Hey everyone, Cheffords here with a few hard learned lessons from my first Battle Roads this spring.
First off let me say that I had an abysmal day, only getting 1 win out of 5 matches! It is because of this poor showing that I decided to write this article, because you have to look for the silver lining no matter what. So, even if you have a losing day, you can reflect on what you’ve learned and apply that to your next outing.
Read More
A big howdy to all members of Omar nation, this is your friend Pikkdogs. A month or so ago I wrote a “Ten Step” article about trading Pokemon cards online. This month I will follow that up with another “Ten Step” article, this one is about starting the Pokemon TCG. 
I am a huge follower of the POJO message boards, and at least once every few days we have people posting questions about how start playing the game. So this article is for all you newbies out there. Hopefully you’ll be able to take something away from this article and be another step closer to top cutting at worlds. So without further ado here are my ten steps in joining the Pokemon TCG community.
1. Decide what you want to do.
This may sound like a vague step, but it is very important. First you must decide what you want to get out of the Pokemon game. You may just want to build a couple of fun decks to play with your friends a couple of times a month. If that is all you want out of the game, there is no point in spending countless hours pouring over cards and websites. If so, just pick up a couple of themes decks and once in a while buy a couple of packs and have fun. But, if you want to become a competitive player you should be prepared to do some hard studying, and spend some money.
2. Find People to Play With.
No matter how serious you want to be with the game, it always helps to have friends who are in the game. Hopefully you and a friend can join together, so you can each push each other to be better players. If not I would reccomend going to a local league. Most leagues have freindly players and judges who would love to help you join the game. You can find a league near you by going to
http://www.pokemon.com/us/organized-play/leagues/.
3. Learn the Rules of the Game
It may seem simple, but one of the first steps in joining the game is simply learning the rules. Rule books are included in every theme deck or are avaliable on the official Pokemon website. For more advanced rules I would use a “Ask the Masters” forum on a Pokemon discussion board.
4. Surf That Internet
Most Pokemon players spend a lot of time on Pokemon websites looking at other decks and researching cards. When you are just starting out it is important to spend extra time searching the net for ideas. You don’t have to spend all day on the computer, just take a look at what other people are playing and how the decks work. At the end of the article I will provide some links to some vital sites.
Beginers always seem to want to know what the best decks are and where they can find decklists of them. Well, in Pokemon people don’t always want to share their decklists. So that makes it harder for the begineer. But, most of the great decks now (like Luxchomp and Cursegar) are very advanced and require expierenced players to play them. My advice to you is to not want to get a really good deck right away, just look around the net at different decks and find one that suits you the best. Once you get more accustomed to the game you can move up and play the best decks.
5. Begin your Collection.
All Pokemon players have some type of card collection. Some people have a complete collection of every Pokemon card made in the last 5-10 years, while others just have one deck and a handful of other cards. It doesn’t matter how many cards you have, its just important to have the cards you need for a deck you want to play. But. I will admit that it is easier to play the game if you have a lot of cards. This game can get expensive so be prepared to spend some money.
When I restarted this game (about a year and a half ago) I started my collection by buying several tins, some theme decks, and loose packs off EBAY. I got them for a decent price, so that is always a decent way to start. Some people prefer buying boxes of cards, thats a good way too, but can get pretty expensive. If you can find a box at a good price (usually 70 or under) it could be worth your money to buy a box of a good set (like Platinum, or Rising Rivals). Or you could just find a deck you want to play and buy singles off the internet to complete the deck. Either choice is fine.
6. Select Your First Deck
One of the most important choices you will make is the choice of a deck. There are two ways to choose a deck, either copy a list off the internet (and make minor adjustments) or make your own list. The latter option is a risky choice for a first deck, but it will get your career off to an adventerous start. In order to make your own deck I would suggest going to www.pokegym.net/tower and looking over some of the cards in the format. Then pick 1 or 2 of the cards you like and make a deck that features them. If you are netdecking (taking a list from off the internet) it would help to ask people online advice on how to play the deck.
Since you are new to the game try to keep your deck idea simple. Dont worry about a lot of techs, just find a deck that lets you attach low amounts of energy and do lots of damage. I wrote an article about a good, cheap, fast deck that is excellent for beginers. You can find it here
http://www.sixprizes.com/deck-analysis/deck-spotlight-scizor-cherrim-beatdown/
7. Adjust Your Deck.
The Wright Brothers smacked into the ground many times before they soared along with the birds, so your new deck will need some tweaking as well. After you play the deck a couple of times you will see where your deck can improve. Go back to the drawing board and improve your deck, look at cards online and see what cards can help your deck succedde more often.
8. Grow Your Collection/ Learn the Lingo
Now that you have a decent deck and a small collection, it is time to grow the collection. Take that small collection and make it larger. Through trading with friends, buying packs and singles, and online trading; you can start to have a respectable collection. A bigger collection means that you can run bigger and better decks.
I have a problem, I have an extra step that I want to talk about. So Im going to add this step in with the previous step. This step is called “Learn the Lingo”. TCG players have a weird set of words they use to describe the games they play, and it is important for a newbie to learn them, so I have included a small list here.
Tech– A card used in the deck that differs from the other cards in the deck. For example, Mewtwo Lv.X is a tech that can be put in a lot of decks to give it an advanatage against Basic Pokemon that the deck did not have in the first place.
Staple– a card that is so good that it is included in most decks. For people starting the game right now, the current staples are: Claydol GE, Uxie La, Warp Point, Night Maintenance and many others.
Set/ SP names You will always here people talk about “Gengar SF”, “Snorlax RR”, and “Garchomp C.” So what are those letters after the names of Pokemon. Well some of them are set names, SF means the set “Diamond and Pearl: StormFront”, and RR means the set “Platinum: Rising Rivals.” Other lettters signify Pokemon SP, which are just SPecial forms of certain Pokemon. C means “Champion” G means “Galactic” and GL means “Gym Leader.” There are other sets and initials so make sure you ge them all down.
Donk– a Donk is a win that happens very quickly, usually on the first, second, or third turns.
Metagame– Metagame is a broad term refering to the game in a certain place or the game as a whole. For example, if every player in the state of Tennesse would run water decks you could say that Tennesse’s Metagame is heavy on water. Currently, it is possible to say that the Metagame is very fast, so your decks will need to be very fast to have a shot at winning.
There are lot of other terms, but those are the major terms. If you learn those you will be off to a good start.
9. Practice, Pratice, Practice.
Perhaps the most important step in learning the game is to practice your heart out. It may not sound like a big deal, but practicing is the number 1 way in which you can improve your deck and your skills. It doesn’t matter if you play online (with the help of the Apprentice, or Redshark software), with your friends, of by yourself; you must practice the game to get a leg up on your competition.
10. Just Have Fun!
This step cannot be understated, Pokemon is a GAME, so have fun with it. It would be nice if you could become one of the best players around, but no matter how serious you are never lose sight of the fact that Pokemon is for fun. Some people play only to win, those are the kids that are crying after they miss top cut at a tournament. No matter if your deck is steam rolling your opponents or is getting blown over, just maintain a positive outlook and have fun.
Now here is a short list of important websites.
www.pojo.com– This is the site I turn to most. It has a “Card of the Day” section where you can get the opinions of some of the most expierenced players. But its main draw is the forum where you can trade cards, get deck advice, and ask questions.
www.teamomar.com– No need to go anywhere else. TO has deck workshops, and a card of the day like article written by a handsome and smart guy named Pikkdogs.
www.sixprizes.com– In the past couple months 6P has grown very large. It has a lot of deck articles, tournament reports, and strategy advice. It is ran by a nice guy from Philly named Adam. Adam will keep you informed on the game and will even give you the oppurtunity to write an article or two for him once in a while.
www.pokegym.net– Still one of the best Pokemon sites. It has an awesome message board, and its researching tower is essential.
www.pokemon.com– This is the official Pokemon website. Here you can serach for leagues in your area and chech your official rankings. It is a little unorgainized and one part of it always seems to be down, but it is the only official site and that means that it can do things that others can’t.
www.pokebeach.com– This website is designed more for Pokemon news. If you want to learn about the new promos that just came out, this is the site for you. It is also a great site if you just want to look for over English translations of cards not released yet.
TheJwittzs Youtube Show– Just like 6P.com this youtube show came out of nowhere to be a really helpful Pokemon resource. It is ran by a nice chap from Illinois named Jwittz, and he is always happy to be giving people advice. This is a link to his YouTube page.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJWittz
Thats all for now. Hopefully this will answer some of your questions. I know that it is hard and intimidating to be joining the Pokemon TCG, it seems like everyone is so much better than you. But if you talk to most players they will be more than happy to give you some advice.
Make sure to come back next week when I again will write my normal “Pikk Three” article.
And above all let me be the first to say, “welcome to the game.”
Woohoo!!!! After about a year of playing competitively, and only about 3 months after the whole team of team omar was put together and created, we have our first team win. Who cares if it was just a battle roads, its a victory no less. The win came from me, and ill give my report on the day. But, other then me winning, we did have another team member t4 with Charizard. Dont know how he did it, but he did.
Anyways, the deck of choice i had going into the tourney was Gengar Garchomp C. The reason for it is because of the snipe ability. I thank whomever created the deck (i believe Kendall, but idk how to spell it)for creating it and sharing with the world the idea. So, on to the report. This tourney had 28 Masters, 4 away from top 8, so its 5 rounds cut to top 4, and the best part was that of the 28 people, 7 were team omar representitives
Round 1: Me vs. Gyrados/Kingdra Prime
The game starts with me starting a Garchomp C. He starts Sableye just like every other gyrados deck in the world, and a regice on the bench. He starts rollin with impersonate getting karps and a horsea. I was quite afraid this game because of my horrid hand to begin with. I had Garchomp C active, and then had 3 poketurn, a warp point, 2 psychic energy, and a haunter. Yum. luckly for me, i top deck a judge. This not only gets rid of the karps in his hand, but the 4 cards i got were like heaven in comparison to the starting hand. i used call energy, got gastly and baltoy, and the games begun. After that however for my opponent, he couldnt get anything goin. He put down a karp and played a collector from his hand, got some karps to discard with regice, but ended with a bebe for gyrados. I rare candy into gengar, drop claydol, refresh my hand, lvl x and retreat the garchomp, and snipe the karp. He never got bts, never set up a gyrados, every karp he put down was Ko’ed, and if he got a seadra down, it was sniped with garchomp. 6 prizes in 6 turns, and i take game #1
1-0
Round 2: Me Vs. Emmanuel
The reason that i dont put a deck up there is because it is emmanuel. He always has some sly way to make a deck to wreck people. He ran Magnezone, manectric, and entei raikou legend. He also had spiritomb to help set up, and a 3-1 uxie line for draw power. I guess the point is to either put yourself in a position to take 6-7 prizes in 1 attack, or just tank with magnezone, and it worked pretty well for him throughout the day. But our game was a little more intense. He starts 2 magnemites and calls for electrike and spiritomb. I start garchomp C(again) and call for gastly and baltoy. A couple turns go by of him setting up a magneton with spiritomb, it getting sniped by garchomp, slowly getting the manectric and magnezone set up, a couple snipes on my part goin for uxies and magnezone. But around turn 5 or 6, i notice he set me up really well. I had a gengar with 80hp left, garchomp c with 70, claydol, and crobat all on the field. He uses the magnezone that searches electric or metal pokemon, and gets 1/2 the legend. I started sweatin because i wasnt prepared for this, and was quite afraid after checking my bench and field. Luckly for me, he couldnt get another pokemon with his uxie draws to get the other half with the communication in his hand. I had a sigh of relief when he just used the manectric to attack for 30 on everyone with powers. The next turn i poketurn both garchomp and crobat, put the basic garchomp down, and a basic baltoy incase he ravages my claydol, and snipe something else. He then fell behind in the race and never got to use his raikou and entei, and i take game two. Good game dood, and that was the first time that i got chu ;)
2-0
Game 3: Me vs. Gyrados
Second Gyrados of the day, but this time he got a gyrados going, and a sableye snipe on my opening gastly. This game didnt have too many exciting things to it. I sniped regice, uxie, and got a couple garchomp C snipes on crobat G’s. The biggest mistake of my day was when he had like 27 cards in hand, and i had 2 prizes left, he has an active Gyrados with a belt, and i thought that it would be a nice idea to use judge, you know why not. Well, then i cant poltergeist with gengar for ko and the win. NICE!!!!!!!!! so it turns out i cant flip my fainting spell heads, and then the following turn i ko his sableye on the bench with another gengar. So its 1-1, and he ko’s my fresh gengar, and luckly i flip heads and we go to sudden death. yay……So i start the gastly, and he starts crobat. He needs to top deck a dark for the donk, because he has collector. And yk what, he does and he gets the donk on my cute gastly. yay.
2-1
Round 4: Me vs. Jumpluff
K so i have to win out here pretty much, and yay, i play a pretty fast deck that can be really difficult to beat if they can get ahead on the prize race. Luckly for me, that was not the case. Nothing exciting really happened this game, jumpluff brings up whomever he wants and KO’s with luxray. But after that happened, i snipe with garchomp C the luxray. This game goes like any other game with this deck, i use gengar to snipe uxie’s and claydol, and he was playing warps and anything else he could so he wouldnt have to kill a gengar. So the prize count become 3-2, i have 2 he has 3, and he has the belted jumpluff up front, and has no way to get a KO other then to attack the gengar, he does, and wham!!!!! heads on fainting spell. GG. Some say its cheap, i say a little luck never hurt anyone.
3-1
Round 5: Me vs. Sableye, Honchkrow, Garchomp C.
Oh boy. I usually wouldnt sweat something terrible because mewtwo solves all my problems, but the cool part was that both were prized, the basic and x, as well as azelf. Oh man, so i had to play this out. The first 2 turns he gets easy KO’s with sableye on a gastly and baltoy, and the turn he gets the 2nd ko, puts a Garchomp C with a dce on his bench, an energy gain, as well as 2 crobats to make sure he could power spray my claydol, and snipe him the following turn. Unfortunately for him, i had the same garchomp C set up in my hand, and the basic on the field. All i needed was to lucksack a little and pull a way to get the lvl. X. well, i top deck the lvl. X. That was easy, and then i attempt to claydol, ready to get sprayed, and do. I then set up the garchomp and snipe his. So my field at this point consists of garchomp C lv. X., a claydol. an uxie. and 2 cards in hand. This was the turn that he could devistate me, and i knew it. Luckly for me, he miscalculated huge. With a giratina on his bench from his first turn, sableye active, 2 crobats, and uxie, he played his turn as so. He poketurns a crobat. Sets up a garchomp C again with a gain and a dark energy. then, drops another uxie, draws like 2, and impersonates cyrus for a power spray, an energy, and cyrus. He probably had the same plan just a turn behind, but the issue for him was the face that the only 2 SP’s he had were garchomp and crobat. So i drew a crobat, put it down and put 10 on an uxie, and then cosmic’d for 6. He tried to spray, but it didnt quite work. So i then retreat the garchomp, bring up crobat, poke turn the crobat, bring carchomp bacu up, DCE him, play a cyrus for another turn, energy, and rosie since i had candy gengar in my hand(i pulled awesome off of the 6 cards) and then sniped his garchomp again. At this point he falls behing, trying to do anything to get on-top of me. After a couple turns of me sniping uxie’s, he gets a garchomp set up to snipe my claydo, and hopes that i dont have a way for the last KO. Well, i just retreat my gengar, and put up garchomp, and snipe for game. After he asked if i had mewtwo. I laughed. I got my mewtwo lv. X as my 4th prize, Azelf as my 5th. YAY! But i still got the victory
4-1
So, the rounds were over, and there was one 5-0, and three 4-1’s in the top cut. three 4-1’s werent going to make it. Luckly, for team omar, we had three 4-1 people at this point, me, my friend with charizard, and one with garchomp C and blaziken FB with no luxray. Top cut was announced, and it was the 5-0 SP junkbox(ill explain later) playing my charizard friend, and me playing the gyrados i lost too. Revenge.
Round 6: Me vs. Gyrados
So, the round is 60 min, best 2 out of three. This means if i get pwned quickly i am ok. Well, the first game wasnt much of one. I start gastly, go first because he starts crobat, attach, and pitch dark, he then collectors for 2 karps and sableye, buts a karp down with sableye, retreats crobat, and then conveinantly has another karp, so he impersonates felicity and gets 2 karps in the discard. Well, i gengar snipe the carp the next turn, and get another gastly and baltoy on my bench getin ready. His next turn wasnt much, he plays another felicity with inpersonate and dicards junk. I then poltergeist his sableye, and do 90 dmg when he has 10 cards in hand full of junk!!! he then poketurns the crobat and thats GG. Win first round
Second round was even faster, i start gastly and he starts karp, i go first. I attach and pitch dark, He draws, and plays sea spray. Yeah thats it. Draws 1 card. I then rare candy and shadow room for KO. 2 games in probably 6 min. Sorry it happened like that man, but its pokemon. Everyone has those days.
5-1
So, as i cheer my team member on, there is this huge wait because his opponent has to recase his sleeves because one of his broke and he didnt have another one to swap with, so that took a while, and then it was a long game 2 that went down to time, and unfortunately my member loses. So i play this SP junkbox as my opponent for the victory medal(oooooo ahhhh)
Round 7: Me vs. SP
So, his deck is a little everywhere. He is comfortable with it, so whatever, but it has dialga G lv. X, Blaziken FB lv.X, luxray G Lv. X, Garchomp C Lv. X, Uxie Lv. X, and idk what else, mabye even a couple copies of each, but it if works it works. So the first round begins, and i was off to a slower start then i want, and he is the player that takes his time and doesnt wanna make a mistake, which is annoying but you cant hate him for taking his time. You just know if you fall behind time is not on your side. He gets ahead of me and brings up claydol to snipe around. I was only down 1 prize the whole game, but that was rough when he was playing slower, and before its too late, about 30 min left, i scoop and go game two.
Game 2 was more on my side. I snipe the 2 uxies with gengar that he had to put down t1 to overextend to get something going, and this time i didnt put down claydol and lived off of mewtwo, garchomp C, and gengar. It worked, i was up 3-6 in prizes with about 15 min left, but instead of making me take all 6 prizes, he was unfamiliar of the style of the 60 min time advantage you have with 1 game under your belt. and scoops. This gives 15 min left on the clock for game 3, and i was pumped and fired up for my comeback of the day.
Game 3 was amazing for me, and i used a little of his technique late game. I start garchomp C, and go first. My opening had i swear was sick nasty. I had 3 DCE, a call, collector, and Garchomp C lv. X. I play call, get another garchomp, and baltoy, and call it a turn. He starts garchomp and blaziken on the bench. He playes his cyrus, puts energy on blaziken, and calls it a turn. I then X garchomp, play the dce, and go snipe happy. I also uxied this turn and got a cyrus. This pretty much give me snipe ability for 2-3 more turns, and eventually i got a claydol and gengar goin, but after getting ahead by 2 prizes, i started to use his technique, think a little more, take more time with my moves, and use the clock to my advantage. I was just making sure he couldnt do anything to get on top. after the 15 min are up, im up 3-5 on prizes, and thats game. I take game 3, the medal, and a big ole smile for my first tourney win.
After the day was done, i spent time working on some new deck ideas, messin around with emmanuels deck idea, because there were 2 times he took 7 prizes and 6 prizes on 1 attack, which is pretty sick nasty. I also hung with the team, opened my packs, and pulled t-tar prime and alph lithograph or whatever. Team omar ends the day with a record of 23-14, which is a good way to start the spring :)
This idea is simple AND stupid, so it’s got a lot going for it.
Step 1: Steal someone’s Flychamp/Nidoqueen decklist. I’m sure you can use Google, but I’ve found a couple for you here and here in case you’re lazy.
Step 2: Rip out the Machamp line and replace it with Kingdra Prime. You should end up with something that looks like this.
2 Trapinich [SW]
1 Trapinich RI
2 Vibrava RI
3 Flygon RI
1 Flygon Lv.X RI
2 Horsea LA
1 Seadra LA
2 Kingdra Prime UL
3 Baltoy GE
3 Claydol GE
1 Nidoran RI
1 Nidoqueen RI
1 Unown G GE
1 Uxie LA
Greetings to the members of Omar Nation. Pikkdogs is back to “Pikk” three cards to review. As always; one will be a staple card, one will be a card that I think is underrated, and one from a new or unreleased set.
I had a talk with the producers of “Pikkdogs Pikks Three” and concluded that this will probably be the last article that has UL cards in the “Young Gun” segment. I think its time to move on and look at some of the cards that have been released in Japan and are on their way across the Pacific (or Atlantic, depending which side of the country your on and which way the plane is flying). But thats to look forward in the future, and this is now.
The Staple- Expert Belt
Description– Expert Belt is a trainer from the Arceus expansion. If you are a newcomer it is a card you will see a lot, and you must learn how to use wisely to win. It is very easy to just play this card Willy Nilly whenever you draw into it and attach it to your main attacker. But, to win consistently you must know when to attach it and when to hold it in your hand.
It is a simple Pokemon Tool Card that can be attached to a Pokemon. When it is, it gives the Pokemon it is attached to an extra 20 HP and its attack to an extra 20 damage to the defending Pokemon. The catch is that when the Pokemon Expert Belt is attached to is knocked out, your opponent may take an extra prize card.
Analysis– As mentioned earlier, this card in not one to be played just for fun, it takes strategy. For example, in a Jumpluff deck if you attach it when you don’t need it for a knock out, and your opponent KO’s you the next turn, you may have just lost the game. It should only be used when it lets you knock out a Pokemon this turn, allows you to not be Knocked Out next turn, and lets you knock out another Pokemon the turn after that. Of course to know this you must know what your opponent is doing and plan 3-5 turns ahead.
There are some cards that can help Expert Belt work better. The most common are Poketurn and Super Scoop Up. These cards allow you to pick up your Pokemon. If you would use it on an Expert Belted Pokemon a turn before it would be Knocked Out, you would save yourself from losing two prizes. Another Combo is with Mismagius GL X. Mismagius has the Poke-Power “Magical Return,” which allows the user to return a Pokemon Tool Card to their hand. This could save the user from losing an extra prize when that Pokemon is knocked out. Eventhough this Poke-Power is really useful, Mismagius is not worth playing in this format because it is almost impossible to establish a benched Lv.X.
Rating-8.5/10 It makes a lot of Pokemon playable (like Kingdra) and makes others more playable (Jumpluff, Gyarados, etc…). It does require an expierenced player to use well, but if you are able to use it wisely you have a big advantage against your opponent.
The Underdog- Snorlax Lv.X RR 
Description- Snorlax Lv.X has a respectable 130 HP, a fighting weakness, and a horrid 4 retreat cost. It has a Poke-Power called” Big Appetite”. which allows you to draw six cards and put Snorlax asleep if Snorlax is active. It has one attack named “Exercise.” It costs CCCC does 80 damage and allows you to discard energy cards from your hand, then you may remove damage counters up to how many energy cards you have discarded.
Analysis– I know when people next see me they will say, “Pikkdogs why did you pick such a bad card for your ‘Pikk Three’ article, and why aren’t you wearing any pants?” Well the answer to the first question is that I am looking ahead to a time when Claydol and Uxie have rotated from the format and people are looking for alternate draw power. Snorlax does have the ability to draw cards by itself, and then be a decent attacker. It will be able to use Double Colorless Energy to make attacking easier. It will also be able to use the Ninetails HGSS draw engine because it doesn’t require any specific type of energy. So between Ninetails and “Big Appetite” a Snorlax deck will have lots of draw power and lots of room for another attacker.
Though saying that, still Snorlax will not be a great card after the format. Its attacking is slow and a little underpowered, even though it will have superior draw power. It does have some advanatages though, the regular Snorlax (#81 RR) has an attack that does 50 damage for CC that can be used when it is asleep. It also has a Poke-Body that does not allow the user to retreat when Snorlax is asleep, take that SP decks.
Rating- 6.5/10-As of right now its not a great card. It can be paired with Wigglytuff GE to put your opponent asleep and keep Snorlax awake, but it still comes short. But I think it is underrated because of its potential to be a decent card in the format. In a couple months it could be a decent deck with lots of draw power, but then again who knows if Father time will be good to Snorlax or not.
The Young Gun- Kindra Prime
Description- Kingdra Prime has some questionable stats; 130 HP, lightning weakness, and a 1 retreat cost. Which aren’t that bad but you would expect a little better for a Prime. It has a Poke-Power called “Spray Splash.” It is a great Poke-Power that allows you to put 1 damage counter on 1 of your opponents Pokemon each turn. The power is also
stackable meaning that if you have 3 Kingdra Primes in play you can knock out a Hoppip just by using the Poke-Power. It also has one attack called “Dragon Steam”, which does 60 damage (if your opponent has no Fire Pokemon in play, in which case it only does 20) for only one water energy.
Analysis– This has been by far the most hyped card in the set. And by its attacks and stats it looks like many Kingdra cards we are used to. A low energy attack, a 1 retreat, and a weakness to lightning. Its “Dragon Steam” attack can be enhanced with Expert Belt to do 80 damage, which along with its Poke-Power, can make Kingdra Prime a pretty intimidating card. It can be paired with the Kingdra from LA to spread damage to the bench which goes well with Kingdra Primes Poke-Power.
Rating– 6.75/10-Im not drinking the Kingdra Prime Kool-Aid like other people are. Yes it can do a respectable 80 damage with one energy and an Expert Belt, and does have one of the best Poke-Powers in the format. But, Kingdra Prime is similar to the LA Kingdra, and that deck isn’t doing all that great right now. One of the reasons is that Luxray GL is prowling all around the format and can OHKO Kingdra Prime. Another reason is the fact that Kingdra Prime will live and die by how it does in the new format, and the fact is that Ninetails will be very popular. Of course Ninetails is a fire Pokemon and will reduce the damage that Kingdra dishes out. So in close, its a good quick card, but Kingdra will autoloss against any deck that is playing even 1 Fire Pokemon.
So thanks for reading another one of articles, and feel free to leave your comments and reviews of these cards in the comments box.
Greetings to Omar Nation, once again I am Pikkdogs, and I am here to “Pikk” and review three card; one being a staple, one being an underrated card, and one being a card from a new or unreleased set. As always, feel free to comment on the reviewed cards and let others know what you think of them.
On a side note, just a reminder for everyone out there that the Spring Battle Road season starts very soon. So start finalizing your battle road decks and get ready for some fun tournament action. I love Battle Roads because they are fun informal tournaments where the pressure is off. So I hope you all have fun at your local BRs.
The Staple: Uxie La.
Description- Uxie is a very useful and a very versatile card, but let’s start the analysis by looking at Uxie’s stats. It’s a basic Pokemon with 70 HP, a +20 weakness to Psychic,and a 1 retreat cost. Its Poke-Power is awesome; it’s called “Setup” and lets you draw cards until you have 7 cards in your hand when you play him. Its attack is also decent; its called “Psychic Restore” and it does 20 damage for C, and gives you the option of putting it and all cards attached to it on the bottom of your deck.
Analysis– Wow, this card is one of the best in the current format. One of the reasons why it is so good is that it can be used in many ways. It can be used as a draw engine, for alternate draw power, or as a main attacker. S
ome decks like Shuppet decks use Uxie as their main draw engine. The user lays down Uxie to draw a lot of cards, then they can use Super Scoop Up to pick him up and use it again. Other decks like SP decks use Uxie as an alternate draw engine. SP decks use the Cyrus’s Conspiracy draw engine and use Uxie to help draw cards when the player is in a bind. Other decks that use Claydol also use Uxie to get a fast setup. It can also be used as a main attacker in a donk deck. The player could add an expert belt to Uxie, attach any energy card (including Cyclone), and as many plus powers as you want, then put them all on the bottom of the deck and get ready to draw them again next turn. It is also a staple card in an AMU deck.
Rating– 9/10- it is very versatile and very useful. Almost every deck can use Uxie to make their deck better. It also have a very helpful Lv.X card that any deck could use. So whether he is your main attacker, your draw engine, or a mixture of both, most players love their Uxie for a good reason.
The Underdog- Handy 910s Pokedex
Description– Handy 910’s Pokedex is a simple trainer card. It allows you to look at the top 2 cards of your deck and choose 1 to put in your hand, then put the other on the bottom of your deck. It is similar to Uxie Lv.X’s Poke-Power “Trade-Off.”
Analysis– Pokedex is a card that not many people talk about, and only a few people play it seriously. But it is a good card and should be used more often. It is mostly played in speed decks like Shuppet Donk. It allows the user to go through their deck pretty fast and get a card that they want without using a supporter. But it can be used in almost every other deck to increase speed. The downsides of the card are that you never know what card you are going to reveal with the top cards of your deck, so it’s a bit of a risky card. There are cards that can help you re-arrange your deck to your liking like Ralts Pt, but they aren’t really worth it.
Rating– 6.5/10- It’s a good card that can be used in any deck. It is indispensible in a speed deck, like Shuppet, and helps the deck work. Even though it can work in almost any deck, I would only run it if I have speed issues or have open deck room. But when it is used, it can be a very good0 card.
The Young Gun: Ursaring Prime UL.
Description- Ursaring Prime is one of the new Primes from the Unleashed set. It has 110 HP, a Fighting weakness, and a three retreat cost. Its Poke-Body “Berserk” adds an extra 60 damage to any of its attacks when it has at least 1 damage counter on it. Its first attack, “Hammer Arm” does thirty damage for CCC and lets you mill one card 
from your opponents deck. Its second attack, “Megaton Lariat” does 60 damage for CCCC. Ursaring’s attacks aren’t very flashy, but when combined with its Poke-Body its attacks are dangerous.
Analysis– As mentioned Ursaring needs at least 1 damage counter on it to be dangerous, and it has a high energy requirement, so it will need some support to work well. But, Unown P and DCE are in the format and could come into a deck to help Ursaring. Unown P has a Poke-Power called “Put” that allows you to place a damage counter on one of your Pokemon. This will help to make the most out of Ursaring’s attacks. Double Colorless energy is also a great card that can support Ursaring. It provides CC instead of just C, making it possible to have Ursaring hitting for 120 by turn 2. Another thing about Ursaring Prime is that since it does not need any specific energy cards, it will be able to utilize the Ninetails HGSS draw engine. That means if Claydol and Uxie are bounced from the format, Ursaring can just use Ninetails and not miss a step. I also love the “Hammer Arm” attack because it mills a card from your opponents deck. The milling may not have a huge effect on the game, but then again if you mill the right card you might be able to change the game around. If you love this attack as much as I do, you might feel like adding Chatot G as a combo, for its Poke-Power “Disrupting Spy”, so you will almost always mill something good.
Rating– 7.5/10. It does have high energy attacks and a fairly low 110 HP, but I think Ursaring can be playable after the rotation kicks in. Even before the rotation, it is still a decent card, and can be used to supplement a lot of other cards in the format.
He swings for 100 damage (belted).
His attack hits for 80 damage (100 with belt).
He’s got 100HP (Expert Belt attached).
He’s got 150HP (if you attach belt).
How many times have you seen phrases like these? They’re all over the Pokewebs. We get it! The Expert Belt gives your Pokemon +20 HP and +20 damage.
Why doesn’t anyone write up a new deck analysis like this?
“When you attack with Kingdra, you can take 2 prizes if you KO the defending Pokemon (when he’s belted).”
OR
“One of Luxray’s drawbacks is that the opponent takes two prizes when you KO him (with Expert Belt attached).”
How about we all just quit with the gratuitous Expert Belt inclusions in deck posts? Raise your hand if you don’t understand that you can attach an Expert Belt to do 20 extra damage and add 20 HP to your Pokemon. Nobody? Good!
Hello to the Omar-Nation. This is Pikkdogs again, and I am once again Pikking three cards. One card that is a staple, one card that I feel is underrated, and another from a new or unreleased set.
Sorry for the lateness of this post. Final exams mixed with an illness and my moving to forced me to miss a post last week. But, this week I am back to give you a little insight into the Pokemon TCG. As always, feel free to post your thoughts, comments, or reviews of the cards in the comment box.
The Staple- Dusknoir Diamond and Pearl
Description-Dusknoir of course is a stage 2 Pokemon, it has 120 HP, a 3 retreat cost, a +30 weakness to Dark, and a -20 resistance to Normal. These stats aren’t too impressive, but aren’t that bad either. 120 HP is decent and the resistance helps against Flygon and Garchomp C But that retreat cost is pretty high. It has 1 attack called “Hard Feelings.” This attack for PPC places five damage counters on the defending Pokemon and one more for each prize your opponent has taken. “Hard Feelings” is nothing special, its damage output will only average around 70, it is very expensive, and the attack can be nullified if your opponent attaches an Unown g to the defending Pokemon. So the stats can only be described as decent and the attack is only useable as a desperation attack, so why is it so good? The answer is that this Pokemon has a game changing Poke-Power. Its called “Dark Palm.” If your opponent has more than 4 benched Pokemon, this Poke-Power lets you choose one of them and all cards attached to it and have your opponent shuffle it in your opponent’s deck.
Comments– Dusknoir DP has been some what of a staple since it was released about three years ago. Two years ago all the best decks were playing Dusknoir to disrupt the opponent. It has lost some of its momentum in the last year as the format has become faster, but it is still a prevalent card in a lot of decks.
Today a lot of decks like Jumpluff, Gengar, and Gyarados rely on a large bench. Dusknoir DP can be used as a tech to deal with these decks and slow them down. It can be debilitating to lose your Claydol or primary attacker midway through the game. “Dark Palm” can be just what you need to turn the game around.
8/10- Its a great tech card, but it can be hard to establish a benched stage 2 Pokemon. Some decks like LuxChomp can also play around this card by limiting their bench.
The Underdog- Poke-Radar LA
Description– Poke-Radar is a simple trainer. All the user does is plays the card, then looks at the top five cards of his/her decks, and chooses 
as many Pokemon there as he/she wants and put it into his/her hand.
Comments– I love Poke-Radar. Some people hate it and group it with Potion and Switch as unplayable cards. But, I contend that every deck should have room for one Poke-Radar. It lets you grab a hand full of Pokemon and it’s a trainer so you can still use a Supporter that turn. Yes sometimes you will not reveal any Pokemon in the top 5, but more times than not, multiple Pokemon appear.
There are a couple of drawbacks of this card. Some decks, like SP decks, don’t run a lot of Pokemon and use other trainers and supporters to get the Pokemon they need. Also the card is not as useful in the first turn or two, and is very useless late game when you are all set up.
8.5/10- Like I said before I just love this card. Most of the times that I have used it in games I have revealed useful cards.
The Young Gun- Judge
Description– Judge is a supporter card from the new Unleashed set that instructs both players to shuffle their hands into their deck and draw 4 cards. In this way it is a supporter version of Giratina’s Poke-Power “Let-Loose.”
Comments– This card is the latest in the long line of hand disrupting Supporter cards. Other similar cards include Team Galactics Mars, Team Galactics Wager, Cyrus’s Initiative, and Lookers Investigation. This card is unlike the others in the fact that it makes both players shuffle their entire hand into their deck and only draw 4 cards. It can be used to kill your opponents set up, but at times it could help your opponenet. It can be especially efficient in SP decks, because Cyrus’s Conspiracy can search out a Supporter from your deck.
But, as I mentioned before this effect can be used by playing Giratina Pt, and saving your supporter for something else. It is more advantageous to use “Let Loose” and then use a card like Cyrus’s Initiative or Team Galatics Mars. But, Judge can be used later in the game when you have filled your bench, while “Let Loose” can not. Im sure that the really good players will find room in their deck for this card. This card can also fit into a Sablelock or an Empoleon Deck rather easily.
6.5/10- Giratina does this effect a little better, but this card should fit into the popular Sablelock deck pretty easily. It also is an excellent card to upset Judges at a tournament. Just say the name of the card loud when you play it and you’ll have 2 or 3 judges scrambling to your table for no reason, haha.
Well thanks for listening to my ramblings, and I look forward to your reactions.
I don’t yet know if this will be a recurring column or not. I would like it to be, but I’m not sure how well it will be received or if it’s something I will maintain. You see, I have deck ideas every once in a while. This seems to happen more when new cards come out. Usually, I come up with some great new idea. I write up a skeleton decklist, and then I ponder it. In the short term, the pondering process often results in minor tweaks. In the long term (being probably less than a day), it generally results in scrapping the idea because it’s not going to be competitive enough.
I don’t have a lot of opportunity to play weird decks at home. I’d love to try these ideas at league or something. The problem is that I often don’t own all the cards (especially for sets that haven’t been released yet). Also, league is only once a week, and I don’t make it to every session.
This means that the “Stupid Deck Idea” usually doesn’t make it past the initial decklist, therefore I will never know if the idea had any actual merit. As it is, these “Stupid Deck Ideas” may have some usefulness. Maybe the Pokemon have some good synergy, but the trainer line was all wrong to support them. Maybe there’s a hidden combo that hadn’t been widely considered before, but without testing, it’ll never be discovered. Maybe a year or two from now a new card comes out that makes the deck work, and people can find this archive. I don’t know. All I know is that the idea is going to get shelved, so I’ll put it here and see what happens. Maybe it gets universally ignored, but maybe someone takes it and runs with it.
So, that’s the setup for “Ed’s Stupid Deck Idea.” Today’s installment is “Goose King.” It combines Zangoose Platinum with Kingdra Prime from Unleashed.
Read More
Cheffords 
Pikkdogs 
Omar 
Ed 