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    Pokémon TCG Weekly Trade Post - June 22-28

    June 22, 2020

    Pokémon TCG Weekly Trade Post - June 22-28

    Weekly Trade Post - June 22-28

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 05:05 PM PDT

    Post your in-game trade offers here.

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    Typhlosion GX custom card!

    Posted: 22 Jun 2020 05:42 AM PDT

    New Player Guide (Part 3) - Type Profile: Darkness

    Posted: 22 Jun 2020 03:39 AM PDT

    Hiya, I'm Hyla! In parts one and two of my guide, I discussed how new players could build up generic cards useable in a variety of decks, keeping in mind the August 2020 rotation. However, we didn't spend much time actually discussing decks! For the next several parts of this series, I'm going to highlight each Type individually, providing information on their support cards, picking a deck to spotlight, and briefly discussing other Pokémon of the Type which have interesting attacks or abilities.

    Part 1: Darkness Support

    Unsurprisingly, we're starting with the "generic" cards--these cards have effects that could be used by any deck utilizing Darkness Pokémon.

    • Black Market: Simply put, this is a game-winning effect. If the opponent cannot efficiently take prizes, you are nearly guaranteed to come out ahead. Aim to play it mid- or late-game when the opponent has already exhausted their stadium cards to prevent them from closing out the game.

    • Dangerous Drill: A versatile card. Removing Special Energy can cripple decks that need Aurora Energy or Twin Energy to attack. Removing Pokémon Tools can let you grab a KO by removing a Big Charm or stop an opponent's pivot from retreating with Air Balloon. Discarding a Stadium lets you stop an opponent from benefitting from a card like Giant Hearth or Galar Mine, or let you play your own Stadium card against a Chaotic Swell.

    • Dark City: A card like Galarian Slowbro V relies on being the Active Pokémon to use its effect, but it is held back by a high retreat cost. With Dark City, the problem is solved. However, it won't work if you are planning on using evolution-based decks, such as a VMAX Pokémon.

    • Nanu: This card has an interesting effect, but hasn't seen much use. You can use it to swap out a multi-prize attacker with a one-prize Pokémon to deny prizes, but giving them a KO during your turn puts you behind. Alternatively, you can use this to bring a basic Pokémon into play and then evolve it right away, as long as the other Pokémon was on the field at the start of the turn.

    • Piers (Unreleased): This card comes out in our August set, right before the rotation. It pairs so well with Crobat V, another card coming in August, that I expect it to see play even in non-Darkness decks. As a bonus, you get any Energy card you want, including special energy. Perhaps this will help the consistency of decks reliant on Triple Acceleration Energy?

    Part Two: Deck Spotlight - Eternatus VMAX (Unreleased)

    When talking about post-rotation Darkness Decks, nothing gets more buzz than Eternatus. Unfortunately, this card doesn't come out until our August set, and it comes with even more attackers, tech, and support. If you want to focus on currently released cards, skip ahead to Parts 3 and 4!

    Eternatus VMAX is the latest in the "Do The Wave" style of deck, dealing 30 damage for each Pokémon you have in play. Combined with its effect, which increases your bench size to 8, Eternatus VMAX can deal up to 270 damage per turn, OHKOing just about apart from other VMAX Pokémon. This comes with the downside of only being able to use Darkness Pokémon, locking you out of support options like Jirachi or Dedenne-GX. Without access to Jirachi, Dedenne, or even Green's Exploration (due to Eternatus VMAX having an ability), the deck would likely have trouble getting off the ground--that is, if Crobat V wasn't debuting alongside it. When placed on the bench, Crobat V allows you to draw until you have six cards in your hand. Like Dedenne-GX, you can only use the ability once per turn.

    To aid in my explanation of how this deck might work, I'm providing an examle decklist. As many of the cards are not out internationally, keep in mind that this is just a rough list meant to serve as an example.

    Pokémon (22):

    *4 Eternatus V (Unreleased) - The base form of our main attacker. If going second, you can use its first attack, which attaches 1 Darkness Energy to a Pokémon on the bench. Use this to start powering up a second Eternatus! If you're going first, you'll skip that step and just try to use Eternatus VMAX on your second turn.

    • 3 Eternatus VMAX (Unreleased) - The main attacker. As discussed earlier, it deals 30 damage for each Pokémon you have in play.

    • 4 Crobat V (Unreleased) - When you play Crobat onto the bench, you can draw until you have 6 cards in your hand. You can only use this effect once per turn. Play one each turn to refill your hand after you play all of your cards that reduce hand size, such as Quick Ball and Pokémon Communication.

    • 1-1 Spinarak/Ariados (Unreleased) - When you evolve Spinarak, you can force an opponent's evolved Pokémon into the active spot. This is great for removing weak Evolved Pokémon like Frosmoth from the opponent's field, as well as luring back in a damaged VMAX Pokémon you weren't able to KO on a previous turn.

    • 2 Hoopa (Unreleased) - The last of the unreleased Darkness Pokémon we're using in this deck, Hoopa deals 90 damage, but only if it was made Active this turn. If Eternatus VMAX fails to pick up a KO, Hoopa can almost always finish the job (270 + 90 = 360, with the highest HP VMAX card currently sitting at 340).

    • 4 Galarian Zigzagoon - A common from Sword & Shield, this card lets you pick up spare damage you'll need to KO. Cards like Volcanion sit at 110, meaning 2 pings will put it in range of Hoopa. ADP sits at 280, meaning 1 ping will allow Eternatus VMAX to OHKO if your bench is full.

    • 1 Sableye V - With 4 Galarian Zigzagoon in the deck, you can pick up KOs on mid-HP Pokémon with this. If you plan things out, three pings lets Sableye KO anything with 220HP or less, such as Zacian V.

    • 2 Absol - Placing one of these on the bench allows you to shut off strategies that rely on Air Balloon for free retreat. And while Escape Board is rotating out, I want to mention you can use this card in any deck right now to stop Jirachi from retreating for free, forcing an opponent to play Switch or Scoop Up Net.

    Trainers (28):

    • 4 Piers (Unreleased) - As discussed in Part 1, this card adds any Dark Pokémon and any Energy card to your hand. Whether you need a Crobat to refresh your hand, an Eternatus VMAX to evolve, or a Galarian Zigzagoon to help you pick up a KO, Piers has you covered.

    • 4 Professor's Research - A staple card with a simple effect. Needs no explanation.

    • 2 Marnie - Another staple. This card is best when you see your opponent search out cards they don't immediately use or right after they take three prizes by KOing an Eternatus VMAX. Replenish your own hand while disrupting theirs for a momentum swing.

    • 2 Boss's Orders Typically used to take prizes. Bring in a support Pokémon like Dedenne GX or Crobat V. Alternatively, bring in a Pokémon they've been setting up or a damaged Pokémon they had retreat on the last turn. Then, KO it! In dicey situations, you can also try to "strand" a Pokémon into their active slot, using Absol's ability to prevent it from retreating while you try to get back on your feet.

    • 4 Quick Ball - This card gets you any Basic Pokémon while also discarding an extra card, providing more value with Crobat V. If you aren't looking for anything specific, you could even get Crobat V with this!

    • 4 Pokemon Communication Trade a Pokémon in your hand for the one you need. Unlike Quick Ball, this card can get Eternatus VMAX or Ariados. Alternatively, you may want to split these slots with Great Ball, as the deck rarely whiffs with 20+ Pokémon.

    • 3 Scoop Up Net Use this with Galarian Zigzagoon to deal an extra 10 damage. In a pinch, you can also return an Active Hoopa or Absol to your hand for a free switch, or return Ariados to set up a Gust for a future turn.

    • 2 Reset Stamp The lower the opponent's prizes, the better, but feel free to use this any time they'd be losing multiple cards in their hand, especially if you're clearing out space for Crobat V.

    • 2 Switch - No explanation needed.

    • 1 Black Market Prism Star Wait to play this until you've seen your opponent drop their own Stadium. Given Eternatus VMAX has 340 HP, you generally have a turn or two before you need the effect. Getting the effect off even once changes the prize trade in your favour, and if they can't remove the card, you're fairly likely to win.

    Energy: 10

    • 5 Darkness Energy

    • 2 Hide Darkness Energy (Unreleased) - This gives you free Retreat, but it notably does not work with Eternatus V's attach from hand attack. It does work with Black Market, though!

    • 2 Capture Energy - Eternatus VMAX has a colorless energy in the attack cost, meaning you can play this to meet the requirement while also boosting damage by 30! Keep in mind that Piers can search out any energy card, not just Darkness Energy.

    • 1 Weakness Guard Energy - This removes the Fighting weakness from Eternatus, and is included as a 1-of tech for matchups against the rare Falinks or Sandaconda deck. However, Fighting decks are currently the least popular, so you may consider switching this out for another Darkness energy.

    Overall, high HP combined with free retreat and a variety of useful effects from the bench lead to many predicting this deck to be a meta contender. While many of the main Pokémon are not yet released, a lot of the cards are! If you're fond of the Darkness Type, or if you like Do the Wave style decks, it might be a good idea to pick up the available cards early.

    Part 3: Mini Deck Spotlight - Spiritomb

    In most of these posts, I plan to only highlight one deck. However, as the Eternatus cards are not released, I decided I would include a mini-spotlight on Spiritomb, a deck currently in the format that gets hit hard by the rotation.

    At the time of posting, this Darkness Pokémon took both first and second place at the Limitless Invitational, a major tournament following four qualifier rounds. Let's look at the winning list.

    The deck revolves around Spiritomb's ability to "build" damage with Building Spite. At 50 damage, Spiritomb deals 160 damage, becoming 220 with an equipped Hustle Belt. The deck can accelerate damage counters by attaching Rainbow Energy or using Jynx's Ominous Posture ability. With only 60HP, and an attack that gets better with low HP, Spiritomb won't stick around for long. However, the deck accepts that, running Oricorio GX to draw three cards every turn. Black Market Prism Star can come in mid-game after the opponent uses their stadiums trying to remove the 2x Shrine of Punishment. With this, Spiritomb becomes a 0-prize attacker!

    The deck also comes with a variety of tech to deal with the current meta. Buzzwole's Sledgehammer requires the opponent to have exactly 4 prize cards remaining, but if they do, it deals 120 damage. Against Pikachu & Zekrom GX, with 240HP and a Fighting weakness, this translates into three prizes. In addition, Mew prevents Tag Bolt GX from picking up a prize on benched Dedenne/Oricorio.

    Giratina removes Special Energy, an effect applicable in nearly every matchup.Mewtwo & Mew GX decks have recently started to rely solely on Special Energy, and decks like Dragapult or Pikachu & Zekrom GX run type-specific Special Energy for their secondary effects.

    Lastly, Yveltal-GX's Doom Count GX can KO any Pokémon with 4 damage counters, which is exactly the amount a 1-damage Anguish Cry deals! (They could also use Galarian Zigzagoon and 3 Scoop Up Nets, but that's much less likely.)

    The deck's biggest issue is the passage of time. Rainbow Energy and Hustle Belt both rotate out in August. The Jirachi engine takes a hit with the loss of Escape Board, and, again, the loss of Hustle Belt can't be understated--you'll notice the deck runs Adventure Bag to search them out and Lana's Fishing Rod to recycle them.

    If you're looking for a powerful Darkness deck that you'll lose the opportunity to play as effectively in a couple of months, Spiritomb is the deck for you.

    Part 4 - Other Darkness Cards

    While the two decks highlighted above represent what are likely the best Darkness decks pre- and post-rotation, several other archetypes exist for players looking for more casual games or to experiment.

    Dark Box is a deck combining Weavile GX, Darkrai Prism Star, and Sharpedo to flood the board with energy and score big hits with Greninja & Zoroark GX.

    Zoroark and Spiritomb are single-prize Pokémon can deal more damage for each Pokémon you have in the discard pile, getting reliable 2HKOs on anything in the format once set up. However, that set up takes time, neither Pokémon can attack for one Energy, and any deck running too many Pokémon will run into consistency issues, even with aggressive discards from Dedenne GX and Professor's Research.

    Krookodile can use Chomp Chomp Panic with one Triple Acceleration Energy, and both cards are searchable with Piers. With help from Galar Mine and Absol to increase the opponent's Retreat Cost, this card can score OHKOs on most Pokémon. However, Krookodile is likely to be KO'd in retaliation, and the deck suffers from having to constantly find Rare Candy and Triple Acceleration Energy.

    Galarian Weezing could form the basis of a control deck, shutting off your opponent's abilities. However, the requirement to be in the active slot, combined with a weak attack, makes it difficult to for the deck to turn this lockdown into a win, especially against decks less reliant on Abilities to function.

    Garbodor can poison the opponent's Pokémon. The card currently sees play in the Lightning-Type deck revolving around Toxtricity VMAX.

    Malamar VMAX lets you discard a card from the opponent's hand. Combined with cards like Marnie, Rest Stamp, or even Jessie & James, you can run the opponent out of resources. To prevent them from drawing the cards they need, you can also stack the opponent's deck with Chip-Chip Ice Axe or Orbeetle. However, the deck has some consistency issues; by the time you get the lock up, the cards on board may already be enough to close out the game.

    Alolan Persian GX and Galarian Obstagoon both have abilities that prevent them from being damaged by certain types of Pokémon. If you find yourself in a meta with mostly Basic Pokémon, or one where the most popular decks rely on Special Energy, you'll be able to counter them with these cards.

    Part 5 - Conclusion

    That's it for Darkness Pokémon. If you think I've left out any interesting cards, or if you have a deck list you want to share, leave a comment! Next time, we'll be tackling Grass types, which retain most of their current cards post-rotation.

    submitted by /u/Hylaster
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    MRW Rowlegg's Super Growth Fails

    Posted: 22 Jun 2020 07:04 AM PDT

    Noob question

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 06:49 PM PDT

    Best way to get multiple psychic energies attached on one turn???

    submitted by /u/Kescoto1
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    Why is ptcgo still not available on mobile?

    Posted: 22 Jun 2020 07:12 AM PDT

    I have been playing on mobile using the apk and it just works perfectly but why is it still not available in playstore(says not compatible), if it is available on playstore it will be easier to update the app, and I haven't got any problem while using it on mobile till now

    submitted by /u/_maitray_
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    How many RC Packs Could This Combination of Cards be Trade For?

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 05:12 PM PDT

    Are any of the black and white secret rates worth anything?

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 11:18 PM PDT

    Besides the competitive ones like blastoise and eggs, are they worth anything?

    submitted by /u/randolando48
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    Trainer challenge rewards

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 06:59 PM PDT

    I started doing trainer challenges looking to get packs for 4 stars, but wanted to see what rewards you can actually get.
    Looking around, it seems that the pack rewards are limited to the current set.
    Is that true, and if so, should I wait until the rotation to get them to make sure I get packs that will be relevant longer?

    submitted by /u/Whaaaaales
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    Most efficient way to purchase the current and post rotation standard format staple trainers/pokemon from nothing?

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 03:35 PM PDT

    Deck box's, trainers toolkit, tins etc; what's the most efficient way to gather the staples for the least amount of money right now?

    submitted by /u/An_awful_mess
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    How to improve and discussing the meta

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 12:46 PM PDT

    Coming over from Magic and the only deck i really know how to pilot is Night March. I want to play standard, and have been playing the Unown Hand deck with Psyduck/Will. I'm a garbage pilot and went like 1/10 with it. Was just wondering if Pokemon has a kind of like ground fundamentals that good players follow so i could improve my fundamentals and then improve my deck piloting.

    Secondly, I'd like to build a control list but don't know how viable that is in Pokemon in general or the current meta. Zacian V and Oranguru seem like solid starts but only being able to play 1 support, unless you LT. S, seems difficult as the main control item looks to be Crushing Hammer (?) which seems literally hit or miss.

    submitted by /u/DudeWhoBrews
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    Resource for seeing if a certain card comes from a theme deck?

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 12:43 PM PDT

    Does something like this exist?

    submitted by /u/Mirakool
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    Looking to get back into the standard format from fresh

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 03:08 PM PDT

    Which non singluar focused deck trainers+pokemon from packs/box's/singles etc should i buy for the current but also including the post rotation standard format?

    Looking to minimise the individual card purchasing as that tends to be more pricey overall compared to something like if i bought the trainers toolkit etc

    submitted by /u/An_awful_mess
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    Shaymin-EX Price increase

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 09:29 AM PDT

    Last week Regular art Shaymin-EX sold for 9 packs. Now you got bids for 14 packs. Why the steep inflation of price? Is it because Dedenne dropped in price ?

    submitted by /u/S3raphim99
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    Advice On Rotation Friendly Standard Deck

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 02:37 PM PDT

    I'm a new player hoping to get some advice on a rotation friendly standard deck to build. I started with the Reshiram/Charizard League Battle deck, had a blast with it and got a surprising number of wins. My first upgrade was to swap a few cards and convert it to a more standard Green's Reshizard. It's fun but has really hit a wall, things have to fall into place to get wins against meta decks.

    I want to build something more competitive. In the short term, I'm working on a Blacephalon variant. I'm just waiting on the Trainer's Toolkit to get the Dedenne-GX…I really hope it comes with a PTCGO card.

    I'm not sure what deck archetype to put resources into after that. I'd like something that will still have some potential after the rotation. Of the current meta Zacian/Pikarom/Dragapult/Mewtwo, I'm leaning towards Zacian. Mostly because I will need the fewest cards to build it out.

    Any advice is very welcomed, I'm not sure what direction I want to go in. The rotation is coming up and I don't want to sink too many packs into something that's gonna fall off the cliff, maybe the best advice is to sit on my packs and play Blacepalon until rotation?

    submitted by /u/gregffff
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    Dragapult VMAX

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 01:55 PM PDT

    I just packed a Dragapult VMAX and I was wondering what it's worth because there are public offers for 19 rebel clash packs.

    submitted by /u/ssjvegito9999
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    Underestimating opponent lets win slip away

    Posted: 21 Jun 2020 11:14 AM PDT
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