Starter Deck Series, Take 1

Base-Fossil (and really, all retro Pokémon) is a funny game in that it appears very simple (this guy just does 20 damage for 1 energy?) but learning how to play without getting rolled is complicated. Where do I put my energy? Should I draw right now or not? What does it mean when the big pink enemy has four energy on it? (Answer: pain.) If you hand someone a “meta” B-F deck they may have a hard time learning the fundamentals, as  even "simple" decks like traditional Haymaker have the nuance of timing Scoop Up, Super Energy Removal, etc. If you play with a theme deck, though, you’re liable to get inconsistent games that give a skewed first impression (as I encountered in epic Krabby vs. Starmie battles). I sought a middle ground!

Recently, there have been some fun designs posted on the Pokémon 1999 discord by user Ashton for 30-card “learner decks” (search for the term after you log in) designed to teach staple mechanics using lots of colorless attacks, free retreating Pokemon, and weakness/resistance matchups, with a shared set of 1-of, readily parse-able trainers (e.g. potion). There’s more thought into the design philosophy of those specific decks than I’ll repeat here, but suffice it to say I was inspired to make some of my own!

In the Pokémon games, you start by picking your starter (grass, water, or fire, until Gen 10 cooks up something insane), at which point you get counter picked by your rival. So why not make a set of 3 decks with a type triangle? Only in this case, so “Red” doesn’t get brutalized by “Blue” in their  first ever TCG game, we’ll put an alternate type triangle in the other direction. The intended experience here is the loser can then decide to rematch or “counter pick” the extra deck. 

The budget starters Prof. Oak gives to the poor unfortunates late to the Pokédex pickup. 

Here are the rules I tried to follow in making them. In every deck:

• Thirty cards, three prizes.
• Short games, easy to shuffle.
• To prevent mulligans or energy drought, I used 11 Pokémon, 9 trainers, and 10 energy.
• Two types of Pokémon. 
• A "forwards" type triangle of grass-water-fire, with 6 Pokémon.
• A “backwards” type triangle of fighting-flying (colorless)-lightning, with 5 Pokémon.
• This hopefully smooths out weakness and resistance matchups.
• The energy split is variable, as I tried to balance it for varied Pokémon costs.
• A 2-1 evolution line for each type. 
• It was hard to get all basics to obey the triangles, but the evolutions were non negotiable.
• “Singleton,” so two Poliwags are OK, but not the same Poliwag. 
• Just for fun, really, but also to show there are sometimes options for the same card.
• Same trainer playset. 
• Adds the appearance of fairness and introduces them "twice as fast."
• Base-Fossil trainers, plus Nightly Garbage Run.
• This smooths over losing your evolution or type-specific energies. 
• It also provides a very minor anti-deckout move.
• I considered 'Recycle,' but flipping tails on a 1-of is really bad.
• It feels B-F enough anyhow.
• At least 2 “sturdy” basics (60+ HP). 
• I tried to avoid the biggest B-F stars as they might dominate a little too much.
• (...and they were in my other decks!)
• A mix of energy costs for attacks.
• The gulf between 1 and 2 attachments is large and should be appreciated.
• At least one free retreater.
• The double value of Switch is good to learn early, as is promotion order.
• One-plus DCE user, to go with a single copy of DCE.
• You want to talk format-warping? DCE is format-warping. Use it or fear it.
• This provides a valuable lesson when paired with the 1 copy of ER in the decks.
• At least one Gym and one e-Card Pokémon.
• To show off the same info in a different format; I like to add friction and resolve it early. 
• Although they are B-F biased, these are more "general retro decks.
• At least one Gen 2 Pokémon.
• To dispel claims of Kanto supremacy.

And represented at least once across all decks:

• Attacks inflicting sleep, paralysis, confusion, and poison.
• To answer the "why should I switch?" question and start rotating cards.
• Attacks inflicting "other" status conditions.
• These were very confusing to me when I started, so encountering them early is good.
• Attacks requiring discarding energy.
• These help you appreciate the pacing and need for attachments.
• Attacks dealing bench damage.
• A big question that comes up for new players is "why shouldn't I just play my basics?"
• These attacks, plus Gust of Wind and Energy Retrieval, probably answer that question.
• Attacks with trainer-like effects (searching, gusting, etc.)
• Prop 15/3 deep state propaganda.
• Pokémon powers.
• I wanted to avoid excess complexity with Stage 2s and whatnot, but these do matter.

Here are the three decks I cooked up! I still need to generate cool names for them,

 

“Fire Lightning” (RL) has solid, low-maintenance fire attackers and a little utility with Growlithe and Magmar. Build up JU Pikachu to knock out the bench, or use Recharge Pikachu to fuel Raichu.

“Grass Fighting” (GF) has overall heavy hitters. EX Machoke, JU Weepinbell, Brock’s Mankey, and surprisingly AQ Bellsprout have good offense and staying power. Shuckle can be used to buy turns or poison a fighting resistant-wall.

“Water Flying” (WC) has several disables, notably the "permanent" smokescreen of Misty’s Horsea, amnesia from BS Poliwhirl, and FO Lapras’ confuse ray. It’s also more consistent with a single energy type and free retreat basics.

I tested these decks against each other in “best of 7” using PTCG-sim. In each matchup, the decks went 3-4 against each other. I also tried them out with new players, in which the matchups were also reasonably even. Here are my thoughts.

• With one each of Bill, Oak, and NGR, your choices to avoid deckout are fairly limited (basically, Oak or not). Much better than relying on Gambler flips, but still odd, especially if NGR is prized. Stalling out with something like FO Lapras feels very viable. This is probably healthy.
• Type matching is painful with only one Switch and no recursion. This makes 2-retreat attackers kind of a trap (except for maybe Lapras) and retreating is a major energy sink. WC is best positioned here, then GF, then RL, which needs to evolve for free retreating Rapidash.
• Difficult switching also strengthens disabling status conditions.
• Explaining that colorless costs may be paid with any color was harder than I anticipated.
• Having the "wrong" energy with the two-color decks was fairly common and frustrating.
• Even in a removal-lite format, the game's pacing is too quick to mess with Pinsir and Raichu, which need four energy to do their thing. You need those attachments elsewhere. 
• RL feels the weakest, especially the Pikachu and Raichu. The payoff for those attachments is minimal and you can easily accrue chip damage into a KO.
• N3 Shuckle deserves a special shout-out for its performance in these rinky-dink battles. Cracking 40 damage is hard for some of these decks. 

I think these decks are overall suitable for teaching, and maybe could be left here. (After all, you don't want to swim in the kiddie pool forever.) But if I were to tinker more, I have a few potential ideas for alteration.

• Improve RL by leaning into bench damage with JU Electrode, maybe. It may also need a bigger basic like Lt. Surge's Electabuzz (or even BS Electabuzz) to buy turns for building up. I also like the idea of Dark Magneton to 
• Adjust WC with a little more grass weakness (maybe N1 Wooper?) and potentially look for a Lapras substitute.
• Replace heavy attackers in GF with something lighter. Erika's Paras stands out to me as a way to extend the bench damage lesson into another matchup.
• It could be worthwhile to extend the decks to 40 cards. That would allow for including more trainer functionality while keeping the singleton flavor. Here's my short list.
• Warp Point acts as a second switch with pseudo-gusting to prevent walling.
• Maintenance helps with deckout, but at a cost to the hand (e.g., not an auto-play).
• Goop Gas Attack or Sleep! for anti-Shuckle measures.
• Erika provides draw but also isn't an auto-play as it helps the opponent.
• Energy search smooths the multi-type decks a little.
• I'm hesitant to provide more general search trainers for fear of analysis paralysis.
• Berry replacing Potion teaches about tools as a concept.
• Stadiums are likely too hard to fit even in 40 card, however.
• Pokédex as pseudo-draw and to give meaning to Brock's Mankey's "Fidget."
• Similarly, it could be worthwhile to 'specialize' the trainer set more. As WC has been more of a "stalling" deck, I could add SER, replace Bill with Mary, and trade PlusPower for Defender. Maybe for RL, which has been a 'turbo' deck, add in Lass and replace Bill with Misty's Wrath, swapping ER for Super Energy Retrieval. This is a much more involved project so it might be on the backburner for the near future. 

These decks were made mainly with "extra" cards not in my main decks, which gives a natural bias. I encourage you to try out making low-power decks out of your own bulk!