All right, Trainers, school is back in session.
I've got my study buddies all around me,
so it's time to earn an A in class and a W on the battlefield.
It's Top Deck Academy!
THUNDERBOLT!
TOP DECK ACADEMY
I've been exploring different ways to improve my results
in Pokémon Trading Card Game battles,
and I found one of the easiest ways to do this
is to make improvements to my deck.
So on today's episode of Top Deck Academy,
we'll cover the best way to upgrade a Pokémon TCG deck
using the Inteleon VMAX League Battle Deck as a starting point.
You ready? Let's dive in!
Oh! And by the way,
this season of Top Deck Academy is being captured in Pokémon TCG Live.
Shoutout to my fellow TCG caster Ellis Longhurst
for writing this episode of Top Deck Academy.
STRATEGY
Before making any changes to a deck,
we first need to understand its win condition and overall strategy.
This will help us to decide which cards are really important
and which cards might be better suited to a different deck.
Remember there are three different ways to win a battle in the Pokémon TCG.
You win if your opponent has no cards left in their deck
at the beginning of their turn,
or if they have no Pokémon left in play,
or if you take six Prize cards.
Taking six Prize cards is the win condition
most decks are designed to achieve.
Let's try to figure out the win condition and strategy
of the Inteleon VMAX League Battle Deck.
Hmm... Well, the hero of the deck is Inteleon VMAX.
Its Max Bullet attack does damage to the opponent's
Active Pokémon and to one of their Benched Pokémon.
The rest of the Pokémon in this deck are either equipped
with attacks that do loads of damage to the opponent's Pokémon,
or they have Abilities that support attacking Pokémon,
or they do a bit of both.
I'd say this deck is designed to take six Prize cards by using
Water-type Pokémon to launch powerful attacks as quickly as possible.
Have a think about your deck's win condition and overall strategy
and how it could be improved by replacing cards that don't quite fit the plan.
Now we're going to discuss how to upgrade your deck by optimizing its structure.
OK, Trainers, it's pop quiz time.
In this deck,
which Pokémon's Ice Dance Ability should be used
to support your attacking Water-type Pokémon?
Is it Suicune?
Frosmoth?
Or Inteleon V?
If you said Frosmoth, you were right.
You must be feeling pretty cool right about now.
OPTIMIZING THE STRUCTURE
The best Pokémon TCG decks enable you to execute
your winning strategy over and over again.
You can only do this if you have the right cards
in hand or in play at the right time.
That's why it's so important to optimize the number of each card in your deck.
Inteleon VMAX is the main attacker of the deck,
so I want to have at least three copies of that Pokémon.
The more copies of the same card that are in the deck,
the more likely it is that you will be able to draw that card when you need it.
Inteleon VMAX is a Stage 1 Pokémon.
So the number of Inteleon V in the deck
should also be increased to three or four copies.
Otherwise you may never get the Inteleon VMAX into play.
It may be tempting to fill your deck
with all the other powerful Pokémon in your collection,
but most players only choose a few complementary attackers.
If you put too many Pokémon in your deck,
you won't have room for enough Trainer cards and Energy cards.
In this case,
Inteleon VMAX has the perfect partner in Inteleon
from the Pokémon TCG: Sword & Shield expansion.
Inteleon certainly flows with the strategy of this deck.
Look how similar its Aqua Bullet Attack is to Inteleon VMAX's Max Bullet.
We've established that Inteleon and Inteleon VMAX
are the key Pokémon of this deck.
Now we need to make sure that we can draw or search for them
and put them into play at the right time.
That's why the deck includes Supporter cards like Professor's Research and Marnie
and Item cards like Quick Ball.
You'll notice that the cards appear in loads of different decks
as well as the Trainer's Toolkit.
A quick way to upgrade your deck
is to maximize the count of each of these cards.
Many decks also rely on the Abilities of Pokémon to draw extra cards
or to search for specific cards throughout the game.
In this case, we have Inteleon and Drizzile.
Sometimes Pokémon have Abilities with effects
that are similar to Trainer cards.
But unlike Trainer cards,
the Abilities can be used more than once.
For example, Manaphy's Ability Ocean Search
is similar to the effect of Great Ball.
If we include one Manaphy from the Shining Fates expansion in our deck,
we can reduce the number of Great Ball by two or three,
which creates space to add other cards.
Trainers, it's time to earn some extra credit.
Which of the answers below is not the way to win a game?
Is it your opponent running out of cards in their deck?
Your opponent having no more Pokémon in play?
Yelling "It's a critical hit!" And popping out of your seat.
Or taking six Prize cards before your opponent?
Looks like that critical hit wasn't very effective.
Taking six Prize cards
or having your opponent run out of cards in their deck
or no more Pokémon in play are surefire ways to win a TCG game.
Some Trainer cards might be able to take the place of Pokémon.
For example, the Telescopic Sight Tool card
might benefit the Secret Agent Pokémon
and this deck more than Galarian Zigzagoon.
Telescopic Sight increases the damage Inteleon VMAX can do
to Benched Pokémon V and Pokémon-GX by 30.
Compared to Galarian Zigzagoon's Headbutt Tantrum,
which only puts one damage counter on one of the opponent's Pokémon.
Keep your eyes peeled for cards that have similar effects.
I really like the idea of being able to reuse my resources,
so that's why I've added a Nessa to the deck
to go alongside my Ordinary Rod.
These Trainer cards allow me to retrieve my Water Pokémon and Water Energy
from the discard pile so that I can use them in battle again.
Lots of Trainers choose to include Eldegoss V in their decks
to retrieve Supporter cards from the discard pile.
If we include one of this Cotton Bloom Pokémon in our deck,
then we don't have to include as many copies of each of our Supporter cards
because Eldegoss V acts like an extra copy.
If you don't have an Eldegoss V in your collection,
you can also try using Pal Pad.
ACCOUNTING FOR THE OPPONENT
There's just one more step to take to upgrade your deck to battle-ready status.
And that's to make adjustments based on the metagame in your area.
Remember a Pokémon TCG Battle involves two players,
so you need to make sure that your deck isn't washed away
by your opponent's strategy.
Inteleon and Inteleon VMAX both have a Weakness to Lightning-type Pokémon,
which means this deck will struggle against decks
that include Lightning-type attackers.
What could we do to improve our matchup?
We could consider including Energy cards or Trainer cards
that remove the Weakness of our Pokémon.
Or we could include Pokémon that complement our strategy,
but have a different kind of Weakness.
Top Trainers often favor decks that are designed to do damage
as early as the first or second turn of the game.
That's fast!
Inteleon VMAX needs three Energy attached in order to use Max Bullet,
which might be a problem considering that one of the rules of the Pokémon TCG
is that you can only attach one Energy card to your Pokémon per turn.
Outpace your opponents by using Frosmoth's Ice Dance Ability
or the Melony Supporter card to attach multiple Water Energy to Inteleon VMAX
in one turn and make a big splash with a huge Max Bullet.
Make sure you keep an eye on pokemon.com/strategy
to learn all about the tactics and strategies
your opponent could bring to battle.
It's time to earn that A-plus, Trainers.
How many Energy cards can you attach to a Pokémon per turn?
Is it, as many as you want?
One Energy card?
One for every Pokémon in play?
or one for every tear your opponent has shed.
If you said 'one Energy card' per turn,
you're making waves.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Top Deck Academy.
I had so much fun upgrading the Inteleon VMAX League Battle Deck,
and I hope you did, too.
Now you know how to identify a deck's win condition,
how to optimize the structure of a deck
and why it's important to pay attention to the metagame, or other Trainers' decks.
These are all deck-building skills
that will help you pick up a win in battle.
What do you think of the new and improved Inteleon VMAX League Battle Deck?
Are you going to try it out?
Let me know in the comments below, and also let me know
what you'd like to see on future episodes of Top Deck Academy.
Thanks for watching!
INTELEON VMAX LEAGUE BATTLE DECK
POKÉMON (20) 1 ELDEGOSS V RCL 19 3 INTELEON V RCL 49 1 MANAPHY SHF 24
3 SNOM SSH 63 3 SOBBLE SSH 55 2 DRIZZILE SSH 56 2 FROSMOTH SSH 64
2 INTELEON SSH 58 3 INTELEON VMAX RCL 50
CHECK OUT THE YOUTUBE DESCRIPTION FOR A KEY TO SET EXPANSIONS.
TRAINER CARDS (30) 4 PROFESSOR'S RESEARCH SSH 178
4 MARNIE SSH 169 1 MELONY CRE 146 4 QUICK BALL SSH 179 1 NESSA VIV 157
2 BOSS'S ORDERS RCL 154 1 BIRD KEEPER DAA 159 3 CAPACIOUS BUCKET RCL 156
2 TELESCOPE SIGHT VIV 160
2 AIR BALLOON SSH 156 2 EVOLUTION INCENSE SSH 163
1 ORDINARY ROD SSH 171 1 TRAINING COURT RCL 169 2 GREAT BALL CPA 52
ENERGY (10) 10 WATER ENERGY SMENERGY 3
TOP DECK ACADEMY
POKEMON.COM/TOPDECKACADEMY