Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Decisions made when deck building

S

silverst31n

New Member
This seems like strategy to me but if im wrong can a mod move please? =)
What decisions do you guys find most critical when deck building? To clarify, I always ask myself how I can fit in techs against my meta or unfavorable match ups, while maintaining consistency and drawing prizes with my primary attackers? Also, im curious how often you change your decklists? I find myself constantly changing my lists, even after doing considerably well in tournements. I do it because to me the most important thing in deciding what deck I want to play is I have to feel 100% comfortable with my decision and have a strong understanding of not only my basic strategies and combos, but also things I can do in different situations while im playing. I always do this because I've played way to many games were if I would just thought my play out a little longer it could have been a stronger play. Lastly, I would like to know how many turns ahead of the current gamestate you try to think? I never try to think more then a turn or two ahead, because as we all know pokemon can be very unpredictable and I don't want the rug to be pulled from under my feet and have to do some quick thinking to restrategize.
I feel these questions are important to ask because I want to see how everyone else feels about them and I want players who maybe haven't considered the things im talking about to maybe give it a try to improve there pokemon skillz.
 
Ill take these on one at a time…

1. When I’m deck building I always aim for as much constancy as possible. Ask most players and they will tell you consistency wins games and that’s it to have at least a little success. Every now and then a deck like HoPe shows up and takes everyone by storm with its number of techs but the player of that deck has often play tested for months to figure it out. What I do to fit in techs is I look at what cards are absolutely not critical to the deck and then I try to fit in one maybe two techs against bad matchups with those cards out and then test to see if the techs work and the decks constancy does not change.

2. I change my tournament deck after every Saturday which is my league/tourney day even if its just one card because often I see someone playing a similar deck and I see that card in the deck and I think “what a good idea” and decide to try it.

3. I’m not the most amazing at thinking ahead ill admit it but ever since I became a master i've been trying to think about 2-3 turns ahead, mainly depending on how much I know about my opponents hand.
 
Right, how many of each? Call, Collector, Bebe, Communication, Candy, Bork Time?

A little test that sometimes works is to max them all out, four of each, mebbe just three of each to fit them all in. Drop all the techs. Drop the recovery, Palmer and VS Seeker.

Play. When you are in the 'oh crap zone' and your game is dead look in your hand. 'I wish that Bork Time was a Bebe...', make a note Bebe > Bork, or just make the change, bump Bebe to 4, Bork to 2. Rinse, repeat.

After 10-15-20 games analyze! What cards were you always Hapiny to see? Which cards were just ok? Drop four cards, one each of the 'ok' cards. Put in a Palmer, a VS, and your 1-1 tech...

IMPORTANT! Step 2:

Next day after it all fails, take lUxie deck!

Oh yeah, what deck? The one that feels good like yer best shoes, mmmm... I like this, it's good and fun!
 
Last edited:
IMO, simplicity is the key. I usually start with a Skeleton list, which has only the absolutely necessary cards. Then I start adding staples, like Unown Q, and Smearge UD, and some consistency cards, like PONT. Tehn i test, and see how it works. If it works badly, I increase the amount of consistency-boosting cards. Now, here comes the tricky part.

I've played with DialgaChomp for some time, and when you have played it, or any deck for prolonged periods, you start to notice what is "The Edge". This is the point where you cannot add anymore cards that drop your consistency. In DialgaChomp, IMO, for every Consistency boosting card in general(Cyrus, Collector, Bebe, Looker, PONT) you can have 0,8 Tech cards. So, if you have: 4 Cyrus, 3 Collector, 2 Bebe and a PONT, you can have 8 Tech cards like these: 2 Crobat Gs, Dragonite FB, Bronzong G, Chatot MD, Drifblim FB, Lucario GL and Unown Q. If the ratio is wrong, and you have too many Techs, your consistency drops dramaticaly, and your deck starts to fall apart. IF you know the Ratio, you can get the maxinum amount of power from your Deck, without sacrificing almost any consistency.
 
Intresting responses. I agree that consistancy is key in building competitive decks, so do you guys think that techs should come last when deck building?
 
Opposite of skeleton. I make my ideal list, which is usually around 65-70 cards, and then narrow it down. After some games I usually change a few of the cards up. Fun, consistency, and able to beat its supposedly positive match ups are key.
 
I usually put a whole bunch of cards that I think would make the deck good together then I test it and change it to make it actually good and competitive.
 
I'm still new to deck building, so the hardest decision I have to make is what focus my deck is going to take.
Do I want to prioritize consistency? Healing? Speed? Damage output?

Figuring out how to best support my overall 'theme' is still a challenge for me.
A challenge, but fun :)
 
^ I find myself constantly back tracking just trying to fit in all of the necessary cards when I've lost my decks focus. For example in 2009 states I played kingdra and made a last minute decision to mespirts and azelf mt for amu lock because palkia was played. My last 2 rounds my azlef mt then my unown g got donked to cut my chance of topping in half. If I would have stuck to straight speed and consistency instead of gimmicky cards like the amu lock in kingdra I mightve had a different day.
 
Teching should come last imo because it is your last line of defense against a bad matchup. Your primary focus should be to have a deck that sets up no later than T3ish without power/trainer lock with a lock that can be pushed back a little and then to be able to hit for at least 60 damage every turn the rest of the game.

@charcharchar speed and consitancy should be your main focus with a deck in this format without those, you will be stomped every time.
 
But there's a difference between building for consistency and speed, and building an effective deck which is also consistent/speedy. Steelix does just fine this format and isn't focused on either.

You should put 4 collector in whenever you can fit them comfortably, for example. However, if I choose to focus on a tanking play style, I can sacrifice the 4th collector for, say, the extra seeker, or what have you.
 
Start with all of your cards necessary. Building steelix?

4-4 Steelix is needed
2 uxie
1 azelf

4 bebe
4 engineer
etc

then slowly break it down. Need to fit in abomasnow? Make 4-4 steelix 3-3 steelix.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top