Love your Pokémon Trading Card Game? Well sit back with Pokémon World and learn how to choose the right basic Pokémon for your deck…

Choosing the correct Basic Pokémon to feature in your Deck either as a Starting Pokémon for an Evolution Line, or as the foundation of a Big Basic Pokémon (BBP) Deck can be key to winning or losing games. But just how do you choose the right Basic Pokémon and what criteria should you use to help you now and in the future? Well to help you make that choice we have put together the Pokémon World guide to choosing Basic Pokémon, yes it’s time we went ‘Back to Basics’…

Hit Points and Big Basic Pokémon (BBP)…
Back when the Pokémon TCG first hit the UK in 1998 a Deck emerged that utilised Big Basic Pokémon it was named after Base Hitmonchan’s attack translated as Haymaker, the Deck was fast, furious and won through strength and speed. Today with a format dominated by Pokémon Powers, Stage One and Stage Two Pokémon and combinations working together to deliver a knock-out blow there are not many usable Big Basic Pokémon left.

Latias and Latios are the obvious exceptions and form the basis for a Deck all by themselves, but there are others we can find, take a look through your collection and see if you can spot any usable BBPs? Some are only good as supporting Pokémon for your evolution lines, some are not playable at present and some are just plain bad. There are not many viable BBP Decks in the current format, but maximising the Hit Points (HP) of a Basic Pokémon still matters when choosing the Pokémon for your support or evolution lines.

Let us look at how you use HP when choosing a Basic Pokémon to start your evolutionary lines. Consider Trapinch, it is the start of the evolutionary line that ends with that powerhouse stage two Pokémon Flygon EX, and its support line of Flygon ‘delta’. Just how do we choose the right Trapinch? We have a choice here of three…

If we based the choice purely on HP you would have to choose the EX Legend Maker Trapinch every time. But most Flygon/Flygon EX decks do not play that Trapinch! Why? Well, the other delta tagged cards have better synergy with the rest of the cards in the deck and that synergy is more important than an extra 10 HP.

Expect to see a Flygon deck stuffed full with delta tagged Pokémon because they use that staple of most ‘delta draw decks’; Holon’s Castform. The ability to draw cards based on the number of ‘delta-tagged’ Pokémon you have in play is awesome and ‘Delta Draw’ alone makes it worth considering in any delta deck. Combine that with being able to play Holon’s Castform as a Double Rainbow Energy and that clinches it. In decks where the ‘Holon Draw Engine’ and Holon’s Castform are key components you will find that Synergy wins out over HP and other considerations when choosing which basic Pokémon to play.

Pokémon Powers (Poké-POWERS) and PokéBODYS)…
Sometimes a Pokémon Power or series of Pokémon Powers (Poké-POWERS and Poké-BODYS) are so good that they lead you to include a Pokémon in your deck even when the hit points are low, or other items on our list would lead you to not normally include a particular Basic Pokémon in your deck.

The ‘Delta Tagged’ Latias EX and Latios EX both have amazing Pokémon powers, good hit points and in Latios some great attacks, but even the humble 40 HP Eevee can have a Pokémon power that makes it worthy of putting in a deck. Look through your collections and see which Basic Pokémon have interesting and usable Pokémon powers. Take another look at Mewtwo from EX Delta Species, this Pokémon lets us rearrange our basic energy cards when played from your hand, it is very useful and often just one basic as support tech in a deck is all you need.

Synergy With Your Deck…
Synergy is all about how the cards in your deck work together, Latias and Latios EX have a synergy that works well together and with the other Latias and Latios variants available to the current modified format. As we have already said, Holon’s Castform has a marvellous synergy with any deck using ‘delta tagged’ Pokémon; a powerful draw card and a double rainbow energy card too. It also works well with Holon Mentor and the other Holon Trainers.

Attacks…
Now we can take a look at Attacks, we will work through our list of points to look out for the right Attacks when choosing a basic Pokémon. Take the four Eevees here, all are from the current modified format, the first from the Pokémon Organised Play Promo Booster Pack 3 (POP 3), the second from the EX Unseen Forces set and third and fourth from the EX Delta Species set. How would you assess which one would be the better card to put into a deck as a starting Basic Pokémon? We start by looking at the Hit Points and it would seem obvious at first that 40 HP is not good enough, especially when combined with a weakness to fighting as well. And indeed I would be pushed to play the Ex Unseen Forces Eevee, but some decks; mainly ‘Eeveelutions’, would risk the low hit points to use the ‘Energy Evolution’ Poké-POWER. Still it is too risky unless the Synergy of ‘Energy Evolution’ and a good Stage One evolution like the EX Unseen Forces Vaporeon with a great first attack that is key to the deck, otherwise we would not pick the EX Unseen Forces Eevee.

One down and three left to pick from and all with 50 HP, it seems there is nothing to choose between them on HP, all are without Pokémon Powers and all have a weakness to fighting types. So what about Deck Synergy and Attacks then? Well, the most useful in just about any deck would be the EX Delta Species set Eevee with the ‘Call for Family’ attack, but if you were building some weird Delta Species themed deck then maybe the EX Delta Species set ‘Delta Tagged’ Eevee with the ‘Metal Scoop’ attack would be the one, but the POP3 Eevee just isn’t good enough. So with just two to choose from, it has to be the ‘Non-Delta Tagged’ EX Delta Species Eevee #69/113 as our pick that versatile first attack wins through with an ability to go and get a Pokémon from your deck and put it onto your bench.

Weakness and Resistance…
You need to consider what are the dominant forces in the playing environment, and, where possible, look to exploit them by trying to pick Pokémon with a resistance to popular decks. Make sure too that they do not have a weakness to the popular decks around and if you can, try to consider what those decks are weak to. Fighting, Psychic and Lightning weakness are all going to bite you at the moment with three of the most popular decks, Raieggs, Flygon and Metanite using fighting, psychic and lightning Pokémon.

Retreat Costs…
The last thing you need is a Pokémon stuck out active that you cannot afford the retreat costs for. Always consider the retreat cost of your basics and look to minimise it where possible. If you do end up with two or three energy retreat costs either be prepared to let that pokémon be knocked out or have some switch and warp point handy.

Basic Pokémon – How to choose and what to look out for
• Hit Points
• Pokémon Powers (Poké-POWERS and Poké-BODYS)
• Synergy with your deck
• Attacks (including ascension, energy collection and push away)
• Weakness and Resistance
• Retreat Cost