Lucas: 4 - PTCG Gym Leader Challenge

    Good evening to the other three Mir Bros, J.P.(?), and whoever else is still alive on the vlog service at this point. With this post I'll be returning back to Pokemon TCG. If you are uninterested in that, I recommend Kedrick: 4, a very informative introduction to photography and the concept of the Exposure Triangle. For now, I'd like to take a moment of silence for those vloggers we've lost to get here.

    Thank you. Now we can move into today's topic, the Pokemon Trading Card Game's (PTCG) Gym Leader Challenge. As Nate mentioned in his third post, there is more than one way to play the PTCG. A popular alternate game mode in my area is called Gym Leader Challenge (GLC). For reference, most local tournaments I attend in the Melbourne area average around ~6 players in them. The local GLC tournaments probably average closer to ~10! That's a lot more competition to out-play, my primary goal. 

    So what makes GLC different from the standard game? Well, it has some unique rules I'll explain:

• Your deck can only contain one type (color) of Pokemon
• Hence the "Gym Leader" part of the name
• Only one of each card with the same name allowed in a deck, except for Basic Energy
• The standard game mode allows you to play up to 4-copies of each individual card
• This also means you can only play one Bulbasaur, even if you have a different Pokemon card with the same name
• Cards with a Rule Box are not allowed
• No Pokemon EX!! Only "single prize" Pokemon are allowed!
• Legal Cards: Black & White - onwards, with a short ban list
• The standard game has an annual rotation where about a year's worth of cards are banned. GLC allows any card that's been printed since Black & White!
• 60 card decks are built & 6 Prize Card games are played with the most current Pokemon TCG rules
• I don't have anything to clarify here

    Without further ado, I'll get into the very first deck I built for GLC, a Dragon-type deck:

    The first thing you'll notice is that this list looks absurd. There are only 6 repeated cards in the entire 60-card list, and all of them are basic energies per DA RULES. I won't get into any specific cards. Frankly, nobody cares, and there are way too many to list. So I'll just explain the general deck-building principles that make this deck good (still nobody cares, but for posterity).

    The first thing to note is that this deck has no Pokemon that evolve. A lot of GLC decks rely on evolving, but I really dislike evolving when you can only play one Pokemon of each name. Let's say I am trying to play a Charizard deck: if Charmander, Charmeleon, or Charizard are in my Prize Cards, I won't be able to use that Pokemon until I take whichever one is prized; a pain the ass.

    This deck also focuses on just a few strong basic Pokemon while relying on as many items and tools as possible. After all, we can play as many items and tools as we want per turn and a lot of these older cards are BROKEN.

    Another priority is to run as many "live cards" as possible. A live card is a card that can always be played from your hand and be used to progress my board, like Pokegear 3.0 or Trainers Mail. I can use these cards to (try to) find ways to set-up, get energy on my Pokemon, or find whatever cards I need to play the game. Examples of cards that aren't live are Raihan or Hex Maniac. Despite both cards being very powerful, Raihan can't be played unless a special condition is met and Hex Manic doesn't help me play MY game. It just prevents my opponent from being able to play theirs.

    I was able to go undefeated and win my first tournament playing with this deck, earning a Dragon-type badge! Something I didn't mention above is that after you win a tournament, you earn a badge of the type you won with (generally not a physical badge, but my local store owner's wife is nice and likes crafts). You aren't required to stop playing a deck after winning a badge, but most people do so they can expand their badge collection. 

    This tournament was a few weeks ago, and I've played in another tournament since then. I went 2-1 with a new colorless deck list that I'll put below. My one loss was due to some mediocre plays I made because I didn't get much practice with it. My same general deck-building principles were used for piecing together this deck: Less Evolution Pokemon = Good, and play as many items, tools, and live cards as you can.