3
N x1
Lysandre x1
Evosoda x2
Rare Candy x2
Professor Letter x2
Energy Retrieval x2
Ultra Ball x2
Level Ball x3
Revitalizer x2
VS Seeker x4
Forest of Giant Plants x3

Grass Energy x8
Double Colorless x4

 

[Dalton]

I can give you two changes. One that can be done for several dollars and the other a lot more.

The cheap one.

- 1 Lugia EX
- 2 rare candy
- 1 Spinarak
- 1 Ariados
- 2 Evosoda

+ 1 Quiladin (The basic deck had 4
+ 3 Exp Share (about a dollar each)
+ 2 Professor Sycamore (also a dollar each)
+ 1 revitalizer (same price)

Total, $6 plus shipping

A more Expensive one would include the same changes but instead of the exp shares, double colorless energy and Tierno

+2 M Sceptile EX (10-12 each)
+ 2 Sceptile Spirit Links (really cheap)
+ 2 float stone ($2) each
+ 1 Keldeo EX ($5) just make sure it's not a full art, since those are $25
+3 grass energy, (really cheap)
$35-40 after shipping, price of about 10 booster packs. 10 packs would have on average of 2 EX and one of those might instead be a BREAK.

Now how do the changes help me?
Forest of giant plants makes rare candy pointless with grass Pokemon because you bypass the one evolution per turn. Evo soda does not work if you Pokèmon already evolved. Float stone on Keldeo lets,you use rush in, to bring them up, and retreat with float stone making it like a free retreat to all of your Pokemon. M Sceptile is to put more energy on your Chenaught and heal them after Keldeo lets you switch them out of free, since they hold exp shares for more energy powering up,

Also a few side notes.
Your Vs Seekers are worth $10 each
Buying singles is alway cheaper than packs in the long run.

 

[IPokeYou]

Thank you very much for your feedback! I understand having a 4-4-3 Chesnaught line but here is what we were thinking (not that I'm trying to convince you, more to understand how our thinking is wrong since our playing experience is limited): With the Evosoda, we can look in our deck to grab a card that evolves from one we have. So if we have a Chespin & a Chesnaught, we can look in our deck for the Quilladin and evolve right away to Chesnaught with FoGP. Or grab Chesnaught if we have the first two. With rare candy, we can play the Chesnaught right on the Chespin, skipping Quilladin. Level ball also allows us to grab either Chespin or Quilladin from our deck as needed since they are 90 hp & less (Spinarak & Ariados too). Is 4-3-3 too risky in case a Quilladin is prized? Are the Evosoda & Rare Candy overkill with the Ultra & Level balls?

Lugia is in there because that's the best non-grass basic attacker with colorless energy requirements we have I see why Keldeo would be good as our weakness, fire, has weakness to his water and his Rush in ability would be good to switch as needed. Is he going to be Standard in this rotation with the Battle Arena reprint? The closest shop just started Pokemon tournaments last night and they are going to be playing Standard so that is what we are aiming for. Don't know what the other shops play. I think we may need to upgrade her Chespins & Quilladins, which I think we already have, but those were the versions in her hand. We don't actually own the VS Seekers right now because of the price. I have pre-ordered a couple of the BA decks so this deck won't be ready for action until those come in. Keldeo will be in there too if he is legal.

I'm intrigued by the M Sceptile suggestion. Especially since it would have more HP to buy time and accelerate energy for the Chesnaughts to get powered up, while still hitting hard. I think we will start looking for one or two of them.

What do you think about the Break card? We actually have 3 of them but I was unsure if it would be worth the deck space for more than 1. Is it worth the space for 30 more HP and an additional attack that does 30 damage to itself (but also 30 to a benched Pokemon)?

Any ideas of adding basic Pokemon? She played this deck (minus the VS seekers) and one time had to reshuffle 6 times as she had no basic to start with. Was that just a rare fluke or should we add some more basics because we have too few?

Additional thought about this deck: Since the only ability that this deck is using (for good or bad, we're just starting) is the Ariados, which pairs well with Sceptile EX. When we start to look at playing tournaments, should we replace those cards with Trub/Garb to shut down other decks that rely more on abilities? Is that good diversification or is that muddling up a deck? It would be hard to pass up Sceptile hitting for 130 with a poisoned defender but if M Sceptile is used, a conditioned defender doesn't matter as much. Or should we take out other cards instead?

Thank you for any and all help!

 

[Dalton]

The Keldeo EX is not a reprint, it's from boundaries crossed. Keldeo EX will remain only in expanded/unlimited. As for the BREAK. With Your stadium, you should run a 4-4-3-2 line, and the M Sceptile will be a lot lot better than Lugia EX. The only things in you deck list from the original post that are expanded are the Chespin and Quiladin.