Welcome to the official Pokémon Forums!

Click here to review our official Rules & Guidelines.

How to imptove the starting hand?

How is it possible to improve the starting hand?

During my last 10 to 15 games i startet with nearly the same cards:

1 Basic Pokemon ( mostly Alakazam or Manaphy)

2 Energy Retrieval

1 Ancient Vessel

2 Full Metal Laboratories

1 Enegy Card

At my first turn sI draw either Buddy-Buddy Puffins or jims.

At the following turns there are mostly Energy Cards.

No Evolution or supportive cards to search for something I need.

And in my Quajutsu-EX deck, I play only 7 Energy Cards. Why is it that i draw all of them in 3 or 4 turns??

Answers

  • nightblitz42
    nightblitz42 Member Posts: 66 ✭✭
    25 Likes 5 Answers 10 Comments First Anniversary

    If you're drawing a lot of bad starting hands, then that's probably because you don't have enough helpful cards in your deck. Can you provide your decklist? If you do, then I can suggest cards to add and remove.

  • Perfect_Jab
    Perfect_Jab Member Posts: 77 ✭✭
    25 Agrees 10 Comments 5 LOLs Photogenic

    @Scerdinator i have the same exact problem. It really has been making like playing less an less. I posted about rng before. But it really is just bad. I got tired of people replying an just assuming i dont know how to set my deck or play the game smh. But i thought it was funny that you gave an example of your starting hand an its the same way for me. I will get 1 pokemon, usually the single support one in my deck. Then its energy retrievals, rod, bosses orders an then energies. Cant get any of the 20 support cards in my deck. Ill get all 5 of the same energy i have in my deck. An its like its on a rotation when it happens. Then after a few it will switch an i will get all pokemon an no energy. An i will get multiples of cards like come on. I dont know how the rng works but i have noticed these rotations in how the cards get dealt

  • Scerdinator
    Scerdinator Member Posts: 3
    Name Dropper First Comment

    Pokémon: 6
    1 Hisuian Basculegion LOR 45
    1 Manaphy BRS 41
    2 Hisuian Basculin ASR 43
    1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
    4 Gimmighoul PAR 87
    4 Gholdengo ex PAR 139

    Trainer: 13
    2 Full Metal Lab TEF 148 PH
    4 Jacq SVI 175
    4 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
    1 Candice SIT 152
    4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
    3 Energy Retrieval SVI 171
    4 Great Ball PAL 183
    4 Superior Energy Retrieval PAL 189
    1 Hero's Cape TEF 152
    2 Morty's Conviction TEF 155
    2 Clavell PAL 177
    1 Boss's Orders PAL 172
    2 Arven SVI 166

    Energie: 2
    10 Basic {M} Energy Energy 16
    3 Basic {W} Energy Energy 11

    Karten insgesamt: 60

  • nightblitz42
    nightblitz42 Member Posts: 66 ✭✭
    25 Likes 5 Answers 10 Comments First Anniversary

    First, let's remove cards that are causing you to lose. Looking at your example hand, the cards that stick out to me are Energy Retrieval and Full Metal Lab, neither of which do anything on Turn 1. Since your experience tells you that drawing too many of these on turn 1 is causing you to lose, it's best to act on that experience by removing 2 Full Metal Lab and 2 Energy Retrieval from the deck.

    Of course, removing these cards is pointless unless the cards we replace them with are helpful on Turn 1. What can we add that would be good to see in an opening hand? My first thought is Poke Stop. Not only can it help you find extra Items like Buddy Poffins or Great Balls, but it also puts Energy into your discard pile for later use with Superior Energy Retrieval or Basculegion. My second thought is Ultra Ball, which can guarantee access to Gholdengo on Turn 2, but can also fetch a Greninja or Gimmighoul on Turn 1 if necessary. Both of these cards are excellent to see in an opening hand. So I'd suggest adding 2 Poke Stop and 2 Ultra Ball.

    Next, let's see if there are opportunities to improve access to your strongest tools. Radiant Greninja is one of the best cards in your deck, and it's the absolute best possible card for you to draw on Turn 1, but I don't see any ways for you to search it out Turn 1. So my suggestion is to remove 1 Candice and 2 Clavell, and replace them with 3 Nest Ball. Early in the game, it's better to draw Nest Ball than it is to draw these supporters, since Nest Ball will search Greninja which will draw you 2 additional cards every turn it's on the field. Nest Ball can also be added to your hand by Poke Stop, which is a good quality to have.

    In summary, my suggestion is: -2 Full Metal Lab, -2 Energy Retrieval, -1 Candice, -2 Clavell, +2 Poke Stop, +2 Ultra Ball, +3 Nest Ball.

    These changes remove four cards that are dead Turn 1, remove another three cards that are dead Turn 1 going first, and add seven cards that are good to draw on Turn 1 going first or second. This should improve your odds of having good starting hands.