HGSS-on Amateur State Deck

[Daker3]

I started getting back into Pokémon cards around Undaunted and started going to Pokémon leagues during the Bolt badge season. I went to my first state tournament recently and...did way worse than I thought I would. So, I'd like some critique please.

Redshark 4.30 Deck List

POKEMON: 15
Legend: 2
1 : Lugia LEGEND (1/2), GS-113
1 : Lugia LEGEND (2/2), GS-114
Stage 2: 2
2 : Emboar, BW-20
Stage 1: 2
1 : Darmanitan, NEX-60
1 : Pignite, BW-17
Basic: 9
2 : Tepig, BW-15
1 : Zapdos, NEX-41
1 : Zekrom EX, NEX-51
1 : Shaymin, UL-8
1 : Reshiram, BW-113
1 : Darumaka, BW-24
1 : Pichu, GS-28
1 : Victini, NV-14

TRAINERS: 28
Trainers: 11
1 : Pokemon Communication, BW-99
1 : Level Ball, NEX-89
1 : Super Rod, NV-95
1 : Heavy Ball, NEX-88
1 : Switch, BW-104
1 : Revive, BW-102
1 : Pokemon Catcher, EP-95
1 : Rare Candy, UL-82
1 : Junk Arm, TM-87
1 : Good Rod, UL-76
1 : Energy Exchanger, UD-73
Pokemon Tools: 1
1 : Eviolite, NV-91
Supporters: 14
1 : Interviewer's Questions, UL-77
1 : Flower Shop Lady, UD-74
1 : Twins, TM-89
2 : Fisherman, GS-92
1 : Black Belt, TM-85
1 : Cheren, EP-91
1 : Professor Oak's New Theory, GS-101
1 : Seeker, TM-88
1 : N, NV-92
3 : Cilan, NEX-86
1 : Professor Elm's Training Method, GS-100
Stadiums: 2
1 : Burned Tower, UD-71
1 : Battle City, Promo

ENERGY: 17
Special Energy: 5
1 : Prism Energy, NEX-93
1 : Rescue Energy, TM-90
3 : Double Colorless Energy, NEX-92
Basic Energy: 12
4 : Lightning Energy, BW-108
6 : Fire Energy, BW-106
2 : Water Energy, BW-107

- My general plan was to get Pichu out early to get my basics out and stall. I assume Pokémon Collectors are used (Seemed guaranteed during States), so I don't worry about my opponent getting basics too. Pichu would go to sleep and maybe buy me some turns if I'm lucky.
- Pichu should get KO'd and allow me to use Twins to search for either Lugia Legend pieces or other cards depending on how the early game is going.
- From there it depends on what my opponent does. I usually try to get Emboar out. Then I choose either to power up Lugia or Zekrom. Zapdos and Darmanitan are my hope Victini helps me knock them out cards.

 

[X_empoleon_X]

I'm going to go with the assumption that you've looked at a couple of other decks in the deck help strategies or at least seen what kind of cards these decks and how many copies they play/played. You tend to notice that decks tend to run high quantities of the very important cards in their deck which are vital to winning the game or just being able to set their deck up to at least give them a chance of victory. For example decks tend to run 4 Pokemon Collector to search out basic pokemon as being up to set-up your attackers faster than your opponent gives you the advantage.

The problem(s) with your deck is that you play so many single copies of cards that you're relying too much on chance and hoping you draw into that one card thats in your deck. This is the case mainly for your trainers section though it would also seems to be the case for your pokemon line - a lack of focus and too many single copies of your support and attacking pokemon.

Before i help you with your list, what would you like to base this deck around.

 

[Daker3]

- Yes, I did notice from many other decks there's a set strategy and consistency behind them. Sometimes, there's that rare chance I do get lucky and get the cards in the order I need, but most of the time, no.
- But, something I had fun with is Lugia Legend since it took down some EXs during States. I want to be able to get it out (Typically Twins) and power it up fast enough without relying on it's Poképower (Again, chance). I want to avoid that downtime from discarding 3 energies. I tried to counteract that by using Emboar, Burned Tower, Cilan and Fisherman to keep energies ready. But that would still take 2 turns to set up again, by then usually knocked out by a Zekrom.

 

[QD4U]

This reminds me of my singleton deck. It's 3-0, but I only play it on ptcgo.

 

[evil psyduck]

You have three stadiums not two for a total of 61 cards.You need to remove one card from somewhere.

 

[X_empoleon_X]

Lugia Legend is a hard card to maintain. I'm currrently testing out a Lugia Legend build after hearing it did moderately well at a States tournament somewhere. It's very hard to be able to Elemental Blast twice in a row let alone all game, it just won't work unless you just throw in a Feraligatr Prime and a Typhlosion Prime and just charge it up that way, but this takes up quite alot of space which hurts the decks consistency because you have to cut down on important staple cards which just ends up killing the deck. From what i know, the best way to play Lugia Legend is to pair it with Electrode Prime and another attacker (preferably a basic pokemon) and just hope you Energymite/Ocean Glow into enough energy to be able to use Elemental Blast 2 turns in a row to guarentee 2 prizes and just go agrro with whatever your prefered back up[ attacker was.

I would suggest you stay away from Lugia Legend as without alot of crucial cards it ends up being a problem however even with the correct cards it just isn't worth the effort when you could just pair Reshiram with Emboar and hit for 120 damage each turn which is possible with that idea. Though unfortunately Reshiram/Emboar (ReshiBoar) is not the best deck to take to tournaments as it isn't fast enough and require you to burn space in the deck for Fisherman and Energy Retrieval. The best thing you can do is to build a Zekrom/Eel deck seeing a you have a Zekrom EX. All you need is:

(ontop of what you already have now)
4-3 Eelectrik
2 Thundurus
2 Zekrom
1 Zekrom EX
1 Smeargle

And you're half way to getting a high tier competitive deck.

The hardest part to deal with is the trainer section and unfortunately for you, if you wish to do well in tournaments then you're going to need to obtain the trainer/supporter/stadium cards necessary which may require you to spend quite alot of money on just the T/S/S line alone, as using substitutes just isn't going to be enough.

 

[Daker3]

- I do have most of the cards for a Zekrom/Eelectrik deck. I saw a lot of those in states. But there's something I don't like about them. But, I guess I have to get over that to play competitively. I'm trying to stop using cards I simply like. I used to have a Jolteon and Flareon in this deck months ago. But, yeah, I'll try switching my cards out for that. I'll keep my current deck just for my local fun plays.
- @evil psyduck, I meant I only have 1 Battle City. Typo. Redshark didn't have it, so I typed it and put 2 for some reason.