I've recently gotten into Pokemon TCG first through the Classic collection then through TCG Live. I'm starting to understand the meta, but don't know anything about rotations or past metas. I bought the 4 championship decks for both 2022 and 2023 to play around the house with friends.

• 2023: Fusion Mew, Gardevoir, Lugia, Lost Zone Kyogre
• 2022: Fusion Mew, ADPZ, Urshifu/Inteleon, Ice Rider Calyrex

My question is:

Would it be fair/balanced/fun to play matches with a championship deck from 2022 against 2023 or does it make more sense to keep them separated?

I've recently gotten into Pokemon TCG first through the Classic collection then through TCG Live. I'm starting to understand the meta, but don't know anything about rotations or past metas. I bought the 4 championship decks for both 2022 and 2023 to play around the house with friends.

My question is:

Would it be fair/balanced/fun to play matches with a championship deck from 2022 against 2023 or does it make more sense to keep them separated?

Hi yall

I'm going to my first regionals in Toronto and I've been considering terapagos ex.

What is the reasoning for playing bouffalant? I know 60 damage is big but it's at the expense of running a thicker Duskull line and I feel like it makes terapagos more passive? Can someone explain the pros and cons of bouffalant in there?

Hi guys

I've been playing TCGL for a week or two now, and have only used Charizard ex up until now to get the hang of all the cards and how to "chain" Trainers in order to get them asap on the board, ready for action.

I did notice however that this deck relies way too much on Charizard ex and Pidgeot ex. If they don't get on the board within those 2 turns, stalling is an option against decks that require alot of set-up (eg Raging Moon ex), but against decks that work really fast (Goldengho ex), I feel like a sitting duck, getting beat slowly but surely.

There's also the problem of relying too much on Charizard ex' Ability to get Fire Energy. If I'm fighting against a deck that disables Abilities (eg Iron Thorns ex), it becomes very hard to gather the Energy required to start beating them up.

So, my questions are: 1) How do I get set up faster? 2) How do I get Energy in case of an emergency? 3) Is it even worth it to include these safeguards or should I simply accept I can't win every duel?

Deck List:

Pokémon: 10
2 Pidgey MEW 16
2 Charmander PAF 7
1 Charmeleon PAF 8
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
1 Rotom V LOR 177
1 Pidgeotto MEW 17
1 Radiant Charizard CRZ 20
2 Pidgeot ex OBF 164
1 Ho-Oh SSP 19 PH
2 Charizard ex OBF 125

Trainer: 19
1 Tera Orb SSP 189
1 Professor's Research CEL 23
1 Feather Ball ASR 141
1 Counter Catcher CIN 91
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
2 Switch EVO 88
2 Nest Ball SVI 181
1 Bravery Charm PAL 173
3 Boss's Orders PAL 172
4 Arven SVI 166
1 Great Ball PAL 183
1 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178
3 Super Rod PAL 188
1 Defiance Band SVI 169
2 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
2 Ultra Ball SVI 196
1 Cyrano SSP 230
4 Rare Candy SVI 191

Energy: 10
10 Basic {R} Energy EVO 92

Total Cards: 60

I've been playing with Ceruledge EX for some time, and the matchup against Lost Box Pikachu has proven to be incredibly challenging.

Are there any tech cards or strategies I could use to improve my performance in this matchup?

My decklist:

Pokémon: 8 1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 264 3 Ceruledge ex SSP 36 1 Origin Forme Palkia V ASR 39 1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 92 1 Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR ASR 40 1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46 1 Lumineon V CRZ-GG 39 4 Charcadet SSP 32

Trainer: 13 4 Ultra Ball SVI 196 1 Canceling Cologne ASR 136 3 Earthen Vessel PAR 163 1 Brilliant Blender SSP 164 2 Jamming Tower TWM 153 3 Night Stretcher SFA 61 1 Briar SCR 163 1 Roxanne ASR 150 1 Pal Pad SVI 182 4 Nest Ball SVI 181 2 Professor's Research SVI 189 3 Carmine TWM 145 2 Boss's Orders PAL 172

Energy: 4 5 Basic {W} Energy SVE 11 1 Jet Energy SSP 252 11 Basic {R} Energy SVE 10 2 Jet Energy PAL 190

Total Cards: 60

How do you guys deal with curved foils in your decks? In MTG I would never play with foils because they’d always curl and then technically that would make my deck be considered as having “marked cards” in it. But in Pokemon that’s unavoidable… and basically all of my foils are curled… Do people actually check deck “curled-ness” when half the deck is gonna be curled? Or is every tournament player at a regional just all using double sleeved cards / perfect inner sleeves?

I have been working on a Charizard deck that utilizes the Dusknoir ability. I think it has potential as every trade-off of kills increases Charizard's attack. You can potentially get a few Dusclops ready and use the night stretcher to evolve the second Dusknoir and hit for 130 again, that's strong enough to take down a lot of ex cards and potential to take 4 cards in one turn. Any suggestions on how to improve the deck?

Pokémon: 6

4 Charmander MEW 4

1 Charmeleon PAF 8

4 Duskull SFA 18

2 Dusclops SFA 19

3 Charizard ex OBF 125

3 Dusknoir SFA 20

Trainer: 17

2 Drayton SSP 232

2 Drayton SSP 244

1 Tera Orb SSP 189

1 Precious Trolley SSP 185

1 Night Stretcher SFA 61

1 Nest Ball SVI 181

2 Boss's Orders PAL 172

2 Iono PAL 185

3 Arven SVI 166

4 Great Ball PAL 183

1 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178

4 Super Rod PAL 188

1 Gapejaw Bog ASR 142

4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144

1 Ultra Ball SVI 196

2 Canceling Cologne ASR 136

4 Rare Candy SVI 191

Energy: 1

7 Basic {R} Energy SVE 2

I want to play with my wife at home and we both don't really know how to play. What are 2 or 3 (maybe a couple more?) decks we could play just against each other that are evenly matched and interesting to play? Ideally something cheap where I could get some foil cards and make them pretty, power level doesn't matter as long ad they can be played against each other.

Any ideas for the best way to do this? I'm fine buying singles from stores, or premade decks if they are fun. What would you do for a setup like this?

Not looking for bland and generic, but also don't want tons of complicated interactions and combos.

I see a lot of Ancient Box lists running a Cobalion from Silver Tempest. I get that it helps in a few matchups (Charizard, Mirrors, and Loyal 3), but that's about it. Is there another reason it's in there?

So my bf is getting into expanded and his favorite pokemon is emboar. He felt kinda bad that he couldn't find anyway to play emboar. I see that emboar has infernal fandango which seems like it should be able to break something to be playable. He's not expecting to be playing against super competitive people, it's more low stakes casual games so if anyone could help give me anything it could combo with well that would be really appreciated. I just don't know much about the modern tcg at all (I played back during gen 4) but I really want to help him make a deck he'll enjoy playing.

Many decks will be oriented around 2 prize pokemon, however if you are a 2 prize deck you'll be able to have 1 1 prize pokemon "for free" that if it gets knocked out your opponent effectively takes 0 prizes.

There's also a very small number of decks that mostly attack with 1 prize pokemon, (ex Driftloon in gardevoir) but those are outside the scope of this post.

To me the key factor that makes a 1 prize attacker good are.

1. Can it Ko relevant 2 prize pokemon? while it's rare to be ablet o one shot the main boss monsters of the format (unless you hit for weakness) the bench sitters are the main targets. Mew EX, Fezandipiti EX, Squwackabily EX, Lumineon V, Rotom V and teal mask Ogrepon EX are all relatively soft targets.

2. How easy is it to set up? A pokemon like Twilight masquerade Zapdos is pretty challenging with its 3 energy attack cost while obsidian flames thundurus only requires 2.

A pokemon's HP is mostly not a big concern, there are a few notable break points but even those don't matter much. The first is that if a pokemon has 60 HP or less you can get 1 shot by Dragapult, and the second major break point is having 130 or more HP to avoid getting 1 shot by dusknoir.

Ancient Pokemon (for Roaring Moon, Gouging fire and Raging bolt)

Baby Moon: A decent attacker baby moon however does struggle to hit relevant benchmarks on pokemon that are not Mew EX. It's a struggle for non ancient-box decks to get enough ancients in the discard pile to one shot squawkabilly EX.

Koradon Surging sparks : Easy to power up thanks to Sada's and can even leech on Double turbo energy sometimes. The awkward part about this card though is that if your opponent gusts around this card you would need to power up a second one to get the full damage again. of the 2 prize bench sitters it faisl to one shot Squawkabilly EX and Teal mask Ogrepon EX, but it mostly can combo with gust to get the others. One thing to note is that in specifically raging bolt you can power up the 2nd attack and use that to one shot fezandpiti EX and Rotom V. it also notably one shots Terapagos EX.

Slither wing paradox rift : One shots Fezandipiti EX, terapagos, and Rotom V, but unlike Koraidon misses out on Mew EX and Lumineon V. has the benefit of being able to one shot Pikachu EX, but also can't attack twice (Koraidon suffers from a more minor version of this issue overall).

Radiant Pokemon

Radiant Charizard Hitting for 250 means it basically won't KO most boss monster pokemon though it can defeat Raging bolts that lack bravery charms. Due to the nature of the way this card works it is much easier for people to Gust around this card to take the last 2 prizes. Though in spite of that issue many decks can use this card to great effect. Though it is much more reliant on gust effects than you'd expect for the big attack damage it does (in reality 250 damage feels basically the same as 210 damage in this format and 280 feels like a completely different ballgame from 250, Gouging fire can use munkidori to get over the hump but most gouging fire decks use radiant greninja for draw as far as I can tell).

Radiant Greninja A card that often is more about stopping setups than prize racing normally, this card is really good at generating multi turn Kos, though annoyingly Teal mask ogrepon is immune to bench damage but it's a 1 prizer that hits like a truck and can combo with other 1 prizers to take knockouts really quickly or can take multiple KOs on your opponent's weak 1 prizers.

Other assorted pokemon

Groudon Paradox Rift Searching for random janky 1 prizers led me on this little guy. His attack is basically bad Raging bolt BUT he does attack for fighting and is a 1 prizer. he could plausibly see play in some weird build of Lost box maybe as a way to hit fez, unfortunately he does fall just short of 280 to hit the one shotting Regidrago V star benchmark. It one shots all the things Surging Sparks Koraidon does and can also hit 240 by discarding an extra energy which one shots Teal mask Ogrepon EX, Squawkabilly EX and Regidrago V (sadly not lugia V)

Twilight Masquerade Zapdos Hits for 190, One shots Mew, Squawk, Lumineon, and Rotom, also by being lightning type it one shots Pidgeot EX and Lugia V star. Cool poke that sometimes sees play in lost box.

Thunderus Obsidian flames A lot like Zapdos, however it misses out on Mew EX and Rotom V. The Rotom V one is actually pretty significant against Dragapult. However by being easier to set up than Zapdos it sees some niche play in Miradon as a 1 prize attacker.

Pokemon that require a dedicated deck to them

Cinccino A good attacker that hits like a truck, the weird thing about cincinno in lugia is that getting your opponent in awkward prize maps rarely seems like the goal and instead you're just trying to hit like a truck and let your opponent gust around cincinno if they want.

Klawf A cute attacker it does require quite a bit of setup (DTE AND a Brute bonnet with a Capsule) to get going and doesn't hit the hardest, (180 after poison and DTE reduction) but it does one shot the same pokemon Koraidon has, and can attach binding mochi to one shot Teal mask Ogrepon EX. It's a cool attacker for sure but it's a pretty janky setup.

Something I guess worth noting is that lightning and fighting seem to be the best types for the "random 1 prizer" slot. and currently 1 prize pokemon seem limited to the "Boss KO your bench sitter" with notable rare exceptions. There are also the 1 prizers that don't one shot big things but I decided not to talk about them because they all feel the same you use them to poke your opponent's 1 prize pokemon and they fail to one shot big things but are annoying. Examples include Cramorant and Flutter Mane.

Hey everyone! I just started playing TCG about two weeks ago, it all started with the premade Gholdengo deck that was in my inventory. I tweaked that deck to mainly run psychic energy so I can use tulip to gain my energy back quickly and do one hit KOs. I’m still very new but wanted to see if there were any opportunity for improvement as I want to build this deck in real life for leagues. Especially with my trainer cards and if I should add any basic Pokémon that would help me. I made it to ranked master league with this deck, but had to eventually move to a snorlax stall deck to hit arceus status. I am still learning so I am grateful for any guidance or advice you have.

1 Mimikyu PAF 37

4 Gimmighoul SSP 97

1 Sandshrew MEW 27

4 Gholdengo ex PAR 139

Trainer: 16

2 Switch SVI 194

2 Canceling Cologne ASR 136

2 Jacq SVI 175

1 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144 PH

2 Earthen Vessel PAR 163

1 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144

2 Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking TEF 145

2 Night Stretcher SSP 251

2 Superior Energy Retrieval PAL 189

3 Lady LOR 159

4 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186

1 Roxanne ASR 150

4 Capturing Aroma SIT 153

3 Tulip PAR 181

1 Miracle Headset SSP 183

3 Boss's Orders PAL 172

Energy: 5 Basic {M} Energy Energy

10 Basic {P} Energy Energy

I keep looking at Iron Moth, and think "hot darn it, Jiminy, that's an awesome card." It may also be a card that no one has ever purposefully played (hyperbole), and I started wondering what other awesome cards did the game designers both hit AND miss on?

There are so many intro decks I want to play with, but sleeving every card would be a hassle, not to mention costly.

Hi guys, I want to buy some league battle decks to play casualy with my friends, not planning on doing upgrades and dont taking rotation in consideration. My only question is that they are balanced against each other (we are not playing with weakness and resistance). In my country, i can buy the following decks:

* Reshiram and charizard GX
* Pikachu and zekrom GX
* shadow and ice calyrex (they are sold as a kit, cant buy them separatedly)
* miraidon ex
* gardevoir ex
* palkia ex

So dont taking weakness and resistance in consideration, planning on buying up to 4 decks, what are your recomendations?

Good Afternoon,

I will be attending Regionals this weekend in Sacramento with my friend on Friday. Would it be possible to use his pass for my girlfriend on Saturday?

Will security be checking names on passes on Saturday? If so, how does that process work?

This will be my first Pokémon in-person event, and I really want to experience it with both of them.

Thank you for your time!

If you have a notebook or notesheet can you write down your prize cards after the initial deck check or after playing hisuian heavy ball? I read the official rulings for noting but to me it still wasn't clear if you can write down your prize cards. Imo it seems a bit unfair, but if it is allowed it would certainly help me.

I’ve seen Garde, Gardy, Gardie and Gardi and I don’t know which one to use. Can someone help?

I don’t have a deck yet but I have been buying lots of Pokémon cards mostly to collect but I would like to start playing the TCG. I’m very independent I find it hard to ask people for help and I’m stubborn in that I am reluctant to take peoples advice, I want to be able to say that when I succeed it’s because I did the heavy lifting. This translates across my life. When the new 2k comes out and the boys tell me to look up a YouTube video for a build I say no I’ll do it myself. Same with call of duty I stay away from the guns everyone uses and just try to build around my play style and the ones I enjoy using. In Pokémon pocket I don’t like using decks full of the cheesy EX Pokémon I find there will be more satisfaction if I win using a deck I built using Pokémon I see rarely used there. So when playing the TCG is it dominated by meta decks? Is it possible to find success with a deck that is outside of the meta? Would I really have a chance most of the time? Also if anyone has any good resources for doing just this and deck building in general I would appreciate them. Enlighten me.

I currently own the gard/zard league battle decks and enjoy playing them against each other with friends. I want to get a third deck, but I want one that has at least a fighting chance against the other decks. What do you guys think the best option would be, if any?

For me I’d personally pick Neo Genesis’ Cleffa and Feraligatr. The former for literally saving the game and the latter for creating a Tier 0 format (yes these both happened in the same set)

Getting into the game and playing on TCG live to sort of learn the meta, how it feels to play, etc etc and been using the Chien Pao EX deck and it feels really good to use. I've tried a couple of the other ones but they either feel clunky, very draw dependant, or I just don't like them. So I was wondering if the deck is actually really good or not.

On that note, if it is good, is the purchasable precon the same as the deck in TCGL? And is there a better deck that feels/plays in a similar fasion that's better? Thanks y'all

I’ve been looking online and I mostly only see acceleration of energy that’s from the discard. Is there any ramp that comes from the deck for any other types other than Miraidon? I’m looking for fire, water, grass and darkness type acceleration. Whether it’s Pokémon’s that do it or item cards.

Sorry if this has already been brought up. Gabriel F, who just won LAIC seniors wasn't running any stadiums. I was hoping someone can explain this to me.

I'm a new player, playing zard, getting singles and building out the new LBD that released. This was the first time i've seen this deck not run stadiums. Jackson F who took 5th in masters was running collapsed, jamming, and Sinnoh, as the opposite example.

Thanks all

Man i new to the archtype already getting spank by 330hp zard as i ran pickhachuSSP that does 300 dmg and discard all it enegy😢it gonna be zardsweep form then on anytips?

EDIT: (additional details) With the current trend of decks that are produced, there are Levels 1-2-3 for difficulty. So I thought… in tournaments or in any competition, is there a beginner category, mid level, and whatnot, or is it all just open for all?

EDIT 2: (preconceptions) I also thought that there’s a point system like in chess and there are rankings, too. LOL. I’m new to the game so I don’t know. I just have fun with it honestly and the only times I play are when I’m alone and hopefully when I introduce the game to my nieces.

Been playing gardevoir for a while as my first deck and having a great time, but I noticed nearly none of the recent LAIC lists for gardevoir play Manaphy, despite the best deck in the format, Regidrago, being able to snipe your bench with Kyurem, which will oneshot nearly every bench pokemon that gardevoir plays, so I’m quite confused why many are opting to cut it

Hi everyone,

I hope it is not the 1000th time this has been debated here. I came back to playing Pokemon TCG after almost 25 years. Back in the days I thought the TCG was missing some speed and felt very static. So after my first experiences in summer I was surprised but happy to see how the game evolved. I played some bought level 2 decks and started to play online. At first it was really fun. After a while I noticed that sometimes the game is maybe a bit to fast. Sometimes I get knocked out after one or two turns.

• Lost to Raging Bolt in Round 1 (1) after my 200 HP Zapdos was defeated.
• Lost to Dragapult in Round 2 due to k.o. on the bench. Didn’t even get the chance to develop my pokemon

Really frustrating sometimes.

Maybe I’m just a bad player who builds max average decks. There are some cool cards like venausur ex that doesn’t make sense to be played since the energy prices are to high and unlike Charizard you don’t have the ability.

I still like the game, so I don’t want to complain to much. Are their any thoughts on that? So just build a raging bolt deck and go for it?

It was wild to me when I first learned that there's loads of people who don't really play the games, or watch the anime, but LOVES the card game, and just now I got curious. like, from the perspective of the card game, which is y'all's favorite? Is it from a specific point in the meta? Is it a piece of art that just resonated with you? Is it a "type" of card? honestly I've always loved the Supporter cards that were just random trainers or minor npc's. News Reporter, Delinquent, Channeler. ALSO any of Bill's cards?? (he's just really cute)

So I've been wanting to attend my local tournament and participate in their Gym Leader Challenge tournament as my first time playing competitively. I just recently got back into the tcg and have some random cards lying around and tried my best to find the best pokemon and supporters I could find, and built the best deck I could find. Here is the current deck:

Pokémon: 21

1 Pawmi PAL 74

1 Pawmo PAL 75

1 Pawmot SVI 76

1 Mareep CL 63

1 Flaaffy EVS 55

1 Tynamo FST 95

1 Eelektrik NVI 40

1 Eelektross VIV 59

1 Shinx FST 91

1 Luxio FST 92

1 Luxray FST 93

1 Yamper SSH 74

1 Boltund SSH 76

1 Blitzle VIV 53

1 Zebstrika VIV 54

1 Electabuzz SCR 46

1 Electivire SCR 47

1 Zapdos TWM 65

1 Miraidon SVI 80

1 Zeraora SCR 55

1 Zekrom BWP 5

Trainer: 20

1 Professor's Research PAF 87

1 Boss's Orders PAL 172

1 Jacq SVI 175

1 Youngster SVI 198

1 Judge SVI 176

1 Sonia CPA 65

1 Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171

1 Roxie CEC 205

1 Evosoda GEN 62

1 Nest Ball PAF 84

1 Ultra Ball PAF 91

1 Professor's Letter BKT 146

1 Super Rod PAL 188

1 Switch SVI 194

1 Pokémon Catcher CRZ 138

1 Electric Generator PAF 79

1 Pal Pad SVI 182

1 Earthen Vessel PAR 163

1 Bravery Charm PAL 173

1 Pokémon Center NXD 90

Energy: 19

19 Lightning Energy SVE 4

My main gameplan would be to have heavy attackers and the more bulkier pokemon to tank hits and discard energies, and have flaaffy and eelektrik accelerate energies from the discard. I recognize that there are a lot too many pokemon in this deck and was wondering which ones would be the best to keep, and if I were to buy some sort of pokemon product to improve this deck, which ones to buy.

If someone could help me, I would greatly appreciate it!