Help The "What Deck Should I Play?" Thread

Truachilles

Aspiring Trainer
Member
You might try checking the Deck Garage, there are plenty of fun decks there! :) Also, I recommend choosing your favorite Pokémon/Type and building a deck with them, and try to make it as good as you can.
Thank you very much ill look for that, also great tip!
 

mareepasheep

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hello everyone! This is my first post here since 2012 ^^""

I organized all my Pokemon cards recently after a move to Seattle and I somehow have found myself entering into a league cup, expanded format, on Sunday. This will be my first competitive tournament in over 4 years and I'm definitely not expecting to place very high. It's almost entirely for fun and to see if I want to actually do this whole competitive TCG thing.

Given that expanded format is Black and White on, I thought hey, why not enter and give it a try? What I didn't realize is just how large of a hiatus I have taken from the TCG as a whole. I have nearly complete sets of:

Black and White baseset
Black and White: Emerging Powers
Black and White: Noble Victories
Black and White: Next Destinies

Next Destinies is the last pre-release I attended and the last set I seriously tried to collect. Clearly there are challenges here- limited time, limited cards, and limited knowledge to name the most pressing. The last tournament I played in I remember being beaten pretty badly by a Durant burn deck, so I've thrown together what I consider to be the most competitive deck with what I have.

Pokemon:
Durant (x4)
Mew (evolutions) (x1)

Metal Energy (x9)

Trainers:
Enhanced Hammer (x1)
Crushing Hammer (x4)
Switch (x3)
Pokemon Catcher (x4)
Energy Search (x2)
Great Ball (x2)
Level Ball (x4)
Repeat Ball (x1)
Trainers' Mail (x1)
Eviolite (x4)
Super Rod (x2)
Revive (x4)
Exp. Share (x2)

Steel Shelter (x1)

Steven (x1)
Cilan (x2)
Professor Juniper (x4)
N (x4)

I realize there are big issues with this deck. With the small amount of research I've done, I know that I would benefit from the Mew from Fate's Collide over the Mew from evolutions. Roaring Skies has a Ninjask that would work well in this deck, and I'm missing optimal trainers ( I only have one repeat ball and one trainer's mail as well as having NO lysandre, team flare grunt, xerosic).

My main questions: Is there a better deck I can make using only the first four black and white sets?? and, if I were to buy a box tonight or try to improve upon this deck within the next two days, would I be better off buying a box of Fates Collide, Roaring Skies, or another one I've yet to consider?

All the best,

Mareepasheep ^0^
 

Godbert

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I'm still fairly new. I've been playing for about a month. I am running a Kaldeo EX deck that also runs a benched Blastoise to add some energy with haste, and it has been performing fairly well but I notice it has a very difficult time against a few specific decks. I am unfortunately unfamiliar with the names of most pokemon or the deck types. I was simply referred to this Kaldeo deck as a cheap entry with some competitive edge.

I was wondering if anything was a bit more powerful that I could look into building moving forward? I don't really care about having a collection, so much as just having a good deck.
 

Nyora

A Cat
Member
Hello everyone! This is my first post here since 2012 ^^""

I organized all my Pokemon cards recently after a move to Seattle and I somehow have found myself entering into a league cup, expanded format, on Sunday. This will be my first competitive tournament in over 4 years and I'm definitely not expecting to place very high. It's almost entirely for fun and to see if I want to actually do this whole competitive TCG thing.

Given that expanded format is Black and White on, I thought hey, why not enter and give it a try? What I didn't realize is just how large of a hiatus I have taken from the TCG as a whole. I have nearly complete sets of:

Black and White baseset
Black and White: Emerging Powers
Black and White: Noble Victories
Black and White: Next Destinies

Next Destinies is the last pre-release I attended and the last set I seriously tried to collect. Clearly there are challenges here- limited time, limited cards, and limited knowledge to name the most pressing. The last tournament I played in I remember being beaten pretty badly by a Durant burn deck, so I've thrown together what I consider to be the most competitive deck with what I have.

Pokemon:
Durant (x4)
Mew (evolutions) (x1)

Metal Energy (x9)

Trainers:
Enhanced Hammer (x1)
Crushing Hammer (x4)
Switch (x3)
Pokemon Catcher (x4)
Energy Search (x2)
Great Ball (x2)
Level Ball (x4)
Repeat Ball (x1)
Trainers' Mail (x1)
Eviolite (x4)
Super Rod (x2)
Revive (x4)
Exp. Share (x2)

Steel Shelter (x1)

Steven (x1)
Cilan (x2)
Professor Juniper (x4)
N (x4)

I realize there are big issues with this deck. With the small amount of research I've done, I know that I would benefit from the Mew from Fate's Collide over the Mew from evolutions. Roaring Skies has a Ninjask that would work well in this deck, and I'm missing optimal trainers ( I only have one repeat ball and one trainer's mail as well as having NO lysandre, team flare grunt, xerosic).

My main questions: Is there a better deck I can make using only the first four black and white sets?? and, if I were to buy a box tonight or try to improve upon this deck within the next two days, would I be better off buying a box of Fates Collide, Roaring Skies, or another one I've yet to consider?

All the best,

Mareepasheep ^0^
Welcome back! (Even though I don't know you) Buy the Roaring Skies, Shaymin-EX is what you want. Well for one you might have Mewtwo-EX, which is a good card to use. I remember building a Reshiram/Zekrom/Mewtwo-EX deck and it was able to turn about pretty well. I am not super familiar with the 4 sites you listed but that is mainly what I have gathered. If you are able to, get some Forest of Giant Plants and the Noble Vicotires Accelgor, I think that is almost self-explanatory. Hit for 60, switch next turn, hit for 60, etc. you can use Silver Bangle or Muscle Band if you have any to maximize your damage output. :)
 

mareepasheep

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Welcome back! (Even though I don't know you) Buy the Roaring Skies, Shaymin-EX is what you want. Well for one you might have Mewtwo-EX, which is a good card to use. I remember building a Reshiram/Zekrom/Mewtwo-EX deck and it was able to turn about pretty well. I am not super familiar with the 4 sites you listed but that is mainly what I have gathered. If you are able to, get some Forest of Giant Plants and the Noble Vicotires Accelgor, I think that is almost self-explanatory. Hit for 60, switch next turn, hit for 60, etc. you can use Silver Bangle or Muscle Band if you have any to maximize your damage output. :)

Thank you! :D

I'm thinking of buying a box of Roaring Skies off of amazon as my first box. The Shaymin EX is just too tempting, and I am also a collector so I wouldn't be terribly unhappy if I didn't get one.

I do have one Mewtwo EX! Not sure exactly how I would play it against the current meta, however. I do have three Accelgor from Noble Victories, but I'm lacking the trainers and Forest of Giant Plants. Possibly my local card store has singles of these. Thanks for the input!
 

Rooie

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Is there a "best" way to build a Rainbow Road deck? I've seen like 10 different lists, but I can't quite figure out which one would be the most ideal.
 

Burlingot

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hello, good people of PokéBeach :)

I used to be a member of this site long ago, but it seems it was changed. Anyway, I'm talking 2011, so it's been a while. And that's the same time I've been out of touch with Pokémon TCG (same with VGC). So even though the rules haven't changed much (Stadiums were kinda new back then, if I don't recall badly), I'm totally lost as in what's new nowadays. I wanted to come back for many reasons, one of them is TCG is now much more international in my country (Spain) and the otherr one is that a friend of mine has started playing recently. So one could say I'm here on behalf of us two.

So these are my doubts:
-What are the most played decks nowadays? (my question - mostly I want to know what's up with the meta; I've been trying to find posts regarding these matters, but I've been unsuccesful. As long as there's an explanation as to "why these cards and these pokés", I'll be more than happy).
-Are there any Psychic decks that are competitively worthy? (my friend's question, since she wants to build a psychic deck).

Thank in advance!
 

kyorix

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hello, this is my first post in this forum, I just started to play (I got a deck borrowed) and I wanna start playing on some competitive level andI know there's a new expansion coming up this week. I love control decks (I've played MTG and HS) and I would like to know what the should I play that meets those characteristics and having in mind the new expansion (want to apologize if my english is that bad, thank you in advance for the advices).

P.S. Budget isn't a big deal.
 

Nyora

A Cat
Member
Hello, this is my first post in this forum, I just started to play (I got a deck borrowed) and I wanna start playing on some competitive level andI know there's a new expansion coming up this week. I love control decks (I've played MTG and HS) and I would like to know what the should I play that meets those characteristics and having in mind the new expansion (want to apologize if my english is that bad, thank you in advance for the advices).

P.S. Budget isn't a big deal.
There are 3 main formats in Pokémon, being Standard, Expanded, and Unlimited. If you want to play competitive, Standard is your best choice. It consists of the Sets Primal Clash-Evolutions (soon to be Sun and Moon) If you want Control, you might be interested in playing a Deck that Has Enhanced Hammer and Crushing Hammer. Those items remove energy from your opponent's Pokémon, which are quite commonly used, so hammers as people call them can be quite useful to you. I'd recommend Vileplume with Jolteon-EX and Glaceon-EX for a very good Control deck as both Glaceon/Jolteon have the attacks that let them be immune to damage from certain commonly played Pokémon if your interested. I have no deck list but you might find one in the Deck Garage. If not, probably just look up Vileplume Jolteon Glaceon on the googles and you might find some deck lists there.
 

Lord_Darkrai

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Looking for deck options before Anaheim regionals. I have greninja, yveltal/ garb , and mega sceptile. Been playing the bird since it came out and kind of tired of it right now and have been playing sceptile a lot recently and just looking for space beacon starmie for it. Other than that I'm open to suggestions.
 

normanc

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Looking for deck options before Anaheim regionals. I have greninja, yveltal/ garb , and mega sceptile. Been playing the bird since it came out and kind of tired of it right now and have been playing sceptile a lot recently and just looking for space beacon starmie for it. Other than that I'm open to suggestions.

Don't really like any of your other options tbh. Lurantis is seeing a decent amount of hype and will eat your frogs alive (same with Vespiquen and Decidueye to a lesser extent) while Sceptile isn't really that good in the first place because it loses hard to Volcanion and doesn't have good enough matchups everywhere else to be worth the risk. I would go with Yveltal with 1-2 Tauros GX and maybe a Ninja Boy if you have enough experience playing the deck.
 

Lord_Darkrai

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Don't really like any of your other options tbh. Lurantis is seeing a decent amount of hype and will eat your frogs alive (same with Vespiquen and Decidueye to a lesser extent) while Sceptile isn't really that good in the first place because it loses hard to Volcanion and doesn't have good enough matchups everywhere else to be worth the risk. I would go with Yveltal with 1-2 Tauros GX and maybe a Ninja Boy if you have enough experience playing the deck.
If I get more Taurus ex then i might just play the birds again. Are there any techs for the other 2 decks you can think of to improve their performance?
 

Mightyena

Still just a delinquent ;)
Member
Looking into sun and moon the grass type has gotten a huge boost and my favorite type (fire) has a new powerful pokemon in inceneroar . I really love the idea of a skyfeild based inceneroar deck with huge hp using max potion but inceneroar is expensive and is a clunky deck something im not too fond of i have been playing volcanion (on ptcgo)for a while now and i love the deck i just need to buy 2 volcanion ex (which is now like 4$) and a hoopa to complete the deck in real life so im at a standstill between the fresh and huge hp of inceneroar and the already great volcanion deck with oricorio coming soon. Help me choose
 

CESit

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Volcanion ex definitely is both more consistent and less potentially clunky. At the moment incineroar seems both a bit too slow and unwieldy to play, so between those choices definitely volcanion!
 

TomC34

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I've been playing standard and expanded since I started playing but I'm looking to get into legacy and was wondering what is the best deck to get into legacy with and if there's any decks that don't run junk arm because they're really expensive on ptcgo at the moment
 

Level100weedle

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I'd like to build a fast, aggressive, flat-out destructive deck, but I don't have Shaymin EX just yet, and it looks like it might take me awhile to get some. What might be my options?

You can have an Octillery line for draw support along with acro bike for more speed. It won't be as fast as shaming but it will still keep you competitive. Another option is oranguru from sun and moon. If you are able to play your hand down to zero he can get you three cards and hopefully a supporter for the turn. This also depends on what kind of deck you plan on playing.
 

Lycodrake

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hello, all. First post 'round these parts. I played the TCG as a kid when the base set and Fossil were out, then returned for a little bit during Plasma Freeze and Plasma Blast - getting both Psychic-Grass theme decks.

However, just recently, two friends of mine - who I've played Magic: the Gathering with for 3-4 years now - showed interest and go the Noivern and Raichu theme decks from Breakpoint - I was able to get a Noivern BREAK for one of them. I just got Battle Ruler alongside 2 Serperior, 2 Professor Kukui, 1 Scorched Earth, 1 Carbink, 1 Wally and 1 Double Colorless Energy.

What sort of deck would you all recommend I aim for? If I had my way, I'd try a Sceptile-EX/M Sceptile-EX deck just because the forest guardian dragon is amongst my top 4 favorite Pokemon of all time...but I'm also on a budget. My friends are still very much beginners when it comes to the Pokemon tcg, so I don't want to leap way ahead of them, either. I've considered a Serperior/Ariados deck, since I'm pretty sure I can get the components relatively easily (and already have almost all the Snivy-Servine-Serperior I need).

I've also considered Zygarde-EX/Carbink BREAK

Thoughts, recommendations, critiques? I know a little bit about how the Standard Tier 1 Meta is, but for now I'd just be aiming for a more budget, balanced deck that's either Fighting or Grass. Any advise is appreciated! :)
 
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Gible06

Aspiring Trainer
Member
What's looking good for the expanded Portland regionals in the senior division besides Dark? Thank you in advance.
 

NinJamezor

We love Huntail
Member
Hello, all. First post 'round these parts. I played the TCG as a kid when the base set and Fossil were out, then returned for a little bit during Plasma Freeze and Plasma Blast - getting both Psychic-Grass theme decks.

However, just recently, two friends of mine - who I've played Magic: the Gathering with for 3-4 years now - showed interest and go the Noivern and Raichu theme decks from Breakpoint - I was able to get a Noivern BREAK for one of them. I just got Battle Ruler alongside 2 Serperior, 2 Professor Kukui, 1 Scorched Earth, 1 Carbink, 1 Wally and 1 Double Colorless Energy.

What sort of deck would you all recommend I aim for? If I had my way, I'd try a Sceptile-EX/M Sceptile-EX deck just because the forest guardian dragon is amongst my top 4 favorite Pokemon of all time...but I'm also on a budget. My friends are still very much beginners when it comes to the Pokemon tcg, so I don't want to leap way ahead of them, either. I've considered a Serperior/Ariados deck, since I'm pretty sure I can get the components relatively easily (and already have almost all the Snivy-Servine-Serperior I need).

I've also considered Zygarde-EX/Carbink BREAK

Thoughts, recommendations, critiques? I know a little bit about how the Standard Tier 1 Meta is, but for now I'd just be aiming for a more budget, balanced deck that's either Fighting or Grass. Any advise is appreciated! :)
The first decks that came to mind were:
Zygarde/Carbink
Primal Groudon
Mega Sceptile
Garchomp
Machamp/Ariados
Serperior
Mew/Passimian
Yanmega BREAK
Wormadam (Twin Bursts/Strike Back)
Marowak BREAK
Dugtrio
Durant Mill
Piloswine
Vespiquen
Beedrill
M Beedrill/Lurantis
Medicham
Shiftry
Toxicroak/Ariados
Pangoro (My Personal Favorite)

Other than that, you can probably find some good Budget Decks on this forum.
 
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