Trainers! Trainers for States

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The heart and soul of any great deck is its trainers. Even decks that run the silliest Pokemon lines still stand a solid chance if they’ve built their trainer base correctly. With the EX wave dropping into the format there are a few trainers that I think will spike in popularity before states.

The card that a lot of people have been talking about is Lost Remover. Its an important addition into your deck to get rid of Double Colorless Energy, which every EX is going to use. The card that people aren’t talking about is Crushing Hammer. Lets do some Pro-Con work here. Lost Remover is a guarantee removal of a special energy. Crushing Hammer flips a coin to remove any energy. So we can’t count on Crushing Hammer but it has more playability. How to pick between these two? Really it comes down to Junk Arms. If you’re running Junk Arm, and you like to push chance, I think Crushing Hammer is the better pick.  I’d run something like one or two Lost Removers and then three to four Crushing Hammers.

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Cleffa Heads to the Retirement Home

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Cleffa is a staple or at least a “one-of” card in almost every deck right now. It is a card that works in any deck and is a solid starter, mid game refresh or late game stall. I played a Battle Roads this weekend (I went 1-4, but a fun Battle Roads none the less) where in four different games a prize was taken because I used Cleffa. The way each of these prizes were taken was with Catcher. I had used Cleffa as an early set up, retreated it for a heavy hitter and then late game they caught it up and took the easiest prize possible in the format. Coming back from being a prize down is no exceptional feat and something you should plan on having to do in a deck. Only once did I lose the game because of this play. 

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Working with Pokemon that Aren't Your Type

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A Sunday afternoon, the weather outside looks like Wailord cast Rain Dance and you decide to build your new pokemon deck. You sit down to look at your collection. The first question that a lot players ask themeselves is what type of deck do I want to build? Selecting a type of Pokemon can be a good base. Ofter times certain types of pokemon have abilities and attacks that work well together. Grass Pokemon can heal, fire Pokemon use up a lot of energy etc. etc. This mindset, building a deck based around type, can be restrictive.
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Catcher and the Raichu

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If there is a single card in the Emerging Powers set that is making a disruption it is Pokemon Catcher (http://tinyurl.com/4y76m56). This reprint of the old favorite Gust of Wind gives you the ability to disrupt your opponent's field and set up. The simple way to use this card, bring up a Pokemon you can knock out that turn, score an easy prize. This card gives any deck an edge only equal to Quick Claw. It allows for decks with a fast set up the chance for an easy sweep.  What's the best way to shut down a deck running stage 1 or stage 2 Pokemon? Knock out every basic they play to their bench, and Catcher should give you the chance.
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