Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

1st time poster, 1st time legal modified deck attempt

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the8o88y

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(sorry for the wall o' text, just introducing myself) :)

Hello everyone! I'd been out of the loop with this game I LOVED for more than a decade. I started playing when the game debuted here in the US and I was in middle school. I used to be a base through team rocket set city champ. I know, ancient. Recently, a student of mine enquired to me about forming an (unofficial) school pokemon tcg league. Reluctantly, I agreed, and we've been meeting on tuesdays since the start of the school year.
After more than a decade, it got my competitive juices flowing again and i dusted off my old cards. I've trounced all decks that have come my way with the superpowered computer search, gust of wind, super energy removal mechanics of the day. The students cried foul, and said that my cards wouldn't be allowed in a 'real' tournamant. I've been wanting to become competitive again, so I studied the new mechanics of the game, done research on winning cards and decks, acquired new cards, and I'm ready to start deck building again under the current format. I decided I'd start with something fun, as I'm not yet quite willing to drop $200 on a couple of Luxray GL lv. X on ebay or amazon.

So...here's my Legend/Zard deck rough draft, sans ninetails and typlosion. I know what you'll say about the heatrans and overload of techs, I just figured that there aren't enough high HP pokemon to have time to be able to setup properly, and I do not want to be "donked." I need all the help I can get. Thanks in advance. :D

-the8o88y


Strategy: My strategy is to use many trainers, supporters and techs to get the legends and charizard out quickly for big damage with fairly little amount of energy needed. Uxies help with card draw, crobat g, expert belt, ampibom and dragonite fb for extra damage output, and I tried to squeeze in extra fire pokemon to help with zard's fire formation. I'm not too worried with using a few non-fire pokemon to tech because I think they'll help more in the long run than having a full fire bench. A big concern is the possibility of getting trainer locked and only having having 2 rare candy that aren't easily searchable to get out charizard more effectively, and I also wanted to fit in a Smeargle UD, but there are already many techs to begin with and I wanted to use Farfetch'd to search for trainers if need be, but again this is a rough draft.


Pokemon: 20

2 Charmander AR
2 Charizard AR
4 Raikou & Entei Legend (2 of each half)
2 Suicune & Entei Legend (1 of each half)
2 Heatran AR
1 Blaziken FB
1 Arceus (fire)
2 Uxie
1 Crobat G
1 Dragonite FB
1 Ambipom
1 Farfetch'd (stormfront) (to 'Go and Collect' rare candy if necessary )


Trainers/supporters/stadiums: 27

3 PONT
3 Seeker
3 Pokemon Collector
2 Rare Candy
2 Pokemon Communication
2 Expert Belt
2 Roseanne's Research
2 Bebe's Search
2 Legend Box
2 Switch
1 Night Maintenence
1 Twins
1 Luxury Ball
1 Indigo Plateau

Energy: 13

10 Fire
3 DCE (maybe I need a couple of multi and rescue energy instead?)
 
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I wouldn't rely too heavily on the rare candies. You should get a charmeleon in there just in case you go up against and spiritombs or vileplumes.

I'd also replace farfetch'd with a Chatot G if you want to search for trainers, since Chatot can disrupt your opponent, doesn't require energy, and goes to hide in your deck when you're done with it.

I also don't think Night Maintenance is legal anymore. Palmer's Contribution would work instead.

Also, if you're using multityped legends, you should utilize all of their attacks, not just one. Stick in a few water, electric, rainbow, or multi energy if you really want to utilize those legends. If you're relying on a legend to do 80 damage for 3 energy or 2 for 90 and a discard, I'd really recommend looking for other cards to use.
 
OK thanks. What other pokemon could I sub for heatran or just do without altogether?

Then, I was thinking of adding Judge and maybe an extra Twins or Legend box. Thoughts?

Also, I've removed 3 fire energy and added 3 rainbow, but 13 energy total still seems like a small amount. I was used to playing at least 20 energy from the dark ages of base set. What's a good way to get the energy I need when needed?
 
First, I'd like to know your primary attack strategy. That would make it easier to advise a direction to take. I've seen decks based around Charizard, or Blaziken FB, or even two or three sets of Legends with some backup attackers, but never a mix like this. If you pick a certain line to focus on, I think you could be very successful once we know what base strategy you're trying to pull off.

As for your energy count, it really depends on the deck. I've run decks with 10 to 12 energy before and never had a shortage. For example...
Bermuda Triangle (Palkia LvX GE, Swampert GE, Mantine SW) used 10 water and 2 Double Rainbow (2008 deck)
Lord of Nightmares (Dusknoir spirit pulse, Starmie star boomerang) used 2 water, 2 psychic, 2 multi, 1 rainbow, 3 call energies (2009)
Lord of Nightmares 2010 (Dusknoir spirit pulse, nidoqueen, uxie) used 6 Psychic and 4 Double Colorless.

I almost never see a deck using more than 15, and even those decks only have so much because of a heavy discard engine.
 
First thing, Roseannes and Night Maintenance are not MD-on. So you will need to replace them with other cards, Pokemon collector and Palmers Contribution should do.

As others have said, you should focus on certain pokemon, and as you seem to have 2-2 ERL i would like to list a deck you could try.

2-2 Entei Raikou Legend
2 Uxie
4 Sableye SF You will want an ideal starter and this is quite good.
1 Unown Q
2-2 Bronzong TM good for searching for a legend

15 Pokemon

4 Legend Box
1 Luxury Ball
2 Warp Point
3 Pokemon Communication
2 Sunyshore City Gym
2 Indigo Plateau
2 Pokemon Collector
4 Bebe's
3 Professor Oak's New theory
2 Palmers Contribution
3 Seeker
2 Twins
1 Fisherman
1 Copycat
1 Looker's Investigation

5 :fire:
7 :lightning:

11 Energy


Wow, come to think of it, this deck sucks :nonono: but could be a fun try
 
^^
Yeah... If you were to use a deck based solely on Legend pairs, you would probably have to use at least two different legeneds for flexibility and consistency.
 
OK, as I've stated, my primary attack strategy is based around the legends and/or charizard and getting them into play ASAP with trainers, supporters and uxie to start dealing massive damage by turn one or two.

The rest of the fire pokemon (heatran/arceus) are really just to fill out the bench to assist with zard's fire formation. Besides blaziken fb, are there any other more effective options to substitute?

The rest of the pokemon are in for teching purposes (crobat for extra damage, dragonite in case of heavy sp decks, ampibom to donk. I probably will end up subbing the chatot g for farfetch'd.

The only reason I don't want to focus on a single line just yet is for variety. There are a lot of heavy hitters here from which to choose. I understand though, that consistency is more important. In which case, if I should absolutely stick with one line, which would probably work the best?
 
A 4-3-4 Charizard line is pretty effective, especially considering you'll be hitting for up to 80 for a single energy.
Instead of Uxie, there's a Ninetails that may prove effective not only for Zard's Fire Formation, but also for drawing energy.
A more common and effective tech than the Heatran would be Typhlosion Prime, to recycle the fire energy that Ninetails discards.
Since the Charizard hits for 80 for a single energy by turn one or two, your primary focus against SPs is overpowering them with your superior HP. After all, with 4 Charizard in the deck total, each doing 1-for-80 (100 with belt), the powers of Dragonite and Ambipom are severely trumped.
One of the Legends may be a nice tech if it can grab multiple prizes at once, but other than that there's little use for them if Charizard is your focus.

I still need to make a more thorough examination of Legend cards, to see what kind of trickery they can pull off.
 
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