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**Rookie mom needs help...

  • 3
    Posts
    9
    Years
    • Seen Apr 29, 2015
    Well, as the title says, I'm a mom who's two young boys have recently gotten into Pokemon.. first, by receiving duplicate cards from a friend who mostly collects, and then gained interest in learning how to play the card game. We have purchased training boxes, and have a couple pre-made playable decks, and are starting to get the hang of playing... but we have a few hundred cards rattling around in sleeves, binders, and tins... and we can't seem to figure out hhow to assemble a decent deck.

    I've Googled around a WHOLE lot, and all the "parent info" pages I've found give vague details on how to pick cards to put in a deck. Several say "it just depends on what you want to do with your deck"... which is probably 110% true, but does not help those who really have zero clue what they're doing in the first place.

    I need someone (or a website/app) to break it down into terms this dummy momma can understand. Like, which elements are best paired together? I have heard Grass/Fire, Water/Electric, Fire/Water... but there are so many others, and I can't seem to find a good place that lists more suggestions.

    I realize most of the details will come with time & practice... but in my opinion, I feel like being able to assemble decks is pretty elementary and should be one of the first things we master.

    PLEASE HELP... THIS MOMMA IS LOSING HER MIND. :(

    Thanks in advance.....
    Cathy
     
    Well, as the title says, I'm a mom who's two young boys have recently gotten into Pokemon.. first, by receiving duplicate cards from a friend who mostly collects, and then gained interest in learning how to play the card game. We have purchased training boxes, and have a couple pre-made playable decks, and are starting to get the hang of playing... but we have a few hundred cards rattling around in sleeves, binders, and tins... and we can't seem to figure out hhow to assemble a decent deck.

    I've Googled around a WHOLE lot, and all the "parent info" pages I've found give vague details on how to pick cards to put in a deck. Several say "it just depends on what you want to do with your deck"... which is probably 110% true, but does not help those who really have zero clue what they're doing in the first place.

    I need someone (or a website/app) to break it down into terms this dummy momma can understand. Like, which elements are best paired together? I have heard Grass/Fire, Water/Electric, Fire/Water... but there are so many others, and I can't seem to find a good place that lists more suggestions.

    I realize most of the details will come with time & practice... but in my opinion, I feel like being able to assemble decks is pretty elementary and should be one of the first things we master.

    PLEASE HELP... THIS MOMMA IS LOSING HER MIND. :(

    Thanks in advance.....
    Cathy

    Okay, so let's just get this out of the way: Deckbuilding is both an easy skill to learn and hard skill to master. No beginner will have it mastered. Heck, it's a skill I personally don't think I've mastered. It's a skill that anyone can get mediocre at by "Netdecking" (which is searching up a deck on the next.

    Let me also say this: There is no single type combo that is better than all the others. The best combo is determined by the actual cards involved rather than typing of the cards.

    Keep in mind that there are somewhere north of 5000 unique cards available in English. There's a huge pool to choose from if your kids are never going to take part in tournaments.

    Have your kids pick specific cards they want to build around, and bring the card names and sets back to this thread. www.pokegym.net/tower is a good way to search for the various cards available of a specific Pokemon that your kids might like. The /tower URL only searches cards that are usable in the 2014-15 tournament format, however (meaning that every card in there was released sometime within the last 3 years). Once they have specific cards picked, I can give some recommendations on what pairs well with it.

    Energy are essential for play (vast majority of Pokemon cannot attack without them), but Trainers really expedite the speed of the gameplay (though your boys may only want to play with the Pokemon themselves) and in the past, some have completely changed what cards were popular at tournaments when they debuted.

    A guide a former forum member wrote up can be found here: https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/275378

    That should help some, though iirc, it's geared more toward those looking to build a more advanced deck.

    I (and others who lurk here) can help answer any specific questions that arise.

    I am hoping to be able to give you guidance through each step rather than trying to build an overarching guide that doesn't cover specific situations.
     
    Thanks so much!!! I truly despise not being able to "get" this game... little kids play it, for Pete's sake!! *sigh*

    OK, so I was "poking" around (bad pun, I know), and have tried putting some Pokemon decks together. I haven't gotten any Trainers with them yet, which might make this whole post null & void, but here goes. Everything is Primal Clash (as far as I know)...

    Kyogre EX
    Spheal
    - Sealeo
    - Walrein
    Clauncher
    Corsola
    Clamperl
    - Gorebyss
    Barboach
    - Whiscash 40/160
    Barboach
    - Whiscash 41/160

    I have seen decks with multiples of some cards... apparently I don't fully understand that, but I tried.

    How far off am I with this deck? Or does not having Trainers yet make it useless??

    Thx...
     
    Thanks so much!!! I truly despise not being able to "get" this game... little kids play it, for Pete's sake!! *sigh*

    OK, so I was "poking" around (bad pun, I know), and have tried putting some Pokemon decks together. I haven't gotten any Trainers with them yet, which might make this whole post null & void, but here goes. Everything is Primal Clash (as far as I know)...

    Kyogre EX
    Spheal
    - Sealeo
    - Walrein
    Clauncher
    Corsola
    Clamperl
    - Gorebyss
    Barboach
    - Whiscash 40/160
    Barboach
    - Whiscash 41/160

    I have seen decks with multiples of some cards... apparently I don't fully understand that, but I tried.

    How far off am I with this deck? Or does not having Trainers yet make it useless??

    Thx...

    Multiples are necessary to make sure you can ensure you have the Pokemon you want in your hand by increasing the odds you draw it simply by having more, though the cap on Pokemon that share a name (not each unique card, but the name itself) is 4. In fact, outside of Basic Energy cards, the cap for each type of card is 4, and some cards are limited to even less (though they'll say that on the card itself). This will be something you'll want to make sure your boys know before you play them, as many kids my age back when the craze first hit actually never learned to play properly (I was one of the few, and I was basically self-taught).

    Anyway, onto the deck. Okay, so, you have Pokemon, but you still need some energy. Water types are what I see here, so you'd need some basic Water Energy. For most decks beginners work with, between 15 and 20 energy is a good number. Preferably closer to 15 Water Energy than 20.

    You'll need to find somewhere to get that much Energy, like either via a theme deck with the type of energy you need (I genuinely do not pay attention to the contents of the ones that are currently available as they don't interest me - their best purpose for me was giving me energy, something I have a ton of now) or via an Elite Trainer Box (a box that costs around $40 that contains 8 booster packs, 5 of each type of energy, 5 six sided dice to use as damage counters, a larger six sided die to use as a coin, poison and burn counters, and sleeves themed around the Pokemon on the outside of the box, plus the box itself, which is very sturdy and makes for a nice card box with the separators that are also in the box).

    Trainers are not necessary to play the game at its most basic level, but beyond that they are a big help. Potion is a trainer that helps new players get familiar with how Trainers work. Switch is also in that tier of Trainer.

    Not having trainers will still probably do okay against your kids, but I recommend going with a ratio of something like 15 Energy, 20 Pokemon, and 25 Trainers if at all possible.

    Kyogre EX is a slow and expensive Pokemon to play (it takes 4 turns to set up its best attack, plus another 2 after that to set it up again). It's probably good for casual play, but your opponent takes 2 of their prize cards when they knock it out, which means you're a third of the way to losing if it ever gets knocked out.
    Walrein has a first attack that can be pretty good for its cost, but it's also a Stage 2 Pokemon, meaning it will take at least a few turns. to get it in play.
    Clauncher isn't very useful without its evolved form, Clawitzer, which isn't very good, either.

    ...and the site I was using for reference on each card has inexplicably gotten hung up on searching, so that's it on those for now.

    I'd pick a couple with attacks that look good among those and start from there. None of those really combo together all that well, IMO, but most of the good combo cards have already been figured out by the competitive playerbase and can cost a pretty decent sticker-shocking sum for someone new to trading card games.


    There are a couple better water types to use than the ones you've picked, but they're kind of on the expensive side right now. Keldeo EX is very good, but very expensive. Blastoise from Boundaries Crossed is very good, but is also expensive.


    An aside on something that confuses some people when playing: Prize cards are not cards that you give up to your opponent. Those are cards that you pull from your deck and that you pick from to put in your hand when you knock out an opponent's Pokemon. The ones you set out at the beginning of the game are part of your playing field, and players only take from their own prize cards when they knock out an opposing Pokemon. No card EVER change ownership during a game. If your kids or someone else's kids say otherwise, they are wrong. IIRC, it's stated somewhere in the rulebook, but I can't remember where.


    Also, take a look at some of my past decklists for ideas on both what to do and what not to do (most of these are several years old, but looking up the cards might give you an idea of what generally works with what).

    https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/276636
    https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/222759
    https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/317691
    https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/219989
     
    Fantastic info, thank you!! We have a couple of the elite trainer boxes, so I think we're fairly set on energy cards for now. I'll check out the deck lists you mentioned & see if I can start figuring stuff out a bit.

    My 7 yr old & I have played several casual games over the last few days, and just tonight, I discovered weaknesses & resistance. And retreat... and all these other little factors that I'm sure will change our gameplay. LOL.

    I need a Pokemon for Dummies book...
     
    Fantastic info, thank you!! We have a couple of the elite trainer boxes, so I think we're fairly set on energy cards for now. I'll check out the deck lists you mentioned & see if I can start figuring stuff out a bit.

    My 7 yr old & I have played several casual games over the last few days, and just tonight, I discovered weaknesses & resistance. And retreat... and all these other little factors that I'm sure will change our gameplay. LOL.

    I need a Pokemon for Dummies book...

    I wish my mom had interest in this... :/ try this https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-tcg/play-online/tutorial/
     
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