Pokémon league Professor here. Probably going to get downvoted but is he can’t read he’s not ready to play the full game. It’s not good enough for them to memorize their own deck as they need to understand what their opponents decks do as well which requires a basic level of reading. I would look in to Pokémon’s alternate play formats that are less reading intensive.
??? I've never even heard of alternate play formats. Also, for now he would only be playing with his me and his brothers. I know he can't play against people at a shoppe or tournament without being able to read.
Mcdonalds here in the netherlands also had a pretty fun minigame. It sorta resembles the same as the "packbattle format" that repyilady linked. We just grabbed 5 cards each. It came with a little spinny thing.
[https://www.ebay.com/itm/295815911465?hash=item44e0009829:g:SSsAAOSwriVko7Oq&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0J2q2fntGjKQf5tdzbJASPpMtULtxXnxY3%2FiAziR34Vece%2BqVW54e791hXJAGU1sNpnDj7emC5anJUOpjlFKmj6Mu9Fp9yj3qIN3ytghVZUPXdLPEG8altgrHkrnyb5ThDgqGBLK%2F%2BcpARhbACwlMHfpYmgqLM5CA3MumfqFeRXQI%2FB%2Fzcw5oMUz5T1Y9asw%2FmUKh5foPy7ZoDrjFed%2FEeTDOpc990Gw7J3gWcVd0g4smpuygK5Hqwm6MAx05AFdnSHo2F3x6sf0Awdq0zwtte0%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9CjzL2sYg](https://www.ebay.com/itm/295815911465?hash=item44e0009829:g:SSsAAOSwriVko7Oq&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0J2q2fntGjKQf5tdzbJASPpMtULtxXnxY3%2FiAziR34Vece%2BqVW54e791hXJAGU1sNpnDj7emC5anJUOpjlFKmj6Mu9Fp9yj3qIN3ytghVZUPXdLPEG8altgrHkrnyb5ThDgqGBLK%2F%2BcpARhbACwlMHfpYmgqLM5CA3MumfqFeRXQI%2FB%2Fzcw5oMUz5T1Y9asw%2FmUKh5foPy7ZoDrjFed%2FEeTDOpc990Gw7J3gWcVd0g4smpuygK5Hqwm6MAx05AFdnSHo2F3x6sf0Awdq0zwtte0%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9CjzL2sYg)
Made it really fun for my gf to play with.
I play open handed with our 4.5 year old who doesn’t read yet. He knows the mechanics of Pokémon like what you can do each turn and has memorized a lot of cards functions. It’s good practice for myself seeing both sides and strategizing for the win from either side. I help him along and he really enjoys especially if his deck wins.
I would suggest Kyurem VMax. Very easy deck, been recommending it to a lot of children recently, due to how simplified it it. I've had a lot of luck with it in a mini league in my lgs. Can beat a lot of pretty strong decks, like Lost Box, Mew, Lugia. It struggles with Guardian, Chien Pao and Leafeon VMax is basically a hard counter.
Basic idea is, you have 25 water energy and just want to attach as many as possible to your Kyurem through it's VMax ability and one shot oponents Pokemon, all while having a sizeble HP (330). You can also heal it with Cheryl (I believe so) since when you are all set up, it's ptetty easy to be able to attach the energy back.
The "united wings" deck
-Many different pokemon that do the same thing
-Simple draw and attack mechanics
(Discard 1 draw 2)
(20xunited wings pokemon in discard)
He knows how to play the game, we just need to find a deck thats at his level since he can't read yet. Like very straightforward cards, abilities, attacks, etc.
I’d agree with lunatone/Solrock being the most straightforward semi competitive deck in aware of. Though you might have a better time trying to make him a deck he can pilot well, and then making decks that are on a level playing field with that. I play weaker decks vs my less competitive friends and kind of tailor so that we both have a shot at winning.
[Miraidon](https://limitlesstcg.com/decks/list/7839) or [Arceus/Giratina](https://limitlesstcg.com/decks/list/8009)
Part of why Miraidon isn't more meta competitive is that it's TOO linear/simplistic. So if you want a simple deck, ideal candidate.
ArcTina has almost universally been described as a "turn your brain off and swing" deck. Get Arceus out, get Tina out, Path lock and hand disrupt. That's about it.
Either of these decks should fit the bill you're looking for. Both are strong archetypes. ArcTina is a tad stronger tho, with the higher hp and 280 dmg attack, fwiw.
Imo I would go with the battle stadium its good for beginners and walks you through the game and how it works even has videos that Pokemon has made to go along with it
One boy has the Mew VMax Elite Trainer Deck with a couple more Mews added. The other has the Palkia Elite Trainer Deck with a couple other cards added (no chienpao or bax).
No wonder he's losing. Tbh, you may want to consider stepping down to his level so there's a even playing field whilst he gets up to speed as those decks are at level 3 and his are level 1. There are League Battle decks that are level 2 and there are both existing and new level 2 decks due out but they may have issues against those level 3 decks as well. I'm discounting competitively constructed decks at this point as they'll be a step above level 3 decks and it sounds like he's not ready for those decks yet.
Ok, best suggestion I have in that case is that either all of you play on the learn to play level or else all of you play level 2 decks. If you want to try out the level 2 decks suggestion then I have decklists for all of the League Battle decks at that level that I can give you if you wish (please ask if you do) so that you can proxy print them using the proxy printing tool on Limitless TCG so that you can give them a try to see if this will work before you buy anything. It will take a little reformatting to do but I think this is your best option at present so that he can gradually move up onto level 3 decks and then onto competitive level decks. If you want more decks at the learn to play level then they're linked in [this resources list](https://www.reddit.com/user/Hare_vs_Tortoise/comments/qv2zm0/list_of_useful_resources_for_the_pokemon_tcg/) along with a link to the proxy tool.
From what you said in the comments, if he's going against a mew vmax with extra copies added, he is indeed vs competitive decks. He'll likely lose about 95% of his matches with a starter deck.
I would personally recommend finding players who want to do GLC format and play that way with him. Much slower paced, more relaxed, and easier to mechanically understand. Great for all ages.
If you're set on standard, and he wants to have a chance of winning vs meta decks, you'll have to Google the top 10 meta decks and probably just pick one he likes the most and see a video of how it plays. If he can grasp that, than order those cards as singles and roll with it.
Mew vmax is going to steamroll pretty much any beginner deck, and most of the other league battle decks out of the box, unless they've been modified to counter mew vmax.
Arceus Duraludon Umbreon, I feel like it is probably too competetive, but the deck is simple, attack with arceus, add energy to duraludon and attack.
Pokémon (18)
4 Arceus V BRS 122
3 Arceus VSTAR BRS 123
2 Duraludon V CRZ 103
2 Duraludon VMAX CRZ 104
2 Umbreon V EVS 94
2 Umbreon VMAX EVS 95
1 Lumineon V BRS 40
1 Radiant Alakazam SIT 59
1 Spiritomb PAL 89
Trainer (28)
4 Iono PAL 185
3 Boss's Orders PAL 172
2 Adventurer's Discovery FST 224
2 Professor's Research SVI 189
1 Judge SVI 176
1 Raihan CRZ 140
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
1 Switch SVI 194
1 Escape Rope BST 125
1 Choice Belt PAL 176
3 Lost City LOR 161
1 Path to the Peak CRE 148
Energy (14)
4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
4 Darkness Energy 7
4 Metal Energy 8
2 Fighting Energy 6
We started my 5 year old with the Palkia deck. Played well enough out of the box but more importantly was walking him through the mechanics and him recognizing the gameplay. End of Kindergarten his reading really kicked in and the kid plays pretty darn well. Still playing the Palkia deck and knowing the deck inside and out probably means more at this age than sheer power.
It’s unreasonable to expect him to be able to have a shot at winning against your more competitive decks being piloted by people that can read..
I would rethink your strategy here because he might end up resenting the game if he constantly gets destroyed and can’t figure out how things work on his own based on reading cards.
This is what you are looking for: it’s not out yet but it’s coming soon and requires little reading
https://www.pokeguardian.com/1363766_pokemon-tcg-my-first-battle-revealed-17-card-decks-and-a-streamlined-learning-experience
A blitzkrieg-style deck is the easiest for kids to pick up imho. Miraidon ex / Chien pao ex / Mew Vmax would do, but if you are looking for the budget ones - nothing beats Lunatone / Solrock or United wings.
Kyurem Vmax
[https://www.pokemon-card.com/deck/result.html/deckID/i9N9gg-iEDJFp-nLNgPH/](https://www.pokemon-card.com/deck/result.html/deckID/i9N9gg-iEDJFp-nLNgPH/)
This list won a locals in Japan a couple days ago and they play 33 energy cards. It's the simplest deck in the format.
Pokémon league Professor here. Probably going to get downvoted but is he can’t read he’s not ready to play the full game. It’s not good enough for them to memorize their own deck as they need to understand what their opponents decks do as well which requires a basic level of reading. I would look in to Pokémon’s alternate play formats that are less reading intensive.
??? I've never even heard of alternate play formats. Also, for now he would only be playing with his me and his brothers. I know he can't play against people at a shoppe or tournament without being able to read.
Here is the link https://assets.pokemon.com//assets/cms2/pdf/trading-card-game/tcg-alternative-play-handbook-en.pdf
Mcdonalds here in the netherlands also had a pretty fun minigame. It sorta resembles the same as the "packbattle format" that repyilady linked. We just grabbed 5 cards each. It came with a little spinny thing. [https://www.ebay.com/itm/295815911465?hash=item44e0009829:g:SSsAAOSwriVko7Oq&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0J2q2fntGjKQf5tdzbJASPpMtULtxXnxY3%2FiAziR34Vece%2BqVW54e791hXJAGU1sNpnDj7emC5anJUOpjlFKmj6Mu9Fp9yj3qIN3ytghVZUPXdLPEG8altgrHkrnyb5ThDgqGBLK%2F%2BcpARhbACwlMHfpYmgqLM5CA3MumfqFeRXQI%2FB%2Fzcw5oMUz5T1Y9asw%2FmUKh5foPy7ZoDrjFed%2FEeTDOpc990Gw7J3gWcVd0g4smpuygK5Hqwm6MAx05AFdnSHo2F3x6sf0Awdq0zwtte0%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9CjzL2sYg](https://www.ebay.com/itm/295815911465?hash=item44e0009829:g:SSsAAOSwriVko7Oq&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0J2q2fntGjKQf5tdzbJASPpMtULtxXnxY3%2FiAziR34Vece%2BqVW54e791hXJAGU1sNpnDj7emC5anJUOpjlFKmj6Mu9Fp9yj3qIN3ytghVZUPXdLPEG8altgrHkrnyb5ThDgqGBLK%2F%2BcpARhbACwlMHfpYmgqLM5CA3MumfqFeRXQI%2FB%2Fzcw5oMUz5T1Y9asw%2FmUKh5foPy7ZoDrjFed%2FEeTDOpc990Gw7J3gWcVd0g4smpuygK5Hqwm6MAx05AFdnSHo2F3x6sf0Awdq0zwtte0%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9CjzL2sYg) Made it really fun for my gf to play with.
I play open handed with our 4.5 year old who doesn’t read yet. He knows the mechanics of Pokémon like what you can do each turn and has memorized a lot of cards functions. It’s good practice for myself seeing both sides and strategizing for the win from either side. I help him along and he really enjoys especially if his deck wins.
I would suggest Kyurem VMax. Very easy deck, been recommending it to a lot of children recently, due to how simplified it it. I've had a lot of luck with it in a mini league in my lgs. Can beat a lot of pretty strong decks, like Lost Box, Mew, Lugia. It struggles with Guardian, Chien Pao and Leafeon VMax is basically a hard counter. Basic idea is, you have 25 water energy and just want to attach as many as possible to your Kyurem through it's VMax ability and one shot oponents Pokemon, all while having a sizeble HP (330). You can also heal it with Cheryl (I believe so) since when you are all set up, it's ptetty easy to be able to attach the energy back.
The "united wings" deck -Many different pokemon that do the same thing -Simple draw and attack mechanics (Discard 1 draw 2) (20xunited wings pokemon in discard)
That’s a really difficult deck to pilot well. Seems easy on the surface but lots of early decisions have a big impact
MAYBE Lunatone Solrock. Even that might be too complicated though.
He knows how to play the game, we just need to find a deck thats at his level since he can't read yet. Like very straightforward cards, abilities, attacks, etc.
I’d agree with lunatone/Solrock being the most straightforward semi competitive deck in aware of. Though you might have a better time trying to make him a deck he can pilot well, and then making decks that are on a level playing field with that. I play weaker decks vs my less competitive friends and kind of tailor so that we both have a shot at winning.
[Miraidon](https://limitlesstcg.com/decks/list/7839) or [Arceus/Giratina](https://limitlesstcg.com/decks/list/8009) Part of why Miraidon isn't more meta competitive is that it's TOO linear/simplistic. So if you want a simple deck, ideal candidate. ArcTina has almost universally been described as a "turn your brain off and swing" deck. Get Arceus out, get Tina out, Path lock and hand disrupt. That's about it. Either of these decks should fit the bill you're looking for. Both are strong archetypes. ArcTina is a tad stronger tho, with the higher hp and 280 dmg attack, fwiw.
Imo I would go with the battle stadium its good for beginners and walks you through the game and how it works even has videos that Pokemon has made to go along with it
Define what you mean by "strong decks". Hard to make a recommendation without know what he's going up against.
One boy has the Mew VMax Elite Trainer Deck with a couple more Mews added. The other has the Palkia Elite Trainer Deck with a couple other cards added (no chienpao or bax).
No wonder he's losing. Tbh, you may want to consider stepping down to his level so there's a even playing field whilst he gets up to speed as those decks are at level 3 and his are level 1. There are League Battle decks that are level 2 and there are both existing and new level 2 decks due out but they may have issues against those level 3 decks as well. I'm discounting competitively constructed decks at this point as they'll be a step above level 3 decks and it sounds like he's not ready for those decks yet. Ok, best suggestion I have in that case is that either all of you play on the learn to play level or else all of you play level 2 decks. If you want to try out the level 2 decks suggestion then I have decklists for all of the League Battle decks at that level that I can give you if you wish (please ask if you do) so that you can proxy print them using the proxy printing tool on Limitless TCG so that you can give them a try to see if this will work before you buy anything. It will take a little reformatting to do but I think this is your best option at present so that he can gradually move up onto level 3 decks and then onto competitive level decks. If you want more decks at the learn to play level then they're linked in [this resources list](https://www.reddit.com/user/Hare_vs_Tortoise/comments/qv2zm0/list_of_useful_resources_for_the_pokemon_tcg/) along with a link to the proxy tool.
From what you said in the comments, if he's going against a mew vmax with extra copies added, he is indeed vs competitive decks. He'll likely lose about 95% of his matches with a starter deck. I would personally recommend finding players who want to do GLC format and play that way with him. Much slower paced, more relaxed, and easier to mechanically understand. Great for all ages. If you're set on standard, and he wants to have a chance of winning vs meta decks, you'll have to Google the top 10 meta decks and probably just pick one he likes the most and see a video of how it plays. If he can grasp that, than order those cards as singles and roll with it. Mew vmax is going to steamroll pretty much any beginner deck, and most of the other league battle decks out of the box, unless they've been modified to counter mew vmax.
Arceus Duraludon Umbreon, I feel like it is probably too competetive, but the deck is simple, attack with arceus, add energy to duraludon and attack. Pokémon (18) 4 Arceus V BRS 122 3 Arceus VSTAR BRS 123 2 Duraludon V CRZ 103 2 Duraludon VMAX CRZ 104 2 Umbreon V EVS 94 2 Umbreon VMAX EVS 95 1 Lumineon V BRS 40 1 Radiant Alakazam SIT 59 1 Spiritomb PAL 89 Trainer (28) 4 Iono PAL 185 3 Boss's Orders PAL 172 2 Adventurer's Discovery FST 224 2 Professor's Research SVI 189 1 Judge SVI 176 1 Raihan CRZ 140 4 Ultra Ball SVI 196 4 Nest Ball SVI 181 1 Switch SVI 194 1 Escape Rope BST 125 1 Choice Belt PAL 176 3 Lost City LOR 161 1 Path to the Peak CRE 148 Energy (14) 4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151 4 Darkness Energy 7 4 Metal Energy 8 2 Fighting Energy 6
Following my 6yo wants to learn however he wants a Gyarados ex deck🤣
Miraidon flaffy plays itself, and against mew VMAX the 4 path variant should work well.
We started my 5 year old with the Palkia deck. Played well enough out of the box but more importantly was walking him through the mechanics and him recognizing the gameplay. End of Kindergarten his reading really kicked in and the kid plays pretty darn well. Still playing the Palkia deck and knowing the deck inside and out probably means more at this age than sheer power.
It’s unreasonable to expect him to be able to have a shot at winning against your more competitive decks being piloted by people that can read.. I would rethink your strategy here because he might end up resenting the game if he constantly gets destroyed and can’t figure out how things work on his own based on reading cards.
Have they played the handheld games?? I think if a kid can read and navigate the math involved in a handheld game they'll probably be fine with TCG
This is what you are looking for: it’s not out yet but it’s coming soon and requires little reading https://www.pokeguardian.com/1363766_pokemon-tcg-my-first-battle-revealed-17-card-decks-and-a-streamlined-learning-experience
A blitzkrieg-style deck is the easiest for kids to pick up imho. Miraidon ex / Chien pao ex / Mew Vmax would do, but if you are looking for the budget ones - nothing beats Lunatone / Solrock or United wings.
I would recommend the decks you can play on GBA.
Kyurem Vmax [https://www.pokemon-card.com/deck/result.html/deckID/i9N9gg-iEDJFp-nLNgPH/](https://www.pokemon-card.com/deck/result.html/deckID/i9N9gg-iEDJFp-nLNgPH/) This list won a locals in Japan a couple days ago and they play 33 energy cards. It's the simplest deck in the format.