Build a Pokémon Deck

Playing Pokémon is fun and challenging, and the cards are made so that different sets play together. There's no need to be locked into "pre-constructed" decks, the ones made by the manufacturer - you can make your own, choosing your favorites from any set you wish. This tutorial will help you build your own deck so you can begin playing at tourneys and a local league!

Steps

1. Think of the kind of deck you want. Do you like to play Water and Fire Pokémon, or Psychic and Fighting? Most people only have two different types of Pokémon in their deck. Sometimes certain decks may effectively use more than two, and sometimes decks use only one.
   • Try to make your types complement each other if possible — for example, Water and Electricity are good companions, as are Fire and Grass.
   • Take into account the weaknesses of your types, too. If your Psychic-types have weakness to dark, play Fighting types (because most Dark Pokémon have Fighting weakness) to counter Dark-type Pokémon.
   • Remember that you can use colorless type Pokémon in any kind of deck to bulk it up and fill in gaps, and they often have many helpful effects. They often can use any kind of energy, too, so they can be used in any deck.
2. Have a strategy in mind about how to win or get your opponent to lose. In the Pokémon TCG, you can win in one of three ways: Collect your opponent's six prize cards, make your opponent run out of Pokémon on the field, or make your opponent run out of cards to draw at the beginning of his/her turn. Ask yourself:
   • Which condition will your deck focus on to win the game? How will it best achieve that?
   • What are the ways that your opponent might counter your strategy? Which cards can you use to minimize your weaknesses and maximize your strengths?
3. Remember to keep good balance as you choose. Many decks stick with roughly 20 Pokémon, 25 trainers, and around 15 energies for a good mix, although it often depends on the type of deck you're playing.
   • For example, a Blastoise/Keldeo-EX Deck from the 2012 City Championships sported 14 Pokémon, 32 trainers, and 14 energy. It all depends on what you're trying to do.
4. Think about the game as a three-role play. First of all, you need to run multiple copies of your main attacker, and you'll need more of the Basic Pokémon than of the Stage 2, fully evolved ones, to be sure that you have an Active Pokémon and plenty for your bench.
   • The Basics will get knocked out quickly, so be sure you have some evolutions to later stage Pokémon up your sleeve, and evolve as quickly as possible to give your game some substance after the first wave of little ones are done.
   • Finally, make sure you're thinking about your end game, and have one or two really big 1-hit K.O.ers you can draw for late in play. Most decks have a 'start' card like Cleffa or Pichu, cards like these can help your set-up.
5. Have a Good Pokémon Deck Strategy. It's good to use cards that help each other. It needs to be a good deck! Strategy is important!
   • Look for synergies in cards. For example, Hydreigon and Darkrai-EX are a great at moving around Pokémon and energies freely. Look for other great combination to use for your advantage.
6. Choose your trainers to best advantage with your Pokémon. You will need a good 5-8 cards for draw power; if you can't get the necessary cards, you cannot win.
   • Remember that you can put up to 4 of any given card in your deck, and if your deck relies heavily on a particular event, you should boost your chances of making that event happen by putting several copies of the crucial cards in your deck.
   • You should have around 5 or so cards to support and boost up your Pokémon. Any remaining space can be used to combat against frequently used cards or weaknesses, or to refresh your hand/bench.
7. Test your deck by drawing as if you were playing against an opponent. Remember, to begin play, you must draw at least one basic Pokémon, so be sure you have plenty of Basics to insure that you get a good opening draw.
8. Include plenty of trainer and supporter cards. They can search your deck for any card you happen to need at the moment, Pokémon or energy. Include drawing cards to gain you advantage and replenish your hand. Also, use EXs, since they are vastly more powerful than most other basics, and get Pokémon with useful abilities.
9. Don't stock too many evolutions. Nowadays, most decks use EXs for quick board presence and power. Some exceptions to this rule are useful evolutions like Pyroar or Eelektrik. The longer it takes to evolve your Pokémon, the more time your opponent has to attack and set up.

Tips

• Try using trainer cards that allow you to reuse other trainer cards to your advantage.
• If you haven't already, find a league. It will help you test play, and others can help you by trading. You can also make friends.
• Remember to keep your cards safe and in good condition, and keep your good cards in cases.
• Get cards or Pokémon that allow you to retrieve cards from the discard pile, like Vs. Seeker or Milotic. You can combine these with Battle Compressor to effectively search cards out of your deck.
• Don't forget that basic Pokémon are good. When you build your deck you need many basic Pokémon.
• Keep cards you don't need, you might think it's useless, but others might think it's a treasure for their deck.
• Use Pokémon and trainer cards that compliment each other. For example, you would want to keep a tank that gains HP using energy cards on the field for as long as possible, so consider getting healing trainer cards and Pokémon.
• Keep your energy-to-damage ratios in mind. Choose Pokémon that deal lots of damage (or provide status ailments) for low amounts of energy.
• Remember, a Pokémon TCG deck can only have 60 cards. Nothing more, nothing less.
• Make sure you include at least one evolution with good offensive attacks in your deck, because Pyroar is a big threat in the current (2015) metagame, and it will wall basics.
• Energy acceleration cards like Double Colorless are good for cards with high energy requirements. Most energy acceleration cards are designed for certain deck types, like Xerneas for fairy decks, Virizion-EX for grass, or Emboar for fire decks.
• When making a Pokémon deck remember that having a strong attacking Pokémon is not the whole game.
• Try not to play an excessively frustrating deck (i.e., one that barely allows others to play at all, or thwarts their every move) when practicing with friends or playing for fun, because this ruins the fun for others. It's especially important when teaching a new player. If you crush, decimate and destroy your newbie opponent, s/he won't have fun, and most likely, won't want to play with you again. But if you allow the newbie to use the stronger deck, you'll help them understand more complex play early on, and encourage them by giving them positive experiences in their first games.
• A Pokémon or deck's weakness can also be helpful, such as a weak Pokémon not having a retreat cost, or a mill deck where it's hard to draw basics in your starting hand. In the latter, the opponent would likely take the opportunity to draw extra cards, which will bring them closer to their defeat.
• As you gain experience in the game, consider removing some of the Pokémon that aren't related to your main attacker, and replacing them with Trainers that allow you to search your deck for evolutions, or skip an evolution stage.
• The current Pokémon metagame is highly offensive. Most decks rely on attacking the opponent to win, and cards that increase damage like Muscle Band and Hypnotoxic Laser are very helpful.
• Sometimes evolving your Pokémon is not the most beneficial choice, such as with Jigglypuff and Wigglytuff if you want a support Pokémon. Jigglypuff does less damage but puts the opponent's Pokémon to sleep, while Wigglytuff is pure damage. If you want to stall the opponent so you can attach energies, Jigglypuff would by far be the better choice.
• The deck might not always perform the way you expect it to.
• Use powerful basic Pokémon for maximum damage and utility with minimum investment, like Legendaries, and EX Pokémon. If you rely on evolutions, use search cards and evolution acceleration like Wally and Rare Candy.
• Use attack bonuses well. For example, Round does more damage depending on how many Pokémon on your side of the field have Round, so it's generally a good idea to use an attack with added on bonuses very strategically.
• If your Pokémon have high retreat costs, get cards like Float Stone, Switch, Escape Rope, or Olympia. Darkrai-EX works for Dark decks, and Glaceon for Plasma decks.
• A good deck will have around 20 Pokemon, 20 Trainers, and 20 energy.
• If you want to use more than two types of Pokemon, use Pokémon that require colorless energy for attacks.

Related Articles

• Build a Perfect Pokémon
• Catch All the Pokémon in a Pokémon Video Game
• Collect Pokémon Cards
• Evolve Pokémon in Pokémon TCG
• Play With Pokémon Cards
• Build a Pokémon Deck

Sources and Citations

• Pokebeach.com – research source

See also

• Trade Pokemon with John GBA Lite
• Play With Pokémon Cards
• Organize Pokémon Cards
• Make a Pokémon Card
• Build a Winning Pokémon Deck
• Value Your Pokémon Cards
• Know If Pokémon Cards Are Fake
• Tell if a Pokémon Card Is Rare and How to Sell It
• Sell Your Pokémon Cards
• Get Rare Pokémon Cards

What links here

• Play With Pokémon Cards
• Build a Winning Pokémon Deck
• Play Pokémon Sacred Gold and Storm Silver