Pokemon TCG

Deck Guide

Standard Deck Tech: Politoed - Good for Beginners

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Meet the amphibious strength of the Poliwag evolutionary line, where Politoed, its final evolution, can deal up to 300 damage for just two energies!

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revised by Tabata Marques

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With the hype of the Lost Originlink outside website expansion with new “rogue” cards, that is, cards that almost the public doesn't believe or isn't interested in being “competitive”, I'm going to show you an interesting deck for beginners using the Poliwag evolutionary line, both Politoed and Poliwrath, to deal massive damage for each evolutionary line in play.

Politoed and Poliwrath: the power of amphibians

Deck Analysis

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Here is the main attacker of the deck. With it, we have the main attack Lordly Songleader, which for two colorless energies as a tribute, it does the following damage effects:

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1) If there is any Poliwag in your bench, the damage is 10 + 60 = 70

2) If there is any Poliwhirl in your bench, the damage is 10 + 90 = 100

3) And if there are any Poliwrath in your bench, the damage is 10 + 120 = 130

Considering the possibility of playing all 3 at the same time in your game, with Politoed as an attacker, you can deal up to 300 damage!

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And the secondary one, not as usual as a frequent attacker, but as an alternative, we have Poliwrath with the following attacks:

1) Split Spiral Punch, for a water energy, deals 60 damage and the active opponent is confused.

2) Splash Loop, for one water energy and two colorless energies, deals 160 damage and puts two energies attached to that Pokémon into your hand, usually recycling the special energies Twin Energy RCL 174 and Double Turbo Energy BRS 151.

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And the secondary one, not as usual as a frequent attacker, but as an alternative, we have Poliwrath with the following attacks:

1) Split Spiral Punch, for a water energy, deals 60 damage and the active opponent is confused.

2) Splash Loop, for one water energy and two colorless energies, deals 160 damage and puts two energies attached to that Pokémon into your hand, usually recycling the special energies Twin Energy RCL 174 and Double Turbo Energy BRS 151.

Recursive Pokémon

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1) To protect your game against “Sniper” decks that can destroy your Poliwag and Bidoof, we have to Manaphy BRS 41 due to its ability Wave Velt, which grants protection to your Benched Pokémon if it takes direct damage from an opponent's attacks.

2) Bidoof BRS 120 and Bibarel BRS 121 line, with their Industrious Incisors ability that during your turn, you can draw up to 5 cards in your hand during your turn.

Trainer Cards

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- Irida ASR 147 to look for resources, that is, look for a water Pokémon (the evolutionary lines of Poliwag) and a Trainer Item card from your deck, looking for resources like Choice Belt BRS 135, Air Balloon SSH 156, Rare Candy PGO 69 or Battle VIP Pass FST 225 if it's your first turn, in the case of Battle VIP Pass (as an example only - it depends on your pace of play and specific situation).

- Bruno BST 121 shuffles your hand into the deck and draws 4 cards. But, if on the previous turn, any of your Pokémon was KO'd, you draw 7 cards instead of 4.

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- Battle VIP Pass FST 225 is just to put 2 basic Pokémon on your Bench only during your first turn.

- Evolution Incense SSH 163 is used to look for an evolution in your deck, reveal it to the opponent and after that, put it in your hand. It is precisely to seek Poliwag's evolutionary lone.

- Rare Candy PGO 69 is there to accelerate the evolution from basic mode to stage 2, from Poliwag to Politoed to be the main attacker and put the second Poliwag to Poliwrath on the bench, if you play the Irida card correctly to get the Poliwrath and Rare Candy on the turn you play the card.

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- Ordinary Rod SSH 171 is recycling basic energy resources and Pokémon in your discard, being able to choose one of two options or both, which are:

1) Recover two Pokémon from the discard pile and put them in the deck.

2) Recover two basic energies from discard pile and put them in the deck.

- Rescue Carrier EVS 154 is used to rescue two Pokémon that have 90 HP or less from the discard pile from the discard pile and put them in your hand. In this, it is essential to rescue Poliwag LOR 30 and Poliwhirl LOR 31.

- Choice Belt BRS 135 is to close damage to Politoed LOR 32 with its 300 max damage (with Poliwag, Poliwhirl and Poliwrath in the bank) that can be 30 more with this tool, reaching 330 damage.

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- Twin Energy RCL 174 is a special energy that grants two colorless energies to the Pokémon it is attached to, but cannot be attached to Pokémon GX and V.

- Double Turbo Energy BRS 151 is a special energy that grants two colorless energies to the Pokémon it is attached to, but reduces its damage by 20 points, that is, considering that we have Poliwag, Poliwhirl on the bench and Poliwrath for Politoed to hit 300 damage, it will hit 280 damage.

Format Archetypes

Advantages

As a purely Single Prize deck, it is good at dealing with ultra-rare decks, and can respond against ultra-rare Pokémon from decks that have been trending recently, such as: Giratina VStar, Origin Forme Palkia VStar, Arceus VStar and even VMax like Kyurem VMax, Mew VMax, Ice Rider Calyrex VMax, Shadow Rider Calyrex VMax, among other giants of the current format.

Disadvantages

The deck's acceleration is a slow, since in the current format in a few turns they already have damage years around the average of 260/280 damage upwards with low energies, in the average of two to three energies, which can retaliate with greater speed this deck, which needs a step by step, an A and B and C to be able to set up with multiple evolutions. This is perhaps the biggest downside of this list.

It's hard to play against decks that have more aggressive “Spread Sniper” power like Greninja VUnion, Urshifu VMax -Rapid Strike-, Magnezone VStar.

Conclusions

It's a cheap deck for beginners to also learn about the Pokémon TCG and have an affection for the game, seeing a theme that refers to the TCG's old gameplay that was common in 2000/2005 (when it was the most balanced game), in addition to watch the effectiveness of a “Single Prize” deck dealing up to 330 damage at its maximum potential, which is always welcome in the current format.