The Grass Deck - Aydenn Wardle

Aydenn takes a look at the some of the variations in the powerful grass deck. A deck experienced and inexperienced players alike should take a new look at.

The key card to most grass decks is Sceptile from the set Great Encounters. The simple reason is that it has a Poke-body that says 'Each basic grass energy attached to your grass Pokemon provides 2 grass energy instead'. Unfortunately you cant use the effect more then once a turn. What this means is in the grass deck if you need 4 energy's to attack you only need to attach 2 to be able to use it. This makes the grass deck a very low energy count deck.

One card that people like to run with Sceptile is Leafeon lvl.X from Majestic Dawn. Leafeon lvl.X has the Poke-power that lets you attach 1 extra energy card a turn along with your standard attach. Leafeon lvl.X also has an attack named Verdant Dance. 'Does 30 damage plus 10 more damage for each energy attached to all of your Pokemon'. So by coupling Leafeon lvl.X with Sceptile you could dish out an awesome amount of damage.

Another variation whilst still running Sceptile is Torterra from Majestic Dawn. Torterra needs 2 energy's to use its first attack Earthquake. It does 60 damage however will do 10 damage to each of your own Pokemon. But with Sceptile in play Earthquake only needs 1 energy to use it. Its other attack is Frenzy Plant. It costs four energy's to use but again with Sceptile in play you only need 2 energy's. It will hit for 100 damage but you cant use it next turn. Torterra has a 4 energy retreat cost but with Sceptile in play it would only cost 2.

However you dont even have to use Sceptile. You could use Vespiquen from Stormfront. It has the Poke-body named Green Dignity.'As long as you have more prize cards left than your opponent, Vespiquen's attacks do 10 more damage for each grass Pokemon on your bench to the active pokemon. The first attack it has is Bee Drain which costs 1 grass energy. It does 20 damage but has the effect of 'After your attack, remove from Vespiquen the number of damage counters equal to the damage you did to the defending Pokemon. Its second attack is Bee Powder. It costs 2 energy's to use. It does 50 damage and has the effect 'Flip 2 coins. If both of them are heads, The Defending Pokemon is now Burned, Paralyzed and Poisoned. Its a nice card with a low energy cost to use both its moves.

Another nice card is Scizor also from Stormfront. It has the Poke-body Honeycomb Defender. 'If Scizor has 6 or more damage counters on it, any damage done to Scizor by attacks is reduced by 40 (after applying Weakness and Resistance).' Its first attack is named Accelerate and cost's 2 of any colour energy to attack. It hits for 30 damage and has the effect 'If the defending Pokemon is Knocked out by this attack, prevent all effects of an attack, including damage done to Scizor during you opponent's next turn. Its second attack is named Pound down and costs 2 grass energy's. It does 40+ 30 more if you don't have any pokemon with poke-powers in play. This is a great card and can work well in all kind of decks with is good to hear.

But for me my favourite grass pokemon is Cherrim also from Stormfront. It has the Poke-body Sunny Day. 'Each of your grass Pokemon's and fire Pokemon's does 10 more damage to the Defending Pokemon. Its first Attack is Salty-sweet Pollen. It cost's nothing to attack(which is always good) and it hits for a base damage of 20. It also has the effect 'Remove 2 damage counters from 1 of your Pokemon. Its second attack is Solarbeam. It cost's 1 grass energy and 2 of any other energy you want and hits for a base damage of 50. This is a nice Pokemon and it is simple enough to use and works really well so it one to look out for.

For me personally I don't think that the grass deck needs Sceptile. Its nice to have it but I personally would not go out my way to make sure it fits in my deck. The grass deck is a great starter deck is also great at top end tournament level. The grass deck lets you figure out your playing style such as an aggressive player or a defensive one. It will have a lot of support from the new set Galactic's conquest which is released around February as far as I'm aware. I hope this helps new players or even existing players who are looking for a good all round deck to play. Have fun with it and make sure you experiment.

Aydenn Wardle

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