Welcome to the next part of my How to School the Competition series. For the first part, I talked about LuxChomp and how to use it more effectively against a handful of the major decks. For this part, instead of talking about a certain deck and its matchups, this will be a general guide that any deck can use on how to play the game. I’ll cover every step, from building your deck to playing in a tournament with it.
Note: Just like my LuxChomp article, which was aimed at players of all skill levels, this one is even more so. I believe that newer players will learn the most from this article. For more advanced players, you may just want to skip this article as it won’t do much for you apart from being a review of what you already know.
Deck Building
When you build a deck, there’s a huge list of things that you need to remember if you want a successful deck. So many, in fact, that I cannot go over each and every one here without taking this article to an 8,000 word count, so instead I’ll go over the most notable ones that prove to be either interesting, important, etc.
pokemon-paradijs.comI. Focus
First off, you need to come up with the focus on what your deck will be. You will need to do one of three things:
A. Come up with a general strategy that you would like your deck to have (e.g., a spread deck)
B. Come up with a main card or cards to be the focus of your deck
C. Pick an Archetype
While most players choose to go with C, don’t feel discouraged to go with A or B.
II. Direction
Next, come up with a plan for your deck. If you chose A, you want to figure out which few cards you would like to include in your deck to help accomplish your strategy. If you chose B or C, now is the time where you want to choose which route you want to take with the deck. Would you like to go for a speedy-type list or go for one that is slower and more powerful? That decision is up to you.
For the sake of explaining each step easier, I will be using a LuxChomp deck as my example.
My Direction:
I would like to go with a faster, consistent list over disruption.
III. Goals
After you have a blurry idea of what your deck will be, before moving forward, it’s best you come up with a few goals for your deck, such as decks you want to beat. A few examples include:
* Having a superior match over every SP deck
* An edge in the mirror
* A good chance against each deck in the format
* No auto-losses.
* Simple to play
* Out-speed my opponent
You get the idea. Keeping your goal in mind will help you as you’re creating your deck.
My Goals:
Having an edge in the mirror and a list that offers lots of ways to outplay the opponent.
One thing to also note is that your goals should fit your playstyle and skill level. If you are a new player who is still learning, you will probably want a simpler list that is easier to play. I have been playing for almost 10 years, so a deck that offers a lot of complex options is usually (not always, but usually) best for my playstyle.
IV. Map
Next, come up with a general map of what cards you would like to include in your deck as well as getting an idea what sort of lines you want to run.
My Map:
I want a Garchomp C line that allows me to quickly get multiple Garchomp in play. I want to make sure I don’t run into energy shortages and I’ll probably want a 2-2 line of Luxray GL. I’ll obviously max out Poké Turn and Energy Gain, and play a higher count of SP Radar. I’d also like a few shuffle/draw supporters in the deck as well as quick recovery, which means playing 2 Aaron’s Collection may be a smart move.
V. Skeleton
For the next step, you want to come up with a nice skeleton for the deck of about 40-48 cards. Don’t include too many techs in this list, just focus on basing this on consistency as well as helping to achieve your Goals (III).
My Skeleton:
| Pokémon – 13 1 Azelf LA 3 Garchomp C 1 Garchomp C LV.X 2 Luxray GL 2 Luxray GL LV.X 1 Crobat G 2 Uxie LA 1 Uxie LV.X |
T/S/S – 25
3 TGI SP Radar
4 TGI Poké Turn
1 TGI Power Spray
4 TGI Energy Gain
1 Luxury Ball
2 Aaron’s Collection
4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy
2 Professor Oak’s New Theory
4 Pokémon CollectorEnergy – 7
4 Double Colorless Energy
3 L Energy
VI. Techs, Pt. 1
As you can see, my skeleton only includes 44 cards, which includes 18 slots for techs. This is one of the most difficult steps in the deck building process. First off, you want to remember the Direction you chose to go in and the Goals you made for your deck. For example, I chose having an edge in the mirror as one of my goals, so I will want to keep that in mind as I build my deck
In addition to those things, you will need to adapt your deck to be able to contend with the top decks in the format. Trying to do all of this and still create a consistent and fast deck is very difficult. It is something that takes years to master. Just when you think you mastered it, you will learn a whole new side to it. However, it is essential that you keep trying to do, otherwise you won’t improve at the game.
pokemon-paradijs.comMy Techs:
I’ll start by remembering the Goals for the deck, which included having options mid-game and an edge in the mirror. For that, the edge in the mirror, I’ll add in Dragonite FB and Promocroak to help KO their Pokémon SP, Premier Ball for speed and recovery, and another TGI Power Spray to negate “Healing Breath”/”Bright Look”. I’ll also add in a second Crobat G to help increase my 1HKO ability and a P Energy to allow Promocroak and Crobat G to attack.
+1 Dragonite FB
+1 Toxicroak G
+1 TGI Power Spray
+1 Premier Ball
+1 Crobat G
+1 P Energy
VII. Techs, Pt. 2
That was only the very beginning of teching out your deck, you should still have 8-14 slots left, meaning there’s a lot more work to be done.
A good idea for your deck is to include techs that serve more than one purpose, or one that requires you to give it the least amount of space as possible. For example, Honchkrow SV is a common tech in Sablelock. Why? Because it serves a number of roles for the deck. First of all, it acts as a Machamp SF counter as well as a much needed secondary attacker that can actually whip out big damage. Second, it has great synergy with the deck because it uses D Energy (which Sableye also uses), Double Colorless Energy (which Garchomp C uses), and just SP in general (it gains attack power for having Basics in play).
For example, a smart card for me to play in my deck would be Purugly G, as it serves a number of uses. First of all, it corresponds perfectly with my goals, helping with both the mirror match as well as giving the deck more options. Second, it also improves my matches against Gyarados and other SP variants, which means it serves more than one purpose, and that’s always a good thing.
pokebeach.com+1 Purugly G
VIII. Consistency
Now that you have a number of slots filled up on your deck, you still need to add more consistency cards to your deck, which is what the last cards in the deck are for. There are a lot of different ways to add consistency to your deck, some that are better than others. For example, Professor Oak’s New Theory would help my deck’s consistency as well as helping my VileGar matchup, which makes it a multi-function card.
There are, of course, other cards to add to your deck that both add consistency and help with a matchup. The best example of this type of card is Uxie LV.X, which helps with both consistency and the Machamp matchup. If your deck isn’t consistent, it isn’t good. If you cannot set up each game, then there’s a very low chance of you actually winning the match.
My Consistency:
To make my LuxChomp list more consistent, it’s probably a good idea to add in Pokémon Communication and another PONT. To help further power my attacks, I’ll also add in an SP Energy. Most players have dropped this card, but I find it to be very useful as it can power Luxray GL, Toxicroak G, and Crobat G, making it very useful in almost every situation.
+1 Pokémon Communication
+1 PONT
+1 SP Energy
My Current List:
| Pokémon – 17 1 Azelf LA 3 Garchomp C 1 Garchomp C LV.X 2 Luxray GL 2 Luxray GL LV.X 2 Crobat G 2 Uxie LA 1 Uxie LV.X 1 Toxicroak G Promo 1 Dragonite FB 1 Purugly G |
T/S/S – 20 3 TGI SP Radar 4 TGI Poké Turn 2 TGI Power Spray 4 TGI Energy Gain 1 Luxury Ball 1 Premier Ball 1 Pokémon Communication 1 Energy Exchanger 2 Aaron’s Collection 4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy 3 Professor Oak’s New Theory 4 Pokémon Collector |
Energy – 9 4 Double Colorless 3 L 1 P 1 SP Energy |
Total: 56 Cards
IX. Playtesting
After you have come up with a useable decklist of at least 55 cards, I often find it a good idea to stop there and test out your deck. While you won’t be able to use it at a tournament, play some matches against a friend or even solitaire matches. Try it out against a wide variety of decks to figure out which matches you have a hard time against and which you are able to easily win.
A good idea to keep track of what you learned through your testing is to simply have a pen and paper handy where you can write notes that vary from “Deck sucks late-game” to “Energy drought mid-game”. Instead of rewriting the same note over again, simply put a tally after a note, which symbolizes another time you experienced that problem.
X. Post-Playtesting
To help with the VileGar, I tested out a variety of techs that would work well in my deck, in addition to fitting my playstyle, and came up with a number of good options. First off, Pokémon Contest Hall, which is great for forcing through to my Energy Gains and Basic Pokémon SP. Another card that really helps here is Bebe’s Search, which excels at adding consistency to the deck as well as a good way to shuffle away trainers. In addition, I opted for a 1-1 Smeargle UD and Unown Q line to help me recover each time one of my attackers is KO’d.
+2 Pokémon Contest Hall
+2 Bebe’s Search
+1 Smeargle
+1 Unown Q
XI. More Testing
Now that you have completed a 60 card list, take it to your league! Leagues are a great place to work through all of the kinks in your deck. Not only do you work out the problems in your deck, you will improve your skill level as a player, learn how to better play certain matchups, and master your deck.
If you are unable to go to league or there isn’t one near you, there are a few things you can do. One great way is to create a team or group of players that you can playtest with often, either in person or via Apprentice, Redshark, Skype, etc.
XII. Closing
Great job, you reached Step XII, which means that you have created a 60-card deck and have done a fair amount of testing with it. Now comes the time that you must make a choice: whether or not to keep the deck.
If you are making a Rogue deck, you may decide that it’s just not good enough, or, if you’re playing Gyarados, that it’s just not your style. If you decide to scrap the deck, you’ll need to start over with Step I to come up with your idea, create your decklist, and test it out again. It’s possible you may have to do this process 10+ times to find the deck that fits best, but when you do, it will be worth it.
However, if you have come to the decision that you would like to continue to use the deck you selected, congrats. Now comes the hard part: perfecting your deck, which will require a lot more testing and you’ll probably end up editing your list quite a bit.
Well, that’s it for now, I hope you enjoyed this article. Until next time,
-Dakota Streck
“For more advanced players, you may just want to skip this article as it won’t do much for you apart from being a review of what you already know.”
Sadly, I’m starting to think this is true of almost every article on this site.
Unless you wanna pay a fee every month…
Agreed, the last day to get a free account didn’t work for me. I tried the next day and had the EXACT same username and email the day before and it let me signed up. It would’ve been nice to have a free account.
Everyone was given ample time (5 days) to sign up for the free trials (which are over now anyway). If you had an issue, you could have e-mailed me about it and I would have helped you out.
I like this site and I have learned a lot from it. Lately, I have been dissapointed because all of the very good writers are Underground writers and all of the articles that hook me are underground articles. I liked sixprizes because it was free (not to be a cheapskate or anything). And I can’t have an Underground account because
A: I am a 13 year old and I have no money
B: My parents don’t know I have a sixprizes account which leads up to
C: I can’t have a PayPal account or a credit card.
Sixprizes was my favorite website until Underground started. All of the amazing writers and deck-builders are UnderGround writers and all of the sub-par (or less revealing of secret stuff) writers are staff writers. I haven’t seen any articles by J-wittz recently other than vids. When I saw that an article was going ot come out called the “LuxChomp Bible” I was so excited. Then I saw that it (and all of the other good articles for the next month) was/were Underground. That stopped me in my tracks. I just feel so frustrated and I may switch completely to PokeGym because it’s becomin too much. I don’t know how to make a good ChampPhan deck because it was an Underground article. The Non-Underground article about Machamp was informative, except for my list was (in my opinion) better and more solid. The only major change was adding one Machamp Prime, and the writer himself said that he didn’t have much info or practice with/about Triumphant. All I have to look at now is the n00b list on pokegym and the joke/spammed-up threads on heytrainer, whereas as soon as Triumphant came out there immediately was an Underground article on ChampPhan. I miss the old SixPrizes.
I understand your frustration… unfortunately we can’t make Underground available for everyone. It’s impossible for us to make everyone happy (though I wish I could).
What exactly do you mean by “old SixPrizes”? I just don’t know what you mean… none of the Underground writers were writing anything for the site anyway before it started, and we’ve cut down on weak articles making it to the site. I think a lot of people are misremembering how things were before.
Look through the archives and let me know what kind of things you are missing: https://sixprizes.com/archives/
I just don’t understand what everyone is missing… maybe I’m nearsighted, I dunno. Nobody is really giving any concrete examples of things they want or wish we were doing again.
Oh. I should’ve done that.
Ok… what kind of articles do you (or anyone else) want to see?
Something creative… From a different point of view… I don’t know, just throwing out ideas…
Be more specific, I don’t know what you mean by “something creative.” That’s a very broad suggestion… are you talking about deck ideas or creative writing like smitham9 does? Or something else?
And just to be somewhat cynical, nobody will ever share any “different” deck ideas that have if they’re good (at least on the free portion of the site).
Any creative decks ideas that make it to the site are pretty much guaranteed to be bad… nobody is going to share their secret deck they’ve been working on for a tournament. Unless you want to read about Water Ho-Oh and Ratty Ratty Bug, then I’m not sure what to do.
Would YOU (speaking in a general term) be willing to share a great new creative idea to everyone if you thought it was any good, and could possibly be a tournament winning idea? I doubt it…
tony (smithham9) definetaly writes the best quality, and the funniest articles on the site, i think he should write more… or maybe even be an underground writer
I was being a bit harsh. I generally enjoy reading the articles here. I just don’t feel any better of a player than I was before reading any of the articles. This is probably because I have a strong breadth of knowledge of the game and consider myself a pretty good deck builder. My primary weakness is a lack of familiarity with how to play and play against particular decks, which is something you can really only get from playtesting. An article can supplement deck building and general play, but familiarity with a particular deck is difficult to get without playing at least a few matches both with and against the deck.
As far as Underground articles, if I used them just for upping my game, I would just scroll down to the decklist to see what tech they played that differentiated them, and that would be the bulk of what I’d want to know. In some cases just the name of a single card. But as it turns out, most of the underground authors are people I know personally, and I like reading their stuff. Be that as it may, I think that only maybe one of the Underground articles posted to date told me something I didn’t already know.
What this basically means is that for me the site is a place to go that has good articles, but not an indispensable resource like it may be for some newer players to whom the value of many of these articles would be very high.
As for what I would like to see more of, my favorite are probably articles with an in-depth analysis of a particular deck with in-depth analysis of how match-ups play out. These are usually the most interesting and enjoyable from my perspective.
You’re going to be hard pressed to find articles anywhere with in-depth analysis and match-up guides. It takes a lot of time to gain competency at those kinds of things and most people won’t want to share that kind of stuff, unfortunately. :(
Next month (I hope) we will start recording Apprentice/Redshark matches for Underground members, so I think you might like those. I bought some people mics and we need to get everyone hooked up with software, but basically we’ll start recording matches and the guys will explain their moves while they play. It should be pretty interesting. :)
I guess what I’m saying then is that things that don’t take lots of time to gain competency at aren’t of value to me in articles, because I’m highly competent at the rest :p
Recorded redshark/appr matches would be cool. That’s definitely a good idea. Gosh, I need to find some people to play against for that matter. I haven’t played a game of Pokemon over the Internet in years.
Come on guys, stop the hating already. The article was good, maybe not the best about deck building (that would be “refine your playtesting” i really loved that one), but it certainly was good, so lets be fair with the writers.
The article defined what a deck builder needs, how he needs it, the process of creating, play testing, teching, i think its good enough.
I still didnt like the list at all, but i guess thats not really the point of this article, so i wont say anything about that.
You did a good job here Dakota.
THIS IS THE BEST SITE IN THE WORLD STOP HATING
I like this deck building break down process. I might not agree with how the deck would look like 9 energies seems really low, but I know that is through different play styles and personal comfort.
This list was in no way meant to be a good, playable list. Instead, it was just to provide an example of how the process works.
Ok, I can’t get my ‘puter to respond to each person’s post, so here’s my response to every1
@Martin Garcia – Yeah, the list is not a great list, it was only meant to be a demonstration
@Everyone Else – I’ve heard it a lot that people are thinking that the articles haven’t been as good since Underground and the Approved Contributors/Staff Writers have started and I partly agree with you. I understand that some of you feel that the site hasn’t been doing much for more advanced players lately because all the good stuff is Underground.
I personally make sure that I don’t hold many “Secret” decks/techs/whatever back from you guys, if I figure out a really good idea, 99% of the time I’ll write an article on it.
@Attackers on this article – Yeah, I admit that this wasn’t as good as my first SCT (school the competition) article, this article was aimed at beginners, which is something I don’t like to do.
@A buncha People – My next STC article will go back to the pattern of the first one and will be about Gyarados and how how to play its match ups. I know some of you asked for match up guides, so I’m here to tell you that most of my STC articles will be about playing match ups and will be aimed much more advanced players than this article was.
@Everyone – The best way to make the site better is to tell us what you want, if you don’t like something, let us know. However, please don’t just say “I liked the old 6p better”
Tell us what you don’t like, what you do like, what could be made better. Be as specific as possible and, if able, give examples:
Example:
I didn’t like this article because it was written really boringly. An article that did a good job at that was this:
Post link here
Ok, I can’t get my ‘puter to respond to each person’s post, so here’s my response to every1
@Martin Garcia – Yeah, the list is not a great list, it was only meant to be a demonstration
@Everyone Else – I’ve heard it a lot that people are thinking that the articles haven’t been as good since Underground and the Approved Contributors/Staff Writers have started and I partly agree with you. I understand that some of you feel that the site hasn’t been doing much for more advanced players lately because all the good stuff is Underground.
I personally make sure that I don’t hold many “Secret” decks/techs/whatever back from you guys, if I figure out a really good idea, 99% of the time I’ll write an article on it.
@Attackers on this article – Yeah, I admit that this wasn’t as good as my first SCT (school the competition) article, this article was aimed at beginners, which is something I don’t like to do.
@A buncha People – My next STC article will go back to the pattern of the first one and will be about Gyarados and how how to play its match ups. I know some of you asked for match up guides, so I’m here to tell you that most of my STC articles will be about playing match ups and will be aimed much more advanced players than this article was.
@Everyone – The best way to make the site better is to tell us what you want, if you don’t like something, let us know. However, please don’t just say “I liked the old 6p better”
Tell us what you don’t like, what you do like, what could be made better. Be as specific as possible and, if able, give examples:
Example:
I didn’t like this article because it was written really boringly. An article that did a good job at that was this:
Post link here
I think this article was great, and I am a little bit of a beginner, but this probably has helped a lot of people.
Pokemon’s 18
3 Steelix Prime (HS) Unleashed)
3 Onix (HS Unleashed)
3 Oddish (HS) Undaunted)
2 Gloom (HS) Undaunted)
2 Vileplume (HS) Undaunted)
3 Cobalion (BW) Noble Victories)
1 Tonadus EX (BW) Dark Exploriers)
1 Mewtwo EX (BW) Next Destinies)
Trainer’s 25
4 Professor oak’s new theory
3 Rare Candy
3 N
3 Pokemon Collector
2 Copycat
2 Twins
2 Pokemon Communication
2 Professor Elm’s Training Method
2 Cheren
2 Switch
Energy’s 17
6 Metal Energy
4 Special Metal Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
3 Rescue Energy
You still have vileplume to stop trainers from being played and have cobalion as the same concept of stoping your foe from attacking but not as a special condition. Thats why you also have steelix prime to avoid decks with special conditions against you and great to pull energy from discard pile and can discard stadium cards from play if needed. Mewtwo ex is used for massive damage when needed and not worried about cards to sack your energy to the discard area. Same for Tornadus and most decks use stadiums, like I said so if you dont want to discard them with steelix it can help you out massive with double colorless right away if needed. Special Metal energys is great in this deck since its mostly ran by steel and reduced all damage by 10 for each attached energy. Only weekness in this deck is Onix and Steelix for there 4 energy retreat, so in turn switch is in this deck if you get hit with catcher or other means until vileplume is out. Let me know if anyone may play this deck for nationals and any comments good or bad of this deck. Thx.