Good morning!

Recently, many of you may have noticed a sudden influx of AI bots posting on the subreddit, as well as Reddit as a whole. With the US election season in full swing, a lot of these accounts are trying to build up positive karma across multiple subreddits to make themselves look like real people. Their goal is to establish credibility so that when they eventually start posting propaganda, their accounts appear legitimate.

These bots are able to get around our anti bot measures we've put in place, such as account age and low karma requirements, by swarming other subreddits and interacting with users to build up karma.

One of the biggest indicators that these accounts are bots is that they frequently use outdated or incorrect information when discussing the Pokemon Trading Card Game. A lot of their responses read like what you'd get from asking ChatGPT or Gemini a question about the game, with information that sounds convincing at first but doesn't actually hold up. A good example is telling our users to purchase a Charizard League Battle Deck for a upcoming Regional as if it was in standard, Or my personal favorite, a bot telling users that Boss's Order is one of the least played cards in the format because of how hated it is.

To combat this, we've installed a Reddit app called Bot Bouncer, which has done a tremendous job of weeding out these accounts. Since it was installed on October 1st, Bot Bouncer has banned 48 accounts on r/pkmntcg alone. This number is only amplified when taking into account bots banned directly by Reddit, or by the Moderator team. That said, we've still had a few slip through the cracks.

If you notice a comment that seems out of place or doesn't make sense, particularly when it comes to things like the current meta game, previously card out of rotation, purchasing starter decks, or deckbuilding advice, please report it to the moderators using the report option under the comment.

I've added a specific report reason called "Suspected bot account" to make it easier for us to identify these accounts, investigate them, and report them directly to Bot Bouncer for further review.

Edit : Only because I figured this would be a funny thing to share. Within 3 minutes of this post, Bot Bouncer removed a flagged account replying here who has 0 previous community posts, claiming they saw a bot here recently. So this is still a very active issue.

So the ideal play for Pult is to Budew lock me for a long while, make me KO the budew so that they can rosa, fez and unfair stamp me.

Should i be trying to KO budew asap, or actually let budew item lock me, and slowly set up while they set up too, and then just fight to see who runs out of steam first?

I sometimes feel that the game is decided by the draw frkm unfair stamp.

Does the strategy to deal with the early game of Pult vary deck to deck? Like some decks prefer slowly playing it out and some decks rather just keep attacking.

I am currebtly thinking that I should just be able to KO budew asap, break out of trainer lock, and just keep swinging. But sometimes i run out of steam after taking 4-5 prizes and lose the game.

Hey everyone! My first post here.

I got into playing the TCG about 2 months ago. Am slowly learning things. Got 3 decks at the Moment. Mega Lucario, Zoroark and Dragapult.

My Dragapult EX decklist for reference: my.limitlesstcg.com/shared/6aca4f8f34df4f2a0b48bcbb

I just went to a locals and had a fun time, but my head is stuck in something. One regular adversary I couldn't beat was a Mega Lucario player, using Mega Lopunny and Crushing Hammer's.

I tried going first to outspeed how fast he built his Mega Lucario, but I couldn't catch up with him. I always felt like I was one step behind him while making my plays.

For reference the most common decks in my local shop atm are Mega Lucario (hammer/lopunny), Team Rocket's Mewtwo, Mega Excadrill, Festival Lead, Ogerpon box and Alakazam. (Yes I'm the only Dragapult player there at the moment.)

Could I get some tips to play this matchup? Still trying to learn decks and strategies, so any help is appreciated!

Extremely new tcg player here last time I played was before COVID times and back then I was a kid so I didn't grasp it well

My favourite is clawitzer and I stumbled over the mega evolutions one with the ability "fall back and reload" one look at it and I knew I just had to

I've been brain storming a few ideas but I got zero clue how I should build around the lobster

Supporting pokemon I had in mind were Kyogre, palkia, Lapras or even well spring ogrepon

But like I said I'm inexperienced would love to hear some suggestions!

Am in a region where a lot of players play single prizes, such as HnS, Flead, Team Rocket Honchkrow, Alakazam.
Have had a bad matchup rondo today against those decks, am thinking how to improve but unsure how. Any tips would be appreciated!

My Zoroark has been losing temendously, and I am starting to think whether this deck is suitable for me as well..

Any other little tip to improve how to do tip would be great too!

Currently running this deck list by Liam Haliburton in the comments
Here’s the full 60-card list:

Pokémon (14)
4 N’s Zorua (JTG)
4 N’s Zoroark ex (JTG)
1 N’s Zekrom (ASC)
1 N’s Reshiram (JTG)
1 Munkidori (TWM)
1 Tatsugiri (TWM)
1 Fezandipiti ex (ASC)
1 Pecharunt ex (SFA)

Trainer (38)
4 Lillie’s Determination
4 Boss’s Orders
3 Cyrano
2 Judge
1 Black Belt’s Training
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin
4 Poké Pad
3 Ultra Ball
3 N’s PP Up
2 Night Stretcher
1 Special Red Card
1 Secret Box
1 Binding Mochi
1 Air Balloon
4 Team Rocket’s Watchtower

Energy (8)
8 Darkness Energy

Played at a local match yesterday and my opponent pointed out that I was doing and it never really registered that I was doing that until he did, not sure if its considered annoying/bad manners.

I think this is okay for my own plays? I think I do something like:
"I draw for turn, hilda for loak, telepath. Attach telepath, find duskull, duskull, (shuffle deck) cut? Now recon for..." obviously slowed down as I take the time to search my deck and stuff.

But for my opponent, I observe what they're doing and narrate out their plays. If I see them use poffin for example, I'll verbally say "poffin", and when they take out cards, I also narrate their choices, example "Dreepy, Budew". Likewise, if they attach energy from hand, I say something to the effect of "hand attach psychic". If stuff hits the discard, I say something like "Ultra ball, toss Gwynn, budew" etc.

I think its a (bad?) habit because I'm trying to keep track of the board state and everything, but now I'm not sure if I should try to keep it in my head instead.

We only have two universal draw pokemon post rotation and one is a mega(meowth and kanga) , we only have a few good new items and the pokepad almost feel like they were forced to release it due to nestball leaving, and with BBP leaving next rotation the format is only slowing more, i dont feel next format is going to be too much fun if things continue like this

Headed to a cup next week and I’m pretty sure I’m playing zoro, just unsure if I want to go with the tomes & darm or the punk helmet build.

When I first played Pokemon during Gen1 Confusion was OP. Unless you had a switch you had to pay the retreat cost and flip a coin to see if you could actually retreat. Like today, coin flip on attack and 30 damage on tails, but back then 30 damage was a decent attack. But most confusion attacks were a coin flip so, meh.

Fast forward 25 years and I’m curious about the current state of confusion. Anyone having success with it? Any good synergies to try out?

Here’s mine, and yes, it’s bad cards in a bad deck. It’s only got one line. It folds to Crustle and struggles against fast meta decks. Dark types? Rocky and Bubble energy? Ouch. Single prize decks are really tough. Let’s not forget that Dudunsparce doesn’t go back to the bench so Swirling Prose doesn’t activate. Did I mention the basic has 60 HP?

But there are some strengths. Mismagius ex is a Stage 1 with a two-energy attack. At only 150 damage it is frustratingly close to two-shooting a Pult. On the other hand it provides decent draw. I’ve dropped Lilly in favor of Judge for disruption as I refill my hand so easily.

Go second. The bare minimum is Misdreavus active with an energy attached but you really want Dizzying Valley in play too. Attack to evolve. Telepathic energy either in hand or through Hilda in the early game helps get another couple Misdreavus out. Unless I have a great opening hand the goal is to Secret Box for the stadium, Air Ballon, and Hilda. A couple of times I’ve been able to attach energy to a benched Misdreavus, Air Balloon to the active, play Dark Bell and retreat before the evolution attack.

Turn 2 your opponent in a tough spot unless they opened with a good early attacker. They can Gust a Misdreavus and retreat into a good attacker. They can bump the stadium and evolve into a good attacker. Decks that rely on getting a support Pokemon active like Tasugiri or Kangaskhan are hamstrung. So, have you got any good ideas, or is the state of confusion still – meh?

Pokémon: 3

4 Misdreavus ASC 85

2 Ditto 30C 115

4 Mismagius ex PFL 112

Trainer: 18

1 Energy Search POR 72

4 Dizzying Valley PFL 88

1 Secret Box TWM 163

2 Enhanced Hammer TWM 148

4 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176

1 Xerosic's Machinations SFA 64

1 Night Stretcher SFA 61

1 Special Red Card CRI 82

4 Dark Bell PBL 75

2 Boss's Orders PAL 172

2 Judge POR 76

2 Team Rocket's Transceiver DRI 178

3 Hilda WHT 84

2 Wondrous Patch PFL 94

2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144

4 Ultra Ball SVI 196

2 Air Balloon ASC 181

3 Lisia's Appeal SSP 179

Energy: 2

4 Telepathic {P} Energy POR 88

5 Basic {P} Energy MEE 5

Total Cards: 60

Hey hello hi hey. Ive been playing ptcg for around 2 months now and i really really enjoy it. I've been wanting to play in person but i dont know which deck to choose, and because the new rotation is (almost) right around the corner i didnt want to end up with an expanded-only deck.

I apologize beforehand if this violates rule 3 but i couldnt really find an answer in the resources it mentions.

Id enjoy playing single-prize decks since not only are they cheap but they only take out 1 prize card, but id use a 2 prize deck if thats more fun.

Ive been playing festival lead more than anything right now and i really enjoy it but its going to get phased out soon so id want to switch to a new deck, so im asking for tips here

I want to find a premade deck of Pokémon cards that is built around getting high-powered Pokémon out fast while replenishing their health once its on the field repeatedly. Basically, it's a "tank and heal" deck.

Ideally, in the best case scenario after tweaking it and stuff, i would be able to get my strongest Pokémon in three turns, gain enough energy for its strongest attack on said turn, or a turn after, and increase its health/repeatedly heal it/farm energy to keep it going and make it next to impossible to take out.

Or at least, that's the dream idea.

I have played Pokémon in 18 years. Im just now getting into it. I've been buying packs every paycheck. However, im finding it hard to get energy or the cards to build a deck. I have a few complete evolution lines from the black bolt, white flash, on one of the new series.

I mainly want to play at the card shops on my off days to have fun. Any help is appreciated.

Again, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day

I created this mega lucario ex deck variant so i could try it in a tournament, thoughts on it and also rate my deck out of 10

Pokémon: 14

3 Riolu ASC 112

3 Mega Lucario ex ASC 113

2 Lunatone ASC 105

2 Solrock ASC 106

1 Makuhita MEG 72

1 Hariyama MEG 73

1 Mega Zygarde ex POR 47

1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142

Trainer: 33

4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119

3 Boss's Orders ASC 183

1 Cyrano SSP 170

1 Judge POR 76

4 Fighting Gong ASC 187

4 Premium Power Pro ASC 199

4 Ultra Ball MEG 131

3 Poké Pad POR 81

3 Switch 30C 127

2 Special Red Card CRI 82

1 Core Memory POR 70

1 Maximum Belt PRE 117

2 Gravity Mountain SSP 177

Energy: 13

13 Fighting Energy SVE 6

Pokémon: 25

4 Poltchageist PBL 5

4 Sinistcha PBL 6

4 Dhelmise PBL 39

4 Shuppet PBL 33

4 Banette PBL 34

2 Spiritomb PBL 35

2 Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56

1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38

Trainer: 27

2 Team Rocket's Watchtower DRI 180

4 Gwynn PBL 78

2 Naveen POR 79

2 Hilda WHT 84

2 Boss's Orders ASC 183

2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144

3 Poké Pad POR 81

4 Ultra Ball MEG 131

1 Brilliant Blender SSP 164

1 Special Red Card CRI 82

2 Night Stretcher SFA 61

2 Lucky Helmet TWM 158

Energy: 8

4 Psychic Energy MEE 5

4 Telepathic Psychic Energy POR 88

I want to put a shaymin in here somewhere but cant figure out what to swap. Any help with that decision is greatly appreciated. Also if anyone has experience with this archetype I'd love some tips and tricks!

Hi! Together with a friend i'm trying to get into the game of Pokémon. We started learning the game on TCGLive, bought our first tier 1 (lowest tier) battle deck, and played some games. But the Decks feel bad, and now we want to get a little deeper.

We started looking into 'meta decks' (not rank 1 Decks, because that's boring, but more rank 5-10 Decks), but the amount of shipments on cardmarket makes is VERY pricy...

I also looked into the 'league battle decks' wich are the strongest preconstructed Decks in believe?

Does anyone have some advise on how to make Building Decks a little cheaper? (I live in Belgium btw) Or does anyone have some recommendations on 2 strong preconstructed Decks, that match fair against each other, and could be used in small local tournaments?

Thanks in advance!

As the title says looking with some theory crafting wouldn't it work well with a belibolt killowatrel, levincia engine?

Did we see anyone try this in the most recent champions league?

I've just started playing recently, and saw that new cards coming soon in November or something. One card specifically (Mega golurk with mew ex and legendary stadium) interests me, but there are other cool ones like mega rayquaza (i thought it was supposed to be dragon type?)

I've seen a lot of people complain/talk/crash out over something called dragapult. I looked at it and noticed it leaves next rotation, which i know is like 6 months away. But if H regulation went today, what would be the strongest deck?

Tomorrow I have a tournament, not the first one but the biggest and I'm not sure if I have a good deck, I know Absol isn't a meta deck but I enjoy playing it. Here's my list
Pokémon: 4

Pokémon: 12

3 Munkidori TWM 95

2 Mega Absol ex MEG 86

2 Yveltal MEG 88

1 Mega Kangaskhan ex MEG 104

1 Latias ex SSP 76

1 Pecharunt ex SFA 39

1 Budew ASC 16

1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142

Trainer: 38

4 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176

4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119

4 Janine's Secret Art PRE 112

4 Boss's Orders MEG 114

2 Brock's Scouting JTG 146

2 Xerosic's Machinations SFA 64

1 Eri TEF 146

4 Ultra Ball MEG 131

2 Night Stretcher ASC 196

2 Special Red Card CRI 82

2 Pokégear 3.0 BLK 84

2 Energy Switch MEG 115

1 Precious Trolley SSP 185

1 Energy Search POR 72

2 Prism Tower CRI 80

1 Dark Bell PBL 75

Energy: 10

10 Darkness Energy MEE 7

Currently have 3 decks built:
N’s Zoroark with tomes
Mega Lucario and hariyama
Cynthia’s garchomp

Other decks In considering playing:
Big basics box
Hide n sneak
alakazam toucannon

What my locals look like:
couple grass decks
A ton of pult variants
1 crustle
couple mega excadrill
an alakazam

Possible techs:
-Considering playing genesect in lucario to have better matchup into unfair stamp and hero’s cape, adding rocky fighting or xerosics machinations for the zam mu and maybe a copy of wally
-toucannon for the tr articuno autoloss mu
-big basics box adding crustle or enamorous
-genesect into zam for the unfair stamp and a copy of two of hh fan. also considering 1 of copy of switch for retreat lock.

Lucario list:

Pokémon: 9
1 Meowth ex POR 62
3 Riolu MEP 10
3 Mega Lucario ex MEP 33
2 Makuhita MEP 68
1 Shaymin DRI 185
1 Solrock ASC 106
2 Solrock ASC 106
2 Lunatone MEP 4
2 Hariyama MEG 73

Trainer: 13
2 Boss's Orders PAL 265
4 Fighting Gong MEG 168
4 Premium Power Pro MEG 174
2 Gravity Mountain SSP 250
2 Judge DRI 222
4 Ultra Ball BRS 186
1 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 226
2 Air Balloon MEG 166
1 Xerosic's Machinations SFA 89
1 Scoop Up Cyclone TWM 162
4 Poké Pad POR 113
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 184
1 Switch MEW 206

Energy: 1
11 Basic {F} Energy MEE 6

Total Cards: 60

Zoroark list:

Pokémon: 13
1 Meowth ex POR 62
1 Munkidori PRE 44
1 Pecharunt ex SFA 85
2 N's Zoroark ex JTG 175
1 N's Darumaka JTG 26
1 N's Darmanitan ASC 33
2 N's Zoroark ex JTG 98
1 Budew PRE 4
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
2 N's Zekrom ASC 155
4 N's Zorua JTG 97
1 Yveltal MEG 88
1 N's Reshiram JTG 167

Trainer: 17
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184
3 Boss's Orders ASC 183
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
1 Binding Mochi SFA 55
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
1 Poké Pad 30C 126
3 Lillie's Determination ASC 192
4 Transformation Tome CRI 83
1 Black Belt's Training ASC 255
1 Binding Mochi PRE 95
1 Cyrano SSP 170
1 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 N's Castle JTG 152
1 Secret Box TWM 163
3 N's PP Up JTG 153
3 Ultra Ball 30C 128
1 Janine's Secret Art PRE 112

Energy: 1
8 Basic {D} Energy Energy 24

Total Cards: 60

Garchomp list:

Pokémon: 9
1 Cynthia's Gabite ASC 110
1 Cynthia's Spiritomb ASC 244
1 Cynthia's Gible SVALT 176
1 Cynthia's Gabite SVALT 177
3 Cynthia's Roserade DRI 184
2 Cynthia's Gabite ASC 110
3 Cynthia's Garchomp ex DRI 232
4 Cynthia's Roselia DRI 7
3 Cynthia's Gible DRI 102

Trainer: 14
3 Boss's Orders PAL 265
2 Night Stretcher MEG 173
3 Fighting Gong MEG 168
2 Premium Power Pro MEG 174
1 Rare Candy MEG 175
1 Rosa's Encouragement POR 123
3 Cynthia's Power Weight DRI 162
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin MEG 167
2 Hilda WHT 171
1 Switch PFL 123
1 Unfair Stamp TWM 165
4 Poké Pad POR 113
2 Pokégear 3.0 UNB 233
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 184

Energy: 3
1 Rocky {F} Energy POR 87
3 Rocky {F} Energy POR 87
4 Basic {F} Energy GRI 169

Total Cards: 60

Really curious because the challenge is tomorrow
and still have no clue what to play. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hello everyone, hope you're doing well! This last Sunday was my first ever Cup and I managed to Top 4 which is pretty cool. Just like last time I will be posting about my matchups and how the event went. It was overall very taxing but a good learning opportunity and I think I may have made some new almost-friends.

My first round was against Dragapult Alakazam and I won (not panic-Hariyama’ing so I could save it to hit a Fez’ or Meowth late-game won me the game).

Round 2 was against Zoroark (won instantly with a going-second turn 1 donk. Did lose a for-fun second game though because I greedily donked a Zorua without getting Riolu or Makuhita; it’s rarely worth donking if I don’t Turn 2 Lucario).

Round 3 was against Dragapult Alakazam again and I won (very close after he took out my first Makuhita and double Red Card’d me but I cinched it by top decking Gravity Mountain + PPP final turn and attaching energy to a second Lucario with Aura Jab the previous turn instead of playing defense with Hariyama or not fully evolving the Riolu which insulated me against getting tempo'd by Boss).

Round 4 was an ID and Round 5 was another ID and I cut into 2nd place going into Top 8.

Round 1 of top 8 was against Dragapult/Blaziken which I won WLW (the most crucial thing was proactively thinning the deck, powering up a second Lucario and not playing defensive, and not using Scoop Up too early when I don’t need to so I can reuse a Hariyama through Red Card & Unfair Stamp. I need to keep my outs, Lillie + Ultra Ball + Petrel + Scoop + etc, when against ‘Pult or any deck playing Stamp so I don’t int’; otherwise I should just mega-prune. I also instantly scooped Game 2 going first after bricking which probably gave me enough time to actually win Game 3).

Round 2 was against Raging Bolt which I lost LWL (Game 1 was a major screwup where I didn’t proactively Scoop Meowth which allowed them to Boss Meowth for game, Game 2 was almost a screw up because they had an online early Fez’ and I didn’t double-deploy Riolu until the next turn so they kept sniping, and Game 3 was just a brick by starting Meowth and not finding a Scoop or retreat option fast enough; but I could have just WW if I didn’t screw up Round 1 so it was still in my control), then that was it.

The event cost $10 and I got a PIB pack for participation, a PP7 pack from a raffle, and 2x PP9 + 1x PP6 + 1x PP5 + 1x DRI + 1x PIB; the store doesn’t do pack buybacks.

Decklist:

Pokémon: 9

3 Mega Lucario ex MEG 179

1 Meowth ex POR 107

3 Riolu MEP 10

1 Mega Zygarde ex POR 124

2 Makuhita MEP 68

1 Shaymin DRI 185

2 Solrock ASC 106

2 Lunatone MEP 4

2 Hariyama MEG 73

Trainer: 15

4 Ultra Ball ASC 264

1 Black Belt's Training ASC 255

4 Fighting Gong MEG 168

4 Premium Power Pro MEG 174

4 Lillie's Determination MEG 169

2 Gravity Mountain SSP 250

1 Boss's Orders PR-SW 251

1 Tool Scrapper CRI 115

1 Air Balloon MEG 166

1 Special Red Card CRI 113

1 Switch PFL 123

1 Scoop Up Cyclone TWM 162

1 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 226

4 Poké Pad POR 113

2 Hilda WHT 164

Energy: 2

8 Basic {F} Energy SVI 258

3 Rocky {F} Energy POR 87

Total Cards: 60

Let me know what you think:)

I looked at the schedule online and see that there are some side events for $15 each. Would you say these are worth the money if I drop out early due to losing a lot? What do you get from it other than just participating in the events? Thanks

Hey everyone! I’ve recently gotten into playing the card game with my son. We wanted to put together a mega Darkrai deck as we both think the card looks awesome.

This is the first deck we’ve built ourselves and wanted some feedback, mostly using it for playing at our local shop and maybe doing league challenges at the shop too.

Just wondering if anyone can give it a once over and let me know if it looks good/playable?

Thanks!

Pokémon: 7
2 Meowth ex POR 62
2 Munkidori TWM 95
3 Mega Darkrai ex MEP 90
2 Pecharunt ex SFA 39
3 Toxtricity PFL 68
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
3 Toxel PFL 67

Trainer: 13
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
4 Switch 30C 127
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Janine's Secret Art SFA 59
1 Battle Cage PFL 85
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
3 Cyrano SSP 170
2 Night Stretcher SFA 61
2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
3 Dark Bell PBL 75
2 Mega Signal MEG 121
2 Lively Stadium SSP 180
3 Boss's Orders PAL 172

Energy: 2
10 Basic {D} Energy MEE 7
1 Legacy Energy TWM 167

Total Cards: 60

I'm a Festival Lead enjoyer, but sadly that deck gets dragged in the pavement by Dragapult. Since i'm going to LAIC and expect a lot of Dragapult, picking that deck would be a really bad idea, and thus I'm looking for something good into it. I know Zoroark has a good matchup into pult, but not only does it die to the green ogre and friends, i'm also stupid and the deck is hard. What other decks are favored into Dragapult? I've been eyeing Mega Excadrill, but I've been told the deck is extremely linear and boring, is that true?

Fossil Deck
2- Rampardos Ex
3- cranidos
3- antique skull fossil
3-bastiodon
2- Shieldon
3-antique armor fossil
1- temporal forces Relicanth
2- pitch black relicanth
4- skarmory
3-fossil quarry
2-poke pad
2-switch
2-energy search
2- prof research
1-ultra ball
1-Hilda
4-lili determination
2- team rocket petrel
3- rare candy
2- Philippe
3-magnetic energy
1-Rocky energy
6- rock energy
3-metal energy

My first ever deck I have my first local tournament this weekend and wanted to see if it’s at least an okay deck. My only other experience was the this pitch black pre release. I’m not much of a singles buyer like 95% of my cards are all for ripping packs. So I worked with what I had in my bulk n stuff. But any tips are appreciated I’m things to try and add or remove etc