How to – Pinkie's Paradise

How to: Beat A Team of Legendaries with a Magikarp

Hey big people reader folks. Chibi Pinki here! This week is all about having fun. Our regular schedule is thrown out the window and now the Pinkie that has something fun to tell for the day will write their thing. I encountered a super cute song yesterday while i was playing with my Mime Jr. It talks a little about magikarp.. and since mondays are supposed to highlight a single pokémon we still kinda meet the brief… but differently.

The Subject

Name: Magikarp
Original Name (Japan) : Koiking
National Dex Number: 129
Base Stat Total: 200
Battle Tier: Never Used
Combat Role: Physical Sweeper
Best know for: Splashing…but nothing happens

Magikarp is a cute little koi fish that was known as the useless pokémon in generation I. You could fish it up with the first rod you got and only knew one move! However you would soon find out that while using Splash nothing happened. With the old rod you would catch it at level 5 and for 10 levels it would not have any offensive moves. After that it would only get tackle, a very weak physical move with one of the lowest base powers. It’s base attack stat , which powers up the tackle is only at 10 to this day putting it in the absolute bottom in terms of strength. To this day he still holds that honour along with a few other pokémon.But off all the pokémon with a physical attack of 10.. magikarp has the lowest base stat total (power level). Nearly every stat for magikarp is bad.. it’s defence is close to okay and it’s speed is fair. On paper it is useless in every sense of the word until it evolves in the mighty gyarados.

It’s still cute though right?! I mean.. I still like it.. and so did the world. Poor Magikarp has been memed a lot , but it’s also gotten a lot of love. It’s gotten it’s own game , has been featured in some pokémon stadium minigames and to this day there is always a trainer somewhere in the pokémon games that uses a full team of magikarp. Game Freak must have loved Magikarp as well because nowadays the red koi can ‘oneshot’ every legendary in the game…in fact he can even take down a whole team of them if you set it up right.

The Inspiration

I don’t think the lady in the video has sung this song all that pretty but she has a pretty good point. Magikarp is a lovely pokémon because of how iconic it is to the franchise. Yet so much is unknown about this Pokémon. Did you for example know there is a gender difference visible between male and female magikarp? The males have gold tendrils and the females have white ones. See now I made it even MORE special. Because of how great and useless it is Game Freak even decided to make it’s shiny gold. Quite like caterpie the weakest bug pokémon in generation I. For the longest while that golden bug was also able to oneshot everything, but these days it needs a bit more luck to take down Ultra Necrozma and the likes… Magikarp however can still take that beasty down. One can wonder, is the game balanced in such a way that magikarp could? Is it something they take into account?… Well no.. unfortunately it has trouble taking down steel types so Palkia , Registeel and perhaps Solgaleo are safe from it’s wrath. Magikarp can easily beat Mewtwo though.. So is the song wrong? Does magikarp have some hidden super saiyan like ability or something? …. Not really.. to sweep Magikarp needs the powers of love and friendship!

The Shopping List

What do you need to make this possible in online battles? A stupid amount of luck and a enemy team that has no hazard removal. Tricky..but in fairness those who use all legendary teams are usually twelve year old boys/your average fortnite player trying to show of the size of their trouser ekans. Magikarp can’t take down these enemies all by himself though..but in the set up he is the only one that has to actually attack. The rest is just there to help magikarp shine. To pull this off though there is a lot of things you need, and not all of these are easy to comeby.

By far the easiest is thing you need is a Skarmory. It needs to know the moves stealth rock and spikes and has to have the ability sturdy. You’d be smart to teach it some speed IV’s and EV”s as well. The way to train these up vary to much in each game for me to discuss how to do that. It will require some time though.

Then you need a speedy bug that knows sticky web, either equip it with a choice scarf (an item that boosts speed but locks you into a single move) or a focus sash (easier to get) to ensure it can use the move. Araquanid is a good choice in recent games , but any bug will do. Shiny Ariados is my favorite because it’s pink! Just find a spider you like.

You could add a pokémon that sets up toxic spikes as well..but this is unreliable, yet since you are allowed to use a team of six why would you not? In our set up would would have a spot left. Anything that can learn toxic spikes will do. I recommend a Fortress for survivability but you could also show off and run a mega beedrill for example. This one really doesn’t matter that much it’s just a cherry on top.

The most important pokémon you need besides Magikarp is a Smeargle. The painter pokémon this one you need to give some speed ev’s and equip with with a focus sash. It needs the moves spore, belly drum baton pass and substitute. It would be best off with a timid or jolly nature. Since this one is so crucial to our team, you’ll want to run it twice. Give them an Iapapa berry to hold.. but make sure the nature is either Timid or Jolly. A Hasty nature will ruin your run.. because the berry would confuse it in the match!

Now finally our magikarp! Since it’s a legendary killer would would like it to be shiny which of course is not required..but hey.. the set up isn’t easy anyway and you’ll need to hatch quite a few smeargle so why not shiny hunt a bit while doing it. I prefer to use lonely natured one but a naughty one can also work. Using a Hasty or Naive one allows it to easier outspeed things at the cost of damage which could also be helpful. It needs full EV’s in both Attack and Speed as well as IV’s of course so be prepared to suffer while making this team.

I recommend trying this team on Pokémon Showdown rather than the actual game for convenience and speed. Magikarp needs to know the move Flail, which now it can learn, but he only gets splash tackle bounce and flail nowadays anyway. Flail however is going to be your bread and butter. Equip it with a Focus Sash and we are good to go.

The Spiel

Lead of with your webbing Bug and use sticky webs. Stickywebs reduce the speed of your opponents incoming pokémon to 65% of the original value, which is crucial to Magikarp being faster than them. If they are removed for any reason.. you lose the game. However legendaries tend not to get access to hazard removal so for the sake of this mock game.. we are good. Watch as your bug gets crushed by the legendary might. Should it survive a turn.. just make sure it has a non damaging move.. let it know string shot thats a good addition.

Next skarmory comes in…Stealth rocks are must! They break sturdy (some pokémon can not be oneshot) unlike spikes for example who don’t hit flying types. It also invalidates the enemies use of items like focus sashes. You need that for Magikarp to sweep. If an enemy holds on with 1 hp.. you will lose the run. So stealth rocks go first. Should skarmory live just set up more entry hazards with spikes to make magikarp job a bit easier. I know it would detract from the oneshot feeling a bit.. but in some cases these sweeps are damage rolls (damage is partially determined by rng) and spikes can help you reduce the odds at a bad luck fail.

Your toxic spiker goes in next if you decide to use one, again this one is just here for RNG manipulation. You stack the deck in your favor with these, which is kinda cool right?! You could also run a third Smeargle to ensure you get the actual trick off, just know that if one Smeargle pulls it off the other two become useless. So just do what you think is best. With the forretress you could still win the game if magikarp would get killed with toxic stalling or exploding on a last enemy or such.. so he’s my choice. You can choose to let them go down or swap in a sacrificial smeargle depending on the odds.. the magikarp spiel has better odds of success if you let the spiker go down first.

Next comes in the Smeargle… this is the one who will ascend magikarp to levels of godliness. Use spore to send the enemy to sleep… if the enemy is a grass type..you are in a pretty bad position.. but use substitute instead and hope the enemy doesn’t break your little fake buddy right away. When the enemy is (hopefully) asleep use the move Belly Drum. This move quadruples damage output. If the enemy is still asleep set up a substitute otherwise use Baton Pass to swap into Magikarp. Should you manage to set up a substitute use Baton Pass to go into magikarp anyway. Hard Swapping into Magikarp will not work as the stat boost will not carry over. Baton Pass allows stat buffs to be passed on to the pokémon coming in so it’s crucial.

Now it’s time for Magikarp to obliterate. In this stage a few scenarios can happen. What is important is to find out of Magikarp is faster than your opponent. This is most likely the case if your enemy has made a switch while fighting or if the enemy uses a really slow base speed pokémon.. you probably outspeed it. If this is the case you just keep splashing around unti your enemy manages to hit you once and your focus sash keeps Magikarp at 1hp. After that you just keep happily flailing about and watch as one after another legendary will fall. If your enemy is still the one that opened the game just start flailing from the get go. This should ensure a victory over nearly every legendary with just one attack.

The Message

So the pokémon that has the weakest stats in offence of all pokémon, the one that could not do ANYTHING for quite a while has just taken down an entire team of legendaries. Gods or pinnacles of science alike. With a lot of hard work, some help of your friends and just the right amount of luck even you can take down mountains. In real life you also might not have the right stats for the job but never give up hope. Your friends can raise you to new levels and at times you can get a lucky break. When life knocks you down just crawl back up and show it the skin of your teeth. The impossible is often way more possible than we initially would have thought. Just add love and never fight your battles alone.

Now you know how to take on legends with a low tier Pokémon. Shout out to Pimpnite’s youtube channel , I used his video’s to provide some screengrabs of the battling as I don’t have proper means to capture my own screens myself. Check out his youtube channel for some great how to’s on pokémon battles. Our sets are a bit different in some choices but they function the same. In fact I adapted my core to mimic his latest.. my smeargle did not have substitute first.. but his set was better. You teach me and I teach you Pokémon.. yet again. Did you know Magikarp could take down legendaries? Let me know in the comments.

This Pinkest Poké Blogger is blasting off again!
XO Pinkie

How to Play: Pokémon the Trading Card Game

Chibi Pinkie has been wanting to talk to you all about the Pokémon Trading Card Game with you for a while now. With a new set releasing called Hidden Fates, which is a genuine treasure trove a goodness it would be nice to ramble about but since most of our readers aren’t to aware we will start with a post on how to play the game first. So in the future we can let you refer to this. Not only will this post feature the basic rules but also some practical tips about them.

i WANNA BE THE VERY BEST

Hi big people monsters, Chibi Pinkie here and today , even though I am a bit sad, me and Fun the Mime Jr will teach you to play PTCG, thats short for Pokémon Trading Card Game and the official term for it. PTCG is one on one card battling games with some faint familiarities to Cardfight Vanguard and Magic The Gathering. Like in Pokémon the video games this is done by one on one Pokémon duels and you can win a match by completing one of three conditions. Be the first to claim six prize cards, clear your opponent’s field of any pokémon or deck out your opponent. Although little old me doesn’t really think decking out is all that viable.. as the game is relatively fast to play with little room for THAT creative tactics. Clearing the opponent’s field is hard and requires some heavy RNG thingies..so think of it more as an bonus winning condition than YOUR goal. Claiming six prize cards is the way to go. You can claim prize cards for knocking out your opponents pokémon in battle. Though the game would want you to believe this is normally one per knockout but in special cases two in reality more often than not you are facing the special cards. Knocking out a plain monster will net you one price card, taking out an opponent’s EX- GX-Tag Team or soon to be.. V cards equals a double dip in the price pot. Given how these cards are so much better than the regular monsters though, nearly every deck you are going to encounter while playing this game is featured around the big hitters. So to beat your opponent you just have to beat down everything he brings.

LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS

In PTCG everyone builds their own deck or buys a starter deck. No matter how you build, your deck always has to contain exactly 60 cards. Another official rule is that a card can never have more than four copies in the deck. In fact you can’t run more than four cards with a single name in your deck. So you can’t run 4 pikachu’s from set A and use four Pikachu’s from set B! You can however run 4 mewtwo’s AND a MEWTWO GX. On rare items there might be a single card limit. A deck can contain several types of cards.

-Regular Pokémon Cards
-Special Pokémon Cards (EX-GX-Tag Team etc)
-Energy Cards
-Special Energy Cards
-Items
-Supporters
-Stadium’s

All Pokémon Cards and Energy cards can exist in eleven different colours representing typings or a group of typings. Pokémon cards exist in three tiers as well. Basic, Stage 1 and Stage 2. Stage 1 and Stage 2 function as evolutions and can not be played right away, Pokémon have to be evolved over time. Basic Pokémon can be played once in your hand.
Energy cards are comparable to mana in magic but rather than playing them on the field they are attached to a pokémon and thus much more a limited resource. But more on the rules in later parts. Special Energies can only be attached to a Pokémon whose card colour is equal to that energy colour(except for colourless) and you are limited to having four of them in your deck. Special Energy however do activate special effects to power up your Pokémon’s offence or defence.

Item cards are comparable to magic cards in Yu-Gi-oh, you can activate them from your hand allowing various weaker effects to incur like switching a pokémon or preforming a deck search. Supporters are themed like people in the Pokémon world and are powered up versions of items, they will allow you to search for better cards or more cards. allow you to influence your opponent in a way you pick rather than himself etc. Basically everything items do, they can do better. As a drawback you can only play these once per turn while items have no such limitations. Stadiums are very much like field spells in Yugioh, they determine the battlefield only one stadium can be active and a newly played one destroys the old one.Using these tools you build yourself a deck. Usually you want to run either a single colour deck or two colours.

Most starting decks are two coloured decks but every starter deck is pretty much useless against someone who at least had one or two lucky pack pulls. Starter decks are insanely lackluster. So if you just want to buy a deck, buy one of the world championship decks , each year they release a few special decks based on the competitive meta. Not tournament viable but if you want to play against some friends with actual decks this would be the way to start.

However a big portion of the fun is creating your own unique deck in this game. It really is a collectible card game in that aspect. Unfortunately to properly play means to properly invest. What to use and not to use as well as aspect ratios for energy to pokémon vastly differs per deck. Is your deck hero a Tag Team Card (whose mechanics work on excess energy) you’ll run an energy heavy deck. Does your deck hero revolve around certain effects you might want to run more items to keep it healthy or take it off the field to retrigger it’s effect. It is however important to build your deck around the mechanics of your cards they have to be a team. It generally is a bad idea to run a deck with multiple strategies. Commit to one and build support around it.

TO CATCH THEM IS MY REAL TEST

Now that you know how to build a deck it is time to discuss how to set up the game. A game usually starts with a coin flip oftenly replaced by a dice roll (odds and evens) . The winner determines who starts the game. Speaking of dice, it is generally a good idea to keep a set of about 10d6 as you play for damage calculations before you play. Some decks work better when starting first (but this player can not attack on their first turn) some decks work better if they can come out swinging right off the gates. After the turn order is determined players shuffle their decks and draw 7 cards. If the player draws at least one basic Pokémon they can select which one they make their active Pokémon and put it face down in front of them.
Should a player have no basics, they are forced to reveal their hand and mulligan. Reshuffling and drawing seven cards, repeating this process until you have one basic at least. Each time you mulligan your opponent gets the choice to draw an extra card.

After the active Pokémon has been set both players can choose to play other basic Pokémon to the bench. This is your back row of Pokémon which can contain up to five monsters at the same time. When facing a serious deck it is wise to at least play one or two on your bench if you have the option, as long as these cards have over 30 hp. A few cards allow your opponent to send back one of your monsters allowing for a turn one knockout if you only play an active pokémon. Keep in mind your effects though, abilities that trigger when played to the bench do not trigger turn 0.

After both have at least an active Pokémon, both players place the top six cards of their deck face down separated on the upper left side of your playing field (your deck generally would be on your lower right side and discard pile just above it. These are your prize cards. You can only obtain them by knocking out your opponents pokémon. Which brings me to our next deck building tip. NEVER build your deck around a deck hero you only have a single copy off. The way PTCG is played, you usually have on champion in your deck.. the pokémon that ties everything together.Because the price-pile is a thing there is a 10% chance of your deck hero being locked off from you if you run a single copy. So even if your deck is build around drawing it from your deck (which anyone should) there still is a fair chance your strategy is sealed away from the start. Since price cards are face down coming back from this mistake would be very hard to do and would rely on a lot of luck After the price pile has been formed players flip open their active pokémon (and bench if you played those face down) and the first player takes their turn.

TO TRAIN THEM IS MY CAUSE

So now that we have your field setup its FINALLY time to get into the action. Each and every turn begins with a draw and ends with a pokémon attack or the turn being passed around. As soon as your active Pokémon attacks.. the fat lady sings …at least for that turn.
As soon as you have drawn you have a few possible actions.
You have a few ‘limitless’ possibilities. These actions you can take as often as you want.. or more likely as often as you have the cards for it. These include:

-Playing item cards
-Use a Pokemon’s abilities
-Playing new basic Pokémon to your bench.
-Evolve a pokémon that has at least sat on the bench for one turn. -Withdrawing Pokémon.
-Playing a Stadium

As long as you have the proper cards you can take these actions. Item cards basically tell you what they do on the card art and you can play them as long as you hold cards in your hands. Upon activation of an item it is either equipped to a pokémon or sent to the discard pile to release it’s effect.. like the special pokéballs that let you search your deck for pokémon. Items are very important to every pokémon deck and are key in keeping it consistent. They improve your card cycle , offence or defence in a quick way. Crucial in all three of my decks you want to feature them in your deck plentifully.

Using a pokémon’s abilities isn’t THAT important depending on your build , there are only a few cards that have an active ability. Though two decks of mine rely on this most meta decks don’t rely on active abilities to much. Though in the 2018 season it was a staple with Tapu Lele GX being a play it to grap a supporter card. That has since faded into obscurity a bit. It generally is smart to use pokémon with abilities though, PTCG does not have any trap cards like yu-gi-oh does and these pokemon abilities are probably what comes closest to that, allowing you to redirect attacks, negate damage at times or draw. Every single deck of mine relies very heavy around the abilities of pokémon, though there s plenty more straight forward sweeping decks as well.. starter decks tend to have no or few pokemon ability cards. Just like I said, abilities you have to activate like my sweet Ariados One punch deck, are rare, abilities themselves are not.

Pokémon come in few varieties. Basic, Stage 1 , Stage 2 and Mega Evolutions. Basic Pokémon are the ones you can play directly to your bench as long as you have one of your 5 bench slots available that is. You can not play a basic from your hand into the active pokémon zone. As soon as a pokémon leaves the active zone you have to immediately replace it with something that is already is on your bench. If you can’t .. you lose the game. As long as you have slots you can play basic Pokémon.

On a basic pokémon you can play either a stage 1 evolution or a mega evolution.. play a stage 1 or a mega evolution on a basic is allowed if the pokémon has at least spend 1 turn on the field (bench or active) For player 2.. turn 0 counts towards this as well.. for player 1 it does not. Meaning player 2 can evolve in their first turn. A stage 2 can be played on any stage 1 that has been on the field for at least one turn. There are items that bypass stage 1..but those are far and few in between and only reliable in certain decks (like my fighting one). Playing a Mega evolution generally leads to your turn ending unless a specific item is equipped to that pokémon. Mega evolutions are however not really viable cards anymore. I just thought I’d tell you about them as their card design is really cool and older sets are often quite a bit cheaper to construct decks with.

Each Pokémon has a retreat cost depicted in the lower right of the card , this is the amount of energy you have to discard to move your active pokémon back to the bench (you can not move it to your hand without items) as long as you can pay the cost you can technically do this as much as you need to. A pokémon that is under status conditions is harder to retreat if not impossible. You can not withdraw your pokemon if you don’t have anything on your bench to replace it with.

Placing a stadium card is free as well.. should you have a hand filled with stadiums in theory you can play them all in rapid succession.. it’s stupid but you can…Stadium cards are almost like field abiltiies. Some allow certian pokémon to heal.. other change how status works and yet again others improve damage. Only one field can exist at the same time and you and your opponent share the same statdium card slot on the field.. meaning your opponents new card sends your old one to the discard pile and vice versa.

Then you have a few actions you can only use once per turn.

-Play A Supporter Card
-Attach an Energy card
-Attack

Suporter Cards make the world go round.. this is the big reason why many of the starter decks fail so hard. They lack ANY good supporter so they are very unreliable. Pitting starter decks against each other is very unfun in my opinion due to how slow and clunky everything feels. Like any card game PTCG relies on luck of the draw.. but items and even more so supporters mitigate that problem.. you build your deck to draw or search.. but not in starter decks.. they offer you the bottom of the barrel supporters to heal damage counters or give you lackluster effects. A proper deck needs proper supporters. Throughout these you gain your momentum.. and thusly you are also only allowed to play one. If your opponent plays three supporters by the time you have played one.. you will notice there is a shift in power.

Attaching Energy and Attacking I will discuss in a single paragraph because to attack you need energy .. and the use of energy is to be able to attack, so in a way they are two sides of the same amulet coin. Once per turn you play an energy card (special energy counts towards this as much as normal energy) and equip it to a pokémon. Each Pokémon card holds one or more attacks it can do depicting an energy cost. As long as this cost is equipped to this pokémon they can attack. White energy can be replaced by ANY form of energy Attacking does not consume the energy unless the attack effect mentions cards have to be removed. So think of it more like training up your pokémon for battle. Attacks cause either an xx amount of damage (always a tenfold..unless REALLY old and useless) which is then placed on the opposing pokémon as damage counters (usually we use dices where each dot on the dice represents 10 damage) when the damage counters exceed the hp that is depicted on the pokémon card, that monster is knocked out and you take the appropriate amount of prize cards. Prize cards are added from your price pile to your hand, but as soon as your attack is finished your turn ends so you can not play those cards you obtain that turn anymore. Claim all six of your prizes to win the game.

The Power that’s Inside

And basically that is how you play Pokémon the Trading Card Game. Now a lot of these rules have some slack because of the many abilities, special status conditions enhancements and much more. For example there are a few status conditions like sleep, confusion, paralysis, burn and poison. These are either dots or stuns of varying degrees.
However since these are very situational and their effect can vary depending on fields items and even the pokémon themselves i’d recommend reading up on these if applicable. They are feature that you do not find in every single deck with burn being virtually useless and confusion and sleep being RNG heavy. What I do want to discuss here is HOW to start your PTCG adventure .. because if you haven’t noticed.. I am NOT a big fan of starting decks.
So I am giving you a few options on how to get into it.

Option 1 : I have no friends interested in playing and I do not want to spend a lot of money.
Way to play: Download PTCG the online game. It’s basically free to play with packs a fairly easily in game grindable currency. It can be a bit of a slog to get a proper deck to start with but there is an online market for cards to ease your burden a bit.

Option 2: I have no friends interested but I might play at cons or just collect it and I have a bit of money to burn
Way to Play:
Download PTCG the online game and learn how to play with a starter deck, find out what card series of recent you like in online matchups and then go out and buy an IRL Elite trainer box. These boxes cost you around 50 dollars for 8 packs ,which would be too expensive, but these boxes feature 60 fancy (but very sticky) card sleeves , a set of dice and energy of all kinds. Which makes it a good starting position. Usually a box like this has one or two GX cards in them.. and using your pulled ace you construct a nice deck around it.
With little money to burn you want to look up your staple cards and buy them online directly. Most cards can be bought form a few cents up to a few dollars. Make deck recipes in the online game and use it as a shopping list, a few of the latest sets have had VERY bad pull rates or huge card pulls meaning the chances you draw what you need is slim. By far the most homeworky way too create a deck but at least you get all your supplies + code cards to enforce your online account as well. Each Pokémon card pack irl has a code you can redeem in the online game to get a pack as well. Giving them perfect synergy for a somewhat adventures starter. Do keep in mind though that prices of cards are mostly based on nostalgia and emotion. Good cards can cost a fair bit.. like Tapu Lele GX running up 40 dollars back in the days it saw a lot of play. However cards like special Charizards or classic starters sell for a lot more for no other reason than populairity. Try to stay away from building around such cards as it will cost a LOT.

Option 3: I have friends who are interested in playing it with me but we wish to have fun in playing each other, not be the one who spends most wins.
Way to play:
You may have to omit the type advantage rule for this one (which I tend to do as well cause I play with friends). I hate this rule.. pokemon cards have a resisted type (depicted on the left lower half of the card) from which they negate 20 damage, and an advantaged type.. from which they take double damage. This rule is stupid and unbalanced as 20 damage in the current meta game is nothing and double damage basically means a win for your opponent if you play a mono type deck. Basically it forces you to remove synergy from your deck for safety and it just feels very busted. If you play with friends DO NOT use this rule, it will only result in you type countering each other. If you do not want to break any rules.. create decks that aren’t super effective or resistant against each other. With that established pick up as much world championship decks as you can . There’s usually three per year..but don’t go back more than one year. So right now 2019’s and 2018’s championship decks are still fun to pit against each other.. older than that and it would be under powered. A championship deck usually runs around 25 dollars. These decks are fast smart and fun to play unlike the starter decks.. they are how pokémon should be played and if you happen to go to a convention, people are usually willing to square of against these decks in non official tourneys even if they aren’t officially tournament legal.
The art usually is pretty and you get a good time capsule of pokémon in that day and age.

Option 4: Shut up and take my money! I wanna pull cards from packs!
Way to play:
Do NOT buy booster boxes, elite trainer boxes or single packs. Focus on buying blister packs. The Elite Trainer Box has the worst pull rates of the entire series.. they just offer you a nice series of supplies to get started with and a great way to keep all those cards sorted neatly. Booster Boxes are oftenly the cheapest way to get packs and tend to feature a set number of good pulls. So you will never come out robbed. Downside being that in an entire set of 36 cards you will never get more than 1 rainbow rare.. sometimes 2 in a good set, and never more than X.. Gx’s cards.. averaging at about one in five point something packs being hot. The three pack blister card is king of the pulls, though these aren’t officially documented the pull rates. From what I have seem and pulled these are astronomically better. With a hot pack in something very close to one in three packs. These blisters aren’t THAT more expensive.. just somewhat limited in availability. A booster box will have a single pack cost you about 3,50 (european prices ..cheapest source) while a blister a single pack equals about 4,60. A notable difference yet when we but adding quantum discounts on more sets .. of the blisters online we can more or less purchase 10 blisters equaling 30 cards to one booster box. The 36 packs will give you 7 hits while with the blister cards you are somewhere in between 9 and 10 hits. So if you collecting is your style..go blisters.

Speaking of blisters his article has become so long I am starting to get blisters from typing. We will go deeper into the subject of the card game in the near future when I fix my PTCG online launcher and start getting back into the game now. Have you ever played the PTCG? Let me know in the comments. Next week I just might play the Pokemon TCG gameboy colour game for a review..or talk a bit about online battle simulator of pokémon showdown! Let me know which one you’d like to see more.
Remember I am not weird, just very pink!

XO
Chibi Pinkie

Top 5 : Beginners tips for battling

Hello there little monsters, the sun is shining and it’s about as hot as a Torkoals as…uhm tail out there, so I am staying in to write you another Top 5. This week I will be there for you! Well at least those who are just dipping their feet in the world of Pokémon We all started our journey by just slapping four powerful attacks on our entire team, and sweep leagues with it. However if you ever want to Nuzlocke, play fan games or maybe play a few Pokémon matches for real, you should do well to heed these tips.

Bonus tip: Check out Pokemon Showdown
What is Pokémon Showdown? Well it is a browser based Pokémon battling game, in which you can build and test out teams, by allowing you easy access to all moves without having to go through breeding for it, or even IV or EV training. With easy slider controls anyone can build their custom Pokémon very easily and test them out in a battle. A perfect tool to practice the tips I am about to share. Play the option to do random battles as well,to get a good feeling on what movesets work and which don’t .
Furthermore I won’t be going into EV’ and IV’s in this post because these are too complex for a non dedicated post. Showdown is such an amazing tool for the aspiring battle you should really pay it a visit, after you are done reading the post of course! Otherwise I will come online on Showdown and kick your Mudbray.

*“Tehee She doesn’t mean she’ll kick me me she means your Arse’*

Tip 5: Know your move categories.
“Pinke what do you mean by that move categories, that’s not even a word’ Well no it’s two, but when I would have called it move type it would get confusing , as I am not referring to Pokémon typings. I am referring to physical and special moves.
You know the reason why you have attack and special attack with the same going for defence and special defence. Yet, so many rookie trainers run bite on Espeon or Dark Pulse on Absol, because it kinda looks cool. Now don’t get me wrong, running either of these moves can still be smart but you would not be playing to your Pokémon’s strengths, partially because the game doesn’t properly teach you how to do it correctly. When you learn a new move, it features one of three symbols. A red and Yellow explody mark, a purplish blue, ripple in the water like symbol, and a grey Yin and Yang. The grey yin and yang symbol, signifies status moves. Non combat moves that effect either stats or conditions. Toxic, Calm Mind and Laser Focus are all in this category, and should not be slept upon. The red and yellow explosion thingy signifies a physical move, it means the pokémon have a lot of muscle their, punches and clawing hurts. Most physical attackers are fairly recogniseable. If their physical stat (after like level 30 or so) is like 25% higher or more, its oftenly a good idea to run them with physical moves only. If your Pokémon is level 50, and it’s stats in a category are less than 70 I’d say for a rookie its best to ignore said move type.
The purple blue, rings signify a special attacker, these are your ‘ranged’ attackers. In generally if you feel the move would classify as magic, it’s quite oftenly a special attack. Pokémon with a high special attack stat, you oftenly want to equip with moves like Psychic, Thunder and Fireblast. Pokémon who have high defensive status you’ll oftenly want to equip with moves of the Yin Yang categorie.. Chansey for example has a high special defence modifier, and is quite safe to swap into a , let’s say Primarina. It will benefit most from the yin-yang type moves, a defensive mon will oftenly deal more damage with toxic or leech seed, then with it’s own attacks. If you understand your stats, and the role moves take onto the battlefield, you will understand what role your Pokémon has and you will be able to utilize them better.

Punching , spiiting, drugging, this is how we play Pokémon

Tip 4: Status to victory
Assuming you read the last tip, it is important to keep in mind though too not overly rely in high power special attackers and attackers either, most of the time it is unwise to run four random attacks, or even four chosen attacks, yes there are Pokémon who are so good at offence you should let them focus on it, in general you will want to be able to inflict some status conditions as well. However, aside from poison, young trainers oftenly are under the misconception that you status for its primary effect, which in some cases are true, but both burn and paralysis offer secondary beneficial effects that are way more important than a 30% skip chance or a bit of damage over time. Paralysis halves an opponent’s speed stat, which allows you to get the drop on an opponent who otherwise might have outsped and knocked out your sweet friend. Burn halves the physical attack stat, Slaking and Hitmonchan might seem scary, but when burned they will deal but a fraction of the damage they could before. Charm and confuse are great, but be sure to bring moves that are sure to hit, you do not want to deal with supersonics miss chance. Sleep still is a great status, Yawn is great for forcing an opponent to swap his pokémon, allowing you to create favorable momentum for yourself, while Spore is the best sleep move in the game with it’s 100% accuracy. Stay away from dream eater though, comboing of status you inflict can be fairly unreliable, so only use these if your Pokémon can take a hit. The best moves to combo of a status would be Hex and Venoshock. Hex being the more versatile of the two. Whatever you do, never bring a team with only offensive moves. Pokémon is not just about raw power, it has a lot to do with momentum as well and nothing can shift the balance as much as status.

Pinkie’s Life Lesson : Burning a physical pokemon is smart, but burn Ursaring and you’ll get burned yourself.

Tip 3: A good defence and build up
A good Mon is easy to build, a good team is much harder. When you begin battling, I would very much recommend taking one or two walls along. I am not referring to stakkatakka , though he actually is a wall… and a wall. The word in Pokémon terms is most of the time what a “tank” would be in your MMO like setting, however in a 1V1 format, agro isn’t much of a thing. So you will want to bring a Mon that can take a hit, Shuckle, Umbreon, Chansey, Aggron, Tyranitar, Snorlax and Slaking are functional examples but Sigilyph and Politoed are also some amazing walls. You can defend yourself in other ways as well. Protect in itself might be somewhat pointless, a well timed one, can prevent you from an explosion or even a one hit knockout move. Rest is your friend! Though it seems very unfavorable to go to sleep for two turns, the 100% heal, including any other status, because rest overrules it, is one of the greatest tools in your arsenal to build a great team. Combine it with some build up moves, that increase your stats, like calm mind , swords dance or bulk up, if possible alongside sleep talk.. and you got your first destructive combo on your hands. Buff your stats or debuff your opponent to a point where you control the momentum, Babydoll eyes, and smokescreen are quite useful moves if your opponent is not a underleveled cpu. Regardless if you heal, tank or debuff, if your opponent has to struggle to finish your pokemon, you gain the momentum and you are well on your way to victory.

Pinkie Says: Aegislash, with King’s Shield, Swords Dance,Shadow Sneak and Sacred Sword, is a good set

Tip 2: Battlefield Control
You and your opponent do not want to send out a Pokémon and use it up until it dies, if it is at a disadvantage you want to swap it out to regain control, however you can not keep swapping in and out , as a skilled opponent can probably predict that you will withdraw your Parasect when facing his Charizard and might even prepare a grass move anticipating that rock type that can hit it 4x effective. So you have to think of ways to control the battlefield in your favor, force your opponent to swap when you want to, or make it harder for him to swap so you have more liberties. We can achieve this by bringing hazard setting moves, like spikes, toxic spikes, and stealth rocks to discourage swapping, as they will take damage each time a new pokémon is sent in. On the other hand we can encourage swapping, by using moves like Toxic, Perish Song and Leech seed. Encouraging swap outs is very beneficial when your opponents tries to constantly buff himself to gain the upperhand, or to combo it with a move like pursuit. If you have the momentum, you might want your opponent to stay in, so you don’t have to predict as much an can just pick the team off one at a time.
You can even combine the two, where you force your opponent to choose between bleed damage from swapping out, or taking an increasing amount of dots, shifting the momentum dramatically in your favor. With firespin, whirlpool or other trapping moves like spirit shackle you can also force your opponent to stay in, or when he is gather to much buffs you can force a swap out, with Circle Throw, Dragon Tail or Roar. However, both methods of forced control have the disadvantage that they are rather situational. Trapping moves, lock you into your Pokémon as well, and swapping moves oftenly have negative priority meaning your opponent can always move first, play them at the wrong time and you will be the one losing control instead. So consider your options carefully, in my opinion forced control works better in double battles, while “encouraged” control is often edges out in singles.

Spikes, Seeds, Stealthrocks and toxic, Ferrothorn is a great and giving you momentum.

Tip 1: Items and Abilities
Items and abilities can flat out determine a game. If your opponent predicts the wrong item, he can lose all his momentum in a single turn. If you equip a choice scarf (speed rises by a lot but you can only use the first move you choose) and your opponent underestimates your speed, allowing you the quick kill, a match can be done , then and there. With all the items out there it might seem very overwhelming to choose one, but don’t worry, there are only a handful of good items. Forget about your charcoal, or your nevermeltice boosting one move type is a no go! Forget about most situational items as well. Sure a quick claw can shift a game if it triggers but a focus band.. not worth the risk. Aside from some berries, it will mostly be the items you will get from whatever your game’s rendition of the battle institute is. Your standard Life Orb, Assault Vest, Leftovers , Air Balloons and Choice (item) will be your bread and butter. There are a few other options out there, but those cater to a specific use of a Pokémon. Play some Pokémon Showdown to learn more about items and how they work or check out the youtube channel of Duncan Can’t Die, his channel focuses on battling with random Pokémon a lot so there is a lot to learn there for the beginning battler, and quite entertaining. Aside from a Pokémon’s item you’ll need to determine your ability as well, these are less flexible then items, and you oftenly are limited to one or two good choices. Your abiltiy generally determines your chosen moveset for example if you have a pokémon that can cure it’s status in the rain, you’d bring raindance and rest 9 out of 10 times since it just works like a dream together, if you have the pixilate ability , you’ll want to run normal moves and so on. While your ability determines your moveset, your moveset determines your item, you do not want to run an Assault Vest (higher defences but you can only bring attacking moves) on your hazard setter, you do not want to give Shedinja a Life Orb (takes 10% of your max hp after each attack but boosts power). Yet if you think about your build, and let your ability and your item synergise with your moveset, you can control the battlefield and soon THE WORLD!

Now you are ready to battle, have you ever played Showdown? Have you watched a roulette free for all on Duncan’s Channel? I certainly love them, and they have made me a better battler. So young trainer, or pro who actually bothered to read through this all, to arms! Tonight we shall claim victory on the Showdown battlegrounds! Win or lose , remember to stay pink!

*Disclaimer, staying Pink is a mindset, Pinkie does not encourage you to get sunburned or bodypaint yourself pink in any shape way or form, I love everyone, you dont have to actually be pink.* <-These are needed nowadays.