Pokemon Week Day 7: The Endgame

Oohoo! The Endgame! The most important and most difficult part of the Pokemon TCG! So, for the last day of Pokemon Week, let's talk about what your opponent is most likely to do in the Endgame!

1. Play their heavy hitters! Of course your opponent is going to throw their most powerful stage 2 Pokemon in a desperate fight to win. Be prepared to take a lot of damage! However, if you are prepared, you can dish out a lot of damage as well.

2. Heal damage. People are willing to discard cards and even energies to heal damage.

3. Finally, retreat. If it means their Pokemon is left with only 10 HP, but it survives and doesn't give up a prize card, it will help your opponent.

Pokemon Week Day 6: Playing on Your Opponent's Turn

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, my internet conked out. Anyway, I'm just going to post Day 6 and Day 7 today.

Have you ever heard the saying "The best defense is a good offense"? Well, really, that is the only way you can play in Pokemon, because you can't play cards on your opponent's turn. How? That's what I'm going to talk about!

So, the best ways to play defensively are to play cards that cause your opponent to discard cards, shuffle cards into their deck or generally mess with their strategy. This way, you can force them to think  on their feet even more than they already are! Another great plan is to use some special attacks to damage some of their stronger Pokemon while they are sitting on the Bench. By doing this, you can weaken and even defeat some of your opponent's best Pokemon before they get to the field. So, by ruining your opponent's strategy even the slightest bit, you can cause utter chaos in their master plan.

Make sure you find the kingpins in your opponent's deck quickly so that you can defeat them and win with ease!

Pokemon Week Day 5: Old Vs New

It is getting late here, so I'm going to try to keep this post brief. So, the question is "Are older Pokemon cards better than newer ones?" The straight answer to this question is NO. However, lets dive a bit deeper!

It seems that as new sets of Pokemon cards get released, the energy cost for more powerful attach is going down. For example, a near-base-set Haunter card requires two energies to deal 50 damage, but can can only deal damage while the defending Pokemon is Asleep, whereas a much newer Diamond and Pearl set Ledian can deal 50 damage for 2 energies AND has the choice of retreating after the attack. Better? Oh yeah! But don't worry if you have cards from several sets ago, the change in energy cost is very gradual, for the most part. 

So, even though old Pokemon cards are fun to collect, most of them are not the best for battling. If you disagree, though, leave a comment and lets start a friendly discussion! Thanks for reading!

Pokemon Week Day 4: Hybrid Deck Pros and Cons

Okay, so, if you looked into any given player's deck, chances are pretty good that you will find more than one type of energy card. Mainly, this is because it gives players access to many more Pokemon. This makes it very popular with players new and experienced. But, let's not be too quick to love this type of deck. Let's go over the pros and cons of hybrid decks!

Pros: Hybrid decks give you access to more Pokemon and more "situational" cards, like Stadiums and very specific Supporter cards. You also get access to some of the cooler Special Energy Cards, like the Dark Metal Energy for steel and dark hybrid decks. You also will have a slightly broader range of types, so you can cover your weaknesses much better! Additionally, almost all Pokemon Theme Decks are hybrid decks, so they are easier to acquire.

Cons: Hybrid decks use more than one type (or color, if you will) of energy, which sometimes makes it difficult to use specific attacks. (Single color decks don't have this trouble.) Hybrid decks also have more trouble pulling off unique combos because of their multiple types, whereas single-color decks can combo a bit easier. Finally, it is much harder to focus on a few important cards when building a deck, but in a single-color deck it is relatively easy.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my analysis of hybrid decks and I hope this helps you decide which deck to play!

Pokemon Week Day 3: Starting Hands

What is a good starting hand in Pokemon? Well, this question has many slightly different answers, but we are going to just going to focus on a generally good starting hand. So, here we go!

In the Pokemon TCG, you are allowed to draw 7 cards to start with, AND you must have at least 1 basic Pokemon or you must mulligan. This is slightly more problematic than other card games, because you can't choose to mulligan and you can't choose which cards you get rid of (you have to shuffle your whole hand back into your deck). However, because you also draw 1 card at the start of your turn we are going to say that your starting hand is 8 cards. Confused yet? Don't worry, it gets easier to understand from now on!

In the optimal starting hand, you would have 3 or 4 Pokemon, usually 2 basics and a stage 1 that evolves from one of those basic Pokemon. This gives you a nice boost of power on the second or third turn, so you can start the game hitting hard!

Next is the energies. Assuming you started with 3 Pokemon in your hand, you would want at least 2, but probably 3 energies in your starting hand. This way, you can power up your Pokemon for those first, usually slow, turns.

Finally we have the Trainer cards. Normally, it is bad if you have to play these on the first or second turn, but it is always good to have cards that allow you to manipulate your hand and field as you wish.

So, there you go! Now you know how to recognize a balanced starting hand! Try and use this knowledge to start your games strong!

Pokemon Week Day 2: Deckbuilding 101

This is only going to be a hard and fast guide to deckbuilding in the Pokemon TCG, but here we go!(Remember, you can only have 60 cards in your deck, no more no less and you can't have more than 4 of any card)

First, Pokemon! You need Pokemon to fight for you, so put plenty of basic Pokemon into your deck. I suggest 8-12 basics, 4-8 stage 1 evolutions and 1-4 stage 2 evolutions. However, these numbers may vary slightly depending on what kind of deck you are playing.

Next is energy cards, the cards that your Pokemon require to attack. Unwritten Rule: You must have at least 18 energy cards in your deck or this battle will be very difficult! I believe my deck runs a few more than 18 energies, like 20 or 22. 

Finally, the Trainer Cards! These move your strategy along much faster than you could on your own. Most people run less than 20 Trainers and with good reason, they run your deck out of cards too quickly! So, unless you are going to take lots of healing cards, take 12-18 Trainer cards and just take a few more Pokemon!

Well, I hope this helps you balance out your deck! I may decide to do more detailed explanations later this week, but this is just to help you see what you need make a decently balanced deck. Thanks for reading!

Pokemon Week Day 1: 3-Card Combos

(Disclaimer: I don't know what sets these cards are from. Some are newer, some are much older. You have been warned!)

Most of the time, 3-Card Combos are easy to pull off if you've set up for them properly. One of my favorite 3-Card Combos is a "Gunner Wall Combo". This combo consists of a Pokemon (usually with a high retreat cost) that can soak up plenty of damage and that isn't required for your victory strategy, like my Snorlax. The next part of this combo is the card, Fluffy Berry. This lets the Pokemon that Fluffy Berry is attached to retreat for free! The final step is a Pokemon that can retreat after it attacks, like Ledian. So, Snorlax soaks up damage on my opponent's turn, retreats for free, and then is switched back in after Ledian attacks.

                       

                       

                        

In the early stages of a game, this combo will work like a charm, but I don't reccomend it when your opponent's heavy hitters can one-shot Snorlax, because you will give up a prize card.

If you play a grass type or a grass hybrid deck, I strongly suggest you try out this combo, make modifications to it and tell me! I hope this was a good example of a 3-Card Combo! Make sure you check Creative Wargaming tomorrow for more Pokemon action!

Announcing: Pokémon Week!

Well, this is going to be awesome! This week, I'm going to talk about Pokemon TCG strategies, combos and maybe even some how-tos. I plan to post once a day for a whole week, starting tomorrow! 

(How appropriately timed too, with the Pokemon World Championships happening this weekend!)

Anyway, enjoy Creative Wargaming's Pokémon Week!

                  

Maybe I Spoke Too Soon...

As it turns out, Noble Knight Games actually decided to cancel their sponsorship of Creative Wargaming. It's a bummer, I know, but I'm not taking it too hard. Anyway, the banner at the top middle will be taken down, so if you want that spot to advertise on, comment below! As always, thanks for reading!

Noble Knight Games is Awesome!

As you can probably tell by the title, I'm very happy with Noble Knight Games! We managed to work out a deal for another year of sponsorship and they were super generous about it! Make sure you check out their site for some of the best prices on wargaming items in the country! Plus, their shipping is fast and their customer service is superb! Go click on the banner now to be sent to their website!

Warhammer 40K Batrep: Throwdown in the City!

Hey, all! I played an absolutely awesome game of 40K yesterday! Let's not delay, here come the pictures! (I left the pictures at full size because I think they're cool enough to be at full size. Sorry, a few of them are kind of blurry!)

Turn 1: I get the first turn and deployment. I chose the more dense side, thinking it would give me some cover against Necron shooting. My Space Wolves move up more cautiously than my Orks, who happily ran up the right side of the board. My opponent also moved the Necron forces slowly, using his Canoptek Spiders to spawn some Scarab bases. We each took some potshots, but these were rather nonconsequencial.

Turn 2: The Space Wolves advance together, losing a Terminator to Imohtek's Lightning. The Orks are practically comical in the way that they shuffle up and try to get into charge range. My Deffkoptas continue to fire their Rokkit Launchas at the Necron transport (Doomsday Barge?) and manage to just land a glancing hit. Necron shooting was rather unsuccessful.

Turn 3: (The Orks are moving so slow!) The Vindicator (proxied) and the Dreadnought move up together and both start unleashing all off their firepower on the Immortals. My Skyclaws, who Deep Struck in turn 2, now charge a lonely band of 5 Necrons in the middle of my opponents side. The Necrons make the remaining Ork Boys disappear and a few Space Wolves fell to their fire.

Turn 4: The Space Wolves struggle to hold off the advancing enemy, doing little damage except for with the Vindicator and Long Fangs. On the Necron turn, the rest of the Ork stuff is removed from the table (the Nobs, Warboss and Deffkoptas). The Teminators lose two of their number thanks to the enemy Warlord's one-use weapon. The Rune Priest also suffers a wound from Tomb Blade shooting. My Skyclaws were utterly surrounded by the overwhelming Scarab bases, so we just decided to remove them. 

Turn 5: I did almost nothing this turn, except for the usual Vindicator, Long Fangs, Dreadnought and because I was in range, charging the enemy Warlord with my terminators. The Necrons wittle down what is left of my army, even wrecking the Vindicator. In the Necron turn of Assault, my Terminators slay the Necron Warlord, however, I'm still several Victory Points behind.

Turn 6: This is where I called the game. There was no way I could win any more and it was growing late in the day, so I conceded victory to my opponent. 

This was a great game playing with the still-new 7ed rules. We weren't totally sure on what to do with the Tactical Objectives, but we made it work! It was a great way to spend an afternoon, so thanks to my opponent and thanks to all of you for reading!