Espeon GX - Suggestions or advice for son's first "competitive" deck

[wjcargill]

My son has been playing the TCG for a few years, both theme and his own decks. Now he is interested in truly understanding the way deck synergies work and would like to build a competitive standard deck (local league).

 

He still needs a few cards to fill this out but before he starts buying more cards we thought a critique would be in order. Any suggestions or advice on his list below would be appreciated.

 

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

 

##Pokémon - 22

 

* 4 Eevee SUM 101

* 1 Miltank LOT 158

* 2 Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX PR-SM SM101

* 1 Giratina LOT 97

* 2 Inkay FLI 50

* 2 Poipole LOT 107

* 3 Espeon-GX SUM 61

* 2 Malamar FLI 51

* 1 Naganadel LOT 108

* 2 Naganadel-GX PR-SM SM125

* 2 Alolan Vulpix GRI 21

 

##Trainer Cards - 28

 

* 2 Acro Bike TK-Latias 20

* 1 Choice Helmet LOT 169

* 2 Cynthia UPR 119

* 2 Enhanced Hammer PHF 94

* 1 Hau SUM 120

* 1 Judge BKT 143

* 2 Lillie UPR 125

* 1 Moomoo Milk LOT 185

* 1 Morty LOT 212

* 4 Nest Ball SUM 123

* 1 Potion BCR 132

* 1 Professor Elm’s Lecture LOT 188

* 2 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130

* 2 Tate & Liza CES 148

* 2 Ultra Ball SUM 135

* 3 Whitney LOT 193

 

##Energy - 10

 

* 10 Psychic Energy  5

 

Total Cards - 60

 

****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******

Edited January 1, 2019 by wjcargill

[Eiyaki]

First thing off the bat- this deck's trainer cards aren't suitable for a 'competitive' deck. Most competitive decks have around 30 trainers. The choice of trainers don't have staples such as Skyla, Prof. Sycamore/Juniper, Colress, Float Stone, Junk Arm, VS Seeker, Lysandre, and most suprisingly of all a SWITCH. I mean no harm to your son, but he's thinking of making a competitive deck with no Switch? His deck also has too many GX's. Although it might seem that GX's are powerful, your own strategy might be turned against you with cards such as Shrine of Punishment (put one damage counter on EX's and GX's every turn) and by Pokemon such as Greninja or Deducieye GX. You may also recall that when a GX is Knocked Out, the player draws two prize cards. This leaves your son open for a quick loss. Your choice of main GX isn't the best. From what I've seen, Eeveelutions (such as Espeon, Flareon, and Jolteon) tend to do less base damage than other GX's. From a quick Google search, I suggest using Toxapex GX (has poison that can put 10 counters per turn- also known as 100 damage per turn, without resistance) or even Mewtwo EX (LTR 54; deals 20 more damage for each energy attached to both active pokemon). If he's looking for some deck synergies, good pokemon to work with are Lunala GX, Gardevoir (DEX 109), Trevenant (XY 55) with a Phantump that has Ascension, Mew EX (LTR ********** Dimension Valley (stadium card) to name a few.

 

 

 

Also, I'm pretty new to this game too, so you and your son might want to do a lot more research before you set off to battle in your local championship.

[Felidae_]

First thing off the bat- this deck's trainer cards aren't suitable for a 'competitive' deck. Most competitive decks have around 30 trainers. The choice of trainers don't have staples such as Skyla, Prof. Sycamore/Juniper, Colress, Float Stone, Junk Arm, VS Seeker, Lysandre,

You do know that none of the cards you listed are legal in Standard, right? Given that Standard is the most played format IRL I doubt this was an oversight.

 

Other than than I'll have to agree with a lot of the points: the trainer set-up looks rather weak and it's difficult to see a clear line behind a lot of the choices.

Why only run a 2-2 Malamar line?

What's up with Miltank + MooMoo Milk?

Why are there so many 1-off supporter without Tapu Lele GX?

Where is Mysterious Treasure?

Potion?!?

22 Pokemon are way to much

 

The list could go on and on.

[wjcargill]

I appreciate the feedback but that is why we are turning to the forum community. If there are better cards or strategies to building this or any deck, how does he make those decisions? As I mentioned in my opening post, he is trying to learn more about deck synergies and card choices. If his approach is off-base, are there resources we can turn to for help? Thanks.

[Eiyaki]

I appreciate the feedback but that is why we are turning to the forum community. If there are better cards or strategies to building this or any deck, how does he make those decisions? As I mentioned in my opening post, he is trying to learn more about deck synergies and card choices. If his approach is off-base, are there resources we can turn to for help? Thanks.

One thing I recommend is research, research, research. I suggest he learns how to trade according to ou7c4st's card price guide (they are only guidelines, btw), using pkmncard's card lookup function, and updating decks often.

 

You do know that none of the cards you listed are legal in Standard, right? Given that Standard is the most played format IRL I doubt this was an oversight.

Yes, I did forget about Standard legality. I usually play Expanded with all the good XY base set trainers.

[BowserLuigi]

Toxapex GX is a lot worse than Espeon GX btw. Just sayin'. That aside

 

I appreciate the feedback but that is why we are turning to the forum community. If there are better cards or strategies to building this or any deck, how does he make those decisions? As I mentioned in my opening post, he is trying to learn more about deck synergies and card choices. If his approach is off-base, are there resources we can turn to for help? Thanks.

You can try looking online (yewtube, limitlesstcg etc) for some decklists from tourney players and get a rough idea. Learning how to create a (viable) deck from scratch may be daunting for new players. There are a few guides here in this forum that will help as well. It doesn't help that the majority of PTCG cards are utterly useless and no amount of synergy can make them shine.

 

Play the game long enough and sooner or later your son can spot card synergies on his own.

[Felidae_]

As I said in another thread today:

 

If you want to play in a local tournament the first thing I'd do is visit the event and talk to the other players, the store owner, judges ,etc. The community is very friendly (based on the few IRL encounters I had here in Germany) and I'm sure they can ease your sons way into the competitive scene.

 

In terms of resources it honestly depends on your back ground knowledge. A certain “fail safe” approach is certainly to simply copy&paste a winning deck from a recent tournament and then work from there. Just looking at those decks should give you a good idea how a consistent competitive deck is structured.