The Nature of Deckbuilding - Collaborative Article Part IV

[MrMeches]

The Nature of Deckbuilding - Collaborative Article Part IV

The Introduction and Importance of Tech Cards
A summary and list of small-count game-turning cards prevalent in many competitive decks

By Regis_Neo

From simple 1 card add-ins to elaborate schemes of multiple supporting Pokémon, techs encompass one of the most important aspects of the Pokémon TCG. With the right techs, your deck can overcome even the most adverse match-up. Techs can also be used to counter the current metagame in question; for example, if there are a lot of AMU decks in your area, Mewtwo Lv. X is a handy answer for them.

Commonly, most techs are usually Pokémon, with either a 1-0-1 or 1-1-1 line for Stage 2s, 1-1 line for Stage 1s, or 1-2 for Basic Pokémon. Now, these numbers may look small, but you have to remember that this is the very principle of being a tech; if they’re a full 4-3-4 line of Pokémon, they shift into being the focus of a deck rather than a hidden element of surprise. Trainer cards rarely are techs (since you usually want to run as many good ones as possible), but they do occasionally show up as well. Most techs aim to bring in a supportive effect to your deck, or to otherwise adversely affect your opponent's deck. Below are some of the more common techs in the game, and how to play them to your advantage:

http://pokegym.net/forums/../gallery...?imageid=31494Dusknoir DP

Dusknoir DP has been around as a tech ever since the DP set was released a few years back. Dark Palm is just an amazing Poké-Power, letting you instantly gain an advantage by forcibly putting a limit on how much benched Pokémon your opponent can have. Combined with cards such as Warp Point, you can even blow back that annoying Defending Pokémon to the bench, then simply force it back into your opponent’s deck.

http://pokegym.net/forums/../gallery...?imageid=45576Nidoqueen RR

A relatively newcomer to the scene, Nidoqueen is a great answer to the many spread decks hanging out there. But more than that, Maternal Comfort provides a steady stream of healing in-between turns, letting you recover 20 HP from each of your Pokémon by the time it gets back to your turn. Mega Punch and Ruthless Tail aren’t shabby attacks either, providing you have the Psychic Energy to use them.

http://pokegym.net/forums/../gallery...?imageid=45555Lucario GL

Instant Lake Boundary anyone? Lucario GL frees up tons of room for more Stadiums in any deck, and all he asks for in return is a spot on your bench. Plus, being a Pokémon rather than a Stadium, he is much harder to get rid; you can’t simply put a counter Stadium on top of this guy. A great addition for any deck that wants to (and is willing to accept) double Weakness the moment he comes into play.

http://pokegym.net/forums/../gallery...?imageid=42354Dialga G Lv. X

Dialga G Lv. X is very devastating to many non-SP decks thanks to Time Crystal, which kills off any Poke-Bodies besides Dialga G Lv. X’s. Since many decks rely in part on their Poke-Bodies, a well-timed introduction of Time Crystal can cripple many decks. For this reason, he is best used as a tech in SP decks, though a few regular decks that don’t rely on Poke-Bodies could probably find some fun uses for him as well.

http://pokegym.net/forums/../gallery...?imageid=33274Palkia Lv. X

Earlier this season, Palkia Lv. X was another often-seen tech in many decks. Restructure works as sort of a reverse Warp Point, in that your opponent chooses what Pokémon you bring up and you choose what Pokémon your opponent brings up. For this reason, it is best to either have a way to ensure free Retreat for whatever your opponent chooses you to bring up; this can include Switch Trainers, Moonlight Stadium for Psychic and Dark decks, and the like. Any deck that can find a way to abuse Restructure can enjoy being able to freely bring up whatever you want to KO.

http://pokegym.net/forums/../gallery...?imageid=42324Skuntank G http://pokegym.net/forums/../gallery...?imageid=42277Crobat G

Both Skuntank G and Crobat G have amazing flexibility, even in non-SP decks. As long as you have a Stadium in play, you can Poison both active and defending Pokémon with Poison Structure, so long as they’re not SP Pokémon. This is a great way of getting in additional damage in-between turns, and as long as you retreat whatever active Pokémon you have out for a benched one that can attack, you can use this to your advantage as well as any SP deck. Crobat G is great to this effect as well, letting you put 1 damage counter on an opponent’s Pokémon; think of this as a more flexible Plus Power that’s also more easily searchable.

http://pokegym.net/forums/../gallery...?imageid=35737Azelf LA

Azelf LA in funny ways is as much a finder of tech Pokémon as he is one himself. Since many tech Pokémon are ran in small numbers, it is a very possible risk that a crucial one may end up in your Prizes rather than your deck. This is where Azelf comes in; once you’ve confirmed your valued tech or needed cards are not in the deck, you can play Azelf and easily exchange a card in your hand for it. Then even better, you get to re-arrange your prizes as you wish, so you can then get the rest of your prizes in the order you wish (providing you remember the order they’re in).

http://pokegym.net/forums/../gallery...?imageid=35784Mewtwo Lv. X

Basic and SP Pokémon getting you down? Shut them off easily with Mewtwo Lv. X; his Psybarrier Poke-Body instantly stops all damage and effects of attacks done by Basic Pokémon. Plus, with a nasty 120 damage Giga Burn attack, Mewtwo Lv. X should be able to easily KO most Basic Pokémon, as well as inflicting heavy damage on any Evolved Pokémon as well.

http://pokegym.net/forums/../gallery...?imageid=33211Cresselia Lv. X

Another older tech card, Cresselia Lv. X still offers some nice advantages. Full Moon Dance is great, letting you move around 1 damage counter from any Pokémon to any other Pokémon in play, meaning you get to heal 1 damage counter on your Pokémon, and inflict 1 damage counter onto one of your opponent’s Pokémon. This is a great way of getting in that little bit extra damage to ensure a KO.

http://pokegym.net/forums/../gallery...?imageid=34941Warp Point

Usually played in twos, Warp Point is probably the most commonly tech’ed Trainer card in the game. Warp Point serves two purposes: to switch your opponent’s Pokémon, and to switch your own. Granted, you have no control over what Pokémon your opponent chooses to bring out (and vice versa), but generally you will want to play this card when your opponent has either no choice on what to bring out (meaning they only have 1 Benched Pokémon) or a generally weakened Bench that you know you can get a KO out of. This card combos well with Dusknoir DP; blow back their active Pokémon with Warp Point, then Dark Palm it back into their deck.

http://pokegym.net/forums/../gallery...?imageid=35703Technical Machine TS-2

TM TS-2 is used to get in KOs on weakened Pokémon. First, let’s consider the effect; for no Energy, you get to remove the highest Stage Evolution card from one of your opponent’s Pokémon (excluding Lv. Xs) and put it back into your opponent’s hand. So, if they have a weakened Pokémon they just retreated onto the Bench that’s hanging on by only a few HP, you can easily spring this Trainer from your hand, target that Pokémon, and get in a quick, easy KO. Of course, you’ll want to double check beforehand if the Stage under that Pokémon would be KOed of course, otherwise you’ve just wasted an attack pretty much. This card works nicely in spread decks, where you’re inflicting lots of small damage overtime that stacks up, leaving many Pokémon vulnerable to an eventual KO from Devoluter.

Overall, when correctly utilized, techs can play a very potent role in winning matches. Hopefully this guide has shown you just how many different possibilities exist, and maybe even give new ideas to ones that have yet to be discovered.

[Sandslash7]

The only gripe about this I have is you have a picture of the wrong Palkia Lv X. You speak of the Restructure one, but you have the Palkia G Lv X shown.

Other than that, great article showcasing one of the most tricky parts of deckbuilding.

[Diaz]

How about less giant pictures and more substance in these articles? I feel like there's not that much info here, but mostly just pictures as filler.

[speedgardonked]

i dont know what diaz is complaining about. why dont you post a deckbuilding article? so appreciate whats here and dont diss some you probably couldnt do... nice read 10/10

[Mac_736_the_Gh0st]

DITTO FTW !!!

Great tech in current metagame !

[Venjamin]

Originally Posted by Diaz

How about less giant pictures and more substance in these articles? I feel like there's not that much info here, but mostly just pictures as filler.

The point isn't to show you a deck list, or give you exact points. The substance is there: To show you what a successful deck / game is comprised of in the general, not specific. They're trying to help people to start the game and not build a 20 - 20 - 20 deck of energy / trainers / pokemon. This article is great, and the examples are meant to show that the cards you choose do not necessarily have to have a massive attack, or even a specific benefit for your deck. They can have a detrimental or debilitating effect to your opponent.

That's the POINT of a tech. This is a broad general definition, not a 'use this and win' article.

[Mathorn1]

Originally Posted by Diaz

How about less giant pictures and more substance in these articles? I feel like there's not that much info here, but mostly just pictures as filler.

Im going to have to agree on this one. The statements seem very vague. This entire article could easily be considered just a regular post compared to more in depth statements from others. The pictures took up more space than the text. Im all for quality over quantity but in this case they go hand in hand.

[Happiny13]

I think having a few specific decks the tech would be good in would help. I also think Luxray GL should be mentioned as a tech instead of a main attacker.

[jconti2818]

I have to agree with the people who really liked this article series. I feel that the target audience for these articles is the newer player who is starting to really get into the game and wants to start playing at a more competitive level. In addition, these are great articles for league leaders who are trying to teach younger players how to build a deck. Even if you know how to build a competitive deck (or modify a Pokegym archetype to your own personal style of play), those concepts are sometimes difficult to convey to other players and these articles do a good job of explaining a complicated topic in a simple manner.

Keep up the good work!

[Pokekid444]

Thanks alot for posting these! when we have new players at league my league leader makes me play them and help them with their deck so they can learn the game i love doing so they at least know someone on their first day. But i have trouble sometimes showing them and explaining deck terms and game terms so thanks for posting.
out of a possible 10 outof 10 i Give you a 900 hahaha.
-Zed

[KingGengar]

Nice, but not complete. I think you should have gone through a bunch more. For example, in Stage 2, there is Metagross LA with its Gust of Wind flip Poke-Power. By the same token, Luxray GL Lv.X is nice for insta-Gust.

On a different tack, Machamp is becoming a great tech for almost any Stage 2, esp. Kingdra, Gengar, and Beedrill.

Other ideas: Alakazam for anti-Poke-Power, Absol SW, Chatot MD, Flygon RR. As one old-time comedian put it, "I got a million of em!"

[Absoltrainer]

Wrong Palkia Lv. X =X

[baby mario]

It is massively picture-heavy, but if it's for new players that's fine.

You can argue with some of the choices. Warp Point is more semi-staple than tech imo. Also Exploud SV definitely deserves a mention as it is a pretty simple tech for new players to use (unlike Palkia LV X).

[Jziffra]

this would have been better written as a general guidline as what to look for and covering points like teching in a different type pokemon to counter one that gives problems to the main attacker and quicker cards to help slower decks

[pikkdogs]

great article thanks

Other great techs are Metagross La and ditto

[Seank240]

good article, i know a couple cards that will slowly build to tech, for example Lickylicky C that just came out and the Exploud that just came out

[Regis_Neo]

Well, the main thing about this article is you have to remember I wrote it a while ago for this collaboration (a little after Nats was over was when we all agreed to doing this) and it has been sitting for a wee bit, hence the slightly outdated info in some areas there. The pictures are big I agree, but that's probably more of a consequence of how they appear on the screen I think (which if you look at almost any article, the pictures are oversized for the most part). It also looked like there was a lot more info when I did type all this up (forgot how posts tend to stretch on the screen), but overall, like the nature of this collaboration was, I wanted to convey the simple information for newer players to more easily grasp, rather than go on and overload them with information.

And yes, that is the wrong picture of Palkia Lv X there, but then again, I didn't insert the pictures

[konopacz]

No luxray GL Lv. X?

[jjkkl]

In terms of the wrong Palkia issue, that was my fault.

[MrMeches]

Mods Please Sticky! TY

Fish

[briansmith]

I like your quote but not found true at all, The statements seem very vague. This entire article could easily be considered just a regular post compared to more in depth statements from others. Eventually i got to save the article too,..

[Ty_Sylicus]

As a n00b, I did find this article simple enough to swallow, so thanks for keeping it simple (and I love big pics of cards I've never seen; most of them made me gasp upon reading them!)

Now that I finally know what a Tech is (and also learned about the Donk in the other article), I feel like my TCG vocab is more pro. haha. I should spend some time thinking about techs in my deck though, yeah, it is slightly difficult to grasp.
I do love Switch and Gust of Wind though. hahahaha