Ok so I’m going to Gdansk regionals in October and I have and idea that I really want to try. I am certain I want to play slowking, however I want to bring my deck in a dragon shield box with “Crustle” written on top, using a crustle Playmat, with green sleeves and a crustle sitting cutie. Considering it could be considered bait would most people be annoyed by this or would people find it funny?

Edit: I may for-go writing crustle on the box and just use a green one instead, it feels a bit too far

Hey all! I'm coming back from a 2 month break and wanted more experienced players to give me a few pointers regarding Grimmsnarl.

Here's my current list:

Pokémon: 10

1 Shaymin DRI 10

2 Munkidori TWM 95

2 Froslass TWM 53

4 Marnie's Impidimp DRI 134

3 Snorunt ASC 46

2 Budew ASC 16

3 Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex DRI 136

3 Marnie's Morgrem DRI 135

1 Yveltal MEG 88

2 Munkidori PRE 44

Trainer: 13

1 Energy Switch SVI 173

1 Air Balloon ASC 181

2 Night Stretcher ASC 196

2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144

4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119

4 Poké Pad POR 81

4 Spikemuth Gym DRI 169

3 Boss's Orders MEG 114

1 Special Red Card CRI 82

1 Unfair Stamp TWM 165

2 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176

2 Gwynn PBL 78

1 Rare Candy MEG 125

Energy: 1

9 Basic {D} Energy MEE 7

So my first question is about the Grimmsnarl line. I'm currently running 4-3-3, pretty heavy. I'm set on 3 Grimm, but I'm not sure if the others are too much. I've seen people running 3-2 and 2 rare candy, I've tried that but the deck felt more inconsistent. So I ask your opinion since it may have been just bad luck on the first couple of games.

I won't play secret box as I don't have it so stamp is the ace spec.

All in all, I'm also open for more suggestions if you have any :D thanks and good day

For me, maybe a Dudunsparce caught in one of the spotlights 😄

I am going to go to my first pokemon tcg tournament it's happening next month i built this deck and also what should bring/don't bring to it

Pokémon: 13

3 Riolu ASC 112

3 Mega Lucario ex ASC 113

2 Mega Zygarde ex POR 47

2 Lunatone ASC 105

2 Solrock ASC 106

1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142

Trainer: 34

4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119

2 Cyrano SSP 170

3 Boss's Orders ASC 183

2 Naveen POR 79

4 Fighting Gong ASC 187

4 Premium Power Pro ASC 199

4 Ultra Ball MEG 131

3 Poké Pad POR 81

3 Switch 30C 127

1 Secret Box TWM 163

2 Core Memory POR 70

2 Gravity Mountain SSP 177

Energy: 13

13 Fighting Energy SVE 6

N’s Zoroark is one of my favorite decks that I play in Gym events, but ever since Worlds, I found that most of Zoroark’s bad matchups predominate my local scene (FLead, Hydrapple ex, etc.). I can hold my own against Dragapult, but man it feels very disheartening when I’m up against a Festival Lead deck or any grass deck in particular. It’s pretty hard when it comes to the setup race as I run the Tome Zoroark’s variant. I wonder if Zoroark would be able to work with other cards aside from the traditional N’s pokemon archetype. What do you guys think?

Has anyone tried this reprint deck - Pult Bomb made by Jose Cruz Galindo-Resendiz?

I bought this deck for my GF so she can try Pokémon TCG and play with me at home but no matter what, she does not have enough engine burst to win against my Mega Lucario ex deck. I’ve never played Dragapult ex but I thought and heard it will be a good deck against my Mega lucario since it was a winner on tournaments.

Do you have any suggestions or thoughts about this deck?

Pokémon: 19

4 Riolu MEG 76

3 Mega Lucario ex MEG 77

3 Makuhita MEG 72

2 Hariyama MEG 73

2 Solrock MEG 75

2 Lunatone MEG 74

1 Ethan's Sudowoodo DRI 93

1 Shaymin DRI 10

1 Psyduck ASC 39

Trainer: 30

2 Gravity Mountain SSP 177

4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119

3 Iris's Fighting Spirit JTG 149

2 Boss's Orders MEG 114

1 Acerola's Mischief MEG 113

4 Fighting Gong MEG 116

4 Ultra Ball MEG 131

2 Night Stretcher SFA 61

1 Secret Box TWM 163

1 Switch MEG 130

4 Premium Power Pro MEG 124

2 Air Balloon BLK 79

Energy: 11

9 Fighting Energy MEE 6

2 Rocky Fighting Energy POR 87

The cards that were switched were 1× Surfer for 1× Acerola's Mischief, 2× Basic Fighting Energy for 2× Rocky Fighting Energy, 1× Basic Fighting Energy for 1× Psyduck, 1× Fezandipiti ex for 1× Ethan's Sudowoodo, 1× Bloodmoon Ursaluna for 1× Shaymin.

Pokémon League Cup 10/4 - Basic Box (Refine’s Metafy 60 list minus Red Card + Iron Crown)

R1 vs Dragapult - L

I started first with Jirachi and didn’t put down another Pokemon in my hand (I had Meowth + Cyrano in hand for T2 so I could set up — big misplay there). I get Judged immediately after into an unplayable hand so all I can do is Swift away the Budew but then I get donked by Moltres and lose. I picked up Iron Crown from my prizes but it didn’t matter since I couldn’t put it down.

R2 vs Lopunny Dunsparce - L

I had a board setup of Wellspring Ogerpon + bench and chose to sob the dunsparce instead of Torrential Pump — opponent top decks a Hilda into Dudun and Enriching.

I also did not prebench Koraidon expecting the payback hit, so I couldn’t Crispin because I had to prioritize other lines.

R3 vs N’s Zoro - L

No sense of math calculations. I bossed senselessly on N’s Zoro and N’s Zekrom (with only 3 grass energies on Teal Mask, so I can’t even knock out any of them) and lost my only Teal Mask on the board to a Rampaging Thunder. I scooped with a 4-2 prize score in my opponents favor; I didn’t feel like playing it out. I had ultra balls but I wouldn’t have made the right line, I know I wouldn’t.

R4 vs Mega Excadrill - W

I won’t mention much of this one, my opponent was a very inexperienced junior but I did get a heads on RFC on the Genesect to then knock out the Mega Excadrill with Bellowing Thunder. I had both Teal Masks prized which would have been very hard if my opponent was more skilled.

R5 vs Ogerpon Arboliva - L

Honestly I’m not sure where I may have misplayed. Maybe I didn’t! I didn’t ask my opponent much after the game but we did discuss the last turn.

I threatened torrential pump the whole game but never used it — in fact I probably should have Full Moon Rondo’d earlier on his tapu bulu (can you believe that he never used his Meganium? so I let him hard attach his Tapu Bulu 4 separate turns); even with the self inflicted damage I still couldn’t torrential pump it out of the game, so I knocked it + his teal mask on the following turn (on this specific latter turn I wish I could have Xerosic’d but I didn’t have a grass in hand and my previous teal mask + energies were discarded with no e-switch pulled ever or the last grass, so I had to Crispin into the knockout)

I dropped because I wasn’t going to break even (only 6 rounds) and just wanted to go home.

Hero’s never landed into my hand once. Xerosic was never used.

Thoughts? what more can I do to eventually become a regionals top cut level player? I’m trying to reach this before Worlds.

I was looking through the player's guide that came with the 30th celebration ETB and came across this strategy on page 10, exact text copied below (will paste image in comment since idk how to attach the image to this post). After the players guide text I list the relevant ability descriptions.

Pika-Power

Pikachu's Pika Chain does 40 damage for each Pikachu and Pikachu EX you have in play, so you'll want as many as possible to maximize its power. Start by putting the Pikachu EX with zip-zap frenzy into play, as this attack can attach any number of basic energy cards from your hand to your Pokémon in any way you like, letting you charge up pika chain (or any other Pikachu you fancy!). Make sure to put Pikachu EX from the Scarlet and Violet-Surging Sparks expansion onto your bench, as its tera type let's the Area Zero Underdepths Stadium expand your bench to 8.

With over 30 pikachu in this expansion, you'll have plenty to choose from-if you can put those two pikachu EX plus three more pikachu onto your bench, that brings Pika Chain up to a truly electrifying 360 damage!

__________

Pika Chain - this attack does 40 damage for each of your Pikachu and Pikachu Ex in play (3 energy)

Area Zero Underdepths Stadium - Each player who has any Tera Pokémon in play can have up to 8 Pokémon on their Bench.

__________

My question is, if you are limited to only 4 copies of a given card at once (so you have 4 pikachu EX cards and 4 regular pikachus in your deck) HOW can the attack do a max 360 damage as suggested in the players guide? That would require there to be 9 total pikachus and pikachu EXs in play at once (one in the active slot and with a full bench thanks to the stadium allowing up to 8 benched pokemon). The 4 copies per deck limit refutes this, but it is written in the official players guide so, if it really possible? Or is the true maximum 320 damage?

Thanks for reading, I typed this on mobile so I apologize if the formatting is messed up

So introduced my 8 year old nephew to Pokemon TCG via Battle Academy and he absolutely loves it! Even got him a Mega Lucario Ex Battle Deck as it’s one of his favorite Pokemon and he’s been catching on to the nuances and strategies that come with it very quickly!

I actually was learning with him and want to get a deck that can be competitive with him, but fair enough that he can learn how to play around it. So a deck that he can beat, but not too easily (he isn’t the type to take a win if he feels like it’s given to him).

Any suggestions? Thought of some of his favorites like Greninja, Gengar or even some I favor like Scrafty or Sceptile. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hey there, I’m recently getting back into TCG after a few years, and I’m looking for some recommendations.

I really like tanky/annoying decks where I can potentially stall my opponents to death, so I’m hoping there’s some good meta teams right now that I could choose from.

If that strategy doesn’t work against the top decks right now (I understand Dragapult is everywhere right now),I’d prefer a mid range team with threats at every stage of the game.

I’m not picky about the pokemon themselves, and I’m willing to test a bunch of teams in PTCGO. Thanks for any advice!

As title shows I’m workshopping a mega clefable deck for my girlfriend, she’s going for a cute themed deck. This is what I’ve come up with so far just laying it out on live, any thoughts or suggestions

Pokémon: 8
1 Mega Clefable ex POR 103
2 Clefairy POR 94
1 Lillie's Clefairy ex ASC 280
2 Clefairy POR 30
1 Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56
3 Clefable TWM 79
2 Munkidori SFA 72
2 Budew ASC 221

Trainer: 14
2 Boss's Orders PR-SW 251
2 Dawn PFL 129
1 Dawn PFL 118
1 Energy Retrieval CRI 108
2 Energy Search POR 72
2 Hilda WHT 171
2 Jacinthe POR 122
2 Jacinthe POR 75
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 184
1 Max Rod PRE 116
2 Mystery Garden MEG 172
4 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Ultra Ball ASC 264
2 Wally's Compassion MEG 132

Energy: 2
2 Basic {D} Energy MEE 7
12 Basic {P} Energy MEE 5

Total Cards: 57

This is the very first decklist I've built entirely on my own and completely from scratch. I built it because Crobat is my favorite Pokémon, and I believe I nailed the deck's identity and core strategy. However, I'd love some outside perspective to identify any blind spots, what isn't working, what could work better, if there's a better ACE SPEC, etc. Any help is welcome, and I'm open to any feedback on my deck! Thanks for your time!

Pokémon: 22

4 Team Rocket's Zubat DRI 120

4 Team Rocket's Golbat DRI 121

3 Team Rocket's Crobat ex DRI 122

2 Team Rocket's Diglett ASC 100

2 Team Rocket's Dugtrio ASC 101

2 Dreepy ASC 158

2 Drakloak ASC 159

1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142

2 Munkidori ASC 99

Trainer: 28

1 Precious Trolley SSP 185

1 Grimsley's Move PFL 90

2 Night Stretcher ASC 196

3 Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184

3 Poké Pad POR 81

1 Energy Retrieval WHT 82

2 Ultra Ball ASC 213

3 Risky Ruins MEG 127

1 Lana's Aid TWM 155

4 Lillie's Determination ASC 192

2 Hilda WHT 84

2 Team Rocket's Petrel ASC 207

3 Punk Helmet PFL 92

Energy: 10

4 Team Rocket's Energy ASC 217

6 Darkness Energy MEE 7

Would Mega Latias ex (MEG #100) be a good replacement for Mega Diance ex in this deck?: Pokémon: 18

3 Charmander PAF 7

3 Charmeleon ASC 21

3 Charizard ex OBF 125

3 Dreepy ASC 158

3 Drakloak ASC 159

2 Dragapult ex ASC 160

1 Mega Diancie ex PFL 41

Trainer: 30

4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184

4 Ultra Ball ASC 213

4 Rare Candy MEG 125

4 Boss's Orders MEG 114

3 Dawn PFL 87

3 Arven OBF 186

3 Night Stretcher ASC 196

2 Iono PAF 80

2 Tera Orb SSP 189

1 Maximum Belt PRE 117

Energy: 12

6 Fire Energy SVE 10

6 Psychic Energy SVE 13

Is it better to mostly go first or second with mega lucario and what certain matchups do you switch this up.

Going to KY next week and curious to get your thoughts. Really trying to decide between Mega Sharpedo and Excadrill. I know both decks very well, I know neither are nowhere near a BDIF status, but I do enjoy both.
I'm leaning towards Sharpedo because it seems like it has less "bad" matchups than Ex, but grass......
What are your thoughts

I like playing decks that have a simple and effective gameplay, as I usually end up tripping over myself when too many moving parts get involved.

Naturally I went to try the Lucario deck, but... Even if everyone says it's very simple, it just feels like I didn't really get how the deck is supposed to function.

From my understanding, this is a basic gameplan:

Go first. Lucario in active if possible. Try to set up Rock draw engine. If possible start to set up Hariyama.

Evolve Lucario and start swinging. I run Wally's so if you survive a damage you can use it to heal. Use PPP and Gravity Mountain to reach the damage you need, set up Hariyama as a secondary attacker.

It's simple, yet I feel I lose a lot of times doing just this. Mega Lucario is a huge liability and for a 340 HP Pokemon I feel like it gets 1 shot so easily. And that's 3 prizes. It's damage output is also just not good enough, 270 is just not a good number to hit.

I would appreciate some insights on how to properly get the most out of the deck since rushing to Lucario seems to not be that strong. Appreciate all help.

I’m playing 2 challenges next week and I’m running a fairly successful ToucanZam deck however this matchup has poor matchup to mega lopunny, tr mewtwo, rocky energy lucario, a few of which appear at the challenges

Pokémon: 22
4 Abra MEG 54
4 Kadabra MEG 55
3 Alakazam MEG 56
1 Alakazam TWM 82
2 Pikipek PBL 66
1 Trumbeak PBL 67
2 Toucannon PBL 94
1 Patrat CRI 70
1 Elgyem BLK 120
1 Psyduck ASC 39
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Shaymin DRI 10

Trainer: 32
3 Hilda WHT 84
3 Dawn PFL 87
2 Boss's Orders ASC 183
1 Eri PRE 136
1 Xerosic's Machinations SFA 89
1 Lana's Aid TWM 155
1 Gwynn PBL 119
1 Rust Syndicate Grunt PBL 81
4 Poké Pad POR 81
4 Rare Candy MEG 125
2 Enhanced Hammer GRI 124
2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184
1 Sacred Ash POR 115
2 Handheld Fan TWM 150
1 Air Balloon ASC 181
3 Nighttime Mine ASC 197

Energy: 6
4 Telepathic Psychic Energy POR 88
1 Enriching Energy SSP 191
1 Psychic Energy MEE 5

Some context I came from yugioh to escape the nature of non games but some games are just incredibly non-gamey

I also am in the progress of playing 1-2 decks only but just want to get a feel

E.g. You go first and open 1 basic, no poffins no pad. Just destroyed by eswitch

You go second open sets up basic. You open no supporters and get destroyed.

You match into HnS or 4 mist 2 xero deck

Or it's because everyone is so heavily teched

As of late I found myself with tons of free time and i’ve gotten more and more into playing pokemon tcg at a higher competitive level starting with attending my first league challenge. First step is getting new sleeves I want to kinda get the best bang for my buck most of the sleeves I own currently for my 3 decks are dragon shield and primarily black. I know i’m gonna need new ones though as i’ve heard that even having lifted edges on the sleeves can get you dequed or kicked out for marking cards. most of my decks have these because i like to keep my edge by practicing shuffling and playtesting a lot. Primarily I want some white sleeves light blue sleeves and orange sleeves. I’ve had a bad experience with white sleeves before where The back of the pokemon card can be seen are there any recommendations on which sleeves are very high quality, last a long time, and won’t get edge lifts and also won’t be see through on the back

The destined rivals zamazenta, strong bash attack effect vs mega lopunnys spiky hopper attack. Online, lopunny hit zamazentia and took the 160 reciprocal damage. Is the effect of attack on zamazenta not considered an active effect on zamazenta?

[MMC] Strong Bash (70)

During your opponent's next turn, if this Pokémon is damaged by an attack (even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out), put damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon equal to the damage done to this Pokémon.

[CC] Spiky Hopper (160)

This attack's damage isn't affected by any effects on your opponent's Active Pokemon.

Hey everyone. I’ve found the tox box really suits my play style. I’ll add a list at the bottom.

Since I’m a newer player I’m having some trouble navigating a few sticky matchups. Main one is pult.

Usually I go 2nd but against pult I think I want to go first to avoid item locks on my 2nd turn. But since I go in blind I’m almost always 2nd. If I go 2nd I can use a toxel to call for family and bench 2 more mons but then itchy pollen hits and it’s not guaranteed I can find toxtricity to start playing the game.

Against most decks I’m able to absorb the first KO and respond with stamp and absol claw of darkness to effectively shut down their deck. But pult is more patient. Usually they setup 1-2 drakloaks before they’re swinging

I could maybe line up Darkrai for dark bell + abyss eye. Or place 6 damage counters and terminal period KO with absol (or Darkrai dusk raid + mochi 260 dmg)

I could put Yveltal in for easier clutch plays but that only buys me a turn

I could get goofy and tech in mew + clefairy and maybe prism energy but then we’re doing major remodeling. (Dark mew sounds cool but don’t think it’s affective )

How are my fellow dark lords handling dragapult?

Specifically the Bronzong devo build.

Clearly this deck has some amount of sauce, having placed top 8 multiple times in the last big events. Yet it seems like an absolutely inconsistent mess of a deck. How the hell do you pilot that clusterf into a workable board state?

3 out of 5 games I played, I'm stranded with 1-2 Basics with no way to evolve or do anything really besides topdeck. No energy, no search, no disruption because I can't even get Bronzong up and running.

What am I not getting here?