[moussambani]

Hi there. I just started playing online a week ago or so. I never played the physical TCG. (Does this make the online version a special TCG? hehe). My first pokemon game I played was Y.

 

The main question is: How should I spend my coins? (I have 700 and change). I've read the forum for a bit. Main takes are shy away from a 20-20-20 split in favor of a 15-30-15 split or something like that, and main factor is the trainers.

 

I'm not planning for a world-class level deck, so I would accept some budget cuts. I just want something that works well, which means, I guess, I don't need that many tips? I don't know...

 

I have three GX, for what it's worth, and two of them are Glaceon and Leafeon. Maybe the game is trying to tell me something, hehe...

 

I should try to keep it to standard, right? I guess I just have no experience with this TCG, but I played a couple other such games, so I'm aware of the aggro-control-combo stuff. Is this present in Pokémon? I guess what are the main deck archtypes is what I'm asking.

 

I don't need lengthy explanations. I know how to play ruleswise. I'm just looking for some quick pointers so I can try to pick what I build and stuff without the utter "this is a foreign land" feeling.

 

Thank you everyone for your time.

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[SandaledOtter]

700 coins, you should buy the Mach Strike, Imperial Command, or Tropical Takedown Theme Deck from the shop, if you don't have them yet, for 500.

 

Try to do the daily challenges to get more tokens and cards, and the Trainer Challenges to complete your starter decks and get bonus packs.

 

When you have tickets, enter Theme events to get some packs you can trade for the cards you decide you want.

 

The three theme decks I named will show you some of the basics of control and combos. Right now is a pretty good time to be starting, as every card in the new theme decks is usable in Standard, but stick to Theme a while. Knowing the rules and knowing the cards are not the same, and there are some complex interactions.

"Swishonk!" That's what's happening!

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[moussambani]

I'm almost up to 1000 now. Thank you for your suggestions. Are those decks take my pick, or buy all three eventually?

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[SandaledOtter]

I'm almost up to 1000 now. Thank you for your suggestions. Are those decks take my pick, or buy all three eventually?

You probably want all of them. Possibly even multiples of them, if you find it easier to get the rare cards from them that way instead of trading.

 

Those who play Theme are hoping for a Fairy theme deck that will slay Mach Strike's Dragons. It's the most prevalent deck in Theme, and is good enough that it can be easily turned into a Standard deck by replacing a bit of it with copies of things in it. Reducing the energy, doubling the rares and trainers, things like that.

 

The other two are popular alternatives. These are the best theme decks we've seen.

 

 

As for other things to spend tokens on, well, the booster packs are random, of course, and never very likely to give you what you need. I didn't start buying them until I'd gotten all of the available theme decks in the shop. If you're looking to play standard though, you can pass on most of them and just get decks/boosters from Sun and Moon on.

 

Guardians Rising has the Tapu, Lele and Koko, so those are recommended buys if you have tokens to spare. Tapu Lele GX is nearly essential, though not as much as it was a couple months ago when every deck wanted to play Lele on turn 1 to draw Brigette and fill the bench right away.

Edited by SandaledOtter, 04 October 2018 - 12:13 PM.

"Swishonk!" That's what's happening!

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[Player_Jay]

The main reason you buy Theme decks is for 3 reasons:

1- You are trying to use the Theme Deck in Competitive Tournaments.
2- You are a collector trying to “Catch them all”.
3- You are trying to acquire the cards with in the Theme Deck.

—————

Mech Strike is a Theme Deck recommended to beginners for 2 reason’s.

1- It was ranked # 1 in Competitive Theme Deck Tournments at the time of its Release.
It has dropped since than because the game released more Theme Decks.

However, Mech Strike is still considered a Top 5 Theme Deck in Competitive Theme Deck Tournaments.

You will see people using it.
Guaranteed!

2- The next reason people recommend getting Mech Strike is because of a few cards inside it.
The main card being the Support Card: Cynthia.

The Mech Strike Theme Deck has 2 copies of Cynthia inside it.
The Support Card: Cynthia is the best draw supporter in the game for Standard Format.
It is ranked #1.

Every Standard Deck in the game runs max copies of Cynthia. (max copies = 4 copies)
It doesn’t matter if you plan to build your own deck or copy someone else deck.
You still are going to want the best draw supporting card!

Cynthia comes in the Ultra Prisma Booster Pack.
Opening the Booster packs give you random cards. No guarantees!

You can spend upwards of 5,000 poke coins trying to get 4 copies of Cynthia from the Booster packs with no guarantee.
Or
You can spend 1,000 poke coins and buy Mech Strike Theme Deck 2 times with a guarantee.

What do you think people do?
They buy the Theme deck twice!

Some people don’t even like the Mech Strike Deck.
Some people have no intention of ever playing it.
Yet, they buy it twice.

WHY? Because they want to make there own deck.
They want there own deck to be the best.
In order for it to be the best, they need the best cards!
It saves them coins to buy the Theme deck over the Booster packs.

It is logical.

—————

Your priority as a beginner should be to get the best cards!
Draw Supporters:
#1 - Cynthia
#2 - **** & Liza
#3 - Tie between (Copy Cat) & (Lillie)

Hand Disruption Supporters:
#1 - Judge
#2 - Illama
#3 - Wicke

Draw Supporting Pokémon:
#1 - Oranguru
#2 - Zoroark GX
#3 - Swampert
#4 - Alolah Sandslash

Board Disruption Supporters:
#1 - Guzma
#2 - Cyrus
#3 - Counter Catcher
#4 - Escape Rope

Energy Acceleration Pokémon:
#1 - Malamar
#2 - Metagross

—————

Mech Strike - Theme deck can get you Cynthia.

After you get Cynthia, you would be insane not to go after Leaf Charge Theme Deck next!

Leaf Charge - Theme deck has Guzma, Oranguru, **** & Liza, Copy Cat, and Lillie.

—————

Truthfully, I think you should buy 1 copy of the Leaf Charge Theme Deck first.
Look at all the value in the Leaf Charge Box.
Cynthia is great, but you will only have 2 copy’s at start.

Look how many good draw supporters come in Leaf Charge.
They are all top 3!

It’s like 6 cards for a beginner.
It is a lot of value.
You will need them any way because 4 Cynthia in a Deck isn’t enough.

Most people run 8-10 draw supporters.
Cynthia will take up 4 slots.
The other slots will be your 2nd - 3rd best supporter etc.

—————

I would buy 1 copy of Mech Strike second.

—————

If you listen to what I’m saying, you will have the following:

1 - Oranguru
1 - Guzma
1 - **** & Liza
2 - Copy Cat
1 - Lillie
2 - Cynthia

You will need to re-evaluate your situation at this point.
The only Theme deck currently in the game with Guzma is Leaf Charge.

The ideal Guzma amount is 3.
Some decks do run 4, but I think 3 is more common.

Some people have used 2 Guzma with 1 Pal Pad as bare minimum amount!
The Pal Pad can shuffle back your 2 Guzma to use them again!
They use Pal Pad as a substitute card to make up for there lack of 3rd Guzma or to reduce the chance of drawing it to early in battle.
This is the idea behind Pal Pad.
It’s a very clever idea.

This means with out a shadow of a doubt.
You want to buy a second Leaf Charge Box.
Leaf Charge is only Theme Deck with Guzma!
You definitely want 2 Guzma + 1 Pal Pad as bare minimum.

CYNTHIA IS THE TRICKY PART!
You want 4 Cynthia.
You currently have 2 if you followed my previous advice.

The question is how to get the other 2 copy’s.
The straight forward way is to buy second Mech Strike Deck.

However, I want you to bare in mind.
Cynthia does come in another Theme deck.
Twilight Rogue has 1 copy of Cynthia + 1 copy of Malamar!

The question is are you going to play a Psychic deck?
Psychic decks often run 2 copies of Malamar.
If you buy 2 Twilight Rogue decks, you will get the 2 Malamar.
The bonus side effect is you will also end up with 4 Cynthia!
This would mean you don’t have to buy second Mech Strike Theme Deck!

You would distribute your coins else’s where and still achieve 4 Cynthia’s!

Option 1 - 2 Mech Strike = 4 Cynthia
Option 2 - 1 Mech Strike + 2 Twilight Rogue = 4 Cynthia

My main deck is a psychic deck.
I needed 2 Malamars.

I went with option 2 because I acquired Cynthia while getting Malamar.
It saved me 500 poke coins.

Keep in mind, I did this because of my own preferences.
You may not like psychic Pokémon.
I don’t know.

I just don’t want you to follow my advice blindly.
The reason why is because you have options.
The option you pick can be in line with your preferences.

Some options you have no choice in.
The Guzma/Leaf Charge example.
You don’t have any options in that because Guzma only comes in 1 Theme Deck.

The Cynthia situation gives you a little flexibility.
You can pick the path to reaching 4 Cynthia’s

—————

The draw supporters line I like to use is what I call the Stair Step System.
4 - 3 - 2 | 2

The Supporter line starts at 4 than steps down like walking down Stairs.
Than it flat lines at 2

4 - Cynthia
3 - **** & Liza
2 - Judge or Copy Cat
—
2 - Poke Fan Club or Lillie or Apricorn Maker or Kiawe

———————————————————

- Cynthia is the best so max copies.
- **** & Liza second best so middle copies.
- Judge is to punish my opponent from having a big hand size.
Or
- Copy Cat is to match my opponent big hand size.

The last card is my turn 1 support card.
It is the card I want to use at start of the Pokémon Battle.

* Pokémon Fan Club & Apricorn Maker - help bring out Pokémon from your deck to your bench.
It helps you set up evolution lines.

* Lillie - has an effect that lets you draw for 8 at start of Pokémon Battle
It helps you get big hand spread.

* Kiawe - is used only in fire decks for fast energy acceleration
It helps charge up Pokémon with 4 Fire energy’s to do big attack’s on following turns.

—————

Keep in mind, the information I gave above is for Standard Format.
Expanded Format has different ranking system.
It is because they have larger card pool.

Edited by Player_Jay, 04 October 2018 - 06:46 PM.

It is said that if Gengar is hiding, it cools the area by nearly 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

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[moussambani]

OK, nice advice, thank you very much, Jay!

 

So now that I've squeaked above 1000, My take is getting a Leaf Charge and a Mach Strike. Then I have time to think about what comes next, hehe.

 

But based on what you say, it seems that I would end up with three copies of Leaf Charge? Or is Liza and her brother somewhere else?

 

BTW, why is Liza's brother's name censored?

• 0

[SandaledOtter]

OK, nice advice, thank you very much, Jay!

 

So now that I've squeaked above 1000, My take is getting a Leaf Charge and a Mach Strike. Then I have time to think about what comes next, hehe.

 

But based on what you say, it seems that I would end up with three copies of Leaf Charge? Or is Liza and her brother somewhere else?

 

BTW, why is Liza's brother's name censored?

It likely means something, or close to something, in a language other than English. The filters here a bit overreaching, and need to be fixed to allow certain things through from time to time.

 

There are even number-symbol combinations that get censored. Gotta keep the evil teen hooligans from corrupting the six-year-olds. Ooh, will that get censored or not? One way to find out....

"Swishonk!" That's what's happening!

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[moussambani]

OK. That makes sense. BTW, I completed the gold trainer challenge. Should I move to platinum, or defeat gold like four times for the boosters? Also, some of the gold trainers, but not all, have a check mark, but all of them are one star, since I defeated each of them once. What's with the check marks?

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[Player_Jay]

OK, nice advice, thank you very much, Jay!

So now that I've squeaked above 1000, My take is getting a Leaf Charge and a Mach Strike. Then I have time to think about what comes next, hehe.

But based on what you say, it seems that I would end up with three copies of Leaf Charge? Or is Liza and her brother somewhere else?

1 copy of the support card Liza and her brother can be acquired in Hydro Fury deck.

You could buy the Hydro Fury to get the 3rd copy which would also give you access to playing the Hydro Fury Deck

BTW, why is Liza's brother's name censored?

The word being censored is T.A.T.E

The trainer card name is T.a.t.e & Liza with no periods.

The reason the word is being censored is because in some parts of the world.
The word has been used as a metaphor to discribe women’s chest area.

Other versions of the word have been used & censored as well.
The below words for example are not really bad words.
-T.a.t.a
-T.a.t.t.e.r T.o.t.s
-T.o.t.s

However, they sometimes get censored on sites as well.
Who’s to blame for the word being censored?
Men!

All the women just want to play a simple Pokémon game.
All the men can only think about 1 thing. They could care less about a Pokémon.

What happens?
All the women’s gather together.
They cackle amount themselves.
Than they form a solution.
They say we’re going to stop this garbage before it starts.
We going to censor them all.
When we are finished, they will not be able to say anything.
All they will be able to do is listen.
And that’s the way we want it.

The same on internet & the same in real life.
You roll over and say “Honey, are you in the mood?’
She rolls over and says “Get away from me, before, I stab you!”

It’s pretty much the same.

Edited by Player_Jay, 05 October 2018 - 09:21 PM.

It is said that if Gengar is hiding, it cools the area by nearly 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

• 0

[moussambani]

OK, I realized part of it. I can try to have one deck to beat the whole league. My question about whether it's best to do the league four times or skip to platinum remains.

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[SuperStone]

snip

I don't know how much I agree with that. These problems... They tend to be deeper; more systemic. If we're honest, we still live in a fairly discriminatory culture. The basic problems this causes, I believe, are extremified in video game communities, which have tended to have large gender disparities since the gaming crash of '83. We see casual, often accidental profanity and offensive language; inequal treatment; and even outright harrassment. But it's not as if it's only women who are offended by this. Most of the community looks down of it. And the only reason the lewdness only goes one direction is because of that gender disparity. As such, to eliminate as many instances and possibilities of the problems as possible, all words that have the slightest chance of offending are censored.

No one is trying to keep other people from talking. Everyone is here to play Pokemon. All inappropriate words are banned, and the fact that only some of those actually get brought up says more about us than the management. And the problem is in no way, shape, or form a divide between women and men. It is simply that, because most players are male, most offenders will be male.

Besides, this is Pokemon. We don't need to make it dark and disgusting to show that there are problems with the censor.

Edited by SuperStone, 07 October 2018 - 02:49 AM.

The truth waits for no one.  That which you refuse to see, TPCi, slips past you.  The chat function was never your problem, yet through your blindness, you have made it one.

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[moussambani]

Hmm, there's a Guzma at the end of the versus row at 2000 lightning bolts. Do you think I should try for that. I'm not sure I can get that far. How many games does it take to get 2000?

• 0

[Chasista]

OK, I realized part of it. I can try to have one deck to beat the whole league. My question about whether it's best to do the league four times or skip to platinum remains.

 

In leagues you need:

 

Win each league once (beat the 12 different trainers with same or different decks). At the end of each league you will be the gold, platinum and City champion and you'll get a rewards.

 

Win each trainer with 4 different decks (the stars). Each star gives you a reward (from 1 coin to 1 pack if they didn't changed it since I did it).

 

Win with a same deck, 12 different trainers, no matter what league they are from. That gives you 1 coin per win and a pack at the 12th, from the set of the Theme deck you were playing with. After 12 wins, you only get 1 more coin each of the other 24 possible wins.

 

At the end, you want to (theoretically) own the +70 Theme decks from the shop to maximize your prizes. But big ones come only at 12 wins (1 pack) and first time you win full leagues. Total it was close to 45 packs all together I think.

 

Hmm, there's a Guzma at the end of the versus row at 2000 lightning bolts. Do you think I should try for that. I'm not sure I can get that far. How many games does it take to get 2000?

 

Yes, you should. Although you don't need a single full art to have the best deck ever. Just looks fancier but it does the same as the regular copy.

 

Number of games depends on winning streaks. It starts on 10 points per win, and increases 5 by 5 up to 20 if you get wins in a row. 10, 15, 20, 20, 20, 20... Also if your opponent's rank is way higher than yours, he will get "advantage". That's nothing on the game but just the opponent gets the tag of "favourite". And if you win you'll get 5 extra points that game.

 

On the other side, don't hesitate to concede if you see the games are already lost unless Arceus appears to save you. That will save you time and additionally micro-tank your rank to play against some weaker opponents, until you win some in a row to rise your rank's position again. Bad part is you will start getting 10 points again until returning to the streak but sometimes doesn't worth to stay to just see how they destroy any pokémon you make active one after the next.

 

It's not a short way to 2000, you need around 9 wins a day depending on the streaks. Wish you luck

WE WANT LEGACY TOURNAMENTS BACK !!! If you also want it, show your support http://forums.pokemontcg.com/topic/55966-feedback-making-it-easier-to-get-the-cards-you-want/

5th day reward packs list http://forums.pokemontcg.com/topic/56679-5th-day-log-in-pack-is-random-got-a-gur-dd/?p=593037

Foro en español, también existe: http://forums.pokemontcg.com/forum/2-español/

IGN Chasista

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[moussambani]

Cool, to avoid burnout due to long sessions, I'm setting a target of 100 points a day, so it ends up working nicely. Thank you.

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[moussambani]

All right, I'm getting to the point where I can purchase two more decks. What is better, repeats, or new decks? That Lycanroc deck is giving me trouble sometimes (Salazzle and its quad-poison). But I'm not sure. Someone suggested this deck if I was going to use Psychic. Truth is I'm not set to use (or not use) any of the types. I'm more of a generalist. In fact, my favorite type (in videogame Pokemon) is Normal. So I guess if I need to buy a second copy of any of these decks, this is just a priority conundrum.

By the way, I pulled a rainbow Pheromosa GX in the reward of a daily challenge. It is my only UB for what it matters (I also have two copies of non-GX ******************** some deck that uses that? Just asking, it's not that I'm decided to use it yet.

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