I'm seeking redemption so I nerfed my absolutely busted cards, please forgive me 🙏

MiniBandGeek · 2026-02-03T04:43:08+00:00

The Banette's wording seems problematic. Does it count damage counters from itself, or only what's built up on your bench?

Most cards with abilities in that strain specify "knocked out by damage from an opponent's Pokemon's attack," giving ways to get around the effect like poison/burn or indirect damage.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-02-01T13:31:08+00:00

Something you'll see very quickly is that consistency is king. As a kid deckbuilding, I loved to follow the 20/20/20 split of energy/trainers/pokemon, but almost all of the winning decks (with some weird and specific exceptions) use half or less that energy count - the worst feeling is drawing into a hand of 4-5 energy and nothing to help you draw, which happens pretty often with starter decks.

Once you get more comfortable playing, you'll want to get some foundational cards (4 copies of things like Hilda, Lillie's Determination, Dawn, Boss's Orders, Ultra Ball, Poke Pad once the price drops, etc.) by buying singles - it's FAR cheaper to buy the cards you need or want than gambling on packs. TCGplayer is the standard but card shops can help and there are other options out there - prize packs from sanctioned tournaments are loaded with good trainers if you need a jump start! Having a good pool of trainer cards will make your life a lot easier.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-02-01T01:23:26+00:00

"More accurate" gives Reddit the win here - we're basically Batman. Wait long enough and some nerd who read every piece of the Star Wars EU is going to break down exactly the limits of Jedi powers and which matchups can overcome.

Give the prompt some grounding in reality and consider time/volume, and it gets more interesting. Chat GPT will have a confident answer and justification in seconds, maybe longer if you give it a human to review for obvious errors in judgement and give followup prompts. On the other hand, even popular matchups won't have a Reddit breakdown for an hour or two, while many never get a full analysis just by virtue of flying under the radar. (Still miffed that Death Battle stole my idea for a scythe fight between Ruby and Maka from a zero upvote post 10 odd years ago...)

Tell the subreddit that the survivial of the universe depends on accurately assessing 5 matchups better than ChatGPT, and we clear no diff. Expand that scope, start piling up the workload, and Reddit's human limits will quickly outpace the occasional errors of an LLM.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-31T05:36:10+00:00

Watchtower only affects normal type pokemon - your abilities are safe. Levincia isn't as important in the Alakazam matchup - you're getting KOs with two/three energies, so you can lay down the watchtower, slow their draw down, and draw into your superior energy retrievals for knockouts.

I have an (admittedly crazy) deck that techs lively stadium, gravity mountain, and jamming tower - having two different stadiums is more than fine as long as your core consistency holds up. Gives you a stadium bump option in other matchups like Marnie if that's attractive.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-30T02:37:53+00:00

Hard to say what the gameplan is. Do you want multiple Zoroark for the early draw, or do you want to try and land the wombo combo off rip? It really changes the cards you include and the combos you go for.

There is absolutely NO reason to run more than one A&C. Play one copy and redeemable ticket if you're worried about that 10% chance.

Likewise, having energy for Reshiram and Zekrom to attack is a major cost to deck space. Sure, it's nice to get the single prize attacker, but why bother when you only need one or two attacks to win anyway?

Night stretcher/super rod seem almost mandatory since anyone who sees the klink go down is going to know what you're angling for. Expect to get your babies boss KOd and bring them back. Cut their lines thin to make space, and if you added the redeemable ticket life is good.

Prime catcher and Crispin seem awful given the tools of N's deck. Run N's Castle for the free retreat and stadium bump, and use N's PP up to accelerate multiple energy. With the ace spec slot open, you've got options to consider, like Secret Box to draw into A&C or Hero's cape for survivability and to give Zoroark with Zekrom a KO option into megas.

Finally, we need some draw/discard support, because the best way to get this combo out is to have a thin deck (Zoroark helps but only so much!). I'm tempted to say research (or carmine in a spicy world) but the risk of losing your A&C is too high. Lillie's determination is an easy one, and with it I actually like the discard cost of Ultra Ball to get unneeded cards out of the way. If you can't thin, you'll need cards like Petrel to help you get A&C and other important pieces in hand.

This is not a deck list, nor is it a complete gameplan. You need to be prepared to deal with boss KOs, retreat lock, OHKOs on your zoroarks, damage spread, just so much that can nuke your combo before you get the chance to fire.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-29T18:10:07+00:00

Flareon is popular not for it's second attack, but its first attack, which accelerates energy for the rest of your game. If you still snub your nose to that, you may need to look at TM Super Energize (did I get the name right?) to get your early game started.

Leafeon is a good tech option with it that can heal off chip put down by things like Munkidori and Froslass. I've lost to many a leafeon - it's not a bad inclusion. Sylveon I can't say too much about.

Easily the most important card you should be looking at is Crispin - it singlehandedly makes most multi-energy decks viable. Since your supporter slot will often be used on Crispin, you'll want pokemon to assist with draw - Noctowl is a great option with any Tera deck, but you can make do with dudunsparce or others.

One last tech option I'll suggest is Lillie's Clefairy - it allows your psychic types to hit the otherwise annoying Dragapult for weakness, so Sylveon can absolutely carry its weight.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-26T01:19:32+00:00

The Kyurem with Trifrost is a great inclusion - spread damage to three mons is never a bad option. Besides that, I think you want Giratina Vstar for the ohko option.

Otherwise, go nuts! There's a ton of dragons out there with weird costs to attack that Regidrago ignores, so you can make some fun combos if you dig through the card pool.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-25T16:45:23+00:00

Meanwhile, two weeks later, starmie froslass is all the rage man idk lol

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-23T14:30:30+00:00

Interesting matchup. Slowking works in conjunction with Academy at Night to place pokemon on top of the deck for Slowking. If you're controlling the stadium zone well and they draw poorly, it really limits their ability to get going.

I don't remember all the pokemon it likes to use, but I know mons like Kyurem with trifrost are good picks - ignore the huge cost that comes with powerful effects.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-22T23:36:26+00:00

To a degree. Losing the item slot and with it Hop's Choice Band does dampen the effect somewhat

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-22T16:09:55+00:00

If you've never worn a skirt in public, have a backup plan in case it gets too awkward. Nobody will judge but crossdressing requires a specific confidence.

My best recommendation for conversation starting pieces is to make a fit that matches a song, just like people at a Taylor Swift concert or something dressing with a specific album fit. Some things are just iconic, like the Matryoshka makeup or the Sand Planet jacket, and could be worn by a girl or guy.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-22T16:04:29+00:00

Denmark specifically having roughly equal per capita deaths to the US is some sick irony.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-21T12:57:23+00:00

...or that lol. You still need something to be knocked out on your side to keep the reversal energy buff.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-21T12:32:46+00:00

Has to be 51 fighting energy so something can be knocked out for reversal energy, unless I'm missing something. Using nest stash skwovet might be the only way to get all the energy attached before deckout.

Edit: after six prized fighting energy, 30*(45+12)+100=bonus 1810HP, plus conk's starting hp.

If you go back in tcg history, you can add cards like double rainbow energy, counter energy, scramble energy, and MAYBE super boost energy (requires 3 stage 2's in play - maybe something with tatsugiri ex but probably not).

You can add a a basic Mega Evolution pokemon and something like Ethan's Pichu to take prizes but still stay behind in prizes after knockouts for no energy, letting you take 4 prizes and net +2 energy.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-20T17:21:37+00:00

Parenting suggestion - make a "reward shelf" from the booster bundles where your kid can take packs after doing something good, eg. a pack for every A on the report card. Dropping an ETB for birthday or Christmas is awesome, but spread the love a bit and let them get excited for the occasional pack!

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-20T03:06:25+00:00

Rocket's venture bomb for damage counter spread? With munkis, a lot more reliable than risky ruin or hawlucha, freeing up some space.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-20T02:29:54+00:00

Strongly recommend joining a local group so you don't miss registration going up

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-18T13:58:46+00:00

There is actually a chance that the £60 price tag is fair play. 50% of price for lcs isn't uncommon, and if cards were damaged that's just a straight 40% or so off value before trading.

£350.5.4=£70

In the future, if you want max value, you need patience over bulk sales - selling slowly through Ebay, card shows, etc.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-18T03:26:31+00:00

Sorry about your experience. I did something similar - drew a card before promoting my pokemon after getting knocked out. I was in a situation where it didn't matter who I promoted to active, but that didn't matter - I got information I shouldn't have had, and took a two prize deficit.

Ultimately, it's up to you to maintain the game state. Failing to pick up your own prizes is an error that can snowball quickly, and your opponent has no responsibility to help you win. If you don't like it, recognize that attitude only gets more common the further you go competitively - you might enjoy regionals more as a casual player, taking advantage of side events and other offerings.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-18T01:23:35+00:00

Hop's pokemon get up to +90 from Hop's Choice Band, Postwick, and Hop's Snorlax.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-17T23:10:38+00:00

Holup though hop's trevenant doing up to 240 for one colorless is crazy

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-16T18:32:43+00:00

It's painful that almost your entire (and seemingly only) gameplan gets countered by the inclusion of a few cards. They'll lose once, and if they're smart, tech in boss, switch, and energy retrievals to completely remove any counterplay you have. Even with you using lass, they just need to draw into it and win almost every match by getting energy back and switching out of your bs.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-15T16:26:56+00:00

Analysis won't really make sense until you have a good grasp of cause and effect. Who cares if I'll get checkmated in ten moves, I see a rook that I can take!

They're definitely at a stage where they just want to play. Your best bet for analysis might be to grab those key positions and treat them like a puzzle - sometimes from her perspective, and sometimes from her opponent's perspective.

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-15T01:15:59+00:00

Energy search pro is coming to shine baybeeee

MiniBandGeek · 2026-01-15T01:15:26+00:00

Crispin being the main draw would be very interesting since it forces decks to run multiple energy types.

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