New to the game, first attempt at deck.

[MrFreeloader]

The Zekrom and Reshiram decks really appealed to me but I think I prefer Zekrom. I really have no deck building skills or even an idea of the Pokemon metagame but before I buy my entire deck (I play Yu-Gi-Oh, I am aware of card games prices) I want to make sure I have a build that will actually win me tournaments when/if I get better at the game. Here goes a build based off of what I've seen online. Also, is there a "better" deck to play than this at the moment?

Pokemon (22)
4 Eelektrik (BW 40/101)
4 Tynamo (BW 39/101)
2 Mewtwo-EX (BW 54/99)
3 Zekrom (BW 47/114)
2 Zekrom-EX (BW 51/99)
3 Thundurus (BW 35/98)
1 Raikou EX (BW 38/101)
1 Shaymin (HGSS 8/95)
1 Smeargle (CoL 21/95)
1 Cleffa (CoL 24/95)

Trainers (26)
4 Professor Oak's New Theory
4 Professor Juniper
4 Dual Ball
4 Junk Arm
3 Level Ball
3 Pokemon Catcher
2 Pluspower
2 Switch

Energies (12)
8
4

[deashira]

If you're interested in tournament play, the first thing you need to do is look at the upcoming format. Starting in September the legal sets are from Black & White and forward. One quarter of your deck list won't be eligible. Other than that, it looks to me like you have a good start. Also, if you're planning on buying your deck in the secondary market, you might want to hold off a couple months for Mewtwo EX. There's a tin coming out this fall with that one, for a fraction of the price it's selling for now.

RM

[Flygon13]

I agree with deashira.. a lot of stuff is about to be rotated out. In about a month and a half. I actually just started back up after taking a break for about 9 months. ( I made sure that I had everything basically for new format ). I am running zek/els as well.. its a ton of fun. But i would run a Tornadus EX. It is a good counter when they have got a deck. Everything will get destoryed.. Tornadus helps a ton.

[The Tape]

http://www.onehitko.com/2012/06/23/t...for-nationals/

There is a link for what the current meta game sorta kinda looks like, if that helps at all with the whole "is there a better deck" question =P

As far as your deck list is concerned, I would say less Pokemon, more supporters. Try getting rid of your Zekrom-EXs and Cleffa and adding in stuff like N and Random Receiver. You have the right idea, it just needs tweaking =D

[MrFreeloader]

I still don't know what supporters would be "good." Someone told me that N wasn't so great for my deck because I won't be having that many prize cards left because of the play style of my deck in the first place. Also, would I really run more supporters although I can only play one per turn? The only thing I know about pokemon so far is that you just try to get your engine as fast as you can. Also, what makes Tornadus EX better than Mewtwo EX versus decks like Donphan?

[deashira]

Last things first. Tornadus EX has fighting resistance (-20), so Donphan has to hit him three times to KO him.

Even though you can only play one supporter per turn, they really speed up your deck and increase consistency. You pretty much want to be playing your one-per-turn every turn. That said, there won't really be a lot of options in the upcoming format. I see you already have Professor Juniper, but if you don't want to play N that really leaves you with Cheren or Bianca. Cheren is a consistent three cards, while a well-timed Bianca can give you as many as six. One way to make the decision is to add four "Wild" cards to your deck. As you are playing, give yourself the option of playing your wildcard as either Cheren or Bianca or N, then think about which you choose more often.

Random Receiver is also great because it allows you to pull a supported into your hand without adding any supporter cards you don't really want. For instance, if you ONLY wanted Professor Junipers in your deck you could have four PJs and four RRs basically giving you eight chances to draw PJ. (But that's a terrible idea; don't do that.)

[chrataxe]

Originally Posted by deashira

Last things first. Tornadus EX has fighting resistance (-20), so Donphan has to hit him three times to KO him.

Even though you can only play one supporter per turn, they really speed up your deck and increase consistency. You pretty much want to be playing your one-per-turn every turn. That said, there won't really be a lot of options in the upcoming format. I see you already have Professor Juniper, but if you don't want to play N that really leaves you with Cheren or Bianca. Cheren is a consistent three cards, while a well-timed Bianca can give you as many as six. One way to make the decision is to add four "Wild" cards to your deck. As you are playing, give yourself the option of playing your wildcard as either Cheren or Bianca or N, then think about which you choose more often.

Random Receiver is also great because it allows you to pull a supported into your hand without adding any supporter cards you don't really want. For instance, if you ONLY wanted Professor Junipers in your deck you could have four PJs and four RRs basically giving you eight chances to draw PJ. (But that's a terrible idea; don't do that.)

Tornadus will likely be Eviolited. Even if its not, 60-20= 40, so Donphan will likely take 5 turns to KO Torndadus EX, or 9 turns with Eviolite.

As far as trainer lines, yes, you need more than 8 and I highly recommend Random Receiver as well. N is great in ANY deck, should be in everything thing. The thing is turn 1-3, its basically an Oak with some added in disruption. Late game, its a game winner. Even if you only run 1-2, its a must. And, if you don't like having that low count, add in some more and just remember, you can Juniper them away later (or some other discarding card, like Junk Arm). One thing to remember about N, with Ex's in the format, if you can catch your opponent with 2 on the field late game, you can drop N just before KO'ing one to draw 4 (not great, but not bad, especially since you'll take 2 prizes and draw for turn), then KO their last EX ftw.

[deashira]

Originally Posted by chrataxe

Tornadus will likely be Eviolited. Even if its not, 60-20= 40, so Donphan will likely take 5 turns to KO Torndadus EX, or 9 turns with Eviolite.

My mistake, for some reason I thought Donphan was doing 90 (perhaps I was thinking of a different Donphan?).

In any case, we won't have any Donphan in next season's format, right? Now we really just need to watch out for Terrakion and Terrakion EX. Both of these are capable of 90 damage hits while Tornadus EX can do 100. The fighting resistance turns Tornadus EX into a 3HKO while the Terrakions remain a 2HKO. Eviolite adjusts this slightly, but with Toolscrapper coming up, I'm not sure if it's really an issue.