Newbie Question

[saint]

Hello,

I recently began playing Pokemon TCG and have a question regarding playing Pokemon from my bench and deck.

I understand we should have at least 3 Pokemon on the bench, but how do I decide which one is more necessary to put on the active spot or bench? Do I play the squishy basic Pokemon first and charge up my V Pokemon on the bench or vice versa? Or say in a situation where a trainer card grants me the option to search for a Pokemon in my deck, do I bring out the squishy ones or the V Pokemon first?

Sorry if this is a silly question and I can elaborate further if needed.

- saint

 

[donavannj]

Hello,

I recently began playing Pokemon TCG and have a question regarding playing Pokemon from my bench and deck.

I understand we should have at least 3 Pokemon on the bench, but how do I decide which one is more necessary to put on the active spot or bench? Do I play the squishy basic Pokemon first and charge up my V Pokemon on the bench or vice versa? Or say in a situation where a trainer card grants me the option to search for a Pokemon in my deck, do I bring out the squishy ones or the V Pokemon first?

Sorry if this is a silly question and I can elaborate further if needed.

- saint

Honestly, what you do completely depends on the make-up of your deck. Generally you'll want to lead with either a "wall" or something that has attacks or abilities that help you setup that need to be in the active spot.

 

[saint]

I appreciate your reply! Can you elaborate more on leading with a "wall"?

I'll give you this scenario for example, I pull a basic Pokemon and V Pokemon at the start of the game. Which should I put down first? In my mind, it would make much more sense to play the V Pokemon for it being obviously "stronger" but surely it can't be that simple and I'm afraid I'll lose it early on and gift my opponent 2 prize cards.

 

[Setsuna]

I appreciate your reply! Can you elaborate more on leading with a "wall"?

I'll give you this scenario for example, I pull a basic Pokemon and V Pokemon at the start of the game. Which should I put down first? In my mind, it would make much more sense to play the V Pokemon for it being obviously "stronger" but surely it can't be that simple and I'm afraid I'll lose it early on and gift my opponent 2 prize cards.

Typically a wall would be a Pokemon that either has a lot of HP, can stop your opponent from playing cards or using their strategies, or something that you don't mind getting knocked out early.

A ton of this depends on what you want to accomplish when playing your deck, or what cards are the most valuable against your opponent's deck, but most of the time you'll likely want to start the game with the same Pokemon in the same positions. If you're playing a deck that relies on evolving a lot of Basic Pokemon into big Stage 2 Pokemon that do a lot of damage, you'll want to keep them on the bench in the first few turns to keep them out of danger and allow you to evolve them safely. If your deck is strictly using Basic Pokemon-V it's more likely that you'll have a Pokemon with an ability that can help you draw or search your deck for cards you want, and that might require being in the Active Spot. Most of the time you shouldn't have to worry too much about your Pokemon being knocked out during the first couple turns, unless your opponent is desperate to remove a valuable Pokemon you have.
It also helps to remember that you can often recycle cards from your discard pile into your hand or deck, so it's not the end of the world if one of your Pokemon are knocked out during the first few turns. The easiest answer I can give is to decide what your deck wants to accomplish, whether that's keeping your important Basic Pokemon safe, wanting to draw a lot of cards on your first few turns, or denying your opponent their strategies, and then pick what will benefit you the most. Once you create that strategy, you'll likely be wanting to put the same Pokemon in the same places in every game.

Best of luck!