Nathan: 1

 Yooo waddup gang. Thanks for sharing, Aaron! My name is Nathan Rene Mir, and today I’m going to teach you (except for Lucas) about the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG). But before I explain how the game works, let me tell you how I got introduced to it.

Last summer, while my family was in Minnesota, I found myself facing two "devils." One was my big brother, Quentin, who was trying to get me into the Pokémon VGC (Video Game Championships). Quentin had been interested in VGC for a while after discovering “WolfeyVGC,” a highly skilled YouTuber in the community. I gave it a few tries with him, but I just couldn’t get into it. The game felt too complicated, and the math didn’t help either. While I could’ve given it more of a chance, I realized it wasn’t for me.

The other "devil" was my big brother, Lucas, who introduced me to the Pokémon TCG. Lucas got into it through a YouTuber called “Pokémon Trainer Nguyen,” someone he went to high school with. Lucas started showing me his “Ancient Box” deck, and I was hooked. Since then, I’ve adopted that deck as my go-to for local tournaments (but more on that next week).

Building Your TCG Deck

In the Pokémon TCG, every deck needs exactly 60 cards. You can include up to four copies of any given card (except for basic Energy cards). When you build your deck, the key is to think about synergy—how your cards work together. There are six main types of cards in the game:

Energy Cards – These power your Pokémon’s attacks. You can only attach one Energy from your hand per turn.

Item Cards – These let you perform a variety of actions to support your strategy such as benching extra Pokemon, searching for energy, and finding supporters. You can play as many Item cards as you want during your turn.

Tool Cards – These are for specific strategies, like adding extra HP to a Pokémon or lowering the cost of retreating. Each Pokémon can only have one Tool attached at a time.

Supporter Cards – Often the most powerful cards in the game. They allow you to draw extra cards, attach more Energy, or target your opponent’s Pokémon. You can only play one Supporter per turn, so use them wisely.

Stadium Cards – These provide ongoing effects like increasing your bench size or reducing damage. Only one Stadium can be in play at a time.

Starting the Game & Prize Cards

At the start of the game, you’ll "flip a coin" (it’s usually a dice roll in reality). One player calls heads or tails (heads = even, tails = odd). The winner of the flip gets to decide who goes first.

Going first means you can’t play Supporter cards or attack, but it does give you the chance to evolve your Stage 2 Pokémon quicker and get extra energy in play.

Both players draw seven cards from their decks. If you have a Basic Pokémon in your hand, you’ll place it face-down on the battlefield. Then, you take the top six cards from your deck and place them face down as prize cards.

To win the game, you need to draw all six prize cards before your opponent does. To do that, you need to knock out their Pokémon.

Understanding the Turn Structure

At the start of each turn, you’ll draw one card, which is called “drawing for turn.” After that, you can start playing cards based on what’s in your hand. A single turn will consist of some combination of the following:

Bench Pokémon – You can place more Pokémon on your bench for backup or support.

Attach Energy – Attach an Energy card from your hand to one of your Pokémon.(Once per turn)

Retreat – Swap your active Pokémon with one on your bench. (Once per turn)

Evolve Pokémon – Evolve Pokémon you played in previous turns.

Play Trainer Cards – You can play Items, Tools, or Supporters (You may only use one supporter per turn)

Use Abilities – If any of your Pokémon have abilities, you can use them during this phase.

Attack – Finally, you attack with your active Pokémon—or you can pass if you can't do anything else.

The Different Types of Pokémon

In the TCG, your Pokémon can either be active in battle or on the bench. You can have up to five Pokémon on the bench, and they can help you out in different ways, like drawing cards, or can be backup attackers. There are also different stages of Pokémon:

Basic Pokémon – Charmander

Stage 1 Pokémon – Charmeleon

Stage 2 Pokémon – Charizard

When you play a Basic Pokémon, you can’t evolve it into Stage 2 until your next turn. But if you’ve got a Rare Candy Item card, you can skip over Stage 1 and evolve directly to Stage 2.

EX Pokémon

Some Pokémon are EX. These are stronger versions with more HP, better abilities, and stronger attacks. But there's a catch: when an EX Pokémon is knocked out, your opponent gets two prize cards instead of just one.

Synergy: Chien-Pao EX & Baxcalibur

One of the best examples of synergy in the Pokemon TCG is Chien-Pao and Baxcalibur.

Chien-Pao EX is a powerful Basic Pokémon with the ability “Shivery Chill.” This ability lets you search your deck for two Water Energy cards and add them to your hand. Chien-Pao’s attack, “Hail Blade”, lets you discard as many Water Energies as you want to deal 60 damage per Energy discarded. This can deal huge damage and knock out big Stage 2 EX Pokémon. But to do that, you need a lot of Water Energy on the field.

That’s where Baxcalibur comes in. Baxcalibur is a Stage 2 non-EX Pokémon with the ability “Super Cold,” which lets you attach a basic Water Energy from your hand to any Pokémon as many times as you want during your turn.

Together, these two Pokémon form a deadly combo. Chien-Pao sets up the Energy in your hand, and Baxcalibur helps you get it on the field quickly. This synergy lets you deal massive damage with Hail Blade and makes for a powerful team.

Deck Strategies

There are lots of ways to approach the game with different deck strategies. Here are some common ones:

“Turbo” Decks– Focus on dealing huge damage quickly to take down your opponent’s Pokémon and draw prize cards early.

Healing & Wall – Focusing on tanky Pokemon that can heal damage and not allow your opponent to draw Prize Cards. There are also many Pokemon that have abilities that prevent all damage from Pokemon with certain attributes.

Stage 2 Decks – These decks focus on powerful Stage 2 Pokémon. They might start slow, but once set up, they can dominate.

1-Prize Attackers – Decks like my “Ancient Box” revolve around Pokémon that give you only 1 prize card when knocked out. This gives you a big advantage in the prize trade.

Stall Decks – These decks try to stall the game by making it hard for your opponent to play. The goal is to make them run out of cards, which means they automatically lose.

There’s so much more to the Pokémon TCG, but I’ll save the rest for another blog post. Next time, I’ll dive into my “Ancient Box” deck and explain all the strategies and cards I use to win.

In the meantime, download Pokémon TCG Live and start playing! I hope you enjoyed my first blog—until next time!

Update: 

Today I went 4-0-1 in a league challenge and won 14 prize packs!!!!