Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Clear Water deck

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The Don

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I need opinions on my deck. Here is the configuration:

Pokemon:

1 Spearow-Base Set
1 Fearow-Base Set
1 Lapras-Base Set
1 Tauros-Base Set
1 Ditto-Base Set
1 Articuno-Base Set
1 Totodile-Neo Genesis lv. 13
2 Totodile-Neo Genesis lv. 20
1 Croconaw-Neo Genesis
1 Togepi-Neo Genesis
1 Togetic-Neo Genesis
1 Stantler-Neo Genesis
1 Ho-oh Neo Revelations
1 Slakoth EX Sandstorm
1 Vigoroth EX Sandstorm
2 Carvanha EX Ruby & Sapphire
1 Sharpedo EX Ruby & Sapphire
1 Gible Mysterious Treasures
1 Gabite Mysterious Treasures

Trainers

1 Super Rod Neo Genesis
1 Pokemon Trader Base Set
1 Oran Berry EX Ruby & Sapphire
1 Lum Berry EX Ruby & Sapphire
1 Professor Elm Neo Genesis
1 Super Scoop Up Neo Genesis
1 Pluspower Diamond & Pearl
1 Super Energy Removal Base Set
2 Pokeball EX Ruby & Sapphire
2 Potion Diamond & Pearl

Energies

27 Water Energies
 
well ii have not seen very many other decks like this in a while.. have you read other peoples threads and taken a look at what pokemon they are using and how many ?

First of your deck has no strategy. second it has to many energys. and it also has to many dufferent types of pokemon. try to concentrate on one line
 
Well, my strategy is to get the evolution and basic pokemon cards using Pokemon Trader, Pokeball, Professor Elm and Super Rod to nearly guarantee evolving them into their more powerful forms, because evolved pokemon are powerful. All the energies supply me with the energies needed to fuel the high-demanding evolution cards and gives me a good chance to draw one when I need one. Also, since the energies are water, I can supply my water pokemon with the necessary energies, and the colorless pokemon are supplied, too because they can use any energy. This deck is no good?

What would you change?
 
Waaaaaayyyyyyyyyy to many pokemon and waaaayyyyy to little trainers, have you ever thought how quick decks these are these days? Whew, try modified format.
 
Ookay. Deck building 101. Keep in mind that I'm really only familiar with building a modified deck, and the tips might not prove as useful in Unlimited play (but most of the tips should be the same, and a stable deck should work relatively well in either format).

Step 1. Find [del]a happy place and[/del] a pokemon you want to be the main card. Something that makes you go "Wow, I have to play this card!" Looking at your current list, there seems to be no such main card. A lack of focus here makes choosing a fitting partner line and energy distribution challenging.
Step 1A. Get as many copies of that card as makes sense, as well as the evolution lines. With a stage 2 pokemon, this usually is 4 copies of the basic, 3 copies of the stage 1, and 4 copies of the stage 2 (if the stage 2 has a level X, this number might be reduced to 3, in exchange for one copy of the LV.X). Stage 1 pokemon lines tend to go 4 basics and 4 stage 1s.
Step 1B. Pick a partner line for the pokemon. Usually this will be a stage 1 line, and will cover your weaknesses or accent your strengths. This usually is run with 3 basics and 3 of the stage ones. Examples of partner lines are Lucarios ran in Blissey decks to accent Blissey's early damage with a second early game attacker, or Typholosion in Magmortar to cover Magmortar's weakness on dependency with additional energy attachments. Picking the correct partner can make the difference between decks capable of winning matches against a variety of opponents, and decks that succeed in one game and fail the next.
Step 1C. Find a supporting card and a starter. Starters usually want to be run in 4 copies, and include cards such as Pachirisu, Phione (MD), Stantler (SW), etc. Supporting cards are best exemplified with Claydol (GE), running 2 of the basics and 2 of the stage 1. The purpose of supporting cards is to help get pokemon onto the field at a fast rate and to give the player options on continuing. Very few decks can afford to neglect supporting lines.
Step 1 Note: If your pokemon count is right, it should be right around 19, and certainly no higher then 25. Your current list is close to the ideal number of pokemon, but the multitude of various lines makes play more difficult then it needs to be, as well as the lack of supporting cards.

Step 2. Leave space for approximately 17 energy. This number can be increased or decreased depending on the list, but 12 is dangerously low, and 22 is dangerously high (in most cases).
Step 2A. About seven of these can be expected to be some combination of special energy cards (such as Double Rainbow and Scramble).
Step 2B. The rest should be basic energies of your main type. You want at least 6 basic energy of your main type. Decks such as Magmortar will want more then 6 fire energy, as you might guess. Decks like Togekiss also will want about 19 energy, all of which to be basic. But 17's a fairly safe number that works for most decks.

Step 6. Use the remaining room for trainers. You should have roughly 20 slots left in your deck.
Step 6A.If you have any stage 2 cards in the deck, you should run 2-4 rare candies (I personally run 4 copies if running stage 2s with powers, run 3 if they don't have powers, and run 2 only if the stage 2 is a minimal support line like Typholosion in Magmortar decks). Rare Candies are not needed in most stage 1 decks, which frees up more space for additional cards.
Step 6B. Always make sure you have about 3 cards to Shuffle your hand into the deck and draw a new hand (copycat, Galactic's Wager, Professor Rowan).
Step 6C. Always have about 4 copies of either Celio's Network or Bebe's Search, depending on if you play Claydol or not (use of Claydol makes it okay to use Bebe's. In fact, running a combonation of those cards to have 6 total is not a bad idea).
Step 6D. Having about three to five copies of some draw card combonation (Steven's Advice, Professor Oak's Visit, TV Reporter) is very useful. With the cards that say "Draw 2 or 3 cards" like Oak's visit, it's most helpful to have about three copies of those cards. Because Steven's Advice is situational, this is one of the few cards where having one copy could be all you need.
Step 6E. Use whatever space you have left for additional trainers such as Warp Point, Night Maintenance, and the like. Step 6F. Try to have at least two copies of every trainer.
Step 6 Sidenote. Unlimited decks have a much different balance of trainers, with Celio's and the like being obsolete, and Shuffle-Draw + trainers like Computer Search being key. With non-supporters such as Computer Search and Bill, having four copies becomes almost a necessity. The point of having multiple copies of a card is to ensure that you will be able to use its effect at least once in a game. Running only one copy of a Bill in a deck is rather pointless for instance, as its effects are most noticeable when used several times per turn and doubling your hand size from nowhere.

Hopefully this starts you off in the right direction... By no means are these numbers definitive. Don't panic if say, you can only find two draw cards to put into the deck. You might be able to find a card that has a similar effect and can fill in the gaps. The point of the numbers is to give an idea of how important certain effects are, and how to try and structure a simple engine.
 
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Which Pokemon should I give up?

you tell me. It's your deck, and technically you can play any pokemon you want. Just pick whichever pokemon you...
1) Like (No point playing a deck if you don't like the cards in it :X)
2) Have about 3 copies of
And if you are thinking of playing in tournaments... 3) Has a good incentive to use (such as Feraligatr Neo, combos with pre-evolutions fairly nicely for massive damage, Blastoise Base Set for massive energy placement, etc.)

Once you've picked a card, I'd focus on making the rest of the pokemon be your secondary line and support cards. Honestly, if you're doing things right, you've probably got about 20 cards just from these alone, and shouldn't need many more. The secondary line's probably the most tricky part of the deck to figure out, and really depends on what you picked. :/
 
Alright. I made a lot of changes. Here they are. The Chanseys are the tanks, and my target pokemon to get is Porygon-Z and Palkia EX.

Pokemon
1 Lapras Fossil
2 Carvanha EX R/S
1 Sharpedo EX R/S
1 Gible Mysterious Treasures (I only own one Gible)
1 Gabite Mysterious Treasures
3 Porygon Great Encounters
2 Porygon2 Great Encounters
1 Porygon-Z Great Encounters
1 Buizel Great Encounters (I have another one if the D/P version is no good)
1 Buizel EX D/P
1 Floatzel Great Encounters
2 Chansey Aquapolis ( I have 1 Chansey EX if it would be good)
1 Zangoose Great Encounters
1 Articuno Fossil
1 Palkia Great Encounters
1 Palkia EX

Trainers
1 Premier Ball Great Encounters
1 Oran Berry
1 Scoop Up Base Set
1 Professor Elm Neo Genesis
1 Super Scoop Up Neo Genesis
1 Super Rod Neo Genesis
1 Pokemon Trader Base Set
1 Lum Berry
3 Potion
1 Rare Candy
1 Pluspower
3 Pokeball
1 Bebe's Search Mysterious Treasures
2 Energy Search
1 Super Energy Removal Base Set

Energy
20 Water Energies
 
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Keep your Ditto (fossil) in the deck! That card is actually pretty good. Add some more draw power and add some special energy to the deck, like double colorless energy.


If you have have any Gust of Wind, Bill , Prof. Oak, Computer Search (Base Set) add those.
If you have Base Set Chansey, replace that from the Aquapolis Chansey.
Also if you're running stage 2 evolutions, run some Rare Candy.
 
I am thinking of getting rid of Carvanha and Sharpedo. What water types should I substitute for it?

**I have also added a Blissey in exchange for a water energy.
 
I want to get all the evolved pokemon and use the others to 'wall' until I get them using the trainers. But yeah, there are a lot of pokemon on a second look.....Who should I get rid of? I think Zangoose and Articuno.
 
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