Will there be a non-V mode? I'm new and V-cards aren't fun.
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Deck names are just a fast way of conveying what the deck is about. I'm sure that individual players give them more "creative" names, if you will, when setting up their decks. But if you look them up online then they're going to have more than less standardized names which facilitates understanding what the deck is about at a glance. "Box" decks are decks that usually rely on more than 1 or 2 main attackers. Within a "box" deck, the attacking Pokemon usually share some kind of strategy/mechanic but they cover different scenarios. For example, Zoroark Box uses Evolving Skies Zoroark to get something like 8 different Stage 1 Pokemon into play without having to run their respective Basic Pokemon, and all of them have attacks that can be used with a single Twin Energy or Double Turbo Energy. Appletun counters decks that use a lot of Special Energies, Raichu can oneshot Lugia VSTAR, Mightyena can oneshot Mew VSTAR, Slowbro can close off games against 2 and 3 prize decks very easily, etc. To give a less detailed example, Lost Zone Box uses cards that send cards to the Lost Zone and accelerates energies to different Pokemon using Mirage Gate. These "box" decks spread out more thin than most decks but have the advantage of covering many different situations.
As for your read on the meta... I think that you're a little off, or perhaps your MMR / Rank hasn't reached the point where your opponents mostly use the top decks in the format. Or maybe you play more Casual, and Casual matchmaking isn't as strict as I thought it was. Blissey V... is not very good. You could throw it in as a 1-of backup attacker in a Lugia VSTAR deck, and it might save you in a game where you've used up too many energies and you can't power up another Lugia VSTAR since Blissey V can recycle energies. But otherwise this card is just too slow and has too little damage output. There are 1 prize cards that do less damage, but then again they're 1 prize cards so they can afford to do less damage. There's too many things that can OHKO Blissey V while there's few scenarios where Blissey V can OHKO a 2 or 3prize card. If you look through lists of deck performance at different events, while it is possible to find some Blissey V decks, they do significantly worse than the top decks. And even then, the Blissey V variants that have had some success are more control-oriented and don't use Archeops at all.
Zacian V performs even worse than Blissey V. It's a perfectly good beginner deck, and people who are just starting to play will probably do fine with it for a while, but once you start facing better opponents this deck quickly ends up being left in the dust. It isn't lacking in damage, but it's just too frail for a 2 prize card. This deck just straight up loses to every single meta 1 prize deck out there (Lunatone/Solrock, Zoroark Box, LZ Box, Regis, and it probably loses to Durant Mill too) and it also struggles a good deal against 2 and 3 prize decks too.
I've never even seen a Tornadus deck so I'm surprised that you're seeing one consistently enough for you to believe that it's common. Inteleon isn't a deck as much as it's a way for water decks to consistently find their Trainer cards; unless you mean Inteleon VMAX, which is probably an ok deck for beginners but its damage output is way too low to really be competitive. Drapion V isn't a real deck either; it's just a tech that gets thrown into multiple different decks as a 1-of because it can oneshot Mew VMAX for free so even if it gets OHKO'd the next turn you're still trading 2 prizes for 3.
Lugia VSTAR... yeah that's about the only true meta deck that you mentioned xd Lugia itself can do enough damage to keep up with the highest HP Pokemon in the format and its ability to accelerate any Special Energy from the deck allows it to run a few different techs that can cover otherwise tricky matchups (such as AR Yveltal for things that it can't OHKO, Radiant Charizard to close off games where you have few energies left and Stoutland V or AR Raikou to counter some 1 prize decks).
All of this isn't to say that your personal experience with the game isn't valid. Your experience is what it is and if you haven't found it too fun then that's simply a fact and not something that a third party like myself gets to decide. But I also think that there's still much for you to learn about the game and that you might find it more fun once you do. You don't need to come to like multi-prize decks; I don't think that you would gain anything by explicitly avoiding them, but you will almost always have alternatives in the form of 1 prize decks that can stand up to (and even beat straight up) the V/GX/ex/what-have-you decks.
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@lvlrAdam It'll never get GLC because Mahone will refuse to work with them unless they reboot the project with 10x the budget, the best UI designer money can buy, and direct support and assets from Game Freak and Creatures. It would need to be perfect in the first showing as well and increase his viewership.
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@TechHog ah, yeah, no, I don't like Lugia-V. it's not too useful for me, for some reason. I'm playing through the archen evo line. blissey, archen, archeops, bidoof and bibarel. absolute powerhouse deck, usually wins against anything, can lose against zacian/zamazenta/other blissey decks with a bad draw though. Can get me like 6 energy on blissey by turn 2, and if there's danger you just switch to a fossil and swing back, or late game just put the energy on a new blissey and demolish them. absolutely disgusting. Using cards to bring archeops out of discard is cool, but dumb and bloats your deck with a lugia card that isn't that good otherwise and you can discard enough that longevity and waster trainer cards/turns is an issue.
I can't play without seeing my favorite bird- he follows me in pokemon go, too! Archen is so cute and happy and I must protect that smile because they get discouraged easily and need lots of hugs!🐣
and in a pinch has one heck of an attack as archeops, especially with a choice band and some v-guard/ powerful energy. Archen and archeops go real well with special energy types for a reason. Blissey gets energy from the discard pile, your hand, and archeops, you use so many cards just milling and getting evos out that I've been able to draw 3+ cards with bibarel multiple turns in a row.
Here. I'll get the deck. for you. it's mostly from cards you get for starting or the first 10 battle pass levels, so you should be able to throw it together realfastlike.
The secret is to always use archeops' ability first on a turn- you'll run out of energy in the deck at some point and if you use the many draw cards it'll all end up in your hand (accepting that and using marnie is a technical waste of 4 card slots.). Never give a blissey more than 360 attack- and never more than 300 unless against another blissey. use archeops to power up your bench blissey while the battle blissey attacks each turn. boss' orders, retreats and switches against anti-v pokemon (acheops can power itself from 0 to full in a turn). always count your deck's remaining energy. Only alister discard energy you're about to attach to blissey. Ideal bench is 2-3blisseys, 1-2 archeops, and 1 bibarel.
I hope this doesn't count as spam...
Pokémon: 5
2 Bibarel BRS 121
3 Bidoof BRS 120
3 Archeops SIT 147
4 Blissey V CRE 119
3 Archen SIT 146
Trainer: 11
1 Lucky Ice Pop EVS 150
3 Rare Candy SSH 180
1 Switch SSH 183
2 Professor's Research SSH 178
1 Great Ball SSH 164
2 Hyper Potion SSH 166
4 Unidentified Fossil SIT 165
2 Evolution Incense SSH 163
3 Boss's Orders RCL 154
2 Allister VIV 146
1 Choice Belt BRS 135
Energy: 7
4 Treasure Energy EVS 165
4 V Guard Energy SIT 169
1 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
2 Coating {M} Energy VIV 163
4 Capture Energy RCL 171
4 Powerful {C} Energy DAA 176
4 Lucky Energy CRE 158
Total Cards: 60
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@Nubnubbud It's not useful to you because Blissey and Lugia are a bad combo. Your deck is just a much worse and much slower version of an already bad deck. I guess if just play with your favorites is a priority then sure, but don't complain about other decks being too strong when you're playing... that.
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I really, really don't want to be the one to point it out but.... your deck looks rather weak. I'm surprised that you can win games with it at all. Saying that its an absolute powerhouse is beyond an overstatement; some of the default decks look like they would perform better than this one.
Don't get me wrong though, if you have fun using it then that's the most important thing; after all, games are about having fun. But objectively speaking this is a pretty weak list, and the only reason I can think of for you doing decently with it is because you're playing in Casual and the matchmaking is (correctly) matching you with opponents of a similar level.
There are several issues, but to name a few:
- You have too many energies and some of them don't even help your deck. The vast majority of decks never run over 15 or 16 energies. This is simply because more than that and you'll start bricking very often. As to the specific energies, the only one that looks fine is 4 Powerful Energy. The Coating Metal energy does nothing because the effect only happens when attached to a Metal type Pokemon. Running 4 V-Guard Energies is too much because the effect doesn't stack (you only get -30 damage against V Pokemon no matter how many you attach); 2 or 3 is the most that you want to run. The Capture Energy to set up is fine but all you can even look for is Blissey V and Bidoof. Only a single Double Turbo Energy seems questionable, to say the least; Blissey V gains 30 damage per energy so a DTE gives it +60 damage -20 for the effect, so it's an overall +40 damage. This is twice as much bonus damage as what a Powerful Energy would give Blissey V, so you absolutely must run 4 in this deck. You also have too many Lucky Energy. I would use 2, tops. Treasure Energy is flat out bad; you don't even have a way of ensuring that they end up in your prizes or that you'll take them when you need them. I would cut all 4 of them.
- Your trainer line could use a lot of work too. You have almost no cards that help you draw or dig deeper into your deck. You basically only have 2 Professor's Research and that's it. The Allister doesn't really help because it's just draw 3 cards. The "draw 3 cards + additional effect" cards are good if you can make use of the additional effect, but in this deck you don't really need to discard that heavily; you just want to discard a few energies for Blissey V to attach from the discard pile, which item cards are much better at doing because they don't consume your Supporter of the turn and have (such as Quick Ball or Ultra Ball, but you don't have any in your deck). You also have zero Cape of Toughness which you absolutely need here because there's too many things in the format that can reach the 250-280 damage threshold.
- The full Archeops line is just too slow and clunky. Leaving aside that Acheops / Blissey V is just a bad combination, if you want to run Archeops at all there is no world where full line is more consistent than using Summoning Star. If you just want to use the Pokemon that you like, that's fine, but you can't expect them to always be good. That's just not how a TCG works. There's 1000+ Pokemon and I bet you that every single one of them is someone's favorite out there, and there's absolutely no way for 1000 different decks to be viable at the same time.
To give you a comparison, this is a Blissey V list that I found that looks much more solid:
Pokemon:
4 Blissey V CRE 119
4 Yveltal CEL 19
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
Trainers:
4 Marnie CPA 56
2 Cheren's Care BRS 134
2 Professor's Research BRS 147
2 Avery CRE 130
2 Boss's Orders BRS 132
2 Serena SIT 164
4 Hyper Potion CPA 54
2 Trekking Shoes ASR 156
2 Switch Cart ASR 154
2 Team Yell Towel SHF 63
2 Quick Ball FST 237
1 Pal Pad SSH 172
4 Cape of Toughness DAA 160
4 Path to the Peak CRE 148
Energies:
4 Powerful Colorless Energy DAA 176
4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
2 Lucky Energy CRE 158
2 Twin Energy RCL 174
2 Capture Energy RCL 171
2 V Guard Energy SIT 169
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@TechHog ☹️
That's exactly my issue with the game. That's hurtful, man.
like, one of my favorite lines actually has a single good card, and me not using it in a perfect way invalidates my opinions and makes me bad at the game. That's the perfect antithesis of what pokemon is supposed to be. Stop being condescending to new players, or multiplayer isn't exactly gonna work out. I'm already feeling sour about it, no need to insult me and make me feel worse, okay?
I'm not complaining about other decks being strong. I get and expect that . I'm complaining that the, according to you, supposedly "much worse and much slower version of an already bad deck" can win more than half the time against the prebuilds everyone's using just because game theory, basic middle school statistics, and an exploitable combination of rules from a small set of cards that have become most of the format in response.
I just threw a bunch of cards together and I won five games in a row, lost one, then won three, lost on, and won another five. after 3 days I went from battle pass level 1 to 12, playing a handful of games a day. I should be happy, but winning isn't fun when it's just because you threw in a card everyone knows is overpowered, but without it I can't win, and can't collect cards.
If I don't use these OP cards I hate, I'm simply not able to get cards, let alone build a deck at all, That's why I'm unhappy- because it feels as a new player I'm not allowed to have fun, and that's not a good place to be. I'd rather be losing with a deck I love, but I'm forced to do everything with one I dislike for a chance to lose in a satisfying way later on.😟
@Sakura150612 oh, yeah, I've identified all those points. if you can give me the cards you want me to have I'll put them in. if not, then it's a bit of a moot point to ask someone to use them, I'd think.
I do win most games though. also I've never played ranked. What's the use of playing ranked if I don't have any cards and can't build the decks I want? that's not my rank, that's some game dev's rank, and it's not a deck I feel I've earned.
I do often win against the lugia/archeops strat because its buildup is longer, and I often get a point or two(and a powered up blissey) before it kicks off. Meanwhile with a professor's research and an okay draw I can get a blissey with 4-5 energy by turn 2, and on turns 3-5 I usually have archeops, to continue the momentum. Consider this a momentum deck, where lugia + blissey feels more like a delayed aggro deck. I get a lot more utility in the first 2 turns, then I fill my bench with good options later. if one blissey is about to lose, I'll pull it back, put the power/v-guard energy on another, and attack to get the retreat energy from the last blissey.
It is a bit unfair to say I should put in certain cards. I started playing about a week ago and because I couldn't win for most of it I have next to no cards beyond the default ones, so I'm stuck remixing them. note the lack of those double powers, and the energies that don't do anything. I just needed special energies and that's the last I had. I have a couple rock energy to substitute, though, if you think that's better. They're all special, and there's a lot, so that archeops doesn't run out of fuel to distribute. it's energy heavy and relies on me buffing my bench after my fighter. I also have basically no other trainers, beyond the basics. I understand that they can't all be viable, but at the same time it's unfair for some cards to be playable on turn one, attach 4 energy a turn to themselves with 250+hp on turn one and others to need to evolve twice, only to throw away two energy for a 90 power attack. the sheer lack of relative usability is staggering in most cards.
yeah, after some more playing, I've seen fewer of those cards, but Lugia is super easy to deal with every time. I'm really not sure how it's top tier- people put it out, and either do nothing with it, or power it up and stuff then I pull it out with command and smack it with a 250 attack blissey, who usually has v-guard(I don't see why you didn't suggest 4, the lunatone deck is the only one I've seen so far that doesn't lead with v-pokemon), and the other player folds, even if they got archeops out.
@Betrayze Also, I'm fine with most rule boxes on cards. I didn't know gym leader challenge didn't use them. I only really have issue with being able to put a 250 hp monster with ramping attack out on turn one, or discard your entire hand and put any pokemon on it into the bench on turn 2, or use the strongest other pokemon's attack in your deck every turn. or stuff like that, which is mostly exclusive to pokemon V or max. I have no trouble with pokemon v, I have trouble with the implementation. If they were more expensive, or were hard to keep momentum for(like, their rule boxes and attacks always discard some energy), I would like them more,
but the card type, the bucket of new rules they pour over the game to try to balance it after the fact- it just muddies the experience, IMO, like deciding in the middle of a game "oh but I get to do this because there's an exception, but in the case of this exception this other rule activates, and instantiates a new part of the board which this card is designed purely to take advantage of, which lets me get these out-" it's just nonsense, for a game that's already a bit heavy-handed with rules.
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Well, I tried to give useful advice but if that's the attitude that you're going to take then I don't think that anyone can help you. I'm out of this discussion.
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@Nubnubbud Maybe I was a bit harsh, but your perspective is wrong. You're trying to apply casual video game philosophy to the competitive TCG. That's just not how it works. And you're still trying to claim that Blissey V is overpowered, which is ridiculous.
All I'm saying is that you can play what you want, but hoping for a "meta" where everyone just plays suboptimal decks with their favorite Pokemon is not a reasonable hope, even in the video games themselves. If you're intentionally slowing down an already slow deck, and you're afraid to invest anything in it (like, why are you playing a single Great Ball, but no Ultra Ball or Quick Ball), then you just aren't playing the game as intended.
My advice is to drop Live. It's not for you. Maybe you can find some enjoyment if you can find people to play GLC with you on PTCGO or tabletop/webcam.
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I see. well, I guess that's it for me, then.
you guys are continually misinterpreting what I say. I don't want a meta where suboptimal cards are played- I just would prefer that there wasn't as big a difference between suboptimal and meta, or that there were a wider range of ways to be strong.
evolving pokemon, a central mechanic, feels vestigial- it's dead weight. That its difficulty no longer reflects its usefulness, and pokemon-v make it worse. you guys said it yourself, why would I ever play archen? just put out the final evolution. but even that isn't fast enough- a suboptimal deck.
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