Building my first deck, need some item help

[Brad92]

Hey guys I'm working on a grass/water deck and I was wondering if you could help me out with what items to stock up on.
I dont have my Pokemon set in stone yet but it is most likely going to be some sort of combo of Venusaur, Vaporeon/Leafeon, Golduck, Liligant, all with a nice little pyramid set up and maybe a legendary or two peppered in there.
I'm going to try and cap my Pokemon at about 20 and my energies at about 15 which will leave me around 25 item cards to fill my deck.
I was looking at some of the "championship decks" to grab a few ideas but I was wondering if you guys could help me figure out what to actually use and WHY. Being new to this I'm not always sure why some hards hold greater value in game. Thanks!

 

[WesX]

Hey guys I'm working on a grass/water deck and I was wondering if you could help me out with what items to stock up on.
I dont have my Pokemon set in stone yet but it is most likely going to be some sort of combo of Venusaur, Vaporeon/Leafeon, Golduck, Liligant, all with a nice little pyramid set up and maybe a legendary or two peppered in there.
I'm going to try and cap my Pokemon at about 20 and my energies at about 15 which will leave me around 25 item cards to fill my deck.
I was looking at some of the "championship decks" to grab a few ideas but I was wondering if you guys could help me figure out what to actually use and WHY. Being new to this I'm not always sure why some hards hold greater value in game. Thanks!

I would not make a deck like that. I have a lot of success running 25 Pokemon and 25 Energy. It sounds like overkill, but I don't need a whole lot of trainers. If I want to use trainers, I tend to remove 5 Pokemon or 5 energy. The reason for keeping more than 15 energies is pretty straight forward. Unless you have a card that can pull energies from your discard (such as Burned Tower) then you could run out of ammo and be left high and dry. To be honest, those Championship decks aren't very good. I've played people who go out and buy a deck then come to play thinking they have it done right and they just end up road kill.

That said. The 'value' you were talking about is pretty easy to help you with. In my experience, energies are the most valuable cards in the game. If you run out of energies, like I said, you're likely done for. You want good basics and a decent mix of normal Pokemon. Normals can use ANY energy card successfully as you know, unless otherwise stated (my Rayquaza for example can only use fire and electric-type.) Trainers can be pretty vital,too depending. Bill, Potions, Pokeballs are ALL staples in my decks. AND Cynthia's Feelings. One of the best come back cards ever. So, to determine your value, just figure out which cards suit your style best. And totally don't be afraid to play and lose. Everyone loses a game or two. I know when I first started playing back in the late 90's, it was rare that I won. If you need any more advice, feel free to shoot me a PM. I'll be glad to help.

 

[Palbert6393]

@Brad92 well... what ever you do... DO NOT FOLLOW WesXs ADVICE. To be honest (and unfortunately kinda rough) that was the worst advice i have ever read...
I cant really give you any more help than that at the moment. But I will give you detailed help by tommow.

@WesX I dont mean to be rude, but I do have to wonder if your post is entirely serious. I couldnt find one thing in your post that I agreed with, and I play competitively. If you disagree with me please send me a vm or pm to clarify your thoughts. It isnt the appropriate place to discuss it in this thread.

 

[Maverick Nate]

Hey guys I'm working on a grass/water deck and I was wondering if you could help me out with what items to stock up on.
I dont have my Pokemon set in stone yet but it is most likely going to be some sort of combo of Venusaur, Vaporeon/Leafeon, Golduck, Liligant, all with a nice little pyramid set up and maybe a legendary or two peppered in there.
I'm going to try and cap my Pokemon at about 20 and my energies at about 15 which will leave me around 25 item cards to fill my deck.
I was looking at some of the "championship decks" to grab a few ideas but I was wondering if you guys could help me figure out what to actually use and WHY. Being new to this I'm not always sure why some hards hold greater value in game. Thanks!

To start off, I think that your deck has an interesting concept. If I am thinking of the specific Pokémon you are, it looks like you are hoping to hit with Status Conditions: Lilligant is attacking with Bemusing Aroma, Venusaur is for getting out Pokémon with its Ability, and Leafeon attacks with Miasma Wind, with fun Vaporeon and hitting Fire for Weakness. I have my ideas about your list that I'm posting below.

Pokémon

• 3 Bulbasaur
• 1 Ivysaur
• 3 Venusaur
• 4 Eevee (Call for Family from Undaunted)
• 2 Vaporeon
• 2 Leafeon
• 1 Espeon Prime
• 2 Petilil (EPO)
• 2 Lilligant (EPO)

Energy

• 4 Water
• 8 Grass
• 2 Double Colorless Energy

Trainers

• 3 Rare Candy
• 2 Pokémon Catcher
• 3 Switch
• 4 Junk Arm
• 2 Pokémon Communication
• 1 Super Rod
• 1 Random Receiver
• 2 Pokémon Collector
• 2 Professor Juniper
• 1 Cheren
• 3 Professor Oak's New Theory
• 2 N

Now, here are the reasonings behind my choices. Pyramid lines are not too good, because they leave small Basics without the evolutions on the field. Also, Rare Candy definitely benefits getting Venusaur out quickly. Catcher is something everyone is running in order to pull up what you are able to attack with a lot more damage. If you intend to attack with Leafeon, you'll need to switch from the Pokémon. Junk Arm is to get a used Item back from the discard pile when you need it. Communication is to get Venusaur out as soon as possible, in order to start getting other Pokémon out with its Ability. Super Rod will get Pokémon and Energy back from the discard pile. Collector as a Supporter will get Basics out when you need them. Oak and N will shuffle your hand away to get a different hand from your deck. Juniper is for a quick Supporter to get new cards that you need, with Cheren getting you a quick three.

I hope this helps. Energy will clog up your hand if you run too much. That's why none of the winning decks run too many. And, with the Ability on Venusaur, you'd be able to fish out Pokémon when you don't need them in order to draw into what you need. I added an Espeon Prime so that you can hit some of the Stronger Psychics (like Mewtwo-EX) for Weakness, since it attacks using any of the attacks of the Pokémon evolving from Eevee.

 

[Brad92]

Hey guys I'm working on a grass/water deck and I was wondering if you could help me out with what items to stock up on.
I dont have my Pokemon set in stone yet but it is most likely going to be some sort of combo of Venusaur, Vaporeon/Leafeon, Golduck, Liligant, all with a nice little pyramid set up and maybe a legendary or two peppered in there.
I'm going to try and cap my Pokemon at about 20 and my energies at about 15 which will leave me around 25 item cards to fill my deck.
I was looking at some of the "championship decks" to grab a few ideas but I was wondering if you guys could help me figure out what to actually use and WHY. Being new to this I'm not always sure why some hards hold greater value in game. Thanks!

To start off, I think that your deck has an interesting concept. If I am thinking of the specific Pokémon you are, it looks like you are hoping to hit with Status Conditions: Lilligant is attacking with Bemusing Aroma, Venusaur is for getting out Pokémon with its Ability, and Leafeon attacks with Miasma Wind, with fun Vaporeon and hitting Fire for Weakness. I have my ideas about your list that I'm posting below.

Pokémon

• 3 Bulbasaur
• 1 Ivysaur
• 3 Venusaur
• 4 Eevee (Call for Family from Undaunted)
• 2 Vaporeon
• 2 Leafeon
• 1 Espeon Prime
• 2 Petilil (EPO)
• 2 Lilligant (EPO)

Energy

• 4 Water
• 8 Grass
• 2 Double Colorless Energy

Trainers

• 3 Rare Candy
• 2 Pokémon Catcher
• 3 Switch
• 4 Junk Arm
• 2 Pokémon Communication
• 1 Super Rod
• 1 Random Receiver
• 2 Pokémon Collector
• 2 Professor Juniper
• 1 Cheren
• 3 Professor Oak's New Theory
• 2 N

Now, here are the reasonings behind my choices. Pyramid lines are not too good, because they leave small Basics without the evolutions on the field. Also, Rare Candy definitely benefits getting Venusaur out quickly. Catcher is something everyone is running in order to pull up what you are able to attack with a lot more damage. If you intend to attack with Leafeon, you'll need to switch from the Pokémon. Junk Arm is to get a used Item back from the discard pile when you need it. Communication is to get Venusaur out as soon as possible, in order to start getting other Pokémon out with its Ability. Super Rod will get Pokémon and Energy back from the discard pile. Collector as a Supporter will get Basics out when you need them. Oak and N will shuffle your hand away to get a different hand from your deck. Juniper is for a quick Supporter to get new cards that you need, with Cheren getting you a quick three.

I hope this helps. Energy will clog up your hand if you run too much. That's why none of the winning decks run too many. And, with the Ability on Venusaur, you'd be able to fish out Pokémon when you don't need them in order to draw into what you need. I added an Espeon Prime so that you can hit some of the Stronger Psychics (like Mewtwo-EX) for Weakness, since it attacks using any of the attacks of the Pokémon evolving from Eevee.

Thanks for all that info! It really helped a whole lot. What would you say about throwing in a grass/water legendary or two? I don't really know the advantages/disadvantages of having them so maybe you could help me with that!

 

[Maverick Nate]

Thanks for all that info! It really helped a whole lot. What would you say about throwing in a grass/water legendary or two? I don't really know the advantages/disadvantages of having them so maybe you could help me with that!

As Grass is typically the type that instead of doing immense damage, it does Status Conditions, there isn't too good of a Legendary for it. Water has Kyurem as a stronger Legendary Pokémon. The DCE's could then be used to power up outrage immediately for Kyurem's Outrage attack, which is pretty powerful if Kyurem gets damaged. If you were able to get three Energies on Kyurem to Glaciate, that would also be pretty devastating, depending on how many times you get to use that attack. I would take out a Vaporeon for that, as Vaoreon isn't really doing that much anymore, since there wasn't enough room to fit in Golduck.

 

[Brad92]

Thanks for all that info! It really helped a whole lot. What would you say about throwing in a grass/water legendary or two? I don't really know the advantages/disadvantages of having them so maybe you could help me with that!

As Grass is typically the type that instead of doing immense damage, it does Status Conditions, there isn't too good of a Legendary for it. Water has Kyurem as a stronger Legendary Pokémon. The DCE's could then be used to power up outrage immediately for Kyurem's Outrage attack, which is pretty powerful if Kyurem gets damaged. If you were able to get three Energies on Kyurem to Glaciate, that would also be pretty devastating, depending on how many times you get to use that attack. I would take out a Vaporeon for that, as Vaoreon isn't really doing that much anymore, since there wasn't enough room to fit in Golduck.

Do you think ND arcticuno would be a good choice as well? It doesn't require too much water energy so I wouldn't have to waste more space on those. I was also looking at the EP Virizion, it has a low retreat cost and some good damage as well as a (small) heal

 

[Maverick Nate]

Do you think ND arcticuno would be a good choice as well? It doesn't require too much water energy so I wouldn't have to waste more space on those. I was also looking at the EP Virizion, it has a low retreat cost and some good damage as well as a (small) heal

That Articuno would definitely be interesting. A fine addition for your deck. Paralysis is sometimes hard to deal with.

However, I've never really liked Sacred Sword Virizion. Not being able to use Sacred Sword next turn hurts it. I'd rather see you run Noble Victories Virizion. It's Double Draw lets you get more cards, and Leaf Wallop may become quite powerful if they can't knock it out. It also has 10 more HP. I also enjoy how most of your deck's weaknesses are quite underplayed right now.