Pokemon TCG Revisited

[DiamondDust]

i remember there being a ho-oh card which caused a lot of confusion between my friends and i, when i was younger.
the ho-oh i had an attack called rainbow burn, and it would do like 30 damage, but it actually had a base 70 because it added 10 damage for each energy i put on it.. and it required four. i remember using double rainbow energy, and my friends claiming it still only adds 10. does it add 20 or 10?

 

[da gold sun]

2-3 summers ago I played competitively, but only with my brother. I don't think I could use my money just on card games now; I'd much rather spend it on nights out.

The whole advanced thing bugs me because it requires me to spend money on only certain sets. I can't use a deck and be set for life, like Yu-gi-oh (other than following ban lists and adjusting slightly for metagames). I am certainly interested in the Red thing, and kholdstaire's idea of Smogon cards is VERY appealing to me; I'd love to create my own cards for this!

 

[leafgreen386]

Sorry to spoil everyone's fun, but I don't think you can use custom cards in online play.

Decks that contain Custom Cards may NOT be used for network play, only solitaire (Modes 1 & 2).

That said, I am currently creating a deck, and am hoping to play some of you soon.

 

[Lightning Storm]

1. I do infact play the TCG very actively.
2. I do not actually have Red Shark, but i am planning on downloading it.
3. OMG I absolutely LOVE this idea to pieces. being a longtime fan of the TCG and a rogue deck player, this is music to my ears! i would very much like for this to become a reality, and am prepared to pitch in in any way I can.

 

[Vampy34]

2-3 summers ago I played competitively, but only with my brother. I don't think I could use my money just on card games now; I'd much rather spend it on nights out.

The whole advanced thing bugs me because it requires me to spend money on only certain sets. I can't use a deck and be set for life, like Yu-gi-oh (other than following ban lists and adjusting slightly for metagames). I am certainly interested in the Red thing, and kholdstaire's idea of Smogon cards is VERY appealing to me; I'd love to create my own cards for this!

Welcome to the world of the Magic player (for T2 that is)

As it is, I would love to get back into the TCG again, in any form (digital/card)

 

[Truthi]

Actually I'm curious to know, are there any strategies or playing styles popular in this TCG?

The last time I seriously played was in the third grade, and I'd always go to Toys r us to play like 30 other kids there. It was sweet.

Like, if Zapdos had a good card, it'd be cool to make a deck around him.

 

[UberMunch]

Wow, I used to play TCG back when it first came out (when charizard was the best) and I haven't really played since...

Until recentlyy at Comic-Con I stopped by the pokemon booth where they had a bunch of demo decks available to try. I figured I'd try to pick it up again (if for no other reason than to have an excuse to sit down) and I was hooked. I was amazed at how different the game was compared to the first couple expansions; I mean some attacks required no energies, some pokemon had insane hp, some attacks did like 80 damage for 2 energies or something.

Anyways, after running home to build decks with my brother (albeit with incredibly outdated cards) Idecided I wanted to get back into this.

I'd definately be interested in downloading red shark and even creating custom cards with this community.

 

[Marauder Artemis]

GG [Gallade/Gardevoir] is pretty much the dominant deck - Gallade can do insane damage and Gardevoir can lock powers and use opponent's supporters from the discard pile. Claydol is used in almost every deck for it's ability to get cards. Empoleon varients are pretty good, as is Leafeon Lv X.

Decks using cards coming out soon that seem good include Kingdra, AMU [Mesprit Lv X can do 200 for 2 and discard energies with Azelf/Uxie in play], and more.

 

[Mike B]

Stopped at the Neo 3 set.. I would 100% buy the game, won't play IRL due to no tournaments around and wanna try Red Shark :]

 

[Deck Knight]

I still have a bunch of decks available for the Apprentice program. One deck I was never able to try out was a CrawdauntEX/MewEX Deck. The whole idea was Bench control to the extreme:

Overview:

Crawdaunt EX has Splash Back Poke-Power, which allows you to send a pokemon and all cards attached to it back to your opponents hand if they have more than 4 cards on their feild. It also has Power Blow, which deals 20X the amount of energy on Crawdaunt.

So it looks like Big Eggsplosion, does it not? Here's the fun part with Mew EX:

Mew Ex has the Poke-body Versatile, meaning it can use any attack of any pokemon on the feild. It's attack is Power Move, which deals 20 damage and allows you to attach an energy card to Mew ex and switch with a pokemon on the bench.

Now for support, I have some big Psychic Pokemon. 4 copies of Wobbufett HP. It has Call for Friends so I can build out my bench quickly. Then I have Latios ex delta and Latias delta HPH.

With both of them out, Latias delta's power cancels out poke-bodies of evolved non-ex pokemon. Latios has Link Wing which means each Lati has 0 retreat cost, and also Ice Barrier, which deals 30 damage and nulls all damage and effects from ex pokemon next turn.

Last, I can always send down a Metwo delta and use Delta Switch to load all my Basic Energy onto Crawdaunt or Mew. Other cards that made the cut were Shining Alakazam for Psychic Select (1 Psy, put any card in discard pile into hand) and Staryu DS2, which has a 1 Wat Recover that heals 40 damage.

The weakness of this deck is the huge number of EX pokemon, but the rewards are great. Mew can pull a multitude of attacks from all my cards, dealing massive damage with Power Blow, building strength up with Power Move, or preventing ex-related damage with Ice Barrier. In the meantime, my opponent can't build up their bench because Crawdaunt can send back the 4th pokemon at any time. The Latis jam a decent portion of power and can switch right back out thanks to the zero retreat.

And so now you know why my first internet handle was Deckbuilder14, lol.

 

[Wolt]

That said, I am currently creating a deck, and am hoping to play some of you soon.

Since there is every card in the game, it's pretty easy to build decks fast, and I've made all the ones I have IRL, so if you want to play leaf, I'm game, not really sure how the online part works though.

 

[leafgreen386]

Yeah, you can build decks fast if you already know what you want in them, but I'm currently working on a completely new deck for the modified format. I have a raindance deck I could make quick for the unlimited format, but... unlimited sucks. lol

 

[Deck Knight]

Yeah, you can build decks fast if you already know what you want in them, but I'm currently working on a completely new deck for the modified format. I have a raindance deck I could make quick for the unlimited format, but... unlimited sucks. lol

Yeah, all the new evolutions get around Fossil Aerodacty's Poke-Power, so no AeroHay for me...l

 

[Truthi]

Anyone want to help a new player get started? I just downloaded this Redshark thing, and really have no clue where to get started besides wanting to make a deck with Empoleon or Zapdos or something. Like what's essential to know.

I can chat on Shoddy if available. I'm currently surfing the net for some stuff, but you know....

 

[Deck Knight]

Loaded my Deck from Apprentice and had a gtest run against the preloaded "Hawaian Punch" Theme Deck. I had a shaky midgame, but once I got rolling the slaughter never stopped.

Tomorrow after work I'll see if I can give this a test run.

I would also be delighted to help in making cards.

 

[leafgreen386]

Hey, figured I'd let you all know that redshark leaves out the pokebodies of each of the fossil cards. You'll have to look up their respective scans on pokebeach. There are also some critical typos on certain cards (the biggest of which that I've noticed being banette, which is worded entirely differently than the scan). I don't know if that was an errata and that the redshark version is correct, but they are distinctly different.

Anyone want to help a new player get started? I just downloaded this Redshark thing, and really have no clue where to get started besides wanting to make a deck with Empoleon or Zapdos or something. Like what's essential to know.

I can chat on Shoddy if available. I'm currently surfing the net for some stuff, but you know....

Well, if you want to try running an empoleon deck, you'd probably want cards like pachirisu (GE-5) to fill your bench (for empoleon's (MD-17) surf together attack), and phione (MD-12) to quickly evolve the pokemon you get down. You probably wouldn't want to bother running Empoleon Lv.X, at least as long as claydol continues to run rampant. I can't give any other advice as I haven't looked much into empoleon decks.

As for zapdos, it can do a lot of damage for just three energy, but you'll need to run cards that can't be damaged while on your bench such as old amber, or cards which have pokepowers that heal HP of the pokemon you have in play, or (I personally like this option the least) cards that benefit from having damage on them (gyarados' flail comes to mind). And yes, I know redshark doesn't say anything about old amber being protected from damage while on your bench. However, the scan says differently.

Yeah, all the new evolutions get around Fossil Aerodacty's Poke-Power, so no AeroHay for me...l

lol aerohay was so epic back in the day. I ran the devolution beam mew with it to rape them if they got out an evo before I could bring out aero, so it was basically a lol fest against any deck that relied on a stage 2 pokepower.

 

[Wolt]

lol aerohay was so epic back in the day. I ran the devolution beam mew with it to rape them if they got out an evo before I could bring out aero, so it was basically a lol fest against any deck that relied on a stage 2 pokepower.

Weren't those types of decks usually beaten by haymaker decks using Magmar, Hitmonchan, Electabuzz and the like?

 

[Hyra]

Weren't those types of decks usually beaten by haymaker decks using Magmar, Hitmonchan, Electabuzz and the like?

Easiest way to beat the GBC game. I still have my Pojo book from about the time the Fossil set was released. As much as I like that game, I don't think I'd get back into the actual TCG though. Too many cards and not enough time.

 

[Deck Knight]

Easiest way to beat the GBC game. I still have my Pojo book from about the time the Fossil set was released. As much as I like that game, I don't think I'd get back into the actual TCG though. Too many cards and not enough time.

My super duper awesome TCG Game Deck was always Damage Swap + Dodrio, More damage control than you can shake a stick at.

Also, "Aerohay" is basically just a Haymaker with Fossil Aerodactyl in it. It takes out a few trainers or some other BBP (Big Basic Pokemon) for the ability to stop Evolution decks in their tracks, pitting their first form pokemon against your generally larger, stronger pokemon. If you were facing a Haymaker, it would mostly come down to who had the better types. Aero resists Fighting so if you wanted to build it up you could defeat Hitmonchan with it. Since Aero's only attack requires 3 colorless energy, it could be used in any haymaker, but generally pairing it up with Magmar was a good idea in order to prevent Scyther from ruining you. Then to cover Magmar, you'd run Electabuzz and/or Scyther. Honestly, I always tried to stick to two types of energy + DCE.

 

[Wolt]

Well tri-color decks were really hard to manage in the past, but it seems to be a hell of a lot easier now that every attack seems to have half it's cost be colorless anyways. I'm currently working on a Dark/Steel deck, is there anything I need to consider when making it other then having 4 special energies of each type? Like colorless cards or delta species cards that may make it awesome?

Also, I loled the first time I saw Grass Wooper that took a grass energy and was weak to grass.

 

[Deck Knight]

Well tri-color decks were really hard to manage in the past, but it seems to be a hell of a lot easier now that every attack seems to have half it's cost be colorless anyways. I'm currently working on a Dark/Steel deck, is there anything I need to consider when making it other then having 4 special energies of each type? Like colorless cards or delta species cards that may make it awesome?

Also, I loled the first time I saw Grass Wooper that took a grass energy and was weak to grass.

Wooper just got welcomed into the wonderful world of Psychic types.

Dark/Steel might be harder in some formats.

Energy options:

Basically you'll want the 4 Dark and Steel energies, and if you're combing the two, Dark Metal Energy (Holon Phantons and Team Rocket's Return) can give you a lift. Rainbow Energy works too, but it deals damage. Delta Species Rainbow Energy does the same thing with no HP damage, but only works for Delta Species pokemon.

Pokemon:

Basically you want to pick two compimentary cards, one Dark, one Steel. There's enough Energy in Holon to be able to work with it, but it still isn't as ideal as the other colored decks. I'll leave you to sort out what you like, I don't have much familiarity with the newer cards.

Trainers:

Use whatever is standard for that format.

 

[Wolt]

Well I can use regular Dark and Steel basic energies, so I'm not just limited on my amount of Dark and steel types, didn't you know they added the basic energies for those? I was thinking about using PK Eevees to use signs of evolution and get MD's Umbreon to give any other evo of Eevee no weakness and 0 Retreat, and can also auto confuse with it's attack needing only 1 dark and two colorless. If only there was a steel type Eevee evo, that would be cool.

 

[Deck Knight]

Well I can use regular Dark and Steel basic energies, so I'm not just limited on my amount of Dark and steel types, didn't you know they added the basic energies for those? I was thinking about using PK Eevees to use signs of evolution and get MD's Umbreon to give any other evo of Eevee no weakness and 0 Retreat, and can also auto confuse with it's attack needing only 1 dark and two colorless. If only there was a steel type Eevee evo, that would be cool.

I'm an old man Wolt, the last time I picked up a booster pack it was probably Aqua/Magma. But it is cool to know there are basic Darkness and Metal Energies now. Disregard my shpeal on energy, I'm used to working with limited resources in Dark or Steel decks.

In the meantime, I bet my Holon Phantoms on Deck is now out of Format play...

 

[Marauder Artemis]

HP-on was the format for this year's Worlds iirc

If anything, an Eeveelution tech deck [Leafeon/Umbreon/Espeon] can work, Wolt!

 

[Wolt]

I'm an old man Wolt, the last time I picked up a booster pack it was probably Aqua/Magma. But it is cool to know there are basic Darkness and Metal Energies now. Disregard my shpeal on energy, I'm used to working with limited resources in Dark or Steel decks.

In the meantime, I bet my Holon Phantoms on Deck is now out of Format play...

I'm not blaming you for anything, as I think it came about in the DP card set anyways, as the only way I can see getting them is a theme deck like most energies. As for an Eevee deck, theres an Espion from Majestic dawn that adds 20 hp to every Eeveelution on your side, and those can stack up so I may just focus around that, and theres a Vaporeon that heals 2 damage counters from your bench while doing 30 damage at the same time, fantastic stuff indeed. I love how they always have 0 or 1 retreat cost, makes them easy as hell to use.