Good Decks & Cards for a Returning player ?

[ChawkyV]

i haven't played since the first Sun & Moon booster so i have no idea about the meta and current best decks, so any help is appreciated.

Also i noticed most trading shops have closed, so where do we know card prices right now ?

[harshu]

1 hour ago, ChawkyV said:

i haven't played since the first Sun & Moon booster so i have no idea about the meta and current best decks, so any help is appreciated.

Also i noticed most trading shops have closed, so where do we know card prices right now ?

Hi ChawkyV, nice to see you back again. it has been a long time. I hope you have been well

 

Card prices are harder to track since companies have closed. But the old method of searching and averaging out 3-4 trade from both (Buying and selling) should give you a very accurate idea. If you require help with some cards private message me, I might be able to price them for you

 

New Meta is very diverse and nice. Some of the following decks that I have seen are (they are not tier wise, but they are decent decks) -

1. Reshiram/Charizard TTGX/Volcanion (unbroken bonds) - Standard

2. Pikachu/Zekrom TTGX/Jirachi (Team up)/Zapdos/Tapu Koko Prism Star - Standard

3. Spiritomb (Unbroken Bond) with Hustle Belt and Rainbow energy - Standard

4. Rotom (Roto Motor Ability) with Compressors - Expanded

5. Night March/Flareon/Vespiqueen decks

6. Weezing/Tapu Koko Promo (SM30) with Spell tag and Shrine of Punishment - Standard

7. Buzzwole/Bats (like lando bats) - Expanded

8. Hitmonchan/Lucario-GX/Wobbuffet with Focus Sash - Expanded

9. Greninja/Zoroark TTGX/Darkrai-GX with Dark Patches and Max elixers - Expanded

10. Zoroark-GX variants - Expanded

11. Ultra-Necrozma GX/Malamar (Forbidden Light) - Standard

12. Zapdos/Jirachi & Zapdos/Jolteon-GX - Standard

 

I tried listing all I remembered. The newest sets from Team Up and Unbroken bonds have very nice cards. You should go for them

 

I hope it helps

 

[ChawkyV]

Thank you for the warm welcome my man, its been ages i hope you too are doing well

Well tbh i need to get used to it again and know which cards are good to ask for prices, but i'll keep that in mind
Also why did all card companies close ? and are any of the old players (back from 2015-2017) still active ?

Thank you for the list i'll give it a look

[harshu]

3 hours ago, ChawkyV said:

Thank you for the warm welcome my man, its been ages i hope you too are doing well

Well tbh i need to get used to it again and know which cards are good to ask for prices, but i'll keep that in mind
Also why did all card companies close ? and are any of the old players (back from 2015-2017) still active ?

Thank you for the list i'll give it a look

Most players have left the game. From what I saw, as I came back couple of months ago.. Old players leave and comeback.

Lordkieta still plays the game, so do a couple of old people. But most of my friends have gone inactive since long before and are yet to return.

 

All the companies closed because they simply couldn't play the game anylonger and since they all went inactive, no body was left to manage the companies hence they all closed down.

[Felidae_]

5 hours ago, ChawkyV said:

 are any of the old players (back from 2015-2017) still active ?
 

Nah, those old farts left a long time ago.

[ChawkyV]

22 minutes ago, Felidae_ said:

Nah, those old farts left a long time ago.

Well you're still here lmao
idk how i feel about that 

[Sakura150612]

On 6/26/2019 at 10:11 AM, ChawkyV said:

and are any of the old players (back from 2015-2017) still active ?

I'm still hanging around here too xd I've taken a few long breaks, but I always seem to come back in the end.

 

I'm just as clueless about the meta as you are though. Although I'm semi-active in the forums, I haven't actually played a single game in about 4 months. For some reason, I have more fun being around the forum than actually playing.

 

Anyways, welcome back

Edited June 27, 2019 by Sakura150612

[SuperStone]

Yo.  I think we overlapped a bit back in 2016.

 

Ou7c4ast is keeping a guide for game prices, which frankly people take too much at face value, as checking the market is still the best way to determine pricing.  It is, however, a very handy guide.  

 

I'll tabulate Harshu's mentions plus some of my own here, in a very rough tier order.  (Some info pulled from Limitless.)

Standard	Expanded
Pikarom	Reshizard
Reshizard	Pikarom
Zapdos & friends	Zoroark
Blacephalon	Vespiquen
Zoroark & Persian	Trevenant
Weezing spread	Seismitoad
Ultra Malamar (now w/Gengikyu)	Archie's Blastoise
Regigigas/hoopa stall	Zoroninja dark patch
LucaMelmetal stall	Rayquaza
Quagsire	Shock Lock
Shedinja control	Celesaur
little Blacephalon	Sableye control
Spiritomb (3 variants)	1 Mil. Non-GX anti-meta decks
Vikavolt/Rayquza	Malamar decks

There is of course a more tournament-based list at Limitless itself, but 1) it has many data from before Unbroken Bonds and 2) I want to rank them my way. 

[Felidae_]

On 6/26/2019 at 9:29 PM, ChawkyV said:

Well you're still here lmao
idk how i feel about that 

The amount of people who didn't get the joke is staggering :D.

 

Anyway, welcome back :).

 

Depending on your budget you can actually play a lot of the old preS&M era decks in Expanded and still do fine with little tweaks here and there.

[ChawkyV]

On 6/27/2019 at 11:51 PM, Sakura150612 said:

I'm still hanging around here too xd I've taken a few long breaks, but I always seem to come back in the end.

 

I'm just as clueless about the meta as you are though. Although I'm semi-active in the forums, I haven't actually played a single game in about 4 months. For some reason, I have more fun being around the forum than actually playing.

 

Anyways, welcome back

Oh hi i definitly do remember you
Tbh i havent touched the game or forums for over 18 months, but tbh the game is kinda dead atm ... but im trying to get used to it !
 

[ChawkyV]

1 hour ago, Felidae_ said:

The amount of people who didn't get the joke is staggering :D.

 

Anyway, welcome back :).

 

Depending on your budget you can actually play a lot of the old preS&M era decks in Expanded and still do fine with little tweaks here and there.

lol
well yeah i had a 100% collection completion at one point and i still have most of my old cards, but i gotta get some SM stuff because EXs and Megas are really outclassed by GXs and Tag Teams

[ChawkyV]

20 hours ago, SuperStone said:

Yo.  I think we overlapped a bit back in 2016.

 

Ou7c4ast is keeping a guide for game prices, which frankly people take too much at face value, as checking the market is still the best way to determine pricing.  It is, however, a very handy guide.  

 

 Oh yes i definitly remember you as well
yes i did check those guys and was shocked to see how much prices have tanked, espceilay Full Arts ..
Anyways thank you, that table was really helpful

[WingsofFire1014]

Hey bro! I am WingsofFire1014. You definently don't know me. I have only been around since August of 2018. I visit regularly and am happy to help whenever it is requested.

 

If you have been following Pokemon the Pokemon TCG for awhile, you will see with each Gen how the cards get gradually more and more powerful. OHKO's are more or less common now. I miss the days of B&W lol.

 

I have a what cards to invest in thread on this part of the forum. It tells you the best cards in standard, how many of each of them that you should have, and some more stuff. I also have a staple giveaway on there. It happens like every 3 weeks. You are welcomed to check it out if you like.

 

That's cool that you had a 100% collection! I wish to do that someday.

[ChawkyV]

23 minutes ago, WingsofFire1014 said:

Hey bro! I am WingsofFire1014. You definently don't know me. I have only been around since August of 2018. I visit regularly and am happy to help whenever it is requested.

Well hello, great to meet you
i will check your thread for sure
But tbh the current meta kinda confuses me, i stil play on Expanded with my old decks (Mega Mewtwo, Mega Rayquaza and even older decks like Exeggcute Weavile and Rayquaza Eelektrik)
even when i left, most of what i was focused on was my collection and trading, i was'nt that into actual playing, and i don't think i'll get back to it easy
Also i couldn't help but notice that there are a dozen of cards now banned .... back then it was only Lysandre's Trump Card, what happened ??

I am looking at some of the best Standard decks, but haven't decided on what cards to get

Oh thank you  i would definitly check it out, and thank you for your help

[WingsofFire1014]

Delinquent (Breakpoint)

 

Forest of Giant Plants (Ancient Origins)

 

 

Ghetsis (Plasma Freeze)

 

Hex Maniac (Ancient Origins)

 

Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick (Primal Clash)

 

Puzzle Of Time (Breakpoint)

 

Unown DAMAGE ability (Lost Thunder)

 

Wally (Roaring Skies)

 

Lusamine (Crimson Invasion)

 

All of these cards are banned in expanded. There are currently no banned cards in Standard of Unlimited. I am sure you were around when Archeops (Dark Explores) was banned. All of these cards were due to just OP or unbalance issues 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2019 by WingsofFire1014

[ChawkyV]

28 minutes ago, WingsofFire1014 said:

Delinquent (Breakpoint)

 

Forest of Giant Plants (Ancient Origins)

 

 

Ghetsis (Plasma Freeze)

 

Hex Maniac (Ancient Origins)

 

Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick (Primal Clash)

 

Puzzle Of Time (Breakpoint)

 

Unown HAND ability (Lost Thunder)

 

Wally (Roaring Skies)

 

Lusamine (Crimson Invasion)

 

All of these cards are banned in expanded. There are currently no banned cards in Standard of Unlimited. I am sure you were around when Archeops (Dark Explores) was banned. All of these cards were due to just OP or unbalance issues.

 

Yes but i find some cards a little weird being banned, idk no body ever used Maxie's Hidden trick for example lmao
and no back then the only banned card was Trump Card ... if i remember correctly
can you specify why these cards were banned ??

[SKBellmore]

13 hours ago, ChawkyV said:

Yes but i find some cards a little weird being banned, idk no body ever used Maxie's Hidden trick for example lmao
and no back then the only banned card was Trump Card ... if i remember correctly
can you specify why these cards were banned ??

Hey! I’m SKBellmore! I started here a few months ago. So we never met. I’ll explain the bans I can.

 

Delinquent-In Expanded, you could use Red Card or SLG Marshadow to put your opponent down to 4 cards, and then use Delinquent to put your opponent down to a one card hand. I’m not completely sure this is why though.

 

Forest Of Giant Plants-I believe you were around when NXD Shiftry was released, correct? Well with the ability in conjunction with FOGP, that could potentially be a T1 win. And people did take advantage of this.

 

Maxie’s Hidden Ball Trick-In Lost Thunder, a Kabutops and a Omastar had built-in Supporter-lock and Item-lock, respectively. The ability to put this straight on the board...

 

Puzzle of  Time  allowed Zoroark GX to use its Trade ability to get any two cards from the discard pile. With Zoroark being one of the most prominent cards/decks in the Expanded format, they decided to nerf Puzzle of Time, not Zoroark and Sky Field themselves.

 

Thats all I can think of for now.

 

Also @WingsofFire1014 Unown Damage was banned, not Unown Hand.

 

Edited June 29, 2019 by SKBellmore
Censorship

[Felidae_]

19 hours ago, ChawkyV said:

Yes but i find some cards a little weird being banned, idk no body ever used Maxie's Hidden trick for example lmao
and no back then the only banned card was Trump Card ... if i remember correctly
can you specify why these cards were banned ??

TPCI has a problem maintaining both Standard and Expanded at the same time.

 

Maxie's was banned to prevent players from being able to set-up an Omaster on turn 1 that prevents items from being played. Wally was banned for the same reason, as it allowed turn 1 Trevenant in Expanded.

Puzzle of Time, Ghetsis and Hex Maniac got banned, as Zoroak GX was dominating the format way too hard.

Lusamie would be way too deadly in Expanded, in conjunction with Lt. Surge, heavily benefiting various stall decks (i.e. Shock Lock and Wailord stall).

 

General speaking they are nowadays much more willing to ban cards, sometimes even before they can do any harm (Maxie has been banned a couple of weeks prior to the release of Omaster in Team Up, Unown: Damage has been banned, despite it having a single good tournament placement).

 

 

[ChawkyV]

Well thank you both for the clarification, the only one i actually understand is Forest of Giant Plants, because Shiftry was UNFAIR, fun .... but unfair
the others i still dont' get, i guess i had to be there

[SuperStone]

On 6/29/2019 at 7:22 PM, ChawkyV said:

Well thank you both for the clarification, the only one i actually understand is Forest of Giant Plants, because Shiftry was UNFAIR, fun .... but unfair
the others i still dont' get, i guess i had to be there

Well, shiftry really never was a problem outside of Unlimited, and it itself was banned there long prior to the Expanded bans.  With FoGP out, it has since been unbanned- though the format no longer exists.

 

An argument I've heard, which applies to all bans, is that they don't want restrictions on printing future cards.  As long as the Forest (my baby 😢) was around, any new grass type evolutions had to be kept fairly weak.  With Maxie around, new fighting types had to be kept balanced, and they couldn't do the kabutops and omastar.  Interestingly, they haven't banned Archie yet- that may come.  Most of the other cards limit the power of new trainer effects and pokemon abilities; they would have had to be really careful not to create and OP combo, and some already existed.

[ChawkyV]

On 7/3/2019 at 4:46 AM, SuperStone said:

Well, shiftry really never was a problem outside of Unlimited, and it itself was banned there long prior to the Expanded bans.  With FoGP out, it has since been unbanned- though the format no longer exists.

 

An argument I've heard, which applies to all bans, is that they don't want restrictions on printing future cards.  As long as the Forest (my baby 😢) was around, any new grass type evolutions had to be kept fairly weak.  With Maxie around, new fighting types had to be kept balanced, and they couldn't do the kabutops and omastar.  Interestingly, they haven't banned Archie yet- that may come.  Most of the other cards limit the power of new trainer effects and pokemon abilities; they would have had to be really careful not to create and OP combo, and some already existed.

I suppose the new Alolan Exeggutor Tag Team kida replaces FoGP to a degree

[Endre_Gaming]

On 6/26/2019 at 3:13 PM, Felidae_ said:

Nah, those old farts left a long time ago.

Hey... I still got my first eevee decks from Jungle...

[sunAndrew]

what about charizard roaring resolve decks?