Popsicle Edition>I want to learn the game, where do I begin?Download PTCGL at https://tcg.pokemon.com/en-us/tcglThe game has a quick tutorial and a bunch of decent decks to get you started against other beginners or against the AI. Some of those decks are very close to meta too. You can also go to your local game store and see if people are playing Pokémon.>I know how to play, how do I make my own deck?You have a decent beginner's guide at https://www.justinbasil.com/guideThere's also the old /tcg/ guide at https://imgur.com/a/W4NkOu6After that, look up meta decks and try to reverse engineer them to see how things work.>Where to find meta decks?For big irl events, go to https://limitlesstcg.com/decksFor online events, go to https://play.limitlesstcg.com/decks?game=PTCGFor japanese events, go to https://pokecabook.com/archives/1417Previous thread: >>57250898Old /tcg/ pastebin: https://pastebin.com/Ge95YuMA
>>57280804First for Maractus a cute!
>N is a huge flop>Hop is very, very mid>Clef/Terapagos is mid too>Iono even bigger flop>biggest impact of Journey Together is the Clefairy tech into DragapultI am wondering what those Clef/Terapagos lists are because I figured Energy Switch Terapagos to be better with a mon that can actually kill Pult and Bolt. Surely they're using Ogerpon and Trumpets, right?
>>57281082Now watch Ethan's Pichu somehow be the most annoying fuck on earth we wish was never printed
>>57281082Actually I am wrong, Iono's data is being packed in with Raging Bolt. People are playing Bolt with a BelliWattrel engine which actually seems a bit interesting. I'll give it a try when the set drops.
>>57281082What did I tell people, that hop is [not] futurebox levels of clunk modifiers The people saying he'd be good genuinely have never played futurebox
>The use of sleeves with any form of pattern or artwork on the back of the sleeve is strictly prohibited at all Premier Events, unless the sleeve is an official Pokémon sleeve, where the color along all four edges of the sleeve is identical.I've already spent so much on anime girl sleeves...
>>57282303If you've already gone this far, what's a bit more on some foot slut sleeves.
>>57282310Thanks anon. Any more recs or even just a database of all the official Pokemon sleeves? The Lillie ones look nice but so pricy.
>>57282352how would u rank the sets so far
I do not understand why anyone was hyping N. Darm is not Radiant Gren and that's the only attack in his arsenal that's not abysmal. Did everyone just fundamentally forget what made Zoroark GX and Mew VMAX actually good or something?
Go down already.
>>57282505atleast it isn’t 20 dollars
>>57282411I only really saw hop hype, and he flopped tooN lost all hype once they revealed how shit klinklang was. The only hope for him and others like lillie and iono now are gym promos. They've already made one for hop so these trainer archetypes MIGHT get more support in future sets/promos
>>57282536Iono is a Bolt variant and Lillie's Clefairy is being teched into everything, those two are actually fine.
>>57282536One of these days, Klinklang will get a good card. Hopefully a mega Klinklang in ZA.
>>57282548N's zoroark is gonna be used everywhere anyway if you count them being used in other archetypes. Hop's dubwool is only going to be used by other decks also so hey at least each trainer has 1 universal good card.. haha.. even if all their own archetypes are trash..
>>57281082I don't care if N is a flop, Zoroark is my nigga and I'll play that deck just to replace my rotating Hisuian Zoroarks
>>57282505budew battle league deck when.
>>57282505I thought there'd be an infinite number of them because of normies opening the set, but it looks like they're all hoarding ETB's to keep sealed for the next 20 years. I thought Pokemon collectors were bad enough, I never imagined Pokemon "investors" would somehow be worse.
You niggas are complaining about a $2 card?
>>57282966A little yeah, basically what >>57282959 is saying.Physical market being ass meaning a slightly meta common is $2 is pretty concerning. the pokeinvestor bubble cannot crash soon enough
>>57282966It's a fucking common
>>57282966It's a common. It should be 20 cents at most. I want to buy 20 of them.
>I think I will get into Pokemon cards. What could go wrong?
>>57282977Back in my day, we paid $25 for an uncommon Holon Transciever and we liked it.
Just buy a pack lol
Down with budew!
For those living in canada where do you guys buy cards from? Every small hobby store sold out already or is asking 200+ for etbs, big box stores get raided by smelly jeets and Arabs, online is full of bots. Is there a retail chain that would carry them that jeets haven't found out about? Maybe bath and body works since they don't shower?
>>57282966hell I bought 2 budews and paid a dollar for each of them and I still feel ripped offthis should have been a 5 cent card at best
>>57283134>not attacking it directlyThis little guy can even snipe him on the bench
I'm so fucking glad these fuckers will go extinct soon.
>>57283930anon they already have, I haven't seen lost box since like summer of last yearI'll be happy to see greninga go for sure
>>57283930Lost Box is irrelevant compared to what Lugia's going to be for the next two and a half months.
>>57284387This
Area Cuck
>>57280902BASED
>>57282352there's no single list, but bulbapedia has a complete list of all merchandise released ever by generationhttps://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Sun_&_Moon_TCG_Era_merchandisescroll to the bottom table to see from other gens/languagesposting SnM link as it has the most waifu shit iirc, not a waifufag myself
>>57283134>>57283882how viable would a baby-only deck be?
>>57284986Impossible. ...But pair it with Sudden Transformation Ditto and put some OP basics in the mix it might just be horrible.
>>57285102I was thinking having classics like fez or bloodmoon but still thinking how I would make the baby part work
I wanted to get into pokemon tcg, but holy fuck these packs are expensive af.
>>57285304Buy singles?
>>57285304Singles are dirt cheap since collectors don't care about regular versions.
>>57285336>>57285350Where I live, I can only buy them in those 100 bulk packs, but the card's quality is horrible.Rubberband to hold the cards together, thrown into a box etc.
>>57285373are you able to use the sim PTCGL?
>>57285373Jesus Christ, where do you live?
>>57285373what?go to your stores and check out other player's folders for singlesbuy a zard league battle deck to get started with main staplescheck your local tcg FB groups to buy pre-made decks or singlesget on your country's equivalent ebay/craiglist site and check for singles/decksit ain't that hard anon
Do wall decks like Milotic/Cornerpon get the same bad rep for playing them as control or stall (blocklax)?
>>57286137There's obviously distaste for decks that aim to deny your opponent. but compare to actual control/stall milotic isn't really any different to something like h-goodra. You're still a deck that's attacking to get prize cards like everyone else. It's counterable as they often leave themselves with a lone pokemon on board to prevent gust winning, this means if you can counter it you can win instantly. Much like mimikyu now, if you don't respect said abilities existing that's on you. Post rotation milotic seems really good and no cologne means people will have to bring more options, so just watch people start complaining about it
>>57286137I only hate the players, not the decks. I've met a couple of snorlax players who play quickly and accept defeat, but many more are literally only in it to tie if they can force it on time. Control players and wall players are the same. The games take longer and if they are normal players who are interested in winning I do not care. Unfortunately those decks attract the same kind of retards who slow play the moment it doesn't look good for them, because ultimately they aren't there to win, but to cause others to seethe.
https://x.com/Benini_N_07/status/1883050204066422788
>>57286196>>57286259There aren't many control/stall/wall players in my local area so I can't tell if that's how people would play here, I was kind of hoping to do the same but flipped at my local cup next week. Take milotic/noivern/cornerpon, slap the appropriate one down, and if they happen to have the out I'll play it out and see if I can use up their colognes, if not, I'd hope they would realise "oh shit, my charizards cant attack you" and then scoop, instead of dragging the game out
>>57286315I used to play yugioh like that as a kid, my magician and exodia hate me
>>57286315Based
Apple wins can be so satisfying, thank god for Kierien and that tool. Also I fucking HATE water decks
Hop and N fucking suck
1 more year of gardy...
>>57287077Good!
>>57287040Did anyone genuinely think hop was gonna be any good?>Just get a bench mon + stadium + tool + archaludon evolution for energy + manual attach >THEN you can ohko anything in the game!! It's so broken!
>>57287077You are going to sit through 7 minute turns and like it.
I've been trying to do a mill but it doesn't work. Should I just scrap this entirely?
>>57287748You're trying to do too much here. Should really focus on either hydreigon, aegislash walling or wugtrio. Hydreigon mill is mostly just hydreigon+some supports like eri and xerosic but otherwise it's the same as regular hydreigonAegislash is an aegislash only deck meant to be walling the opponent with them. Then sometimes using aegislash ex to finish up the game or being useful vs non-ex match upsWugtrio is the only proper mill of these and that needs an entire deck focused around it anyhow
Why not add Togekiss to Future for funny 3 prize luck
>>57287040Why aren't the japs playing Ceruledge at all? Greninja rotating out?
>>57288043They are, those are the decks that most reached top 4.
>>57288003>Implying futuremons are capable of killing anything kek those bozos need a full bench of crowns to even hit 240
>>57288089TRUST THE PLAN
>>57287040>Gard still alive post rotationHow
>>57288218that's the unstoppable power of love, baby
>>57288218Riri makes your whole deck one shot the top two decks in the format.
>>57288218Clefairy + Budew
>Gardevoir meta for 3 yearsMake it stop..I'll take mew vmax back over this slow boring deck..
>>572870409-0 in a recent Nagoya gym battle.
>>57288278>in aThere's your problem. All new decks go 9-0 in a few gym challenges week 1 because everyone is playing new stuff, even if it's memes. N isn't close to represented and even further from being a slice of the top cut.
More detailed data based on points obtained.
>Bolt pivoting to noctowl+rotom so rotom can knock out mimikyus in milotic>some using cornerstone for itInteresting
>>57288776Fan Rotom is honestly underrated. One Colorless for 70 with an easy requirement of having a Stadium active is so good.
>>57288653So how come everyone just started playing anti-ex decks, especially Aegislash?
>>57288089I have a lot of fun with it, but to be fair I just hover around 1500
>>57280804Are TPCfags normal?
>>57289293Wrong thread
>>57288872How is it underrated? It's been in the majority of decks this last three majors.
>>57289444I said underrated for attacking. It's mostly just used as a means to get Noctowls and when Area Zero turns off it gets discarded.
>>57288873canceling cologne is gone so people are probably messing around with wall decks more now that they aren't completely counterable outside of using something like thorns
>>57288873People need to build their decks designs to avoid tera, ability, ex and basic if they want to beat a milotic deck. This early on nobody is going to be looking to optimize that so they have no outs to win vs milotic options
How long are sets sold, before they are replaced by a new one?
>>57290603I'm not sure there's a defined time, I've seen sun and moon stuff being sold on pokemon center even, and that 2 gens old
>>57291378
Feels like the tree is a little too good right now with Budew blocking candies and ball search. The only downside is that your opponent can use it too, but some decks like Bolt just don't get use out of it, and if it doesn't get bounced, christ, you can get a full board state out of just one card.
>>57293309I've been dicking around with blender and neutralization zone in my roaring moon/koraidon deck, they've been pretty funny. Think I like neutralization zone more but I'm still pretty fresh and an ace spec stadium feels like I'm saving it for the last prize or two all the time
Time to add him
>>57293309Grand Tree is definitely my favorite. I didn't know it was meta though since I only play with friends.
>>57293792it was very niche when it was released due to how easy it was to rare candy or get rid of the tree
Universal Catalyst ACE SPECWhen you play this card from your hand, you may search your deck or discard pile for any card, and you may choose one of the following:-Place the card in your hand.-Shuffle your deck and place the card on top.-Switch it with one of you prizes.-Discard it.-Place it in the lost zone.
>>57294513>search for a card in my discard pile>choose to discard itbet you didn't think of that, huh?
imagine spending this much to play the most boring deck in the format.
>>57294532yeah I did, but I don't think anyone is that dumb
>>57294544charizard is such a nigger tier deck.
>>57294544>had some fun buildingmore like had some regret entering my card info amirite?
>>57294554I hate seeing these people in the hobby because they have absolutely no skill, they just netdeck. netdecking in itself isn't so bad but let's not pretend that this faggot came up with this list on his own.
the amount of zardniggers coming in because of the precon deck is funny because they're always an easy win. the deck needs a little work before it's even playable and moltres is just dead weight.
>>57294554he spent all that money just to still suck ass.
>>57294544Even if I was a millionaire, I would never use those disgustingly ugly gold cards. The full art pidgeys aren't that great either.
>>57294662I feel like these people are much like EDH players in that they favor showing off more than they do actually playing good. the tacky ass secret rare items just makes it worse.
>>57294513Just the first effect already overpowers both Computer Search and Dowsing Machine.
>>57294544zard is vanilla deck choice, but I wouldn't call it the most boring deck in format. Ive had more fun playing zard than other decks like stallax or bolt. I would also much rather play against zard than a deck like garde or LZB.
zard will stay as long as it please
>>57294744I used to like it until I’d play against it back-to-back-to-back in November when the precon dropped. I’m disappointed that hydreigon fizzled out because of it.
Is there any hope for Toxicroak decks once Sneasler rotates? The decks already feels like there are so many moving parts to achieve 'ok' damage.
>>57294906You should worry more about DTE and Dark Patch rotating than Sneasler.
>>57294909Sadly this rotation’s going to mean an end for a lot of decks with so many solid support cards leaving.
>>57295041Journey Together is a really weird set to start the rotation on. There are very few new support options and a load of cards that are strictly tied together in their mechanics. I only hope the Rocket set has some more open options coming out (maybe more Darkness support teehee)
>>57295182There's another set coming before the Rocket set titled Heat Wave something something so expect some Fire support first. With the new Magmortar and Volcanion, I'm guessing there would be more cards relating to Burn (or maybe even other special conditions).
>>57294565>no skill Which is what netdecking is for until you gain skill. There's nothing wrong with netdecking until you learn what makes a deck work, or if you're just shit at theorycrafting. I'm not defending that disgusting twitter post though since he obviously just wanted to show off his gaudy OMG CHARIZAAAARD KANTOOO!!!! bling deck but let's not act that pretentious.
is there any deck that's easy for a beginner? :)
>>57296158c-c-chara...z..a...
>>57296426no charizard please
Has anybody tried running Gholdengo with fairy energy thinking it was standard legal?
>>57294806zard is a bit of a headache with hydreigon but I feel like its manageable when I played it. but even if zard wasn't around bolt would be the one that shuts down the deck because it hits ways too hard and hydreigon can't out pace bolt or hit bolt hard enough
>>57296625if fairy energy were standard legal there would be people already running itthere's even some grafaiais as single prize attackers used
>>57294685Anon... It's called commander. no one calls it EDH anymore.
what would it take for pokemon (or any other tcg) to become as popular at MTG?
>>57296158raging bolt is very easy to pick up. no real setup, can swing every turn and sadas practically plays the game for you. it gets boring very fast though so I wouldn't commit to it outside of ptcgl unless you really like it
>>57297182Rework the prize card system so that it's a comeback mechanic instead of a winmore mechanic.
>>57297182people already know more about pokemon than magic.
>>57284982*ahem* Sexo. That is all.
>>57297503but for actually playing, it seems like there are more in person "magic nights" than pokemon
I'm going to build Gardevoir because it's the deck with the most success so far that runs Riri's Pippi.
>>57297580I want this one so bad...
>>57297711gard is the galaxy brain deck of the current metathe most cerebral
>>57297654if you're talking about locals then the popularity of pokemon depends on your area. pokemon is pretty popular in my area while the magic scene is just prerelease events and commander.
>>57296158hydrapplesspam energies with abilities and attack for 300+
>>57296158Apples is basically idiotproof and has a fair amount of checks for common situations either by ramping up really fast and hitting hard or walling out basics with dipplinI came from Pocket and that was the deck I wanted to try first, its been pretty funnyTo build up currency and ladder I used the starter Roaring Moon deck after bouncing off Gholdengo initially, I wouldn't say its super technical but I like that one for learning better habits like "discarding things is fine if not necessary" and "decking out actually makes you lose so be mindful of it". I've adjusted it a bit since the precon one has a bunch of really central cards that are rotating out but I've ended up with something pretty solid without those
>>57297580Reprint where?
I want to get into the physical game. I never do it because I'm afraid the cards will rotate out soon after I buy in.
>>57297981This years rotation is on march 21st, so fairly soon. Then you can get in without worrying about anything rotating. You could even start buying some stuff now before all the latelets who forgot about rotation rush to buy. Just don't buy anything with yellow borders or F regulation mark. All of those are rotated.
>>57297981you can start with the zard league deck for most common staples + free ace specthere's also the trainer's toolkit 2024 for a couple of squawks + lot of trainer cardsbasically you want all silver border cards as >>57298007 mentions, although there are a few old yellow card that have been reprinted, like switch, ultra ball, boss order's or professor's research, so you could use old versions of thoseother than that just buy singles for the deck you want, or check your local game store or FB groups for players selling pre-made decksyou will want to avoid any deck using Vs or VStars, as those will rotate out in April
How's Raging Bolt post-rotation? I never got into it, but it seems like it's doing well on JP charts so far.
>>57298975It doesn't lose it's main tools, just the turbo engine but it just changed to something else. It's slightly slower since it needs stage 1 evolutions like noctowl/belibolt but it's still capable of turn 1 donking off just ogrepons/squawk anyway. Going to remain one of the top decks unless gardevoir picks up a lot, since clefairy makes that match up really hard now
>>57297981I'm worried of looking dumb because I don't know what half of the cards do yet
what are the most complicated decks to play? is gard the "hardest"?
>>57299247Control probablyGardy is press low entry >Get energy in discard>Get gardevoir out>OHKO shit with your 1 prize driftloon or screamtail>They can't boss kill your gardy or said attacker will ohko them againOnly way you beat gardy once its set up is multi prize taking which decks like raging bolt can't do
>>57299247I don't think Gardy is that complicated, you just have to be okay with it's co from behind gameplay. Personally I would say Lost Box the most complicated. You get heavily punished for bad resources management.
>>57299247Control Pidgeot as anon said.>put all of the control cards in one deck>figure out how to use them to win every matchup>while half of your deck basically does nothing against that matchup
UGH
>>57299618it's to prevent people having marked sleeves. if they're 1 color or official ones they know they're not marked
>>57299685Doesn't the judge check the deck for marked cards before play? I'd assume it's to keep it sfw and not promote outside stuff.
>>57299705They do but still it speeds up the process
>>57299705not every deck at all times, and not every single card sometimes. mostly it's random in between rounds, but there may be a rogue deck or two somewhere, so the rules help in this
Nice that they hand out these ugly SR stadiums all the time
>tfw local plug runs out of new old stock at MSRP
>>57299618It’s for consistency so you’re not cheating.
What will gardevoir look like post rotation?
>every game is now vs Gardevoir>5 minute turns with 1 prize attackers This shit is a cancer. There should be a slow retard que for these players. >lose free draw engine after rotation>still a meta deck
>>57301093you can look at what the japanese are cooking up with garde on limitless. so far they're going back to the candies and rescue board tatsugiri. then they're adding the new clefairy for pult and bolt
>>57301149hey you just played me
>>57301149Isn't marnies grimmsnal good into gardy?>Boss gardy>Snipe their driftloon>Easy 3 prize turn
>>57301067I want to use Miku sleeves.
>>57301526nobody gives a shit for non-official sleeves when you play in a local or small gym
>>57301519I have won with fez + binding mochi + gravity mountain one shotting Gardevoir. The munki I already run moves 30 damage anyway. There is no reason to run a stage 2 that needs a supporter just to maybe counter one boring deck. I would rather not match with some tard taking 15 min to play their meta deck.
>>57301519gardy player here, this looks like a promising threat.
I wish something would brutalize Gardevoir and make it completely unplayable. I know someone who is so hopelessly autistic over the deck that all they do is bitch and mope every time it falls out of favor, and can't shut the fuck up about how good it is when it comes back. The deck is their entire personality at this point.
Is there a page where I can find high quality scans of all of those japanese exclusive sleeves? You know, to print them myself.
>>57302610Charizard ex is literally dark.
>>57303025And yet Gardevoir still 50-50s it.
>>57303033I liked my matchup against it with hydreigon ex. Just retard crashing with obsidian and get 4 prizes off one hit and then next turn finishing with briar.
if anyone likes to use holofoil energies in their decks be careful of buying the cracked ice holofoils from tcgplayer. some sellers are getting mixed up and are selling the regular prismatic evo holofoil energies instead. it has happened with every seller Ive bought from so far
>>57303377The only holofoil energies I want now are shrouded fable because of that pattern.
>>57280804How annoying
For JP. Archy handles Dragapult well already (Charizard, too, maybe? Haven't faced one yet). The meta deck it struggles with is Raging bolt, as well as Milotic and company. I'm going to try Scizor and see how it goes. Any suggestions and/or fixes? Maybe it might just be better to run Archy with Zacian/Snorlax, but I really like using jamming tower.
Dude... it's over, just concede already
>>57303817yeah those are nice too. I use the shrouded fable dark energies in my ancient box deck
>>57306007>>57303817I've never had a favorite energy design and I'm tired for waiting for it.
>>57305590Run the 70 HP free retreat scythers to start. Metal bridge archeludon isnt worth it>Maybe it might just be better to run Archy with Zacian/SnorlaxIt's not, zacian is a flop. Scizor bypasses all the checks in milotic decks too which are rising in popularity
>15 people tournament>tie in 5th using basic ass Raging BoltThis is probably the biggest tournaments get in this god forsaken land.
>>57305494between this and the new eevee missions just being plain annoying to do i really only do 1-2 matches a day this expansion.
>>57305494Why did TPC do it?
>>57307442just to feel something
>>573074420% chance it get banned too despite ruining the game..even if they did print a counter you'd never be able to search it without the use of items
>>57307442so troons that write for TCGplayer have something to live for once regidrago rotates out.
what deck absolutely shits on all these budew faggots? i dont care if i lose to everything else i want these retards in particular to lose
>>57307842It’s got 30 hp, it can die to a hard enough slap.
>>57307864yes but it doesn't stop them using froslass to kill your shit or set up their attackers while you cant do anything. like sure you can ohko budew with your charmander for 2 turns but what do you do when they bring in a dragapult that wipes your board
>>57307842With a loyal three deck, the okdog ex poisons itself, and you put a normal monki down. If they attack to item lock, you will have 3 damage counters to knock out bedew with munki, then you can attack with 260-340 on anything else. You cant lose to froslass with high hp basics and 2 munkis.
>>57307925true a deck running munki itself would beat it. if you can multiprize turn they usually lose
>>57307925Literally this, 30 ho isn’t shit and you can collectively bitchslap both budew and froslass.
>>57304916>>57305494>same effect went from two colorless to no costWhat 10 years of powercreep does to a motherfucker.
>>57307842if you're talking about the budew frosslass decks then you can use decks that have iron hands ex in their lists to get free 2 prizes each turn. you could use lugia and win even while item locked unless you prize your legacy and lightning energy. theres gardevoir too which doesn't care about budew spam or frosslass. Ive also seen a couple of the frosslass and budew decks use colress tenacity so you could make a kyurem deck that board wipes them lol.
>>57301519>candy into garde>bench full of N's bitch>spam leather and latex balloons
Prediction: Meta will be shit and overcentralized with the new set, until B2 comes out which'll even things out again
>>57309457B2?
What's the plan here even
>>57309886Win, obviously.
>>57309886it's a tool boxflareon accelerates energy and potentially hits hard, greninja snipes in a format with no bench protection, leafeon knocks out decks that put too many energy on board, tapu for ohkos on lightning weak shitters and other area zero decks, and everything else is consistency
>>57309886These multi energy decks are kinda intimidating to play with.
