Pokemon Gym

I make decks for the Pokemon TCG and collectable cards in place of gym badges.

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Playing store decks and I can't escape playing Meowscarada and Schovillain.

And I designed these.

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Whenever someone asks if I have a card, I'm always like "No, but check the kids. They have infinitely better trades for somehow."

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The thing I find funny about my grass deck is that I built it to spite a 7 year old who complained that I only won because I had all the rare cards. (I was 21)

Grabbed 1 Meowscarada ex and a bunch of common and uncommons that a kid would reasonably have and made a deck out of it. If you look at the list it's just 3 contradictory strategies stapled together. Meowscarada prefers only grass energy in a deck, Scovillain wants fire energy and an incomplete United Wings likes dark energy.

But all the kids love challenging the deck probably because it's much more to their level while still challenging and they can reasonably beat an adult.

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Today after casuals I was handed a set of new dice counters!

The main die even has heads on evens and tails on odds.

I'm going to use these forever now.

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Went to a locals right after everyone else went to regionals. I actually did insanely good despite losing 1-2. But all my matches had my opponent desperately try to scrap together an answer to my weird card choices.

I played Gholdengo ex with Aegislash as my answer to the unhealthy use of ex and V cards. AEGISLASH WAS THE CARD TO CAUSE PROBLEMS. My opponents used too many ex and V Pokemon and I was only countered by experimental strategies that use regular Pokemon. Last game I was starting to brick and lost because the guy was using Gholdengo ex and Palkia V and was forced to attack using Radiant Greninja. He literally couldn't make a good attack with anything else due to Mysterious Shield.

My strategy does have a hole though. Underused cards/attacks that get around Agislash's ability or status conditions are a big one. Single prize strategies may also prove troublesome. But Gholdengo is supposed to handle most of those.

My use of new cards and more obscure cards took people by the spine. We were rotating early so I utilized some of the new cards with way more enthusiasm than others. Cyphermaniac works wonderfully for Gholdengo as you rig your deck and draw the cards you want. Smart service Indeedee is one rarely ever used, even had a judge call on it because it's first move is worded a little weirdly and has rarely been explained. I know it's a little slow and takes up the active spot, but you got to admit that grabbing any card and being able to use the move on the first turn is great.

The biggest problem is mirror matches as Scizor is commonly used in Gholdengo decks. Scizor does insane damage if I get set up.

To be clear: Full Metal Lab is a good card to run for this deck, but Gholdengo ex is too commonly used to safely play. Rigid Band is not bad; you'll probably be playing this with Arvens.

This may be close to meta, but I like to mix some odd strategy to make my opponents panic.

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I keep being told that my Toxicroak deck should be running Atticus. I can see why. I inflict poison and that's what I aim to do and therefore Atticus, a card that only works when the opponent is poisoned, would be a perfect pairing.

However my strategy relies on dealing as much poison damage as possible and only made better with the new Temporal Forces set.

Actual damage is negligible when I'm dealing either 80 or 100 damage between every single turn. (60 from Toxicroak + 20 from Sneasler + 20 if the poisoned Pokemon isn't dark)

The problem is that only high HP ex and VMax Pokemon can take the 300 damage. Even cards that will reduce or nullify damage such as Regieleki V or Safeguard Mimikyu are still not going to last long. They're usually either not poisoned or they're dead by the time it's my turn again. Atticus will rarely see a poisoned Pokemon with Toxicroak.

However there is a better card to pair with Atticus.

Clodsire ex can just poison a Pokemon if you have a stadium. You can only max out at 50 poison damage currently, but you'll probably run Venoshock Seviper which also wants to see poison to deal 180 damage. Clodsire allows your cards to see poison whenever it's your turn while Toxicroak wants to melt your opponent.

I personally find that the Clodsire strategy is a bit weaker because it relies on the actual punch of your active Pokemon. But it is flexible and can still be scary! A lot of moves won't be able to properly one-shot a high HP ex or VMax Pokemon. So Clodsire ex can also help assure that the opposing Pokemon can be taken out soon. All you need is to find a Pokemon to punch really hard and they don't even need to be a dark type.

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In an effort to make easier decks to teach with: I might have accidentally made a more frantic and quick format.

So I built 6 decks of 35 cards and you play for 4 prize cards. There are no rule box Pokemon like EX, V, Radiant, etc. This is intended to be a more quick and balanced way to teach regardless of format. But anyone who plays the card game knows how easy it can be to deck yourself out and can see where this is going.

When you start taking prize cards, you're probably down to your last 10 cards. This has also made cards like Youngster and the draw 3 rivals so much more viable than Professor's research (unless your deck needs a big discard pile.) While testing, this was what I was encountering. No matter the matchup I always ended up getting close to decking out and that's when we frantically try to win.

This would need further testing to see if it's just the way I built the decks or if you can build a serious deck in this way with a similar effect.

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Pepper Nest Gym

A great baseline for all gym decks. An opponent can win with luck alone, but will struggle without a plan.

The deck likes to grab birds and throw them into discard in order to power up United Wings. Scovillain can deal heavy damage with a fire energy. Meowscarada ex is the boss and will give the opponent a hard time if not dealt with early or immediately.

The deck was built with budget in mind. You can swap a couple cards and get essentially the same thing.

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Whenever I participate in casual Pokemon: I always encourage kids to play better. However just letting them win or obliterating them won't teach anything.

So I made up a gym system where kids get to challenge increasingly more powerful decks. These decks have obvious flaws, but are still powerful in their own way.

To encourage kids to face more gyms I made an emblem system. If you win or lose: you get the card with a deck list on the back. This can be used as a cheat sheet or if you want to rebuild the deck. If you win: you complete the card with an emblem, a simple sticker.

Because these are tested and leveled: anyone can make these decks and make their own gym.