Pokémon Sun and Moon Starter Theme Deck Overview

Having had a chance to go to a Pokémon Sun and Moon TCG launch event, where we were able to play and try out the new three starter decks with the final evolution trees of Rowlett, Litten and Popplio with Forest Shadow, Roaring Heat and Bright Tide. From the get go, the decks were fairly balanced with a few cards feeling out of place in terms having a balanced team. The biggest issue when trying out the three decks was being able to easily bounce back from a bad hand as most of the heavy hits required quite a bit of set up. Some trainer cards were able to help alleviate this problem such as Ultra Ball, Timer Ball and Nest Ball accelerating the rate you were able to bring them onto the field. A few stallers here and there for getting energy cards into your hand.

For the process of reviewing these desks, the main method of judging them is the damage they can do in terms of energy. This means a Pokémon that’s able to do 200 damage that requires four energy cards, will be rated better than a 200 damage that requires two energy cards that are discarded on use. Also, deck composition and how well it performs compared to its weakness counterpart (IE. Forest Shadow facing a Roaring Heat deck) will be taken into account. This is judged based on the alternative cards they have that aren’t weak to its main theme, judging them based on role and then damage per energy cost.

From kitten to wrestling tiger, you wonder if parenting went wrong somewhere.

From the get go, Roaring Heat’s flagship Pokémon Incineroar is a heavy hitter with a three energy cost (two fire and one colourless) for Darkest Lariat dealing 200. The only downside to this card is the two coin flips landing on heads to deal the full 200. Forest Shadow doesn’t fair too well though in that respect, Decidueye with its consistant damage requires three energy (one grass and two colourless) and deals 20 in recoil damage to itself. The only upside to this card is the one grass energy cost of leaf blade dealing 30 base plus another 30 if you flip for a head. However, when compared to Fire Fang from Incineroar that 30 is somewhat lackluster to the new Burn status effect rules. On top of the extra 20 health, Roaring Heat does a lot a better for survivability even with its three colourless energy retreat cost.

During the press event, the winning deck was Roaring Heat. The main downside to the Roaring Heat is the mix of fire and fighting energy, but when looking at the card composition and the cards available for countering this issue is higher compared to lacking energy. Although the time required to set these cards up is about comparable with Forest Shadow being slightly better.

This echos Batman somehow, I will make a theory on way later.

Alternative cards in Forest Shadow are lackluster at worse, there are a few standout cards like Kangaskhan being a damage dealer with four colourless energy cost for Hurricane Punch dealing up to 200 damage with four coin flips landing heads. Cross Cut with its one colourless energy cost is great for setting up a counter to Incineroar, however this is very marginal considering Kangaskhan is weak to fighting types with a 2x weakness. Pikipek isn’t really competitive and takes up space for potentially standout support trainer cards like Professor Kukoi which allows you to draw two cards and your attacks deal 20 more damage to your opponent’s active Pokémon.

As you can see, Roaring Heat is a deck that comes out to be best for damage with Forest Shadow being somewhat consistent damage with a glaring fire weakness. Bright Tide sits somewhere in the middle of surviving, stalling and dealing somewhat consistant damage. Its flagship Pokémon Primarina has Sparkling Aura with a three energy cost (two water and one colourless) for 100 damage and heals for 30. Disarming Voice deals 30 damage for two energy cost (water and colourless) and confuses the opponent’s Active Pokémon, the 150HP makes this a better choice than Decidueye with its two attacks combined because of the healing effect and confusion effect for comparable energy cost. But compared to Incineroar it still doesn’t compare to damage, of course the 2x water weakness makes it no longer as dangerous of a threat as it was. But with stallers like Wingull using Roost to heal for 30 at a colourless energy cost with 60HP and Lanturn capable of dealing 120 damage with three energy cost (1 electric, water and colourless) and Confuse Ray requiring one colourless energy. It’s easy to justify getting Bright Tide over Forest Shadow.

Puberty gone right? There's a joke somewhere here.

When comparing alternative cards, this deck still has heavy hitters like Lanturn and Togedemaru with Discharge dealing 30x electrical energy attached with Defense Curl costing one colourless and a coin flip landing heads to prevent all damage done. The 2x fighting weakness isn’t ideal, but compared to Roaring Heat and Forest Shadow, this deck is built more balanced with trainer cards like Energy Retrieval and Potion. It’s hard to justify not picking this up and being able to adjust a few cards here and there to make the deck more personalised.

Final Thoughts

The recommended deck for battling competitively is still between Roaring Heat and Bright Tide, both are great decks that fit into their respective roles. But when looking at the damage Incineroar can do and the consistency of the damage, Bright Tide comes out on top with Primarina’s survivability and deck composition. For a more fun and gimmicky (less optimal), Roaring Heat. Forest Shadow isn’t a jack of all trades or survival deck, being a lackluster middle ground with the alternatives lacking standout features. Nonetheless, this is the deck that beat two fire decks on the account of consistent damage with relatively good card draws. So do bear that in mind if you think Forest Shadow lacks standout cards.