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ThePokemon Trading Card Gameis simple enough to learn, but new and returning players often experience an issue: How do you get enough cards to build a viable deck? With 11 different types and evolution Pokemon that require their basic forms in order to be played, new players can be frustrated by the need to buy a lot of packs to make even a very basic deck.
Other card games, likeMagic: The Gathering, introduce new sets and mechanics through drafting. But since Pokemon TCG has more energy types and relies heavily on evolution chains, drafting can be difficult. But the Ditto Draft format has you covered!
What Is Drafting?
Drafting is a limited format in which you make a deck from a small pool of cards that you chose from packs shared with other players.This puts new players on even ground with more experienced oneswith a much larger collection of cards to build their decks from, and puts the focus on building a deck from a limited set of cards.
While a standard Pokemon deck contains 60 cards,a draft deck only contains 40. Along with the reduction of cards comes a reduction of prize cards:Each match is played with four prize cards, rather than six. Just like a normal deck you’ll stillneed to include at least one basic Pokemon, and you’ll need to include enough basic energy to make your deck work.
Thankfully, basic energy isn’t drafted, but should be provided by the Event Organizer.
For a Ditto Draft,each player receives one Build & Battle Box and four booster packs. The booster packs don’t all need to be from the same expansion, but each player should have the same four packs. So, if you want to draft three Scarlet & Violet packs and one Obsidian Flames pack, each player should receive a matching set of packs.
You will not use any Pokemon from your Build & Battle Box. When you start the draft, set the Pokemon aside, but use the trainer and energy cards to build your deck.
How To Draft
Once you have received four booster packs and opened your Build & Battle Box to remove the Pokemon, you shouldtake your seat with the other players in a circleand eachopen a pack from the same expansion at the same time. Set aside the basic energy or marker and code card, and thenchoose a single card to add to your draft selection pilewithout revealing it.
Once each player has selected their card,everyone passes the remaining nine cards from their pack face down to the person on their left.
Four players are ideal, but Ditto Draft can also be played with two or three players. Consider splitting into multiple pods if more than four players are present, but keep all pods the same size.
Next,repeat the processof opening a pack, setting aside the basic Energy card or V-Star Marker and TCG Live code card, and choosing a card for your draft pile,but this time pass the remaining cards to the right. Alternate passing packs left and right until all cards have been drafted from every pack.
Once the draft portion is complete, you should have a stack of trainer and basic energy cards from your Build & Battle Box andabout 40 Pokemon from the draft. You may have a few less if you drafted any Trainer cards, but that’s okay!
What To Draft
You may be tempted to pick the rarest card in every pack, but this can result in a draft pile full of cards that won’t work well together.Often the prize pool is more valuable than the rare cardsyou’ll see during the draft.
Rather than worrying about rarity, worry about cards that work well together. You will need to draft enough Basic Pokemon to support your evolution Pokemon, butyou don’t need to worry about drafting a Stage 1 Pokemon to evolve your Stage 2 Pokemon. Don’t worry about drafting a Raboot if you’ve already grabbed a Cinderace, because you can evolve directly from a Basic Pokemon using the Ditto Draft format’s Evolutionary Advantage ability.
For Basic Pokemon, focus on picking ones that are already fully evolved, like Tauros or Cyclizar, and can hold their own against Stage 2 Pokemon. Also,look for Basic Pokemon with utility Abilities and attacksthat you’re able to use to attach extra Energy cards or fetch Pokemon from your deck to your hand or Bench.
For Evolution Pokemon,try to stick to one or two types of Energy. The more Energy types your deck contains, the more difficult it will be to find the right energy for your Active Pokemon. You don’t have to choose your types at the beginning, but by the third pack you should have a clear pattern.
Research what Pokemon are in the expansions you’re opening before you start the draft. If an expansion only contains four Fire-type Pokemon but dozens of Water types, you’ll be at a disadvantage if you start drafting Fire-types from the first pack.
You should already have a good selection of Trainer cards from the Build & Battle Box, butmany Trainer cards are useful in any deck. If no Pokemon in a pack catch your eye, but another player passes you a Professor’s Research or Switch, grab it.
Avoid cards that require other specific cards. A Tool that only benefits a specific Eevee evolution, for example, is unlikely to be helpful if you haven’t already drafted the appropriate card.
Building Your Deck
Now that you have a selection of Pokémon and trainer cards, it’s time to start building your deck. Remember,your deck should be exactly 40 cards, and contain at least one basic Pokemon.
you may use all the cards that you drafted, so if you happen to have drafted five of your favorite Pokemon you’re free to add all of them to the deck,ignoring the normal four-card limit. Choose carefully, though: Once the first round of play begins, you cannot swap out any cards.
Cards with a rule box stating a limit on how many can be included still follow the same rule. That means you can only use one Radiant Greninja, even if you managed to draft three.
With 35-40 Pokemon cards and a stack of trainer cards, you should have a lot of options to build your deck around. You won’t have room for all the cards, so pick the ones that will work best. Don’t forget your energy: For a deck focused on two types of Pokemon,you’ll want about 15 basic energy.
For a single type deck, you’re probably fine with 10. If you need more energy than you had in your Build & Battle Box, ask your Organizer for as many as you need.
A big difference between Ditto Draft and other formats is thatevolution does not require the previous stage. Once per turn, you’ll be able to turn a basic Pokemon into a Ditto and evolve it to any stage 1 or stage 2 Pokemon.
Try not to include too much variety in your evolution Pokemon: You may be tempted to include multiple strong Stage 2 Pokemon of different types, but remember that you’ll need the right energy to pay for their attacks.
A good ratio to aim for while building your deck is 15 energy, 15 Pokemon, and ten trainer cards.You should include at least as many Basic Pokemon as Evolution Pokemon, to ensure that you can evolve into your heavy-hitters.
Playing The Game
After you and the rest of the players in your pod have finished building their decks, the game is played by standard rules, with two exceptions: First, instead of setting six prize cards, you and your opponent set four prize cards. And second,each Basic Pokemon can secretly be a Ditto, with the following special rule:
Once during your turn (before you attack), you may place a Ditto marker on onr of your Basic Pokemon that doesn’t have a Rule Box. It gains the following Ability:
Ability:EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE
Once during your turn, you may put any Stage 1 or Stage 2 card from your hand onto this Pokémon to evolve it. You can’t use this Ability during your first turn or the turn this Pokémon was put into play. If you put a Stage 2 card onto this Pokémon, your turn ends. Each Pokémon can use only 1 Evolutionary Advantage Ability per game.
This ability allows you toevolve any Basic Pokemon into any Stage 1 or Stage 2 Pokemon. So if you drafted a Charizard but didn’t find a Charmander or Charmeleon, you can still use your Charizard by designating Pikachu as a Ditto and evolving it directly into Charizard!
Just like standard Pokemon TCG games, Ditto Draft tournaments are usuallyplayed using the Swiss tournament system, matching all players with other players of a similar match record each round. This allows you to play every round, unlike a single elimination format where you’re out of the tournament the first time you lose a match.
