Playing the Pokemon trading card game is incredibly rewarding, but it can feel overwhelming if it’s your first time tackling a TCG.
If you were inspired by the exceptional plays at Pokemon Worlds 2024 and ended up wondering how to get into the TCG competitive scene, you’re in the right place.
Here, you’ll find a complete breakdown of everything you need to know as a Pokemon TCG beginner –including how a match works, how to find tournaments near you, and where to get deck-building inspiration.
How a Pokemon match works
While there are multiple iterations of the Pokemon TCG, the aim of a standard match is to win 6 Prize Cards by defeating your opponent’s Pokemon.
Both players have 60-card decks, with a mix of card types that include Pokemon, Trainers, Items, and Stadiums. They may also include rarer card types like Ace Specs, or specific categories of Pokemon like Stellar Tera-type Pokemon.
To begin a match, players will flip a coin or roll for who goes first. Then, both must shuffle their decks and draw seven cards to begin. An additional six cards must be placed to the side to act as Prize Cards.
Both participants will then check to see if they have Basic Pokemon in their seven-card hand – meaning unevolved Pokemon, which is indicated at the very top of the card.
If someone does not have any Basic Pokemon, they must reveal their hand to their opponent, shuffle it back in their deck, and draw a fresh 7. This is called a mulligan and the opponent gets to draw an extra card for every mulligan that happens.
When both players have at least one Basic Pokemon, they must place a Basic in the Active Position. Up to 5 Basic Pokemon may be placed on the Bench behind the Active. A Pokemon cannot be evolved the same turn that it has been played.
Then, the player who rolled for first gets to take their turn. During a turn, a player can do any of the following tasks after drawing a new card to start:
- Attach one Energy card to any of their Pokemon
- Evolve a Pokemon by putting the corresponding Stage 1 or Stage 2 on top of it
- Put Basic Pokemon onto their Bench
- Use Item and Trainer cards (Any number of Items can be played, Trainers and niche types like Ace Specs have more niche restrictions)
- Use Pokemon Abilities
- Take their Active Pokemon out of battle by paying the Retreat Cost
It’s important to note that some cards can bypass these rules. A card might allow for an instant evolution, for example, or a Stadium card might affect what can be played during a turn.
The key thing missing from the list above is attacking. Using a Pokemon’s attack means ending the turn, so working through the other tasks like Energy retrieval and playing Items needs to come first. Some attacks may inflict Special Conditions, like burns.
When a Pokemon is hit with an attack, Damage Counters are placed on them to indicate the amount of HP (Health Points) that has been lost. When a Pokemon runs out of HP, it is considered Knocked Out and the attacker may take a Prize Card.
When all 6 of a player’s Prize Cards have been claimed, they win. Additionally, if a player ends up with no Benched Pokemon to move into the Active Position, they automatically lose. If a player cannot draw a card, they lose.
How to adapt an existing Pokemon deck list
Building a deck can be one of the most intimidating tasks for new Pokemon TCG players, so working with existing deck lists can be worthwhile.
Pre-existing deck lists can be found all across social media – especially after events like EUIC or Worlds where players might share their deck lists – and they can also be obtained when picking up pre-made decks like Deluxe Battle Decks.
Battle Academy decks and Level 1 Deluxe Battle Decks can be fun and accessible to play with. It’s worth playing with them for a few matches, then seeing if you can tweak the card list to make it even more efficient – for example, could you swap out a regular Item for an Ace Spec card?
It’s best to think of pre-made decks as foundations for new decks. They can be fun and decently powerful without any alteration, but spending some time going over their core mechanics and using gameplay to identify what could be improved can help to take them to a new level.
How to test decks with Pokemon TCG Live
Despite Pokemon TCG Live having somewhat of a bad reputation in the community for being buggy or hard to use, it’s a fantastic place to test out your skills.
Once you’ve got an idea of what sort of deck you’d like to run, log into Pokemon TCG Live and see if you can build it with the digital cards available to you. If there aren’t many cards in your collection, it’s worth having a look at the Pokemon TCG Subreddit as people sometimes give away code cards on there.
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Pre-made decks are also up for grabs in the digital game, meaning you don’t need to worry too much about your specific deck list.
One of the best things about experimenting on Pokemon TCG Live is that the game prompts you to take each step of your turn. If you’re still getting the hang of how a Pokemon TCG match works, this can be a great way to get used to the game structure.
Don’t worry too much about whether you win or lose your first few matches. The most important thing is to spend time learning how the game works and how to adapt to an opponent’s decisions on the fly, as these skills are invaluable for playing Pokemon TCG on a competitive level.
How top-level players are playing the game
After you’ve experimented with a few different decks and played some matches for yourself, either in-person or via TCG Live, it’s worth looking into what decks are currently considered the BDIF (Best Deck In Format) or what top-level players are using in tournaments.
Spend some time looking through Twitch and YouTube for current tournament footage, or even check out our breakdown of all the 2024 Worlds winners to get an idea of which current-Regulation decks are killing it on the competitive scene.
While you might not come across every top-level deck at your local card store, it’s good to have an idea of what’s currently in vogue so you can plan for it and try to add some counters to your deck.
Sites like Limitless TCG can also be handy for keeping tabs on which decks are getting a lot of play in the current season and finding deck-building inspiration.
Set yourself the task of finding out which 2-3 decks seem to be the most popular, then try to find 2-3 decks that counter these. Even if you don’t come across them or play the counters, you’ll learn more about how the game mechanics work and strengthen your deck analysis skills.
How to prepare for your first tournament
When you feel confident enough to take on players in a casual competition, your next step is to find your nearest Pokemon League. These locations are usually local card stores, hobby shops, or board game cafes, although this may vary depending on the location you’re in.
You can use the official Event Locator tool on the Pokemon website to find your nearest location. This can help you find events for Pokemon Go and Pokemon VGC, too.
It’s worth thinking about what items you’ll need alongside your deck, too. You don’t need to splash out on a fancy playmat or plush deck box, but the arguably essential items include:
- Simple sleeves to protect your cards during play
- Dice and counters
- A deck box
A playmat is nice to have but not essential. Get hold of the basics for now, then if you end up attending tournaments and competitions regularly, upgrade your kit to include some extra TCG accessories.
How to put your new skills to the test
Once you’ve played a few matches with friends or spent some time testing decks on Pokemon TCG Live, the best way to get into your local competitive scene is to head to a pre-release event.
Card shops and Pokemon Leagues tend to host these events – we’ve even attended a few – and they’re an exceptional way to test out your skills while also meeting other players.
The majority of Pokemon TCG pre-release events require you to build decks from Build & Battle Boxes on the fly, which means you won’t have to worry too much about defying the current meta or playing against people who’ve spent a year with their current deck.
The tournament or event structure will differ based on your location and Pokemon League organizers, but generally, pre-release events will follow Swiss pairing rules and place you against a variety of opponents. You can win some truly exciting stamped cards from Prize Packs by taking part in events like this.
While it can be intimidating to play against other people for the first time, especially against strangers, it’s important to remember that the Pokemon TCG community is lovely, for the most part, and the vast majority of people will be more than happy to explain game rules to you.
Once you’ve been to a pre-release event and checked out other local events, spend some time reading up on the competitive ladder and how it works for Pokemon TCG if you’re planning to compete. Gathering points can take time, but it’s worth the effort if you want to progress as a competitive player.
Understanding the variety of Pokemon TCG expansion sets and card types on the market can help you become a better player, too. Make sure to check out our guides for the rarest cards, the best packs, and a full list of how many cards are in the game, too.
