Alt. Format Fan Service/Pikachu.dec (Deck for new players/kids to use) mk:3

[Merovingian]

Here's the story. I've been running a League since April and I'm on a quest for "the best fan service for new player deck possible".

I'm currently working on the 3rd big revision.

Initially, I tried to cram as many references in the show as I could: Pikachu, Team Rocket, Legendaries, recognizable/commonly used items in the show, Supporters with recognizable characters. The whole deal.

After the last revision where we added Electrode-GX, I kept my eye out on what is being played/what isn't being played.

Strangely, the Team Rocket cards (Team Rocket's Meowth, Team Rocket's Wobbuffet, Here Comes Team Rocket! Sleep!) did not see any play except for Sleep!, but only because Sleep! gets to screw with opponents--which kids love.

With a lot of the empty spots, we are cramming more Pikachus and some more useful items and seeing what we can come up with:


POKÉMON: 15
- 4 - Flying Pikachu
- 3 - Voltorb (CES)
- 2 - Electrode-GX
- 1 - Pikachu Libre
- 1 - Ash's Pikachu
- 1 - Happy Birthday Pikachu
- 1 - Pikachu (Legend Maker....the Delta Species one that costs about $20)
- 1 - Shining Mew
- 1 - Victini

TRAINERS: 30
- 4 - Sophocles
- 4 - Volkner
- 2 - Lysandre

- 4- Gym Badge
- 4 - Hypnotoxic Laser (This is replacing all 4 Sleep!. It has the "Item" indicator so Volkner can actually search it out)
- 3 - Nest Ball (wrestling between either this or Poke Ball)
- 2 - Trick Coin (My concern with Trick Coin is that it makes cards like Flying Pikachu a bit TOO GOOD. Once it gets enough Energy for Fly, it's virtually untouchable until they miss. Should I replace this with something else?)
- 2 - Escape Board (a better Float Stone as this deck just retreats for 1)
- 1 - Max Elixir
- 1 - Dowsing Machine

- 3 - Apricorn Field

ENERGY: 15
- 11 - Lightning Energy
- 4 - Unit Energy (Lightning, Psychic, Metal)


Above, I have 4 slots I can dedicate to other Pokemon--which are more than likely going to be Pikachu in some way shape or form. There's A LOT of English Pikachu cards, and most of them are pretty vanilla. So I've narrowed down some of the more interesting ones that I need help picking out:

Secret Rare Legend Maker Pikachu - This Pikachu is METAL. C'mon, that just seems really cool. There's actually three Metal Pikachu cards, but this one seems to be able to attack the fastest and potentially hit the hardest.

Pichu Bros. - Not exactly a Pikachu, but it's a good attacker and one of the only Lightning Pokemon that can dole out Confusion.

Pikachu (POP Series 6) - This Pikachu is REALLY different with the Oran Berry always working. And Spark can do bench damage, which is not very common with Pikachu attacks.

Pikachu (HGSS Promo) - This one can put an opponent on the clock by charging itself up and wail with a 100 damage Thunderbolt. Or Electrode-GX can assist with the Energy.

Secret Rare Pikachu (Black & White) - This is similar to the GHSS Promo Pikachu in that it has an attack that can power up its second attack.

Pikachu - XY Promo 95 - Let's Eat Together is wildly different than what we've seen on any other Pikachu. That said, is it even worth it?

Pikachu - Generations Full Art - It's a bit plain, but you gotta love that picture.

Pikachu Gold Star - A financially irresponsible thing to suggest, but for the sake of different named Pikachus, here we are! First attack is pretty vanilla, and Spring Back has that Ultra Beast niche before it was cool. I'm not sure it'll see any play because it's really that--kinda plain. Unless someone sees soemthing I don't.


So there you have it! Are there any cards that kids would love to see or ones you know kids and new players would like to see in a deck?
Any suggestions on which versions of Pikachu to use?

 

[pikachuuuu101]

personally I think putting in a shining mew and 3 of the HGSS pikachu could add a decent win condition, with the 100 damage swing.
Is voltorb that popular of a pokemon? I would add laparas and ash greninja GX instead if its not, though the 2 types of energy brings up more complications like needing profs letter

 

[Merovingian]

personally I think putting in a shining mew and 3 of the HGSS pikachu could add a decent win condition, with the 100 damage swing.

I did not consider Shining Mew. I like it. I’ll have to test with maybe 4 Unit Energy. And I’ll give the HGSS Pikachus a go!

Is voltorb that popular of a pokemon? I would add laparas and ash greninja GX instead if its not, though the 2 types of energy brings up more complications like needing profs letter

Well, Voltorb doesn’t have nearly the same popularity as Pikachu. Some kids recognize it as it always unexpectedly bombs everyone in the anime whenever it makes an appearance.
Most of the League I run is kids who are just starting out with “20 booster packs.dec”. They go bonkers whenever they see and EX or GX, and I wanted to include a GX as it is a big draw for kids. Electrode helps in a few ways:

- Ability is one that you have to activate. It’s a lot easier to explain and use Abilities that work this way as opposed to passive ones that are “always on” like Garabotoxin and Mew FCO.

- Electrode’s Ability is perfect in explaining that sometimes it’s okay to take a big drawback if it can jump your board state

- it’s second attack has a lot enough damage output that it’s not overpowering

- it’s GX attack is great in showing that you can do big damage, but you may have to hurt your board state and how to make good decisions to minimize its effects while maximizing damage.

I will need to look up ash greninja and Lapras

 

[Merovingian]

Made some changes:

- 1 Pikachu Libre
+ 1 Delta Species Pikachu

this allowed more versatility with what Pikachus we had in the deck, and I felt that a Delta Species variant would be cool to have in the deck for the "Metal Pikachu?! WHAT?!" factor. Of the three Delta Species variants, I felt that the Secret Rare version from Legend Maker would be the most likely to attack the fastest if it needed to.

- 3 GEN Voltorb
+ 3 Celestial Storm Voltorb

Purely so that the player gets more use out of abilities outside of Victini and Electrode-GX. GEN Voltorb was rarely used to attack anyway even thought it synergized with Victini and Trick Coin.

-4 random Pikachus
+1 Shining Mew, +1 GRI Victini, +2 Flying Pikachu

Flying Pikachu gets a lot of laughs and actually brings the fight thanks to Trick Coin. Added Victini so that players become more accustomed to activated Abilities (also helps that its a Legendary). Added Shining Mew because
- It's a Legendary
- It's Mew
- It's Shining

It also helps that it accelerates Energy if need be.

- 1 Master Ball
+ 1 Dowsing Machine

I'm starting to see that players don't really care much about recognizable characters or items from the show or games. It seems that, for fan service purposes, its more important to have favorable Pokemon. No one has blinked an eye when they used Here Comes Team Rocket! or drew Master Ball. I doubt I'd get any reaction if I put 4 Pokeball in the deck.
So with that, we are going for efficiency now and Dowsing Machine is going in just to show players that, "hey! Discard pile recovery is important too!"


I can't wait for the next set to come out as we get Thunder Mountain (Railroad) Prism Star and Combo Catcher and the trainer lines are going to get a massive switch up.