Discussion Top Decks, what does it mean?

KaraKuehn

KaraKuehn

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hey guys,

I'm looking to learn how to do competitive battles, but I'm so far behind I've not done anything pokemon since Gen 3. There's SO much new it's mind-boggling.

I saw these decks referenced in another post, and they were referenced as such;


Zapdos Variants (No GX): Autoloss, but only just.
Zapdos Variants (w/GX): Unfavorable; they need to "goof" and play their Pokémon-GX.
Pikarom Variants: Unfavorable; you need to build to massive OHKO levels. Mind Tag Bolt-GX.
Zoroark Variants: Slightly favorable; your concern is reaching OHKO-range too slowly.
Malamar variants : Autoloss unless you find the rare example not running spread.
Stall: Varies, but usually unfavorable to autoloss.
Blacephalon: Favorable.
Passimian/Tapu Koko: Near autoloss.

Now I don't want to sound like a total "noob" but what on earth does this mean. I know the decks are described as the pokemon in the title because I know Zapdos. Pikarom, Zoroark, Malamar, Stall, Blacephalon, Passimian, and Tapu are also pokemon I take it?

Does auto loss mean as it says? I didn't know you could automatically lose. I always thought when I won instantly on PTCGO the person I was battling was leaving the game. I know what KO stands for but what is OH?

These all are meta decks right?

Thank you for your time.
 
OHKO stands for One-hit KO.

PikaRom = Pikachu & Zekrom Tag Team GX decks. This unfortunately isn't terribly descriptive, since "PikaRom" decks can range from super-aggressive decks that tries to attack with Full Blitz on turn 1, to slower variants using a mix of Zapdos, Jolteon GX, Zeraora GX, and PikaRom and utilize this variety of attackers for different situations.

Zoroark variants = decks using Zoroark GX. There are a number of these, including Zoroark/Lycanroc, Zoroark/Lycanroc/Lucario, Zoroark/Garbodor, Zoroark/insert your favorite stage 1 or stage 2 Pokemon. If you're familiar with other card games, Zoroark GX is your "mid range" type of deck. While there are a lot of variations to Zoroark GX, the core remains the same. The idea is to set up 2-4 Zoroark GXs and use it's ability Trade to build an accordion-size hand, and have access to a lot of options like Acerola, Guzma, Max Potion, Counter Gain, Professor Kukui, etc. to deal with the things your opponent throws at you. You might not be the most explosive deck, but your advantage comes from the fact that you have a lot of options that most decks typically can't afford to play, and that you can do just about anything you want in the mid-late game.

Malamar variants = decks that use Malamar's Psychic Recharge to power up Psychic types. The most common attackers are Giratina from Lost Thunder, Ultra Necrozma GX, Deoxys from Celestial Storm, Dawn Wing Necrozma GX, and regular Necrozma GX. Malamar is also used to power up Colorless attackers too, like Aerodactyl from Team Up. Once the machine is set up, the deck just plays itself. You charge up, attack, rinse and repeat.

Stall: Uses "wall" Pokemon that either have really high HP stats or annoying abilities that make them really difficult to KO. These decks don't try to win by taking prizes, but rather by outlasting their opponents with Max Potion and Acerola, and then using Lusamine to basically never run out of resources yourself. Their whole game-plan is to keep healing while removing their opponent's energies, until there's eventually a point where your opponent either can't attack at all or doesn't deal enough damage to be able to win, from which point the stall player just needs to keep up their Lusamine loops to keep themselves from "decking out" (running out of cards in deck, and if this happens you lose the game) and waiting for their opponent to "deck out."

I think you get the idea. I suggest going to http://limitlesstcg.com/decks/ to find out more about the most popular/successful decks, and you'll get caught up in no time!
 
JumpluffTCG said:
OHKO stands for One-hit KO.

PikaRom = Pikachu & Zekrom Tag Team GX decks. This unfortunately isn't terribly descriptive, since "PikaRom" decks can range from super-aggressive decks that tries to attack with Full Blitz on turn 1, to slower variants using a mix of Zapdos, Jolteon GX, Zeraora GX, and PikaRom and utilize this variety of attackers for different situations.

Zoroark variants = decks using Zoroark GX. There are a number of these, including Zoroark/Lycanroc, Zoroark/Lycanroc/Lucario, Zoroark/Garbodor, Zoroark/insert your favorite stage 1 or stage 2 Pokemon. If you're familiar with other card games, Zoroark GX is your "mid range" type of deck. While there are a lot of variations to Zoroark GX, the core remains the same. The idea is to set up 2-4 Zoroark GXs and use it's ability Trade to build an accordion-size hand, and have access to a lot of options like Acerola, Guzma, Max Potion, Counter Gain, Professor Kukui, etc. to deal with the things your opponent throws at you. You might not be the most explosive deck, but your advantage comes from the fact that you have a lot of options that most decks typically can't afford to play, and that you can do just about anything you want in the mid-late game.

Malamar variants = decks that use Malamar's Psychic Recharge to power up Psychic types. The most common attackers are Giratina from Lost Thunder, Ultra Necrozma GX, Deoxys from Celestial Storm, Dawn Wing Necrozma GX, and regular Necrozma GX. Malamar is also used to power up Colorless attackers too, like Aerodactyl from Team Up. Once the machine is set up, the deck just plays itself. You charge up, attack, rinse and repeat.

Stall: Uses "wall" Pokemon that either have really high HP stats or annoying abilities that make them really difficult to KO. These decks don't try to win by taking prizes, but rather by outlasting their opponents with Max Potion and Acerola, and then using Lusamine to basically never run out of resources yourself. Their whole game-plan is to keep healing while removing their opponent's energies, until there's eventually a point where your opponent either can't attack at all or doesn't deal enough damage to be able to win, from which point the stall player just needs to keep up their Lusamine loops to keep themselves from "decking out" (running out of cards in deck, and if this happens you lose the game) and waiting for their opponent to "deck out."

I think you get the idea. I suggest going to http://limitlesstcg.com/decks/ to find out more about the most popular/successful decks, and you'll get caught up in no time!
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I was wondering what happens when you run out of cards. I seem to run out fast with Torrential Cannon I can keep up with any mid-level deck (battled a poison deck this week and lost by 1 prize card I call that a good lose) I've edited the deck a bit so I have a few more supporters and an alolan volpix for its beacon move. It seems to go out fast so I don't get much use out of it, Idk how long it will stay in my deck. LOL

I've not played this deck against someone who has any potent GX yet. So I don't know how I'll fair. I think the Blastoise's will do a good job with their 150 damage against a GX.

Thank you for your information! I'll totally check out that website!
 
Just to be clear, 'autoloss' doesn't mean 'impossible to win', just means that it would take significant luck AND significant bad luck on your opponent's part for you to take a win - maybe 80% to 90% loss. In a best of 3 series, that's nearly automatic (as you'd have very low chances to win 2 times).

Meta decks are decks that you will commonly find in a tournament, and thus decks that you'll want to plan against - this is the _metagame_, meaning the game around the game. Rather than choices in-game, you're thinking about deck construction here. It also means other people will plan for those decks, so you have to plan for _their_ decks.
 
Oh, that makes sense. So the top specialty is fighting and electric right now. So it would be wise to go against that. but also try to find out what's in my area I was told. Cause it might be different.
 
KaraKuehn said:
Oh, that makes sense. So the top specialty is fighting and electric right now. So it would be wise to go against that. but also try to find out what's in my area I was told. Cause it might be different.
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I've only been playing for a little over a year now and I have found that people tend to follow the meta trend, wherever you are. The meta decks are meta for a reason and playing these decks would increase your chances of winning.

Just trying to go against the current meta decks isn't always the answer. Rather practice a deck that takes 50/50 match-ups and that you can pilot well or just join the meta.
 
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