When you build a Pokémon deck, you can't just throw any old group of cards together and call them winners. If nothing else, you have to make sure you restrict yourself to just one or two types of Pokémon (with maybe some Colorless ones thrown in) and use the right type of Energy. But it's also important that your cards cover for each other's Weaknesses as much as possible. Here's a quick look at how certain cards let you take chances when designing a deck, and how to protect those Weaknesses. Avoid an Energy Crisis One of the biggest risks you can take when deckbuilding is to cut back too far on Energy. The reason to skimp on Energy is obvious: fewer Energy cards means more room for cool Pokémon and Trainers. But if you cut back too far, you won't draw enough Energy for those Pokémon to use their attacks, and if that happens, even those extra Trainers won't save you. The most obvious way to compensate for less Energy is to use cheap attacks, but that's rather boring. A better solution is to include an Energy Retrieval or three. You have to discard two cards (Energy Retrieval itself, plus one of your choice) for two Energy, but you usually have at least one card you don't really need (like that fourth Pikachu). Energy Retrieval also frees up space in your deck. For example, suppose you decide to put 28 Energy (about average) in your deck before adding Energy Retrieval. If you replace one Energy card with a Retrieval, you increase your deck to the equivalent of 29 Energy - more than you decided it needs. So take out another Energy card, replace it with a Pokémon or Trainer, and presto - your deck's gained a cool card. Don't include too many Retrievals, though, because they're useless if you can't draw Energy in the first place! Work the Bench It's easy to think of the Bench as a place where your Pokémon cool their heels until it's their turn to fight. But there's a lot more to Bench strategy than just replacing an Active Pokémon who's almost Knocked Out or Poisoned with a fresh one. If your Active Pokémon is basically fine but is Poisoned or suffering from some other obnoxious attack, retreat it and bring out another Pokémon. Then retreat the new one, bringing the original back. This refreshes your Pokémon, but you have to pay the cost for both retreats. Energy Retrieval can help here, but only slowly, because you still have to reattach that Energy. For retreat gimmicks, you're better off using Switch to retreat a Pokémon for free. Or you can stuff your deck with Pokémon that have retreat costs of 0. These monsters are especially useful before the game, when you and your opponent choose which Pokémon start on the table. How often have you had more than one Pokémon in your starting hand, only to choose the wrong one for your Active Pokémon? If you choose a 0-retreat Pokémon as your Active one, you can simply yank it back free of charge. Sure, you could use Switch to do the same thing, but that's a pretty lousy time to use it. An interesting deck tactic is to include a few Pokémon that have lots of Hit Points - they can hold the fort while you spend a few turns building up the Energy of the Pokémon on your Bench. Onix is especially good for this. With its 90 HP and its damage-preventing attack, it can last a long time against pretty much any monster that isn't Grass (to which it has a Weakness) or Fire (which has big, cheap attacks compared to other types). Throw in a few Potions, and it can sit out there forever. When you don't need it anymore, just Switch it out! Not Knocked Out Yet! Often the most powerful combinations in the Pokémon TCG come from a card with a really nasty drawback and another card that gets around that drawback. While these combinations aren't always as useful as Switch or Energy Retrieval, they pack a pretty big bang when you get to use them. Let's look at Magnemite, a Pokémon whose big attack carries a pretty significant drawback, and at how a variety of cards can combine with it to make it a whole lot better. Magnemite's attack does a lot of damage for its Energy requirement: for just you get an attack that does 40 damage to your opponent's Active Pokémon, and 10 damage to every Benched Pokémon. But that includes your Pokémon; plus, Magnemite does another 40 damage to itself. Obviously you need ways to prevent the damage you're doing to your team, or at least ways to get rid of that damage quickly. Defender is a Trainer card that reduces attack damage dealt to a Pokémon. For Magnemite's purposes, it's important to remember that Defender reduces damage from all attacks, including yours. So if you use Defender on Magnemite and attack with it, it only takes 20 damage from its own attack, which often won't be enough to Knock it Out. Best of all, Defender will still be there on your opponent's next turn, preventing 20 damage from that turn's attack! With enough Defenders and Potions, you can keep using the same Magnemite's attack again and again. A good way to eliminate the damage you're doing to your Bench is to use Pokémon Center. This removes all damage from all of your Pokémon but discards the Energy attached to any that were damaged. If Magnemite gets its attack in early enough, there probably won't be Energy attached to your Benched Pokémon, so you get to ignore the drawback. There's another hidden drawback to Magnemite's attack: the attack does a lot more damage to your opponent's Active Pokémon than to those on your opponent's Bench. In particular, if your opponent's Active Pokémon is only 10 HP shy of being Knocked Out, you're wasting 30 of the attack's damage, often at the expense of Knocking Out your own Magnemite. You can get around this drawback with Gust of Wind, swapping the almost-KO'd Pokémon for one with, say, 40 HP or fewer. This will enable your Magnemite to Knock Out two of your opponent's Pokémon, not just one.
