HELP! Getting back in the game and my son mixed up all the new cards!!!

[Skylur]

Hi everyone! Long story short: I played Pokemon TCG for about 5 seconds a few years after it first came out and now my 7 year old son is getting into it. I gave him two starter decks for Christmas (Steel Sun and Guardians Rising. They came as two separate large box starter packs--one marketed as electric and the other as psychic), but he has mixed them all up in his enthusiasm, and I have no idea how to make functional decks out of them. I would really like for him and I to play together, so any help is much appreciated!

My problems are as follows:

I don't seem to have any water/fire energy cards and there are a bunch of those. I have 1 electric energy card. Do you need type specific energy for your Pokemon or is it universal? I assume you need at least one energy that matches your Pokemon type?

How should I divide these cards? I have a lot of Psychic and Steel? (my other kid calls them Steel--gray cards). I have a ton of water with no water energy, and I have a few fire, grass (again no grass energy). A layout for a decent playable deck would be nice, if someone would be so kind!

Do I need to buy more cards to make this playable?

Thank you!

 

[donavannj]

Hi everyone! Long story short: I played Pokemon TCG for about 5 seconds a few years after it first came out and now my 7 year old son is getting into it. I gave him two starter decks for Christmas (Steel Sun and Guardians Rising. They came as two separate large box starter packs--one marketed as electric and the other as psychic), but he has mixed them all up in his enthusiasm, and I have no idea how to make functional decks out of them. I would really like for him and I to play together, so any help is much appreciated!

My problems are as follows:

I don't seem to have any water/fire energy cards and there are a bunch of those. I have 1 electric energy card. Do you need type specific energy for your Pokemon or is it universal? I assume you need at least one energy that matches your Pokemon type?

How should I divide these cards? I have a lot of Psychic and Steel? (my other kid calls them Steel--gray cards). I have a ton of water with no water energy, and I have a few fire, grass (again no grass energy). A layout for a decent playable deck would be nice, if someone would be so kind!

Do I need to buy more cards to make this playable?

Thank you!

So, just dropping some quick steps to do before I run off to my League today: go download and install the official TCG Online client from here: https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-tcg/play-online/download/

then sign in and do the tutorial quick. it'll make you feel like it's treating you like a child (because it is designed to teach kids), but it should cover the basics.

This quick step assumes you aren't familiar with how to play.

Then, to clarify, energy are needed to play, but they don't need to match the Pokemon's type, only the symbols on the attacks the Pokemon have printed on them. And energy stay attached to the Pokemon you attach them to until the Pokemon is KO'd or an effect of an attack, card, or ability says to discard them.

Hopefully this is enough to get you steered in the right direction to playing.