Gligar's INTRO Articles to Pokemon
(An ipgeek21.com EXCLUSIVE!!!)

Article 2: Trainers Trainers...The cards that will run your deck...Like an engine is to a car , they are not to be underestimated. They are what makes your deck flow. Without them, your deck will have no order, and will most likely collapse in battle. As a beginning player, you will probably only use about 5 in your deck. It's smart to start out with about 20 though, but of the right type. Like Pokemon, there are different types of trainers. Each help in their own way. Some types are needed, some are not, it all depends on your deck’s strategy. TYPE 1 TRAINERS: Drawing Cards The first is the most important type. These are your drawing power cards. All decks should have them no matter what. Some of the most important of them, is Professor Oak, and Computer Search. These are the best trainers in the game, and I suggest that you trade around until you get 3-4 of each. Professor Oak will let you plow through your deck, until you get exactly what you need, or you can keep it until you need to get a certain card/s. You may think that discarding your whole hand is pretty bad. It's really not a big drawback. You play what you need, then oak. You can use ItemFinder and Nightly Garbage Run if you are worried about losing too many cards due to oak. I highly suggest 4 Professor Oak in each deck. You don't need to worry about decking, you don't have to use every oak, in every game. Having 4 just ensures that you can use it when you need it. The next card is Computer Search. Computer Search is much more controlled, it just won't give you all of the cards that oak provides. Computer Search gives you a big edge. It will get you the best possible card you need in any situation that you are in. Say that your opponent has a Steelix with 2 steel energy on it. You could use the Computer Search for a Super Energy Removal to give you a chance to stop the Steelix. Or say that you have spent 5 turns trying to knock out the opponent’s Chansey. They retreated it when it had 110 damage on it. You could computer search for a gust of wind, and finish it off. It's the most versatile card, and wins countless games. You will grow To love this card. I highly suggest 4 of these in all of your decks too. There are many many more card drawers. Card advantage will win games. If you have more cards in your hand (or can PLAY more cards during your turn) than your opponent, then you will have more options than they will, and have an edge in the game. Some other card drawers that I suggest using would be Item Finder and Bill. Bill is card advantage without a drawback, and Item Finder is like Computer Search, and gives you many many options especially if you have discarded any useful trainer cards that you need that turn. There are others, such as Erika, Professor Elm, Misty's Wrath, and Mary. All help your deck very much. Whenever you play card drawers, you should play 3-4 of the most important ones, and 2-4 of the support card drawers. The standard card drawing engine looks somewhat like this: 4 Professor Oak 4 Computer Search 4 Item Finder 3 Bill It does not have to be that at all. Some decks require bigger search engines than others. First Turn Kill (FTK) decks need big search engines that can get them pluspowers fast. Disruptive decks usually need smaller drawing engines. All decks should have 8-20 trainers that can give them card advantage. TYPE 2: Supporting Your Deck’s Theme The next type of trainers, are ones that support your theme. For example, if your deck's strategy is energy denial, you will want Energy Removal and Super Energy Removal. Do not use trainers that will clash with your strategy. If you play energy denial, do not use economy or No Removal Gym. Not all decks need these trainers. But they will help your deck run smoother and help your playing a lot. Disruptive trainers are not needed in all decks, but are very useful. They are my favorite type of trainers, and are in most of my decks. Disruptive trainers Disrupt. A perfect example of this, would be lass. Lass gets rid of all of your opponent’s trainers (and yours too), it buys you time to setup. It will give you a huge edge. There are other trainer disruptive trainers. Rocket Sneak Attack is one of them. It only gets rid of one card, but there is no drawback. You can get rid of the card that will help them the most, which also gives you an edge. Imposter Oak's is a good disruptive card, as is, if you feel lucky — are a good coin flipper- Team Rocket’s Trap (if heads choose ANY three cards from their hand that will be returned to their deck.) There are many disruptive cards. Disruptive cards win games. They are not a necessity, but I suggest them, especially at tournaments. ;) TYPE 3: Recovery Cards Recovery cards are the kind of cards that well...recover. Scoop Up is a great example. If you are losing the battle, and your Pokemon is injured, use Scoop Up to steal a prize from the opponent and heal one of your Pokemon, making them fit for battle. Gold Berry is very much like a Scoop Up, but it has no drawback (when you use Scoop Up you discard all cards attached to the basic Pokemon & return the basic Pokemon back to your hand). Recovery cards are not always in the form of healing though. Some are card drawers. For example, if your opponent has just used 3 rocket trap cards against you, getting heads on each one, your hand is now down to zilch. Say that you draw a Professor Oak. You use it, and are immediately back into the game. Another type would be anti-decking cards. Nightly Garbage Run (NGR) is a good example. If you are about to deck out, or are low on energy, use NGR and both problems are solved. Recovery cards are great against disruption cards. Like most other types of trainers, I suggest adding in some recovery cards into your deck too. TYPE 4: TecH The last main type of trainers is TecH. Like TecH Pokemon, they are used to combat something that you are particularly weak to. For example, if you are really weak to Mr. Mime, then some Goop Gas Attack will fit nicely as TecH. You shouldn't use too much TecH, as it is usually worthless against other cards. Now that you know about the main types of trainers, you should learn a few more things. *Balance and Multiples.* You should NOT play 1 of each trainer. You should play at least 2 of each, unless it is TecH. This ensures that you can get it when you need it, and can use it more than once. PLAY MULTIPLES! Balance is the other thing, you should play high amounts of the cards that you need. For example, if your strategy is energy denial, you shouldn't play 2 energy removal, you should play 4. If you want to play a first turn kill deck, then play 4! 2 will most likely not work. Here is an example of a well-balanced deck, including the most needed trainers: 4 Base Set Dratini 4 Base Set Dragonair 3 Jungle Scyther 3 Chansey 4 Professor Oak [card drawing] 4 Computer Search [card drawing] 4 Item Finder [card drawing] 3 Mary [card drawing] 4 Energy Removal [strategy, and disruption] 4 Super Energy Removal [strategy and disruption] 3 Gold Berry [recovery] 2 Scoop Up [recovery] 2 Narrow Gym [recovery] 1 Rocket's Minefield Gym [extra TecH against sprout tower] 4 Double Colorless Energy 4 Recycle Energy 4 Full Heal Energy 3 Grass Energy The trainer mix is balanced, there is TecH, there is disruption, recovery, and a pretty good draw engine. Most decks do not need disruption, recovery, and TecH, but usually need some of it. Trainers run the deck, and are vital for success. Do not underestimate them. They will help you win, and will make otherwise horrible Pokemon playable. Remember card advantage, balance, and multiples when choosing which trainers to use. Decide which trainers will help your deck the best, and you will do just fine. ;) -Gligar

BACK

+