In collaboration with Celebi23, Futachimaru, Riskbreakers, and HenryP, I've also decided to join into this article "crusade", in an attempt to try and help educate players on the site. Cause on some of the threads in here, the things some people are saying is really pitiful. I'm not sure if you'd call it defiance or stubbornness, but in the face of overwhelming evidence, some people truly believe certain things about this game or about internal components of this game, of decks, or of cards themselves that just isn't true, and is plain bad.
In any case, we've all divvied up some articles(dates and the topic can be seen here). As it's obviously apparent, this article of mine will be about Deckbuilding. In it, I'll cover some tips, tricks, and general rules you should follow, with some of my own advice and experiments mixed in.
For me, I view deckbuilding as consisting mainly of three tiers: Consistency, Stages of the Game, and Playability. There are other smaller things I'll touch on, but these are the three that I want to cover the most, as most people(including myself at times) encounter problems with these three "pillars" of deckbuilding. Let's start with Consistency.
According to Dictionary.com, Consistency is defined as: steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc. This is obviously true for Pokemon as well, though it's more specific. Simply put, consistency is the idea that something should always do that same thing, always. In Pokemon, consistency has to be the most important part of deckbuilding. The best decks that are always winning do so for a single reason: they're consistent. Let's look a little deeper into it, for now.
The idea of consistency in Pokemon is simple. Each deck has a certain strategy or powerful combo that makes it work, right? And you want to be able to achieve that strategy or pull off that combo(or begin the combo, if it's an infinite one) each and every game, right? So, in order to achieve that goal, you'd need to build a deck that can consistently do that, and, therefore, have consistency. How do you go about doing that? Well, it's very simple.
In a Pokemon deck, you can only have sixty cards. No more, no less. At first, this seems like a lot, to the untrained eye. Plenty of space for Pokemon, Energy, and Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums(t/s/s). As you start choosing your Pokemon, you'll notice that they take up, in some decks, as little as 25% of your deck, to as much as, in some cases, 50% of your deck, or anywhere in between. Already, so much of your deck is gone! Well, next you'll need to fit in the appropriate amount of energy, which will run you from a little as 15% all the way up to an additional 25%. Now, you must fill in the remaining space with Trainers, Supporters, and, sometimes, Stadium cards. Why does a Pokemon deck usually work out like such, with so much of the deck being allotted to a certain area?
In this article, I'll be using Magnezone/Eelektrik/Zekrom(referred to as Eelzone) as our example deck. I chose this one because it's fairly standard throughout many lists(little room for variation), and incredibly consistent(called by some the BDIF, but we'll get into that later). Let's start with, of course, just the Pokemon.
Eelzone is a newer deck in the Pokemon TCG, created not long ago, after we received the Noble Victories expansion. The main attackers in the deck are Magnezone and Zekrom, with Eelektrik being a support Pokemon, rounding out the deck. This is one of the few decks that utilizes all the stages of Pokemon(basics, Stage 1s, and Stage 2s). Seeing as it does, you'll need to have plenty of basic Pokemon in the deck, as well as any Stage 1s necessary, and of course, the Stage 2. What would lines of those look like? If Magnezone is your main attacker, you're going to want plenty of copies of it to sustain you throughout the game, in case they are knocked out, or, as I'll touch on, prized(which they will/could be, naturally). If Eelektrik is your support Pokemon, you're also going to want plenty of copies. The same case goes for Zekrom. So the trick is to run the maximum amount in the deck, right?
4-4-4 Magnezone
4-4 Eelektrik
4 Zekrom
(A quick note for those that don't know. When Pokemon evolution lines are written out, they are written out in a horizontal format. So when I write 4-4-4, I really am just writing a simplified version of 4 Magnemite, 4 Magneton, 4 Magnezone. The basic always comes first, followed by the Stage 1, and then the Stage 2. Always starting the lowest form of the evolution chain.)
Like this? Wrong. While running 4 copies of a card does increase your chance of getting and using it, it isn't always necessarily a good thing. In Pokemon, there are a certain group of cards(almost always Trainers, Supporters or Stadiums) that are classified as Recovery cards, and do just as you'd think: recover cards. Some of them are specifically geared towards energy or Pokemon, but the "best" kinds of recovery can recover a combination of both basic energy(recovering special energy is very limited) and Pokemon, as that provides the most versatility for whatever given situation you're in. Naturally, thanks to the ability to recover Pokemon, the lines of Pokemon can actually be trimmed down. Let's see what it looks like now:
4-3-3 Magnezone
4-3 Eelektrik
3 Zekrom
You'll notice that I've dropped the Magneton and Magnezone counts both by one(changing our list from 4-4-4 to 4-3-3), as well as dropping both a single Eelektrik and a Zekrom. Why did I do this? Well, out of the gate, Magnezone has 140 HP. That's plenty of HP to begin with, and as such, it is a difficult hurdle for some decks to dish out in attack power to consistently knock out Magnezones. This concept isn't unique to Magnezone, however. Many Stage 2 Pokemon have high HP, partly to signify that since they are the final stage in an evolution line, they are the strongest, and the toughest. The idea of having less of the Stage 2 part of an evolution line is therefore common, in that a combination of the ability to recover the cards if they are knocked out and the fact that they are generally more durable.
Getting back to Eelzone, there's even more we can do to the evolution line. You'll notice in lists you see across the internet that there are less of a Stage 1 than of it's final form. How can that be? You need the Stage 1 to evolve into the Stage 2, so why have less? Well, that fact can be credited to a single card: Rare Candy. Rare Candy has been in every format since the card was introduced in the set EX Sandstorm, all the way back in 2003(September 17th, to be exact). That means that next year, Rare Candy will have it's 10th anniversary. This doesn't seem like a big deal for just a single card, but the sheer importance of Rare Candy is really a testament to how Stage 2s can be used at all(yes, in other formats, I'm sure there were ways to get Stage 2 Pokemon out without Rare Candy, like using Spiritomb, for example, but that does not detract from it's overall importance). History lesson aside, what makes Rare Candy so important?
Now that rulings are out of the way, let's analyze just what makes this card so essential to Stage 2s. Normally, a Stage 2 would need to be manually evolved through it's basic and Stage 1 pre-evolutions. That takes a total of three turns(one for dropping the basic, the second for evolving into the Stage 1, and the third and final for evolving into the Stage 2). This of course provides two turns of vulnerability to your Stage 2, as it can be knocked out before you even have a chance to swing with it. Rare Candy lets you skip a turn of evolving, jumping from the basic immediately to the Stage 2. What this means is that in this format, Stage 2s are just as fast as Stage 1s, but often times swing for more damage, and can take more hits(in most cases). This card is essential, in that it provides more opportunities to evolve into the actual Stage 2, but also allows for smaller Pokemon line. So, utilizing Rare Candy, our newly revised and finished Pokemon portion of the deck looks like this:
4-2-3 Magnezone
4-3 Eelektrik
3 Zekrom
As you can see, we cut the Magneton line down to two, as opposed to three. This still allows you to get out multiple Magnezone in matchups that prevent the use of Rare Candy(against decks that put up an effective, lasting trainer lock), but is "faster" in that is more reliant on Rare Candy. Also, the idea is that you should, in those matchups that prevent the use of Rare Candy, be able to(theoretically) evolve a Magnemite into Magnezone using Rare Candy, then the rest of your Magnezones can be evolved manually, through the use of Magneton. That way, you should still, in theory, be able to take advantage of all three of your Magnezone. This is all in theory, and while it does happen often, do not expect that to happen 100% of the time.
I'll also cover this next point quickly. You'll notice we slimmed down the evolution lines of the Pokemon(barring Zekrom, which we only dropped by one copy), except for the basics. Even though we have recovery, it is still staple to have as many copies as you can of essential cards for the combo(in this case, the Pokemon). This is because some of the basic Pokemon can be knocked out before they evolve, and having more copies of the basic than the higher evolution means that you won't have to waste a recovery card on trying to get back a basic just to evolve into the evolution. Running more copies allows you to not have to necessarily waste a recovery "slot"(one of your options you can choose when recovering things from the discard), and instead focus on recycling more of the evolution instead. It's also a form of consistency, in that you have a higher chance of having a basic in your opinion hand(which you obviously need at the start of the game), and that you can still get out, for example, two Magnezones in the case that you prized two Magnemites. Kapeesh?
Now, most decks usually opt to run optional techs or even "starter" Pokemon. I'll cover both of those next.
Starter Pokemon:
In Pokemon, there is often times a class of Pokemon that are known as starter Pokemon. These Pokemon are unique, in that they are poor attackers, but they provide some sort of unique power, ability, attack, or any combination of these that allow them to help set up more powerful evolutions. They are extremely useful in the early game(the first few turns), but lose usefulness as the game goes on. That's not to say they aren't useful at all, but they are clearly included in decks for their ability to improve your consistency and early game. Let's look at the most popular "starter" Pokemon. I'll also share my opinion on the best one, as well as which is the best for this deck.
1)Cleffa: Cleffa is one of a collection of baby Pokemon released over the course of the Heartgold Soulsilver 4-set expansion block. The babies all share many things in common: all of them have free retreat, no weakness, no resistance, 30 HP, and a Poke-body that prevents them from taking damage as long as they are asleep. All of them all have a single attack(that is a "free" attack, meaning it doesn't require any energy) which puts them to sleep after using it(which explains the Poke-body, of course). Where the baby Pokemon differ is in the attack. Some of them do damage(Tyrogue and Elekid), others disrupt the opponent in some way(Igglybuff, Magby, Smoochum, Mime Jr.), and others help you set-up(Pichu and, arguably the best baby, Cleffa). Cleffa is unique in that it is the spiritual successor of its Neo Genesis copy. Cleffa is a Professor Oak's New Theory in an attack, with the possibility of not giving up a free prize. Cleffa is the "best" baby Pokemon, in that it offers the most consistency. It allows you to play out your hand, and then shuffle what's left of it at the end of your turn and get a fresh six cards, possibly setting you up further. Cleffa is used as a 1-of(I'll explain this later) in almost every deck in the format, simply because it can pull you out of a bad hand that would otherwise cripple your chances of victory.
2)Pichu: Pichu is the only other baby Pokemon that has an attack that assists you as opposed to disrupting your opponent. While Cleffa works because it allows you to shuffle away potentially bad hands for potentially good hands, Pichu's attack is much more "guaranteed". With Cleffa, you may shuffle a bad hand away into another bad hand(while this happens occasionally, that shouldn't deter you from running at least a copy of it, because it's positives outweigh the negatives by a TON). With Pichu's Playground, you get to search your deck for as many basic Pokemon you'd like and place them down on the bench. The downside of this is that your opponent also gets to do the same thing(if it's their first turn, they cannot evolve them, though if it's any turn after the first turn of the game(for both players), your opponent can evolve them immediately, so be wary of this if using it for a mid, or late game basic snatcher), though the trade-off is actually worth it. With Pichu's Playground, you can still grab all the basic Pokemon you'll need to set-up, but still free your Supporter slot for the turn, allowing you to play a consistency Supporter instead, or even simply just keep a really good hand you have. The only reason Cleffa is played more than Pichu is that Cleffa doesn't allow your opponent to set-up as well. That aside, Pichu is still a viable option in many decks that just want to ensure that FTC(First-Turn-Collector) as many times as they can.
3)Manaphy: Manaphy isn't a baby Pokemon, but it IS considered a set-up Pokemon. Manaphy really received it's "claim-to-fame" at the 2011 Nationals(the first tournament that was HGSS-on). Nationals was baby crazy, and with all those babies running around(some decks even ran three copies of the same baby, like Cleffa), there was also plenty of Tyrogue(does exactly enough damage to knock out a fellow baby). This resulted in plenty of donks(I'll cover this later), or, in other words, first turn wins. Yes, starting something like Cleffa at Nationals(as your only basic) could be the difference between victory and defeat, because all your opponent had to do was play the Collector and grab Tyrogue, retreat, and hit you for game. It was truly an awful spectacle. Manaphy was different, in that Manaphy had 60HP, and, was therefore, clearly out of Tyrogue's hitbox(well, with multiple Pluspowers/Junk Arms it could be donked, but this was highly unlikely). Manaphy required an energy for the attack, and nailed you one less card with it's shuffle draw attack(five, as opposed to Cleffa's six), but for Nationals, it was great to resist the Tyrogue swarm. Fast forward to now. Baby Pokemon are ran as 1-of's, and Tyrogue is virtually nonexistent(often times I put it into my lists, and as I go back to find room for other cards, it's usually one of the first cards to go). Electric(the type Manaphy is weak to) is currently running rampant, and is the BDIF(best deck in format). What that means is that an Electric Pokemon only needs to do 30 damage to knock out both a Manaphy and a Cleffa. If that's the case, why would I want to waste an energy to get one less card, when I can use my energy attachment for the turn on one of my main attackers, get a sixth card, AND possibly sleep through the next turn, avoiding damage and that potential knock out? Yes, Manaphy's time has come and gone. It fulfilled a crucial niche at Nationals(Pooka ran it in his deck, and he managed to take second place in the entire tournament), but Nationals is obviously a long time ago(we're over halfway to our next Nationals, can you believe it?). I strongly recommend AGAINST this card. It isn't a good substitute for Cleffa at all. However, if you don't own any Cleffa, and for some reason, you cannot obtain a single Cleffa even through dire means, AND you have a Manaphy, you can run this card, at least, until you get a Cleffa.
4)Basic searchers like Stantler, Minun, Elgyem and others: These Pokemon all share one thing in common: they search out basic Pokemon, like Pichu, but for an energy cost. I won't cover them much at all, because they aren't run(though Elgyem is seeing a tiny bit of play, only because of it's evolved form Beheeyem, in which case Elgyem offers a great consistency boost to the deck). The idea of searching out basic Pokemon through an attack works with Pichu, but that's because Pichu's attack doesn't use up an energy, and it can possibly be immune from damage. If you want to run a basic Pokemon searching attacker, run Pichu. These all pale in comparison. They really do. Don't run these. I mean it.
In any case, we've all divvied up some articles(dates and the topic can be seen here). As it's obviously apparent, this article of mine will be about Deckbuilding. In it, I'll cover some tips, tricks, and general rules you should follow, with some of my own advice and experiments mixed in.
For me, I view deckbuilding as consisting mainly of three tiers: Consistency, Stages of the Game, and Playability. There are other smaller things I'll touch on, but these are the three that I want to cover the most, as most people(including myself at times) encounter problems with these three "pillars" of deckbuilding. Let's start with Consistency.
According to Dictionary.com, Consistency is defined as: steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc. This is obviously true for Pokemon as well, though it's more specific. Simply put, consistency is the idea that something should always do that same thing, always. In Pokemon, consistency has to be the most important part of deckbuilding. The best decks that are always winning do so for a single reason: they're consistent. Let's look a little deeper into it, for now.
The idea of consistency in Pokemon is simple. Each deck has a certain strategy or powerful combo that makes it work, right? And you want to be able to achieve that strategy or pull off that combo(or begin the combo, if it's an infinite one) each and every game, right? So, in order to achieve that goal, you'd need to build a deck that can consistently do that, and, therefore, have consistency. How do you go about doing that? Well, it's very simple.
In a Pokemon deck, you can only have sixty cards. No more, no less. At first, this seems like a lot, to the untrained eye. Plenty of space for Pokemon, Energy, and Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums(t/s/s). As you start choosing your Pokemon, you'll notice that they take up, in some decks, as little as 25% of your deck, to as much as, in some cases, 50% of your deck, or anywhere in between. Already, so much of your deck is gone! Well, next you'll need to fit in the appropriate amount of energy, which will run you from a little as 15% all the way up to an additional 25%. Now, you must fill in the remaining space with Trainers, Supporters, and, sometimes, Stadium cards. Why does a Pokemon deck usually work out like such, with so much of the deck being allotted to a certain area?
In this article, I'll be using Magnezone/Eelektrik/Zekrom(referred to as Eelzone) as our example deck. I chose this one because it's fairly standard throughout many lists(little room for variation), and incredibly consistent(called by some the BDIF, but we'll get into that later). Let's start with, of course, just the Pokemon.
Eelzone is a newer deck in the Pokemon TCG, created not long ago, after we received the Noble Victories expansion. The main attackers in the deck are Magnezone and Zekrom, with Eelektrik being a support Pokemon, rounding out the deck. This is one of the few decks that utilizes all the stages of Pokemon(basics, Stage 1s, and Stage 2s). Seeing as it does, you'll need to have plenty of basic Pokemon in the deck, as well as any Stage 1s necessary, and of course, the Stage 2. What would lines of those look like? If Magnezone is your main attacker, you're going to want plenty of copies of it to sustain you throughout the game, in case they are knocked out, or, as I'll touch on, prized(which they will/could be, naturally). If Eelektrik is your support Pokemon, you're also going to want plenty of copies. The same case goes for Zekrom. So the trick is to run the maximum amount in the deck, right?
4-4-4 Magnezone
4-4 Eelektrik
4 Zekrom
(A quick note for those that don't know. When Pokemon evolution lines are written out, they are written out in a horizontal format. So when I write 4-4-4, I really am just writing a simplified version of 4 Magnemite, 4 Magneton, 4 Magnezone. The basic always comes first, followed by the Stage 1, and then the Stage 2. Always starting the lowest form of the evolution chain.)
Like this? Wrong. While running 4 copies of a card does increase your chance of getting and using it, it isn't always necessarily a good thing. In Pokemon, there are a certain group of cards(almost always Trainers, Supporters or Stadiums) that are classified as Recovery cards, and do just as you'd think: recover cards. Some of them are specifically geared towards energy or Pokemon, but the "best" kinds of recovery can recover a combination of both basic energy(recovering special energy is very limited) and Pokemon, as that provides the most versatility for whatever given situation you're in. Naturally, thanks to the ability to recover Pokemon, the lines of Pokemon can actually be trimmed down. Let's see what it looks like now:
4-3-3 Magnezone
4-3 Eelektrik
3 Zekrom
You'll notice that I've dropped the Magneton and Magnezone counts both by one(changing our list from 4-4-4 to 4-3-3), as well as dropping both a single Eelektrik and a Zekrom. Why did I do this? Well, out of the gate, Magnezone has 140 HP. That's plenty of HP to begin with, and as such, it is a difficult hurdle for some decks to dish out in attack power to consistently knock out Magnezones. This concept isn't unique to Magnezone, however. Many Stage 2 Pokemon have high HP, partly to signify that since they are the final stage in an evolution line, they are the strongest, and the toughest. The idea of having less of the Stage 2 part of an evolution line is therefore common, in that a combination of the ability to recover the cards if they are knocked out and the fact that they are generally more durable.
Getting back to Eelzone, there's even more we can do to the evolution line. You'll notice in lists you see across the internet that there are less of a Stage 1 than of it's final form. How can that be? You need the Stage 1 to evolve into the Stage 2, so why have less? Well, that fact can be credited to a single card: Rare Candy. Rare Candy has been in every format since the card was introduced in the set EX Sandstorm, all the way back in 2003(September 17th, to be exact). That means that next year, Rare Candy will have it's 10th anniversary. This doesn't seem like a big deal for just a single card, but the sheer importance of Rare Candy is really a testament to how Stage 2s can be used at all(yes, in other formats, I'm sure there were ways to get Stage 2 Pokemon out without Rare Candy, like using Spiritomb, for example, but that does not detract from it's overall importance). History lesson aside, what makes Rare Candy so important?
. Just a quick note before we continue. Rare Candy has recently received an errata(a change in the cards effect). The errata is as follows(simplified) : You can't play Rare Candy on your first turn(your starting turn), you can only use Rare Candy to evolve a basic into a Stage 2(no longer usable on Stage 1s), and you also cannot play Rare Candy to evolve a basic Pokemon that you had just laid down on your bench that same turn. What this means is that you must wait one turn before evolving said Pokemon into it's respective Stage 2.
Now that rulings are out of the way, let's analyze just what makes this card so essential to Stage 2s. Normally, a Stage 2 would need to be manually evolved through it's basic and Stage 1 pre-evolutions. That takes a total of three turns(one for dropping the basic, the second for evolving into the Stage 1, and the third and final for evolving into the Stage 2). This of course provides two turns of vulnerability to your Stage 2, as it can be knocked out before you even have a chance to swing with it. Rare Candy lets you skip a turn of evolving, jumping from the basic immediately to the Stage 2. What this means is that in this format, Stage 2s are just as fast as Stage 1s, but often times swing for more damage, and can take more hits(in most cases). This card is essential, in that it provides more opportunities to evolve into the actual Stage 2, but also allows for smaller Pokemon line. So, utilizing Rare Candy, our newly revised and finished Pokemon portion of the deck looks like this:
4-2-3 Magnezone
4-3 Eelektrik
3 Zekrom
As you can see, we cut the Magneton line down to two, as opposed to three. This still allows you to get out multiple Magnezone in matchups that prevent the use of Rare Candy(against decks that put up an effective, lasting trainer lock), but is "faster" in that is more reliant on Rare Candy. Also, the idea is that you should, in those matchups that prevent the use of Rare Candy, be able to(theoretically) evolve a Magnemite into Magnezone using Rare Candy, then the rest of your Magnezones can be evolved manually, through the use of Magneton. That way, you should still, in theory, be able to take advantage of all three of your Magnezone. This is all in theory, and while it does happen often, do not expect that to happen 100% of the time.
I'll also cover this next point quickly. You'll notice we slimmed down the evolution lines of the Pokemon(barring Zekrom, which we only dropped by one copy), except for the basics. Even though we have recovery, it is still staple to have as many copies as you can of essential cards for the combo(in this case, the Pokemon). This is because some of the basic Pokemon can be knocked out before they evolve, and having more copies of the basic than the higher evolution means that you won't have to waste a recovery card on trying to get back a basic just to evolve into the evolution. Running more copies allows you to not have to necessarily waste a recovery "slot"(one of your options you can choose when recovering things from the discard), and instead focus on recycling more of the evolution instead. It's also a form of consistency, in that you have a higher chance of having a basic in your opinion hand(which you obviously need at the start of the game), and that you can still get out, for example, two Magnezones in the case that you prized two Magnemites. Kapeesh?
Now, most decks usually opt to run optional techs or even "starter" Pokemon. I'll cover both of those next.
Starter Pokemon:
In Pokemon, there is often times a class of Pokemon that are known as starter Pokemon. These Pokemon are unique, in that they are poor attackers, but they provide some sort of unique power, ability, attack, or any combination of these that allow them to help set up more powerful evolutions. They are extremely useful in the early game(the first few turns), but lose usefulness as the game goes on. That's not to say they aren't useful at all, but they are clearly included in decks for their ability to improve your consistency and early game. Let's look at the most popular "starter" Pokemon. I'll also share my opinion on the best one, as well as which is the best for this deck.
1)Cleffa: Cleffa is one of a collection of baby Pokemon released over the course of the Heartgold Soulsilver 4-set expansion block. The babies all share many things in common: all of them have free retreat, no weakness, no resistance, 30 HP, and a Poke-body that prevents them from taking damage as long as they are asleep. All of them all have a single attack(that is a "free" attack, meaning it doesn't require any energy) which puts them to sleep after using it(which explains the Poke-body, of course). Where the baby Pokemon differ is in the attack. Some of them do damage(Tyrogue and Elekid), others disrupt the opponent in some way(Igglybuff, Magby, Smoochum, Mime Jr.), and others help you set-up(Pichu and, arguably the best baby, Cleffa). Cleffa is unique in that it is the spiritual successor of its Neo Genesis copy. Cleffa is a Professor Oak's New Theory in an attack, with the possibility of not giving up a free prize. Cleffa is the "best" baby Pokemon, in that it offers the most consistency. It allows you to play out your hand, and then shuffle what's left of it at the end of your turn and get a fresh six cards, possibly setting you up further. Cleffa is used as a 1-of(I'll explain this later) in almost every deck in the format, simply because it can pull you out of a bad hand that would otherwise cripple your chances of victory.
2)Pichu: Pichu is the only other baby Pokemon that has an attack that assists you as opposed to disrupting your opponent. While Cleffa works because it allows you to shuffle away potentially bad hands for potentially good hands, Pichu's attack is much more "guaranteed". With Cleffa, you may shuffle a bad hand away into another bad hand(while this happens occasionally, that shouldn't deter you from running at least a copy of it, because it's positives outweigh the negatives by a TON). With Pichu's Playground, you get to search your deck for as many basic Pokemon you'd like and place them down on the bench. The downside of this is that your opponent also gets to do the same thing(if it's their first turn, they cannot evolve them, though if it's any turn after the first turn of the game(for both players), your opponent can evolve them immediately, so be wary of this if using it for a mid, or late game basic snatcher), though the trade-off is actually worth it. With Pichu's Playground, you can still grab all the basic Pokemon you'll need to set-up, but still free your Supporter slot for the turn, allowing you to play a consistency Supporter instead, or even simply just keep a really good hand you have. The only reason Cleffa is played more than Pichu is that Cleffa doesn't allow your opponent to set-up as well. That aside, Pichu is still a viable option in many decks that just want to ensure that FTC(First-Turn-Collector) as many times as they can.
3)Manaphy: Manaphy isn't a baby Pokemon, but it IS considered a set-up Pokemon. Manaphy really received it's "claim-to-fame" at the 2011 Nationals(the first tournament that was HGSS-on). Nationals was baby crazy, and with all those babies running around(some decks even ran three copies of the same baby, like Cleffa), there was also plenty of Tyrogue(does exactly enough damage to knock out a fellow baby). This resulted in plenty of donks(I'll cover this later), or, in other words, first turn wins. Yes, starting something like Cleffa at Nationals(as your only basic) could be the difference between victory and defeat, because all your opponent had to do was play the Collector and grab Tyrogue, retreat, and hit you for game. It was truly an awful spectacle. Manaphy was different, in that Manaphy had 60HP, and, was therefore, clearly out of Tyrogue's hitbox(well, with multiple Pluspowers/Junk Arms it could be donked, but this was highly unlikely). Manaphy required an energy for the attack, and nailed you one less card with it's shuffle draw attack(five, as opposed to Cleffa's six), but for Nationals, it was great to resist the Tyrogue swarm. Fast forward to now. Baby Pokemon are ran as 1-of's, and Tyrogue is virtually nonexistent(often times I put it into my lists, and as I go back to find room for other cards, it's usually one of the first cards to go). Electric(the type Manaphy is weak to) is currently running rampant, and is the BDIF(best deck in format). What that means is that an Electric Pokemon only needs to do 30 damage to knock out both a Manaphy and a Cleffa. If that's the case, why would I want to waste an energy to get one less card, when I can use my energy attachment for the turn on one of my main attackers, get a sixth card, AND possibly sleep through the next turn, avoiding damage and that potential knock out? Yes, Manaphy's time has come and gone. It fulfilled a crucial niche at Nationals(Pooka ran it in his deck, and he managed to take second place in the entire tournament), but Nationals is obviously a long time ago(we're over halfway to our next Nationals, can you believe it?). I strongly recommend AGAINST this card. It isn't a good substitute for Cleffa at all. However, if you don't own any Cleffa, and for some reason, you cannot obtain a single Cleffa even through dire means, AND you have a Manaphy, you can run this card, at least, until you get a Cleffa.
4)Basic searchers like Stantler, Minun, Elgyem and others: These Pokemon all share one thing in common: they search out basic Pokemon, like Pichu, but for an energy cost. I won't cover them much at all, because they aren't run(though Elgyem is seeing a tiny bit of play, only because of it's evolved form Beheeyem, in which case Elgyem offers a great consistency boost to the deck). The idea of searching out basic Pokemon through an attack works with Pichu, but that's because Pichu's attack doesn't use up an energy, and it can possibly be immune from damage. If you want to run a basic Pokemon searching attacker, run Pichu. These all pale in comparison. They really do. Don't run these. I mean it.