Some struggle I was facing while playing the cards was because I don't have the necessary cards to use in building my deck (for the current format).. It can be played but felt very difficult when the chances to draw those cards are limited.. But I was happy enough to get the main cards (most important and most expensive, duh..) that I needed, just lacked a few one or two more of those cards to make my deck a little more, complete..
The game format changed and I cannot be relying on my old game strategy to play for the current format, so I was a completely new player to begin with.. What I listed below are the deck I am currently using just for now (temporary) before I complete my deck..
TDK (Thundurus/Deoxys/Kyurem) Deck Building
[10] Pokemon (Team Plasma)
4 x Deoxys EX
3 x Thundurus EX
1 x Kyurem (obviously not enough! Need 3 of this..)
1 x Lugia EX
1 x Snorlax
[13] Energy
2 x Prism (need 2 more!)
4 x Blend WLFM (Water/Lightning/Fighting/Metal)
4 x Plasma
1 x DCE (Double Colorless Energy)
1 x Lightning
1 x Water
[37] Trainer
4 x Professor Juniper
4 x N
3 x Colress
2 x Bianca
1 x Skyla (it would be nice to have 1 more..)
4 x Hypnotoxic Laser
2 x Virbank City Gym
4 x Switch
2 x Float Stone
3 x Colress Machine
2 x Team Plasma Ball
2 x Max Potion
2 x Pokemon Reversal (ignore this, replacing with Pokemon Catcher!)
1 x Ultra Ball (need 1 more..)
1 x Scramble Switch (might not use this if Kyurem will be the main attacker..)
Before I go into the details, let's see some pictures (individual cards) of all those cards (for beginners, anyone whom are interested to play Pokemon cards, curious about the cards I listed, or people who have no sense of clue or idea what I am talking about so far..)
..and for the final outlook of all my cards for this deck..
T D K ( Thundurus EX / Deoxys EX / Kyurem )
Deoxys EX is a must for Team Plasma deck builder because of it's massive increase of damage.. Each Deoxys EX gives +10 damage on the defending Pokemon, which makes it +40 when all 4 Deoxys EX comes to play!
Though having 4 is a brilliant idea, they only sits and rest on the bench while providing attacking damage support.. The only concern for this Pokemon is when all 4 comes to bench, I will only have 1 Pokemon left on my bench to build on Energies.. Deoxys EX is a good support starter to help raise Thundurus EX skill "Raiden Knuckle", which do 30 damage to the defending Pokemon and on top of that, you get to charge an energy card (literally any kind of Energy!) to your bench Team Plasma Pokemon! With 4 Deoxys EX ability "Power Connect" (if I am able to get all 4 to come in play), my Thundurus EX will damage 70 in R1 (Round 1) to my opponent's defending Pokemon! Not only that, with the boost from Hypnotoxic Laser combine with Virbank City Gym, I can create 100 damage in R1!
While I was playing on Sunday, I did so many mistakes in using Deoxys EX.. I don't know why I charge energy to this feller when I don't really have to unless I needed to (only to counter attack against another TDK deck builder which has Deoxys EX).. I also make way for all my 4 Deoxys EX to come in play, Bad call! As I mentioned, 4 Deoxys EX will take up the space of your bench Pokemon which I needed my other Pokemon to come in play.. Kyurem needed the charge for energies from Thundurus EX, as well as my Lugia EX.. I was having trouble to get my attacking Pokemon on the bench because, I run all 4 Deoxys EX on my bench, with 2 Thundurus EX.. (just great..)
Kyurem will be the main attacker, Lugia EX late game finisher (I just recently added Snorlax, which will be my late game finisher as well that combines with Scramble Switch, swap Energies with Lugia EX).. With Kyurem in play, I realised I will only need about 2 (or maximum 3) Deoxys EX on my bench (depending on my opponent's defending Pokemon HP - Hit Points).. With simple maths, Kyurem own attack is at 120 damage (Blizzard Burn), with 2 Deoxys EX it will be at 140 damage, added from Hypotoxic Laser with Virbank City Gym, that makes it 170 damage for 1 round! This is effective if you want to OHKO (One Hit Knock Out - KO) your opponent's Pokemon (only applicable for most EX Pokemon with majority at 170 HP).. With another 1 more Deoxys EX, you'll make it at 180 damage! (for EX Pokemon at 180 HP)
Not sure if this works, but I am thinking of the following should be sufficient..
3 x Deoxys EX
3 x Thundurus EX
3 x Kyurem (need to get 2 more!)
1 for Lugia EX and 1 for Snorlax (if I still want the late finisher strategy combined with scramble switch).. Of course, running 3 Deoxys EX means you'll lose 1 extra card in your deck to draw this feller to come to play and add into the damage power (not to mention here that there will be chances for it to end up in my Prize Cards).. Thundurus EX and Kyurem will be best to play for 3 each..
Another possible strategy I am looking forward to play with is without using my late game finisher combo..
4 x Deoxys EX
3 x Thundurus EX
3 x Kyurem EX (I'll make it 4 so that I have only 11 Pokemon in my deck..)
The above is purely TDK deck building strategy.. My friend did said to run 1 Keldeo EX to use it's ability "Rush In".. This ability is effective to help Kyurem to keep attacking (with the skill "Blizzard Burn") without worrying that this Pokemon cannot attack the next turn.. So if Keldeo EX comes in to play, I'll remain my 3 kyurem in my deck.. I don't wish to go more than 11 Pokemon in my deck! (In fact I felt 9 Pokemon is sufficient enough.. Or am I wrong?)
Lugia EX and Snorlax
I did wonder if I should use Lugia EX at least 1? Because of it's wonderful ability that allows you to take 1 extra Prize Card (imagine if you killed an EX Pokemon, you get 3 Prize Cards!)
The thing for Lugia EX is that it needs Plasma Energy to attack (which is not a very big issue at all), with at least 1 DCE to support the attack faster.. Adding 1 or 2 DCE (if Snorlax is in my deck) takes up the space in my deck and it's useless for my other Pokemon to use (not effective for cross use cards).. Despite that, having Scramble Switch will be very effective with Snorlax to win the game!
If I go with Lugia EX and Snorlax (taking out Kyurem entirely and solely depending on my Snorlax and Lugia as the main attacker), my other options for deck building are the following..
4 x Deoxys EX
3 x Thundurus EX
3 x Snorlax
1 x Lugia EX
The reason why I would also love to run Snorlax is the super power damage! Because all my Pokemon will be Team Plasma, running 5 Pokemon in play will do massive of damage altogether!
Simple calculation for Snorlax.. 5 Team Plasma Pokemon, with each add the damage of 30, it will easily do 150 damage! When I run 2 out of the 5 is Deoxys EX, I will do 170 damage.. 3 out of 5 of Deoxys EX will do the 180 damage! Imagine if 6 Team Plasma Pokemon come to play added with all 4 Deoxys EX in play, you do the math yourself (Overkill!)..
With Snorlax, I can keep my scramble switch (which still need to combine with Lugia EX as this feller will still be the best option to combo with..), and taking out completely my Hypnotoxic Laser and Virbank City Gym! (I don't really need these cards because Snorlax can do the OHKO job done!).. This gives me 6 cards of space available! With that I will need all my 4 DCE, and I can take off completely all my Blend WLFM Energy! My Energy list will be the following..
4 x Prism
4 x Plasma
4 x DCE
12 Energy cards? This will be my favourite style! I actually have 16 energy altogether because DCE provide 2 energy each time..
However, despite the favourites, playing Snorlax will be quite challenging because he alone needs 5 energy to use his skill to attack.. It can be quite a headache to pump him up unless I can draw 2 DCE easily.. Nevertheless, it can still be tested out..
To add on to my headache, running 4 Prism Energy might not be enough to Raiden Knuckling! Thundurus EX needs at least 1 Lightning Energy to use his skill and attack.. This is why it will be very challenging to use this deck! I might end up needing at least 1 or 2 Lightning Energies in my deck (making it 13 to 14 Energy cards, oh well..) to raise the probability for Raiden Knuckle to take effect..
Compare Snorlax and Kyurem as to which makes the better main attacker? I would prefer Kyurem for it's stability in card game..
Supporters (Professor Juniper/N/Colress/Bianca/Skyla)
That Sunday as I was playing with around 14 to 15 Supporter cards in my deck, I realised the importance of having so many supporter cards in play for the game.. Initially back then my idea was to limit to a maximum of 9 Supporter cards only.. My reason was the restriction of Supporter cards whereby you can only use once for each turn.. However, the new game strategy will not work if I make less Supporter cards in my deck!
Professor Juniper is the key for drawing more cards (that you really need) despite discarding all other cards in your previous hand.. N on the other hand is for few tricks in the game.. I realised how this card can change the game play entirely, all thanks to N..
Colress is great to play for this deck when you need to make your bench full with Deoxys EX and your main attacker Pokemon.. Bianca, is just a standby card in case if you needed to draw extra cards.. Bianca will work only best if you don't have anymore cards in your hand besides Bianca alone..
Skyla can help you a few things.. R1 to get Team Plasma Ball or Ultra Ball or Hypnotoxic Laser or Virbank City Gym.. Getting your Pokemon ready on bench or attack with Poison and Asleep will be very effective for R1.. The final round to get Scramble Switch to win the game with late game attacker from Lugia EX or Snorlax.. Skyla can also come in handy in between game play when you don't have any other Supporter cards, and you need them to help you draw cards (Professor Juniper) or play few tricks with your opponent (N)..
Hypnotoxic Laser, Virbank City Gym, Switch, and Float Stone
Pretty straightforward for both Hypnotoxic Laser and Virbank City Gym on how it's been combo-ed.. Because of these cards, I get to kill off my opponent's Pokemon easily as well as my Pokemon get killed by my opponent's Pokemon (because both have all 4 Hypnotoxic Laser)..
Switch is to help Kyurem to keep getting its attack "Blizzard Burn" going, with the help from Float Stone attach on another of my Pokemon (work either both ways, retreat and switch).. Both cards to help when I need to escape my Pokemon from dying..
Colress Machine, Team Plasma Ball, (balance with) Ultra Ball
Colress Machine helps massively for Team Plasma Deck because each card you can find a Plasma Energy and attach it to your Team Plasma Pokemon.. You get to attach Energy more than 2 times to say (1 Energy from the each turn in play)..
Team Plasma Ball gets Team Plasma Pokemon come to play! I need to balance this with Ultra Ball because by discarding 2 cards, I can discard my Energy cards so that my Thundurus EX can Raiden Knuckling with damage, as well as pumping energy to my bench Team Plasma Pokemon!
Max Potion, Pokemon Reversal (ignore this card, will be replacing with Pokemon Catcher!), and Scramble Switch
Max Potion usually runs 1 or 2 in a deck for most EX deck build (because EX Pokemon has very high Hit Points to stay alive in game, and on top of that, your opponent will take 2 Prize Cards if he or she successfully KO your EX Pokemon).. This is because it heals all damage counter, except that It'll need to discard all energy cards from that Pokemon.. This helps my Thundurus EX (which usually only runs 1 Energy and it's effective for his use to pump Energies to my bench Pokemon) or Deoxys EX (because he sits on bench and might be captured or use him on R1 and got damage by my opponent's Pokemon) when they are being damaged and needed heal to prevent from dying (except if my opponent manage to do OHKO on them)..
Pokemon Reversal needs to flip a coin, whereas Pokemon Catcher don't! (By the way Pokemon Reversal cannot be used in tournament anymore).. I am waiting for tomorrow to get the chance to get this card for the pre-release of new Pokemon edition (Plasma Blast) at Bangsar!
Pokemon Catcher is effective for capturing your opponent's Pokemon that you want to damage, if best to kill it in OHKO! My friend tell me having 4 is a must! But I doubt about that, which I need to depend on my Pokemon strength and weaknesses, as well as all my other Trainer cards (which also depends on my deck space availability).. I am thinking to run 2 to 3 of this card in my deck (probably not 4..) to test and see if it is sufficient.. Test deck is the only option to find out!
I've explained much function of Scramble Switch.. It's self-explanatory..
In short..
This deck still lack the cards needed to play (to be tournament competitively) and my next following few blog posts will be some of the deck build I will consider..
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